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NEWS: July 18, 2016
For Cops, 'the Most Difficult Time' Sunday's slayings of three police officers in Baton Rouge, La., brought the number of American law-enforcement officers who have been shot and killed in the line of duty so far this year to 30, nearly double the toll at this time last year. The attacks have set off a period of fear, anguish and confusion among the nation's 900,000 state and local law-enforcement officers. "This is perhaps the most difficult and dangerous time in American policing history," said Terry Cunningham, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. >> Washington Post, New York Times Baton Rouge Gunman was Ex-Marine, 'Sovereign Citizen' Gavin E. Long, who shot three police officers to death in Baton Rouge on Sunday, was a former Marine Corps sergeant and Iraq War veteran. Long, who was from Kansas City, had a robust online presence, expressing outrage at the recent spate of police shootings of black men. Long also took up anti-government views and was a member of a bizarre offshoot of the "sovereign citizen" movement. >> Baton Rouge Advocate, Marine Corps Times, Kansas City Star Shootings by Chicago Police Declining, Watchdog Reports Chicago's Independent Police Review Authority called for the police department to tighten its rules on deadly force while reporting that shootings by police are declining and use of Tasers is up, suggesting that training in non-lethal force is beginning to take hold. >> Chicago Tribune, Reuters Public Safety | Cleveland Governor Says He Can't Suspend Gun Laws for Republican Convention Ohio Gov. John Kasich lacks the power to suspend a state law allowing citizens to openly carry guns, his office said after a Cleveland police-union official called for Kasich to ban all open carrying of firearms during the Republican National Convention this week. >> Reuters, WJW-TV
Public College Presidents' Median Pay Hits $431,000 Total compensation for presidents of public colleges and universities continued to climb in fiscal 2015, increasing 4.3 percent from the year before to a median of $431,000, according to an annual survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Topping the list was Renu Khator, who was paid $1.3 million, including bonuses and other compensation, as both chancellor of the University of Houston system and president of its Houston campus. >> Washington Post, Chronicle of Higher Education Public Workforce | The Nation Think Tank: Feds Are Paid Too Much The federal government is too generous with pay and benefits, according to a new policy paper from the conservative Heritage Foundation saying Congress should revamp the pay scale, emphasize performance-based pay increases, reduce paid leave and require most employees to contribute more to retirement benefits. >> Government Executive Philadelphia City Workers' New Contract Raises Pay 11.5% Philadelphia's largest municipal workers' union, AFSCME District Council 33, signed a four-year labor agreement that raises members' wages a total of 11.5 percent over the contract's lifetime. >> Philly.com EMS-Licensed Detroit Firefighters to Get 4% Raise All Detroit firefighters licensed as medical first responders will receive a 4 percent pay raise in addition to raises previously negotiated for the next five years, city officials announced >> Detroit News Public Pensions | California Pension Putting $2.5 Billion in Low-Carbon Investments The California State Teachers' Retirement System, which oversees a $188.8 billion investment portfolio, has committed up to $2.5 billion to low-carbon investments in the United States and overseas, saying the move is part of an effort to "align the portfolio with the market realities emerging from climate change" and international policies. >> Sacramento Bee
'Minnesota Miracle' Governor Dies Former governor Wendell Anderson, a Democrat who appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1973 with a big northern pike and wide grin as a symbol of his state's good life and who was credited with a bipartisan agreement known as the "Minnesota Miracle" that improved public education in the state, but who then alienated the voters when he appointed himself to a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate, died Sunday at the age of 83. >> Minneapolis Star Tribune Technology Management | The Nation Audit: Huge Pentagon IT Plan at Risk of Failure The Pentagon's huge plan to rationalize the military's sprawling and multifarious IT infrastructure into a single Joint Information Environment is at risk of failure because of poor scheduling and budgeting, inadequate workforce planning and a failure to properly lay out the scope and objectives of the undertaking, a new audit says. >> FedScoop >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition:
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“Please don't let hate infect your heart. This city MUST and WILL get better. I'm working in these streets so any protesters, officers, friends, family, or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer I got you.” Baton Rouge, La., police officer Montrell Jackson, one of three law-enforcement officers who were shot to death Sunday morning in Baton Route by a man wearing body army and carrying a rifle, reflecting on Facebook two weeks ago on what it was like to be black and a cop in the wake of the slayings of black men by white police officers in Baton Rouge and a St. Paul suburb and the killings of five white Dallas police officers by a black man >> Daily Beast | More quotes DATAPOINT 61% and 82% Percentages of 1,915 active-duty American military personnel surveyed by Military Times who say they are "dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" with Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee and Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee, respectively, while 49 percent of the survey respondents say they intend to vote for Trump, 21 percent say they will vote for Clinton, 13 percent say they will cast their ballots for a third-party candidate and 7 percent say they won't vote at all >> Military Times | More data VIEWPOINT Public Administration | Terry Newell The Goal of 20/20 Ethical Eyesight There are volumes of ethics laws for public servants, and training alerts them to these requirements. So why did schedulers at the Department of Veterans Affairs falsify patient appointment wait times? How did the Internal Revenue Service end up singling out conservative groups for special scrutiny in their applications for tax-exempt status? The ethics apparatus in government does much good, but its subtle message can be: "If it's not illegal, it must be OK." The focus on what not to do can excuse public servants from thinking carefully about what they should do. Avoiding ethical blindness is hard. There are, however, ways to sharpen our ethical eyesight. >> PA Times | More commentaries UPCOMING EVENTS Government Technology Public CIO Technology Summit July 19-20, St. Louis National Association of County and City Health Officials Annual Conference July 19-21, Phoenix Heritage Foundation Discussion: "California's Rush to Restrict Religious Freedom in Higher Education" July 19, noon-1 p.m., Washington, D.C. American Society for Public Administration Webinar: "An Analysis of Superstorm Sandy and Government Responsiveness: How Can Governments Do Better?" July 19, 1 p.m. ET Brookings Institution Discussion: "The 5G Network, the Internet of Things and the Future of Health Care" July 19, 2-3:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. General Services Administration Webinar: "How to Acquire Cloud and Make it Secure" July 20, noon ET Center for American Progress Discussion with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro: "Addressing Lead Exposure in Low-Income Communities" July 20, 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Environmental Council of the States State Environmental Protection Meeting July 21, Washington, D.C. >> Full events listings |
