SEATTLE — The new top federal prosecutor in Seattle knows the significance her role carries for many people: She's apparently the nation's first openly gay U.S. attorney. But as a daughter of privilege — her dad was a powerful Democratic state senator, and she had all the benefits of a comfortable upbringing and a good education — Jenny Durkan also recalls ...

The number of political appointees converting-or burrowing-into career positions is minute, according to the Office of Personnel Management. In 2008, OPM says it reviewed 58 conversions and found only two of the required further evaluation. This is out of more than 1,600 political positions. The minority staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee reported in 2005 that the Bush ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - What's all the fuss about? After all the noise over Democrats' push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, coverage numbers are finally in: Two percent. That's the estimated share of Americans younger than 65 who'd sign up for the public option plan under the health care bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is steering ...

The government is developing a comprehensive database that will track the performance of federal contractors, according to a proposed rule published Thursday in the Federal Register. Click here to read the proposed rule The Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, which the General Services Administration will maintain, will integrate a handful of existing databases with new information provided by contracting ...

Most Americans have a neutral to negative opinion of federal agencies, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. The poll, conducted during the summer, asked more than 40,000 Americans to rate their individual experience with federal agencies to understand the public's overall perception of government. Nearly half (46 percent) viewed agencies neutrally, while 34 percent reported negative opinions and 20 ...

Participation in telework rose in 2008, but the percentage of eligible federal employees who took advantage of the alternative work arrangement on a regular basis remained small, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of Personnel Management. Click here to read the report Last year, 102,900 federal employees worked off-site at least once a month, the report stated. That's ...

MINNEAPOLIS – Minneapolis assistant police Chief Sharon Lubinski has become the first openly gay U.S. marshal. The U.S. Senate confirmed the Green Bay, Wis. native to be the U.S. marshal for the Minnesota district. Last week's confirmation also makes her the first female marshal in the state. Lubinski has served a number of roles with the Minneapolis Police. She was also ...

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. ...

Within his first few months in office, President Obama signed the largest economic recovery package in a generation, significantly boosted government assistance to banks and auto manufacturers, and augmented the role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. No matter your political affiliation, it is undeniable that these policies have expanded the missions of federal agencies, and by proxy, those of government contractors. ...

Groups representing federal and postal workers and retirees have delivered the goods as never before. This year, 2009, will go down in the books as as-good-as-it-gets. The new Defense Authorization Act contains an array of eye-popping new benefits for federal workers in both major retirement systems, retirees and former feds who want to make a comeback in government. The back-stage lobbying ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a community organization that has been hit with Republican accusations of voter-registration fraud. "We do not come to this decision lightly," Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN, which was obtained by The Associated Press. In splitting with ACORN, Groves sought to tamp down GOP ...

Late Monday, the Senate voted on and unanimously passed telework legislation which had been held up for more than a year. The 2010 Telework Enhancement Act (S. 707), sponsored by Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, is designed to expand telecommuting opportunities in the federal government by making employees presumptively eligible and requiring agencies to take a number of ...

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program typically includes an array of health insurance options. But this year the choices are more limited than before because 32 health insurance plans are leaving FEHBP or reducing their coverage across the country. "It's kind of a disturbing trend," said Dave Snell, retirement benefits service department director for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees ...

As another deadline looms, approximately 18,000 U.S. Postal Service employees so far have accepted a $15,000 buyout offer, officials have reported. The final tally of buyout acceptances from each job category isn't available yet, said Yvonne Yoerger, a Postal Service spokeswoman. It's also too soon to determine the agency's savings as a result of the buyout, she added. Employees were required ...

Federal agencies might have better luck selecting the best job candidates if they included a simulation of the work in the application process, according to a new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Developing tests to see how prospective employees respond to a given work environment or how they perform a particular task can be expensive. But "agencies need to ...

The U.S. Postal Service must look for new ways to generate revenue beyond simply reducing its workforce, said lawmakers and witnesses during a House hearing on Thursday. Employee layoffs are not the only solution to digging the agency out of debt, said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform's federal workforce subcommittee. "It would be a ...

A Republican senator is holding up legislation that would prevent Transportation Department workers furloughed earlier this month from losing pay. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he is upset by the bill's funding mechanism. "Time and time again, Congress intentionally waits until the last minute to consider important legislation and then declares the billions of dollars in foreseeable costs as emergency spending ...

Federal agencies soon will be required to create dashboards on their Web sites tracking the amount of money they have spent on improper payments, under a new directive from President Obama. The executive order -- which Office of Management and Budget Director Peter R. Orszag previewed last week -- is aimed at increasing the transparency and public scrutiny of payments to ...

BOSTON - Federal stimulus funds directly funded 11,692 jobs in Massachusetts during the first three months of the year, according to newly released federal data. That's up from 9,474 jobs in the fourth quarter of last year, indicating some additional stimulus projects in Massachusetts have started ramping up hiring. Nationally, the government says 682,779 jobs were directly funded by the awards ...

Federal government offices in the Washington region will be closed on Monday. Nonessential government workers will be granted excused absences. Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time, and some employees who telework may be expected to work from their telework sites, as specified in their individual agreements. The Office of Personnel Management made the announcement Sunday afternoon, well ...