| View the latest edition as a Web page | Previous editions/search | Subscribe to this newsletter | Advertising information |
 |
 |
NEWS: Oct. 5, 2016
Former Education Secretary Slams Teacher-Prep Programs Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in an open letter to college presidents and deans of education schools, says the nation's system for training schoolteachers "lacks rigor, is out of step with the times" and leaves prospective teachers "unprepared and their future students at risk." Duncan, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote that prospective teachers should be "held to high standards like engineering, business, and medical students." >> Philly.com Dallas County Fires 13 School Bus Drivers, Disciplines 229 Thirteen Dallas County school bus drivers have been fired and 229 will be suspended without pay for five to nine days--about 10 percent of the district's drivers--after an NBC 5 investigation found that more than 480 traffic citations had been issued since Jan. 1, 2014. >> NBC 5/Dallas-Fort Worth Portland State University Launches Zero-Tuition Program Portland State University debuted a new tuition-assistance initiative designed to attract more low-income Oregonians, offering a program with no tuition or fees that would save students up to $8,400 annually. >> Portland Oregonian
IG: Veterans Still Facing Care Delays at Phoenix Hospital Patients in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Phoenix Health Care System are still unable to get timely specialist appointments after massive reform efforts, and delayed care may be to blame for at least one more veteran's death, according to a new report by the VA's inspector general. The IG's inspectors identified 215 deceased patients who were awaiting specialist consultations on the dates of their deaths. >> Arizona Republic Report: Medicare Spent $1.5 Billion on Defective Devices Medicare's fiscal watchdog has documented $1.5 billion in spending related to services and procedures for seven types of defective heart devices that doctors implanted in thousands of beneficiaries. >> Minneapolis Star Tribune The Military | The Nation ROTC Overhauls Weapons Training After Campus Active-Shooter Scares The Army's Reserve Officers' Training Corps has overhauled its weapons-training procedures on college campuses after drills were mistaken for active-shooter attacks. All 275 Army ROTC units and 700 affiliated programs were told to use extra precaution during exercises that involve the use of realistic rifle replicas and furtive movements. >> Washington Post Probation Extended for New Pentagon Civilian Hires The Pentagon officially has extended the probationary period for new civilian hires from one to two years. The change, mandated by Congress, affects employees hired to the competitive service or appointed to the Senior Executive Service on or after Nov. 26, 2015. >> Government Executive
Nonprofit Gets New Funding for Public-Service Education The Volcker Alliance, the New York nonprofit through which a top former government economist seeks to strengthen the call to public service, has a fresh infusion of financial support. The group's new president, Thomas Ross, announced an unrestricted research grant of $1.5 million from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to be used mostly to enhance the alliance's efforts at professional education for government careers. >> Government Executive Bill Allows Immediate Suspensions of Federal Workers Rep. Todd Rokita, an Indiana Republican, has introduced legislation that would allow federal agencies to immediately suspend employees for misconduct or poor performance and prohibit pay raises for workers who do not receive high performance ratings. >> Government Executive Wisconsin DMV Retraining Hundreds of Workers on Voter ID The Wisconsin Division of Motor Vehicles began retraining hundreds of employees as more instances came to light of workers providing incomplete or inaccurate information about IDs for voting. >> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Technology Management | The Nation GAO Urges Federal Agencies to Streamline Software Portfolios In an effort to maximize the $90 billion the federal government is expected to spend on information technology in fiscal 2017, the Government Accountability Office has recommended that 20 agencies streamline their portfolios of software applications to improve efficiency, reduce complexity and redundancy, and lower costs. >> Federal Times Colorado to Name Digital Transformation Officer Colorado is planning to hire the nation's first state-government digital transformation officer on ways for Colorado to transform the digital experience for the state's workers and its citizens. >> Government Technology >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition:
|
QUOTABLE “A mistake occurs when you do something incorrectly. The actions which bring me before you were not a mistake; they were wrong.” Former Detroit public-school principal Beverly Campbell, who will be sentenced today for taking $50,000 in kickbacks from a school vendor, in a letter to the federal court that, unlike statements of 10 other principals previously sentenced for the same crime who called their actions mistakes, concedes that she looked out for her own interests over those of her students and that her crime warrants a prison sentence despite her age of 67 >> Detroit Free Press | More quotes VIEWPOINT Leadership | Dannielle Blumenthal How Jerks End Up Running Things If I had a list of Top 10 topics that people like to talk about in life, this one would undoubtedly be on it: How is it that jerks always seem to get ahead while nice guys finish last? Based on my observations of awful, corrupt leaders over the past 15 years or so, here are a few suggestions: They have infinite ambition. They lack emotional intelligence. They feel deprived of something they perceive as owed to them. They have no conscience. And they don't believe in universal justice. >> Government Executive | More commentaries
159 Number of bills passed by the California legislature this year that Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed, amounting to 15 percent of the 1,059 measures that crossed his desk, the highest proportion of vetoed bills in Brown's 14 years as governor >> Sacramento Bee | More data
UPCOMING EVENTS Heritage Foundation Discussion: "The Originalism Revolution Turns 30: Evaluating Its Impact and Future Influence on the Law" Today, noon-1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Governing Tennessee Leadership Forum Oct. 6, Nashville Brookings Institution Discussion: "The Economic Costs of Internet Shutdowns" Oct. 6, 10-11 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Center for American Progress Discussion: "Assuring College Quality" Oct. 6, 10-11 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. American Enterprise Institute and EdChoice Survey release and discussion: "Findings from the 2016 Schooling in America Survey" Oct. 6, 3:30-5 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. U.S. Office of Personnel Management Webinar: "Prioritizing Inclusivity to Build Engagement" Oct. 11, 11 a.m. ET >> Full events listings |
