Thursday Morning Federal Newscast – January 19th

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris discuss throughout the show each day. T...

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

  • Federal managers about to make big decisions must make sure unions are involved ahead of time. That’s according to new instructions from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management. Managers should use their agencies’ labor-management councils as the forum for discussing issues. GAO and OPM want managers to avoid making decisions among themselves and then informing the unions. Topics to involve the unions include an agency’s budget, goals and strategies.
  • A House panel is mulling new limits to information sharing by intelligence agencies. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, tells our sister station WTOP he thinks the government has almost overdone information sharing. He says agencies have entered an area of need-to-share versus need-to-know, And that, he says, has caused problems like the recent WikiLeaks disclosures. Rogers says the Intelligence Committee will spend significant time on the subject and that changes are probably coming.
  • The Interior Department is announcing it’s latest plan for regulating the deepwater oil drilling industry. Interior says it has created two independent bureaus and an advisory panel. Secretary Ken Salazar says the structure is meant to streamline federal regulation and response to deepwater oil drilling emergencies. The new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will manage development of offshore drilling through leasing and will analyze environmental impact; and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement will manage permits, inspections and oil spill response. This is the third major reorganization since the April 2010 deepwater horizons oil spill in the gulf.
  • The Justice Department is about to crack down on prosecutor misconduct. It has created an internal watchdog office called the Professional Misconduct Review Unit. The change follows a USA Today finding of 201 cases in which federal prosecutors had broken laws or ethics rules. In several cases, judges overturned convictions. Attorney General Eric Holder says the new unit will ensure fast resolution of misconduct cases.
  • The Supreme Court has upheld the right of federal agencies to conduct background checks on contractor employees. In a unanimous decision, the court said inquiries about drug use are permissible. The decision settles a suit brought by Cal Tech scientists working under a contract with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In essence, the decision says contractor employees are subject the same background investigations faced by federal employees.
  • Nearly 300 Navy ships are closer to getting upgraded networks. NextGov reports, a competition between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to develop new ship-board systems has passed an important milestone. That means it can move from the development stage to engineering and manufacturing. A program manager at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command says the technology has proven mature and stable. Only one company will get the job to build the final systems.
  • Twitter and Facebook could be the next tools FEMA uses to help save lives during a disaster. FEMA chief Craig Fugate says the sites allow people the reach out during emergencies like earthquakes, allowing rescuers to find them more quickly. Fugate says he regularly searches the Twittersphere for signs of state, local and national emergencies. NextGov reports, the agency is working on building apps for multiple mobile platforms for the general public but it still has hurdles to overcome, including questions about privacy concerns.
  • You’ll soon notice new labels showing up on many products that are made with corn, soy, or other bio-based ingredients. The Agriculture Department has unveiled the new seal, which will work like the Energy Star program for energy-efficient appliances. The “USDA Certified Biobased Product” seal will look like the USDA seal for organic foods, and will list how much of the product is made from renewable sources. USDA’s final rule for the certification will be published in today’s Federal Register.
  • The economy is getting better, and the housing market is improving. But, Fannie Mae’s economists say it’ll be at least another year before there’s a full recovery. The mortgage giant is forecasting economic growth this year of 3.6 percent in its Economic Outlook report from its Economics and Mortgage Market Analysis Group. Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan tells the Washington Business Journal that the economy has gained momentum and that they expect a small rise in home sales in 2011. However, he also says that there is a lot of shadow inventory from foreclosures which will hamper the housing market.
  • There is a downside to an improving economy, but DC area feds already live it. Increased traffic gridlock can be blamed on an improving economy. Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University say they’ve discovered that traffic was better than it had been in a decade during the height of the recession. But they say roads snarled once again as people returned to work and shopping. The researchers say people in Chicago and Washington, D.C. have the worst commutes.

More news links

Union leader: investment not cuts will spur growth

Boeing cutting 900 jobs in Long Beach

HIV exposure case lands airman in prison

FDA plans modest changes to medical device system

Giffords able to stand up as she readies for rehab

On China state dinner menu? Meat and potatoes

Bonneville selling 17 radio stations, including WFED

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on The DorobekInsider:

** Today is the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy — you probably can recite the words of his call to service. Well, the edits to that speech are now available online. The Kennedy Presidential Library is the first presidential library to go online. We’ll talk to them.

** And we’ll get GAO’s assessment of the 2010 tax filing season

Join Chris from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.

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