The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a proposed revision on how federal agencies prioritize workers when implementing reduction-in-force (RIF) policies, or federal layoffs. The proposed amendment will “prioritize performance over length of services when determining which employees will be retained in a RIF.” OPM is the federal agency responsible... Read More »
The individual responsible for bombing downtown Nashville on Christmas morning has been identified as 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner of Antioch. Warner, who lived in a nearby suburb, was a self-employed IT services contractor who worked predominantly from home. The explosion happened around 6:30 am early Christmas morning and was accompanied... Read More »
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has reached out to President-elect Biden and the world with an urgent plea to retract the new Trump Administration Executive Order on Federal Buildings. President Trump wants to “Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” and has issued a directive to allow no new designs... Read More »
On December 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concluded implementing the Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) with El Salvador. Nicknamed the “Safe Third Country” program, the agreement will return certain migrants apprehended at the U.S. southern border to apply first in El Salvador for asylum or select other... Read More »
Texas U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen has not delivered a ruling on a hearing that will determine the fate of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The case was brought on by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. His office is representing nine other states that are seeking... Read More »
The Department of Justice filed a civil complaint against Walmart Inc. on Tuesday, December 22, stating the company “unlawfully dispensed controlled substances from pharmacies it operated across the country,” resulting in “hundreds of thousands of violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)” during the peak of the opioid crisis in... Read More »
The disappearance of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht has run cold for over 32 years, but new evidence in the case has led to charges against David Misch, 59. Earlier this week, Alameda County’s District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley announced charges against Misch, which included the kidnapping and murder of Garecht. According... Read More »
In the controversy swirling around COVID-19-related lockdowns, an early hotspot was the state of Michigan, where Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer took sweeping steps in March to mitigate the spread of the virus. Although numerous other states implemented similar measures, the Michigan stay-at-home orders sparked violent reactions, with anti-lockdown rallies held... Read More »
The family of a U.S. college student arrested in the Cayman Islands for breaking quarantine is appealing to the US government for help. Eighteen-year-old college student Skyler Mack has been sentenced to four months behind bars in the Cayman Islands after she broke the island's COVID-19 quarantine protocol. The teen’s... Read More »
A U.S.House Oversight Committee led by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-SC, is investigating HHS officials, including the director of the CDC, over the handling of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. This week, the committee issued two subpoenas to U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield. The... Read More »
A China-based employee of a US telecommunications company was charged in federal court in Brooklyn on December 18 with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and unlawful conspiracy to transfer a means of identification. Xinjiang Jin, also known as Julien Jin, is charged with scheming to disrupt numerous meetings in May... Read More »
Last week, Congress passed legislation on a second stimulus package that would aid Americans with up to $600 in direct payments. The legislation happens to be the longest bill ever passed by Congress, coming in at a whopping 5,593 pages. The legislation is a combination of the second coronavirus relief... Read More »
The Department of Labor announced a finalized rule on December 22, 2020, that will amend section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to protect the tips of employees. This final rule clarifies how businesses must operate under the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2018, an omnibus spending bill... Read More »
When Florida Department of Health employee Rebekah Jones noticed a discrepancy on the state’s COVID-19 statistics published on their website, she immediately told her supervisor. But the data scientist, who had created the COVID-19 portal, was rebuked and told to “manipulate” the figures. Jones, who said she was told to... Read More »
There is a tragic irony to Walmart’s advertising slogan that claims, “Save Money. Live Better.” The hundreds of thousands of people who filled their opioid prescriptions at Walmart’s pharmacies across the nation might have saved some money, but according to a new civil complaint filed by the Department of Justice,... Read More »
