Thursday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Tom Temin & Ruben Gomez
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Uncle Sam is helping more of his employees pay for college. Office of Personnel Management reports federal agencies increased student loan repayments by 22 percent last year. In 2008, 35 federal agencies provided almost 7,000 employees with $52 million in student loan repayments, according to GovExec. That’s up from $42 million in 2007.

OPM is also making it easier for spouses of some military service members to get jobs in the government. It finalized a rule allowing federal agencies to hire the spouses without their having to compete for jobs. There are three conditions: if a service member is transferred to a new location permanently, becomes completely disabled during active duty, or dies during an active-duty assignment. If the spouse is killed during service, the widow or widower must remain unmarried to get a federal job, though.

How would you like $5-million dollars to pay for an apartment and cars? That’s what contract employees in Iraq are getting, according to defense auditors. The workers are linguists employed by a company providing translation service for US forces in the country. Government watchdogs criticize Global Linguist Solutions for questionable costs, but the company’s general manager says they’re doing their job.

A renewed worry for those who protect the president and other officials: Lone wolf attackers. The Federal Times reports there’s a new federal effort to detect lone attackers who might be planning something like the recent murders of a Kansas abortion doctor and a Holocaust museum security guard. The Lone Wolf Initiative got underway just after President Obama’s inauguration. Security officials were worried about a rising level of hate speech and gun sales.

Expect more junk mail as the Postal Service tries to rescue itself. Trying to boost business, the Postal Service plans to offer discounts to the biggest bulk mailers. Companies that mailed at least 500,000 first-class letters, cards or big envelopes during the last two Christmas seasons will be eligible for 20 percent lower prices. The post office figures that will stimulate more demand for mailing, and bring in $43 million extra dollars.

Get set for more question when you book and airline ticker. Domestic airlines on Saturday will start asking passengers to provide their birth date and sex for the first time. It’s all part of new federal aviation security requirements. The Department of Homeland Security is taking over responsibility for checking airline passenger names against government watch lists. So airlines will forward the information to the feds. DHS says the new procedures should reduce the number of mistaken identities which keep people off flights.

If you didn’t have enough to worry about, how about this: NASA is supposed to be finding all the asteroids that threaten to crash into Earth. But the space agency doesn’t have the money to do the job. A new report from the National Academy of Sciences says NASA needs more money for telescopes to find those bad boys. NASA figure there might be 20,000 asteroids and comets that threaten Earth.

Other Stories We’re Following

Obama’s surgeon general nominee advises Burger King (WashingtonTimes)

Agencies told to keep up with ID management (FCW)

At Library of Congress, Vets Clash Over Lynndie England Appearance (WallStreetJournal)

ICE: Detention overhaul won’t lead to fewer beds

CACI International 4Q profit grows 23 percent

AP source: Obama officials to tour Michigan prison

Former soldier pleads guilty to stealing $400,000

Army Corps finds World War I chemical, halts dig

Interior Dept.: Calif. water a national priority

USDOT’s new bike sharing program is a bike (GreaterWashington)

Employee complaints: Smelly colleagues, lack of cookies (WashingtonBusinessJournal)

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