Article Title: Flu vaccine just 36% effective this season, CDC reports
Snippet of Article: "...More than two-thirds of flu sickness this season -- 69% -- has been caused by the H3N2 strain, an influenza A virus.
H3N2 viruses "are often linked to more severe illness," acting CDC Director Dr. Anne Schuchat said Thursday..."
Article Title: Democrats lash out at consumer watchdog amid reports the agency is dropping Equifax investigation
Snippet of Article: "...lawmakers, who have feared that President Trump’s pick to temporarily lead the agency, Mick Mulvaney, is weakening the consumer watchdog. Failing to investigate the data breach would put “145 million Americans at risk [and] is malpractice,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), ranking Democrat of the Senate Banking Committee. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) said, “The Trump administration has chosen to protect Equifax while denying Americans justice and accountability..."
Article Title: FBI ‘Failed To Preserve’ Five Months Of Text Messages Between Anti-Trump FBI Agents
Snippet of Article: "...Strzok was removed after the Justice Department’s inspector general discovered text messages he exchanged with Page, with whom he was having an affair, in which both expressed strong criticism of Trump.
In one text, Strzok called Trump and “idiot.” In another, he said “F Trump..."
Article Title: USPS Offering Round of Early Retirements
Snippet of Article: "...The Postal Service is offering a round of early retirements–although not accompanied by buyout offers–to some 26,000 employees, with those who accept having to leave by the end of either January, February or March..."
Article Title: EPA may offer more buyouts, early retirement, depending on funding from Congress
Snippet of Article: "...the EPA could offer buyouts to an additional 2,200 to 2,500 employees. The maximum buyout a civilian federal employee can receive under current law is $25,000.
“I think we will see another round of buyouts with that kind of money in play,” O’Grady said in an interview with Federal News Radio..."
Article Title: FBI chief calls unbreakable encryption 'urgent public safety issue'
Snippet of Article: "...U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in October chastised technology companies for building strongly encrypted products, suggesting Silicon Valley is more willing to comply with foreign government demands for data than those made by their home country..."
Article Title: Trump labor adviser’s plan for cutting federal compensation, potentially even paid holidays
Snippet of Article: "...leading Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, revealed an administration proposal to freeze federal salaries in fiscal 2019. That is the third piece in a pattern that includes Trump’s 2018 budget proposal to cut the employer contribution to retirement benefits and the House Republican plan to have retirees pay more out of pocket for their health insurance...."
Article Title: Sen. McCaskill: White House to freeze pay for civilian employees in 2019
Snippet of Article: "...according to the document given to minority committee members, OMB denied DHS’ request to provide additional pay and added that the administration planned to issue a governmentwide pay freeze for civilian employees in 2019..."
Article Title: Federal Officials Probe National Lab After Worker Incident
Snippet of Article: "...Federal officials are investigating the Los Alamos National Laboratory after an employee was involved in an incident described as a "near-miss to a fatality."
A worker entered a lab room that had..."
Article Title: Pay attention to changes to next year’s payroll calendars; they’re all different
Snippet of Article: "...A few federal shared services payroll centers are making some small but significant changes to their pay schedules in 2018.
Each payroll center has a slightly different calendar for the coming year, and changes from any of the four major federal processing centers can impact employees’ Thrift Savings Plan contributions, annual leave banks and other benefits..."
Article Title: Trump’s Budget Takes a Big Bite Out of Federal Retirement Benefits
Snippet of Article: "...As part of his austerity drive, President Trump is seeking to eliminate cost-of-living adjustments for retirees in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), the premier government retirement program. He would also cut the cost-of-living adjustment rate by 0.5 percent for those covered by the parallel Civil Service Retirement System..."
Article Title: The perks of being a member of Congress
Snippet of Article: "...Members of Congress are granted policies, benefits, and perks that grant them privileges denied in most other workplaces. In yesterday's lead item in Axios AM, Mike Allen touched on John Boehner's in-office smoking as an example — allowed, according to the N.Y. Times, thanks to Congress' supremacy over District of Columbia law..."
Article Title: Taking CSRS Benefits to the Limit
Snippet of Article: "...If you are one of those already at the 80 percent limit, retirement deductions are still being taken out of your salary. If you haven’t reached the limit, they will be when you do. Your excess contributions will be refunded to you when you retire. And you’ll be offered a ..."
Article Title: Bernie Sanders: We must end global oligarchy
Snippet of Article: "...Here in the United States, the top one-tenth of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. Incredibly, according to a recent report from the Institute for Policy Studies, three of the richest people in America -- Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett -- now own more wealth than bottom 160 million people in our country..."
Article Title: What Does the Tax Bill Do for Low-Income Workers?
Snippet of Article: "... it’s not fair that so many Americans, especially richer Americans, will benefit from the huge tax cuts while so many low-wage workers will be left out in the cold—and receive nothing from this budget-busting cornucopia..."
Article Title: Maryland postal worker wins $10 million jackpot
Snippet of Article: "...Simmons opted for the one-time cash option of $6.5 million before taxes. He could have chosen to receive the full $10 million over 30 years, according..."
