Tech
Patent Office Celebrates 10-Millionth Award as Inventors Complain
After 228 years, agency is accused of wrong wording on owners’ rights to exclude.
Route Fifty
Complete Figures for State Disaster Spending Are Hard to Come By
A new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts highlights some of the reasons policy makers may want to tackle the issue.
Management
Leaders, Don’t Be the Cheese in the Panini
Try one or more these strategies that will help reduce the pressure and allow you to lead and live at your best.
Nextgov
New Bill Aims to Prevent the Next Kaspersky, ZTE
The bill would establish an interagency commission to help vet supply chain cybersecurity risks.
Management
45 Senate Democrats Demand That Trump Rescind Workforce Executive Orders
Recent executive orders on firing, unions “undermine the foundations of our civil service system.”
Route Fifty
This Utah Library System Will Distribute Overdose-Reversing Naloxone to Residents
Distribution of the kits is an extension of a previous push to train library staff to spot the signs of an opioid overdose and administer naloxone directly to library patrons in distress.
Pay & Benefits
Senate Approves Major Governmentwide Pay and Hiring Reforms in Defense Bill
Senators will have to fight to preserve workforce reforms such as an increase in allowable buyout amounts to $40K.
Management
White House Inaugurates ‘Gears of Government’ Awards for Exceptional Performance
Agencies will nominate employees who advance the mission, customer service or stewardship.
Pay & Benefits
Senate Appropriators Ignore Trump's Proposed Pay Freeze, Back 1.9% Raise for Feds
The pay boost, approved by a Senate subcommittee, marks the first pushback in Congress to President Trump’s plan to freeze federal civilian employee pay in 2019.
Nextgov
Critical Update: How to Build a Tech Team Designed to Succeed
Pro tip: They won't all be coders.
Defense
How Exactly Do You Establish a Space Force?
President Trump has directed his military advisers to create a sixth military branch devoted to the cosmos, but doing so may require an act of Congress.
Management
Audio: A 6-Year-Old Migrant Girl Tries To Navigate The U.S. Detention System On Her Own
"I promise I’ll behave, but please get me out of here. I’m all alone," she said.
Management
New Technologies Pose Ethical Challenges for Agencies
Officials need to ensure efforts to modernize are not in conflict with essential moral principles.
Oversight
Play of the Day: Defining the Word 'Cage'
A chain link fence isn't a cage. It's just a type of wall.
Management
Understanding the Rising Rate of Suicide
Deaths from opioid overdose and suicide are at an all-time high. One in 10 adult Americans uses marijuana. And only 1 in 3 Americans self-describes as "happy." A public health expert asks, what's going on?
Route Fifty
Washington Gov. and State AG to Trump Administration: ‘Stop Lying’
STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | N.J. state government faces shutdown risk … flash floods rip through Mich. city … and Philly mayor responds to city controller’s ‘recklessly inflated’ audit.
Route Fifty
Supreme Court to Consider Case on State Seizure of Property
Constitutional limits on local and state criminal fines, as well as "civil asset forfeiture" policies, are the focus of Timbs v. Indiana.
Tech
What Trump’s Space Force Announcement Means
New plan would create sixth service branch, and annoy the Air Force.
Nextgov
DHS-Funded Company Wants to Use Blockchain at the Border
DHS may soon use blockchain technology to protect all sorts of data it collects in protecting U.S. borders.
Management