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--"An agency offering workers the chance to retire early can no longer exclude people who were hired shortly before the agency requested early-out approval from OPM. The change results from a Sept. 12 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit" (The Washington Post).

NCUA--"The agency that regulates federal credit unions has systematically disqualified white males for employment, in violation of civil service rules, according to memos released yesterday by a House Banking panel. Documents also show that National Credit Union Administration officials ordered field offices to pull incriminating documents from their files before auditors from OPM arrived this summer" (The Washington Times & similar article in The Washington Post).

WELFARE TO WORK--Ottawa County, Michigan is having great success with its welfare-to-work program. What makes the county unusual are the lengths it will go, working with state funds, to get people off welfare and into the workforce (USA TODAY).

PAY RAISE--"The House yesterday voted to accept a cost-of-living pay raise and adopted a provision that would allow members to Congress and government workers to switch federal retirement plans, apparently so they could take advantage of soaring stock prices" (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 November 3 (changed from 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.

Industry Advisory Council's Executive Leadership Conference

October 5-7, 1997 Richmond, Virginia. Forty-six hours of exciting and important keynotes, workshops and frank discussions on the topics foremost in the minds of both government and industry leaders such as "How the Internet is changing the way we do business;" "Public vs private competition: Does it make sense?" and "Past Performance of Past Performance." $265 for government attendees and $425 for industry members. Register separately at the Richmond Marriott (804) 643-3400. Contact Mary Ellen Geoffroy, Executive Director of IAC at 703-218-1965.

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.