Article Title: 2018 Social Security COLA is 2%
Snippet of Article: "...Based on the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third
quarter of 2016 through the third quarter of 2017, Social Security and
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefici
aries will receive a
2.0 percent
COLA for 2018. Other important 2018 Social Security information..."
Article Title: White House believes chief of staff's personal phone was hacked: report
Snippet of Article: "...A White House official told Politico that Kelly uses his government-issued phone for any official communication and has not used his personal phone since joining the Trump administration..."
Article Title: Gov’t to start testing federal employees for common opioids
Snippet of Article: "...The federal government said Friday it will start drug-testing employees for OxyContin and other commonly abused painkillers as part of President Trump’s effort to get a handle on the opioids crisis.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said the new guidelines will check for the semi-synthetic opioids to ensure that workers are clean and sober on the job..."
Article Title: The U.S. Is Warning Americans Not to Travel to Cuba. Here’s What to Know
Snippet of Article: "...The United States has issued a travel warning against Cuba, advising Americans not to visit and removing some personnel from the island in the wake of what are believed to be sonic attacks on diplomats..."
Article Title: SEC says hack may have led to illegal Wall Street profits
Snippet of Article: "...The country’s top Wall Street regulator says a cyberattack last year breached its system for storing documents filed by companies, possibly allowing hackers to make illegal profits.
The Securities and Exchange Commission admitted the breach in a statement posted Wednesday on its website.
Chairman Jay Clayton said a review of the agency’s cybersecurity revealed “a software vulnerability” in its EDGAR (electronic data gathering, analysis and retrieval) ..."
Article Title: U.S. bans use of Kaspersky software in federal agencies amid concerns of Russian espionage
Snippet of Article: "... ordered that Kaspersky Lab software be barred from federal government networks, giving agencies a timeline to get rid of it, according to several officials familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Duke ordered the scrub on the grounds that the company has connections to the Russian government and its software poses a security risk..."
Screwing the lower middle class again. The rich and corporations get richer while you get raped
Article Title: President Trump Wants to Cut Corporate Tax Rate to 15 Percent
Snippet of Article: "...Trump, who made overhauling taxes a pillar of his push for economic growth, has called for a 15 percent tax rate for corporations. The rate now ranges from 15 percent to 35 percent. The average tax rate paid by corporations is around 19 percent to 25 percent, according to the Treasury Department and congressional analysts..."
Article Title: FBI Considers Terror Possibility After Pipe Bomb Explodes at Indiana Post Office
Snippet of Article: "...A postal worker was injured when a pipe bomb exploded at a post office in northwestern Indiana, and the FBI said Thursday it is investigating whether it was an act of terrorism.
The investigation into the explosion Wednesday around 6 p.m. at the facility in East Chicago..."
Article Title: Trump Picks Oklahoma Congressman To Head NASA
Snippet of Article: "...President Trump's pick for the next leader of NASA is a fighter pilot who wants Americans to return to the moon but doesn't believe that humans are causing climate change.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma has to be confirmed by the Senate before taking charge of NASA..."
Article Title: 16 Postal Workers Charged After Accepting Bribes to Deliver Drugs, Officials Say
Snippet of Article: "...Sixteen postal workers in Atlanta and the surrounding area accepted bribes to deliver packages of cocaine, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
In exchange for bribery payments, the postal workers provided special addresses on their routes..."
Article Title: Q and A for federal workers: Open season choices
Snippet of Article: "...From Nov. 13 to Dec. 11, federal employees can enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for 2018, and those already enrolled can change plans, change coverage options (between self-only and self-and-family, for example) or change levels of coverage within plans that have more than one level. Retirees generally cannot join but can make the other types of changes if they have remained enrolled continuously..."
Article Title: Letter to the editor: Hey Uncle Sam, offering buyouts will save money
Snippet of Article: "...trying to understand why Congress cannot DO THE MATH. You have 77,000 federal workers ready to retire. They are waiting for the next buyout to be offered, whether it be $40,000 or $25,000!
If you offer this, you’d reduce your budget, even I know sometimes in life you have to bite the bullet and spend money to make money! Meaning you offer the buyout to the federal workers who are at the top of their salary scale, and the person you hire in their place you pay less money, thus saving money on each person that is replaced..."
Article Title: Federal Employee Pay Raise Process Moving Ahead
Snippet of Article: "...As of now, the presumed federal employee raise that would take place in 2018 is 1.9%. The deadline for the White House to propose a different rate increase is August 31. This letter will typically be issued just a few days before August 31st..."
Article Title: How tax reform could sting your retirement income
Snippet of Article: "...among the tax reform proposals currently being discussed is one that would convert part or all of workers' tax-deferred 401(k) contributions to Roth 401(k) contributions, which are made after taxes have been removed. That could significantly increase the federal income taxes that middle-income workers would pay throughout their lives. And it could reduce the amount of money they could spend throughout their lives after paying taxes.
A typical older middle-income worker could lose $500 per year..."
