Management
Contractors Are Reminded the President Always Wins in Shutdown Battles
Veterans of past stalemates stress that when agencies close, the situation stays fluid.
Route Fifty
Your State’s Tax System Probably Isn’t Fair
The fairest structures generally have lower sales and excise taxes, a new WalletHub survey shows.
Nextgov
What Facebook’s ‘Lean In’ Guru Can Teach Troops
"If the U.S. military can get this right, other industries will follow," Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said.
Management
Study: Drivers Have More Stressful Commutes Than Transit Riders or Walkers Do
Transit riders and walkers, who avoid the “unexpected delays” of traffic, stack up better in a new survey.
Management
Papal White House Visits Are Special, But They Sometimes Get Awkward
Meetings between popes and presidents have ranged from memorable to prickly.
Pay & Benefits
HUD Becomes First Major Department to Offer Phased Retirement for Employees
Department is restricting the opportunity to partially retire while working part-time to certain workers for now.
Pay & Benefits
Congress Should Not Get Paid During a Government Shutdown, Says Lawmaker
Bill would prevent future legislative bodies from receiving salaries during a government closure.
Management
IRS Phone Service Got Much Worse in an Otherwise Solid Filing Season
Watchdog says agency planned ahead for last-minute tax law changes.
Route Fifty
Nevada’s Tesla Gigafactory Growth Spurt; Water Cutbacks in Massachusetts
Also: Revolving door for Florida prison guards and gold-mining blues in Montana.
Management
Obama to Immigrants: Citizenship Leads to Better Jobs
A White House PSA touts the benefits of becoming naturalized.
Management
Carson Says Americans Should Not Elect a Muslim President
The Founding Fathers would not agree with the candidate's interpretation.
Management
‘Appalling’ Is the Right Word for the Civil Service System
Let’s fix workforce management once and for all.
Oversight
Play of the Day: Donald Trump Has His Own Bible
When the candidate said the scripture was his favorite book, no one knew that he was talking about the King Trump Version.
Oversight
The Future of Space Exploration, According to Congress
Mars, Europa and the search for life in deep space.
Tech
Congress Wants to Fix the Government's Weather Forecasting System
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are expressing fears that America’s ability to predict the weather is in peril.
Route Fifty
Baltimore Sewers a Big Budgetary Drain; Meth, Children and Despair in North Dakota
Also: Humiliating the best and brightest teachers in Tampa and still funding the SolarBees ‘boondoggle’ in North Carolina.
Defense
Agencies Say They Need Access to Americans' Emails Without a Warrant
But the FTC and SEC have not used the current subpoena process in five years.
Oversight
The House Votes to Defund Planned Parenthood
It’s unclear whether the measure will even come up in the Senate, but there could be political consequences anyway.
Oversight