News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

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The following news summaries are from OPM AM, the daily newsletter of the Office of Personnel Management. OPM AM is available on OPM Mainstreet, the agency's electronic bulletin board, at 202-606-4800.

THE FEDERAL DIARY--"The $25 billion that federal workers and retirees have in the G-fund (Treasury securities) of their tax-deferred thrift savings plan will be invested at 6.25 percent for the month of September" (The Washington Post).

OPM--Janice Lachance was sworn in as deputy director of OPM on August 13...OPM has finalized the ethics rules governing the personnel agency's employees...OPM wants to consolidate the appointment authorities for fellowships, internships, residencies, student-stipend, and similar programs by replacing single-agency excepted service authorities with two broad, general divisions...OPM Mainstreeet--the electronic bulletin board that has been providing the public with free information from the agency--has changed its look and its name to OPM ONLINE (Federal Human Resources Week, 8/25/97).

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM--President Bill Clinton has issued guidelines to agencies designed to protect the rights of religious expression of federal employees. "Despite the publicity given the new guidelines, they will not make that big a change in the worklives of federal employees. The guidelines codify the rules rather than change them" (Federal Human Resources Week 8/25/97).

OF INTEREST--The Immigration and Naturalization Service wants to raise the fees it charges for processing citizenship applications and other services (The Washington Post)...Equal pay for equal work remains the overwhelming concern of working women, especially women over age 50, according to a survey released yesterday by the AFL-CIO (The Washington Post).

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Access America Conferences

The National Performance Review (NPR), will launch a series of informational conferences aimed at providing government employees and private industry IT officials with techniques and strategies for implementing the goals of Access America, an NPR report outlining steps to increase access--via the Internet--to government services. The first conference will be held September 25 in Baltimore, Md. and then will travel to other cities across the country. Expert panels will discuss IT topics, including Internet/Intranet successes, the future of Distance Learning and collaboration, IT acquisition and procurement reform, and privacy and security.

DTIC Annual Conference

The Defense Technical Information Center is presenting its Annual Users Meeting and Training Conference on Nov. 3-6, 1997 at the DoubleTree Hotel, National Airport, Arlington, Va. The conference theme is Information in the New Millenium. Contact Ms. Julia Foscue at 703-767-8236 or by e-mail at jfoscue@dtic.mil.