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Monday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Ruben Gomez Edited by Suzanne Kubota This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED: Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has promised a full...

Federal News Network Staff

April 13, 2009 8:26 am

1 min read

Written by Ruben Gomez
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has promised a full review of an incident last week where a VA press officer seized a reporter’s recording device. VA officials say the reporter violated protocol when he tried to interview an injured veteran without consent. The incident happened at a public forum. VA has since returned the equipment.

Clearing the way for agencies to use Facebook, the General Services Administration has signed an agreement with the social networking site. In March, GSA announced agreements with Flicker, You Tube, Vimeo and Blip-TV.

The Pentagon will use $300-million stimulus dollars to speed up research on alternative fuels. The Washington Post reports some of the money will go to projects already underway. Among them, turning garbage into oil. The Defense Department as a whole gets $7.4-billion dollars under the Recovery Act.

The Postal Service could soon join the world of banks. Federal Times reports that’s one of the options the agency is considering in the face of massive deficits. The idea mirrors a European model where some post offices partner with commercial banks, and others are banks. The postal service faces a potential $6-billion dollar shortfall this year.

President Obama has picked a Maryland official to be the second-in-command at the Transportation Department. John Porcari currently leads the Maryland Department of Transportation. He’s also served as vice president for administrative affairs at the University of Maryland. His name now goes the the Senate for confirmation.