GovCentral

HARRISBURG, Pa. – U.S. Rep. John Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Monday. He was 77. The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., spokesman Matthew Mazonkey said. In 1974 Murtha, then an officer in the Marine ...

Civilian agencies might soon be required to set aside a percentage of funds from multiple-award, multiagency contracting vehicles for small businesses. The provision, included in the 2010 Small Business Contracting Improvements Act introduced by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, on Thursday, would require agencies to reserve for small firms a yet undetermined portion of orders placed against federal ...

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has placed a blanket hold on all executive nominations on the Senate calendar in an effort to win concessions from the Obama administration and Pentagon on a variety of fronts affecting his home state, according to aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle said Shelby is blocking more than 70 pending nominations. ...

Washington, DC – The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a government wide Strategic Plan to increase support and access for Veterans seeking employment with the Federal government. The plan is part of President Obama’s Veterans Employment Initiative, a pragmatic, straightforward approach to helping the men and women who have served our country in the military find employment as civilians ...

President Obama may not have given federal workers much of a salary increase -- just 1.4 percent -- in his proposed budget for fiscal 2011, but he did show them some love. And that demonstration of affection could pay off for Frankie and Flo Fed, including in ways they can take to the bank. The affection is apparent in Chapter 10 ...

LOS ANGELES – When Ronald "Loony" Barron urged a young graffiti tagger to put away his paint cans, he was doing what he viewed as his mission — steering kids away from crime — but he paid for it with his life.

WASHINGTON – If snow keeps 230,000 government employees home for the better part of a week, will anyone notice?

WASHINGTON – Crediting civil rights-era protest songs and their spiritual predecessors for his election, President Barack Obama on Tuesday sat in the East Room of his White House and listened to an all-star lineup of performers pay tribute to the music that he said fueled freedom marches and civil disobedience.

WASHINGTON – Partisanship is reaching new heights in Washington, even as President Barack Obama makes almost daily pleas to get along. He's scheduled a bipartisan health care summit, and just Tuesday he hosted GOP leaders at the White House for the first time in two months.

WASHINGTON – Gallbladder surgery is usually a very safe operation, but a powerful congressman's death is a reminder of the known risks.

DETROIT – Honda Motor Co. is adding more than 378,000 cars to an existing safety recall for air bag inflation problems, the company said Tuesday.

RICHMOND, Va. – Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor.