Friday Afternoon Federal Newscast

The Federal Employee Health Benefits Program will not be eliminated, at least, for now. Senator Chuck Grassley has agreed to change his proposed amendment to the Senate Finance Committee's version of health care reform legislation. Federal News Radio told you earlier that the original wording of the amendment would have required elected officials and federal employees to buy insurance through state-based health exchange plans. That proposal has been scaled back to include members of Congress and their staff, only.

Effective immediately, all federal workers are banned from texting while driving on while on the government clock. The policy applies to any feds operating government-owned vehicles or privately-owned vehicles while on government business. President Obama signed the executive order late Wednesday. Federal contractors are being encouraged to implement a similar policy.

With the 2010 census six months away, the Commerce Department says it won't as the Department of Homeland Security to stop immigration raids. For the 2000 census, immigration officials informally agreed to not conduct raids so that Census workers could get an accurate count of U.S. residents, both legal and illegal. The decennial count begins April first.

Filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are joining forces with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, combining their collections of Normal Rockwell's art in a Washington exhibit next year. It will be the first major exhibit to explore connections between Rockwell's images of American life and the movies. It will be on view from July 2010 until January 2011, showing more than 50 rarely seen Rockwell paintings and drawings. Curators interviewed Lucas and Spielberg about Rockwell, and excerpts of the videos will be shown in the exhibit. (AP Wire)

Other News Links

Soldiers' Data Still Being Downloaded Overseas, Firm Says (Washington Post)

23,000 Postal Workers Opt for Buyout (Washington Post)

Watchdog: Stopgap spending measures tie agencies' hands (GovExec)

10 BlackBerry applications to make your life easier (GCN)