Many, perhaps most, Americans look to Washington, D.C., for leadership. And for that we thank you. We can use the work and, all too often, — channeling Rodney Dangerfield — we don’t get no respect!

War, peace, climate change, epidemics, those we can handle. More or less. But snow, not so much! Take yesterday. Please.

It snowed Tuesday. First one of the year for us. Inside the Beltway, we got just over an inch. Outside maybe 3+ inches. That may be April weather in Providence or Minot. But here in hilly river city, any snow is often too much.

The government wisely adopted a very flexible policy. Nonemergency types could come in late, and/or work from home. Some agencies outside the Beltway issued special orders to their troops. From a government- as-an-employer standpoint, this was one of our better snow emergencies. Maybe the best run yet!

Local governments, unfortunately, didn’t do so well. For many people, it was a tale of two counties. Fairfax in Virginia and Montgomery in Maryland are almost twins in size and income. While both have pockets of poverty, they are also among the richest counties in the nation with some of the top-earning Zip codes.

Most of the Maryland counties first granted a 2-hour delayed arrival, then canceled school for the day. A smart (safe) move, although it left many working parents in the lurch.

In Fairfax, however, the school system opted to open on time. Traffic and weather conditions were terrible. Buses became stuck (roads weren’t prepared). Some off-loaded their passengers so that some buses were chockfull of little kids, three to a seat. WTTG Channel 5 reported that a Canadian-born driver came to the rescue of a busload of kids, whose driver was from Morocco. And so it went.

One problem many people don’t understand is getting teachers to schools during bad weather. In Montgomery and Fairfax, many teachers don’t live anywhere near the schools where they work. They can’t afford it. Some commute from southside Virginia, western Maryland and even West Virginia. A lot of them didn’t make it in yesterday. In hindsight, keeping the schools open was a bad call. Result: Maryland 1, Virginia 0.

Each time we have a snow or ice storm and what happened yesterday happens, we say never again. We’ll do a lot better next time. Until the next time gets here. Maybe it was meant to be.

The Incredible Shrinking IRS

Congress has the Internal Revenue Service on a very low-calorie diet. Layoffs are possible at a time when Uncle Sam needs all the revenue he can get, and the IRS has added duties because of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). So what’s next, back to private debt collectors?

At 10 a.m. today on our Your Turn radio show we’ll talk with Colleen Kelley. She’s president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which has been watching — and protesting — the IRS cuts for a long time. So what’s her take? Listen if you can on www.federalnewsradio.com or in D.C. at 1500 AM. You can call in during the show if you have questions, at (202) 465-3080, or send them to me before show time at: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

Compiled by Michael O’Connell

Comedian Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Rodney Cohen on Nov. 22, 1921, and adopted the stage name “Jack Roy” when he first started performing at the age of 20.

Source: Wikipedia

MORE FROM FEDERAL NEWS RADIO:

First snow of the season: Did OPM make the right call?
On the first snow of the 2014-2015 winter season, the Office of Personnel Management decided to keep federal agencies open but give employees the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. The agency announced the decision around 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

OPM retirement backlog smallest in more than a year
The retirement claims backlog dipped to its lowest level in more than a year, according to new figures released Tuesday by the Office of Personnel Management. After processing 6,447 claims in December, OPM ended 2014 with 11,669 unprocessed claims in its inventory. That’s approximately 1,000 fewer claims than the 12,637 it had in its inventory at the end of December 2013.

Postmaster General: ‘Myopia’ from Congress, unions stifling USPS
After four years at the helm, Donahoe is retiring at the end of this month without being able to convince Congress to pass a law that would let the agency make changes to its employees’ pension and health care obligations, as well as its network and operations.

What feds should know about the 114th Congress
Tuesday marks the first day of the 114th Congress, which mostly serves as a day of ceremony for freshman members. But once the fanfare is over, experts on the Hill say Republicans and Democrats will get right back to settling some old scores left over from 2014.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.