NEWS: April 29, 2010

Education | The Nation
Foundations to Match Feds' Education Grants
A coalition of a dozen wealthy foundations is offering $506 billion to match Investing in Innovation federal grants meant to encourage education reform, taking the pressure off schools scrambling to find the matching dollars they need to get the money.
MORE: Associated Press/Yahoo News
D.C. CFO Rejects Funding Plan for Teacher Raises
Washington, D.C., Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi has rejected a plan to fund a portion of pay raises for teachers with private foundation money, saying conditions attached to the donations are unacceptable.
MORE: Washington Post
Two Ex-Detroit School Officials Indicted
A fraud investigation into the Detroits Schools' risk-management department led to federal indictments of two former officials and two vendors accused of taking more than $3 million from the district.
MORE: Detroit News

Mary Kay Henry

Public Workforce | The Nation
SEIU Health-Care Strategist
Likely to Succeed Stern
Andy Stern's choice to succeed him as president of the Service Employees International Union dropped out of the race, clearing the way for the union's top health-care strategist to ascend to the powerful post. Stern's longtime protege, Anna Burger, said she would support Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry.
MORE: Los Angeles Times
Philadelphia Targets Non-Union Workers' Pensions
As part of its push to reduce Philadelphia's long-term pension costs, Mayor Michael Nutter's administration will ask the city council to take up legislation revamping retirement benefits for a class of about 5,000 municipal workers not represented by unions.
MORE: Philadelphia Inquirer
Study: Government-Private Pay Gap Widening
State and local government employees earn an average of 11 percent and 12 percent less, respectively, than comparable private-sector employees, according to an analysis spanning two decades and showing that the pay gap has widened in recent years.
MORE: National Institute on Retirement Security

Demographics | The Nation
Census Readies Final Push
An army of 635,000 census workers will hit the streets Saturday to fill in the blanks of the 2010 census. Census director Robert Groves said 72 percent of households had mailed back questionnaires, matching the initial participation rate in the 2000 census.
MORE: Aol News

Energy/Environment | Cape Cod, Mass.
Feds Approve Offshore Wind Farm
Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar approved the nation’s first offshore wind farm, the controversial Cape Wind project first proposed nine years ago for the waters of Nantucket Sound. The main opposition group announced that it would sue in an effort to block the $1 billion project.
MORE: Boston Globe
Gulf Oil Spill Gushing 5,000 Barrels a Day
As the first burn-off of oil leaking from the offshore Gulf rig that exploded April 20 began, federal officials revised their estimates of the amount of leaking oil from 1,000 barrels a day to up to 5,000.
MORE: New Orleans Times-Picayune
Probe: EPA Staffers Hobbled
Environmental Protection Agency staffers have been forced to ignore relevant science, have lacked key monitoring data and have worked without crucial information needed to protect the public, according to the preliminary findings of a scientific advisory board.
MORE: Politics Daily

Finance | Milwaukee
City Shows $23 Million Surplus for 2009
Milwaukee finished 2009 with a $23 million surplus, city officials announced. They credited moves to cut spending--including furloughing employees, holding positions vacant and limiting overtime--in an attempt to build up the surplus for future years.
MORE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Houston Mayor to Seek Police, Fire Cuts
Houston Mayor Annise Parker provided an early picture of how she intends to close a $140 million budget gap, indicating she will steer the city away from layoffs and furloughs but demand millions in cuts from the police and fire departments.
MORE: Houston Chronicle

Purchasing | The Nation
House Backs Overhaul of DOD Purchasing
The House overwhelmingly approved a major overhaul of how the Defense Department purchases services and technology, spending that accounts for roughly 80 percent of Pentagon procurements. The measure would make major changes to Defense's purchasing system, acquisition workforce and financial management.
MORE: Government Executive

David O. Brown

Public Officials | Dallas
Department Vet to Be Police Chief
City Manager Mary Suhm named David O. Brown, a 26-year Dallas police veteran, to replace departing Police Chief David Kunkle. Brown, who will take over the 3,662-member department May 5, is the second African-American to have the job full-time.
MORE: Dallas Morning News

Technology | The Nation
Feds to Launch Social-Networking Site
The federal government plans to launch a new Facebook-like social-networking website for its workers. FedSpace is intended to provide feds with more opportunities to communicate and collaborate, allowing them to blog, create wikis and share files.
MORE: Federal Times

More news, analysis, resources and events: GovManagement.com

ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

Public Officials | Lou Cannon

Daryl F. Gates

The Chief
Who Said
Too Much
Daryl F. Gates, the chief who shaped the Los Angeles Police Department for better and for worse and who died last week, was for many both a bridge to the future and a link to the past. He was a flawed figure whose policies were often more progressive than his descriptions of them. His tongue was his greatest enemy.
MORE: Politics Daily

DATAPOINT

81%
Percentage of census forms that have been returned by households in Wisconsin, the nation's highest response rate but a number that fell 1 percentage point short of the state's rate for the 2000 census
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | More data

QUOTABLE

“Vote it up or down, and then go back and tell the people, 'Hey, I got a job as alderman, but you don't have one, ha ha ha.' ”
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who supports as a job creator a contentious plan for a Wal-Mart on the city's Far South Side, calling for a vote by the full city council on the proposal
Chicago Tribune | More quotes

UPCOMING

International City/County Management Association
Web conference on Achieving Performance Goals in Tough
Fiscal Times
Today, 1-2:30 p.m. ET

American Productivity and
Quality Center
Knowledge Management Conference
April 29-30 | Houston

National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems
Annual Conference
May 2-6 | Las Vegas

Partnership for Public Service
Webinar on Mission Critical Occupations
May 3, 11 a.m.-noon ET

Public Technology Institute
Webinar on Technologies to Increase Government Transparency
May 4, 1:30 p.m. ET

Public Technology Institute
Webinar on Management of Technology Projects
May 6, 2 p.m. ET

Association for Work Process Improvement
Annual Forum & Expo
May 9-13 | Dallas

Federal Managers Association
Government Performance Summit
May 10-12 | Arlington, Va.

Government Technology magazine
Government Technology Conference/West
May 11-12 | Sacramento, Calif.

Full events listings