Have you ever been charged with “moral turpitude” and wondered what it meant? If so, you might have been reading an immigration form written by Customs and Border Protection. That’s just one example of less-than-ideal writing that won an award for being so terrible.

Christopher Balmford is managing director of Words and Beyond, an Australian company that helps organizations and agencies clean up and simplify their obfuscatory and meandrous words. He’s also host of the Center for Plain Language’s 2014 ClearMark Awards.

The President gave his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Today, the Federal Drive got a look at the state of the federal government from Chris Mihm, Managing Director for Strategic Issues, at the Government Accountability Office. Nearly one year ago, the GAO named 30 areas of government to its high-risk list. Mihm joined Tom and Emily with a progress report.

President Obama promises to raise the minimum wage for federal contract employees. It would go from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 by 2015. Roger Waldron, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement, has reaction from the contractor community.

The Homeland Security Department is cracking down on what it calls “Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime.” It’s meant for field officers whose day is unpredictable. But some administrative employees have been logging it, too. Federal News Radio’s Lauren Larson has details.

Agencies are treating privacy today like they treated cybersecurity three or five years ago. It’s important, but officials are not sure how and what it means to apply privacy to data. Federal News Radio’s executive editor, Jason Miller, has advice from one agency who is ahead of the game.

Read Jason’s related article.

Congress voted to cut back military retiree pensions a little over a month ago. Now, the Senate Armed Services Committee wants to repeal the provision as quickly as possible. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu reports, the Defense Department agrees.

Read Jared’s related article.