Federal Daily - February 10, 2010
Another Storm, Another Closure for D.C. Feds
Washington D.C.-area feds digging out from a blizzard that dumped around two feet of snow on the metro area over the weekend faced the prospect on Wednesday of an additional eight to 12 inches of snow on the ground by afternoon.
Feds were permitted to take unscheduled leave on Feb. 5, and federal offices in the Washington area were closed Feb. 8 and 9. Officials on Tuesday evening ordered yet another day’s closure for Feb. 10.
The high demand for closure information has meant that online users accessing the Office of Personnel Management Web site, www.opm.gov, found themselves first directed to a page that showed the government’s operating status in the D.C. area. The page also provided brief details for the region’s emergency workers, teleworkers and those on alternative work schedules.
OPM posted its Wednesday closure decision on its Web site at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday. The office typically consults with weather forecasters and representatives of regional governments and transit authorities, among others, before making its decisions. OPM Director John Berry told reporters in December that the cost in lost productivity of closing all D.C.-area offices for a day is about $100 million.
D.C. feds can find the latest operating status info at www.opm.gov/status.
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Champion for Vets, Servicemembers, Rep. Murtha Dies
Rep. John Murtha, a respected voice on veterans affairs and national security, died Feb. 8 at the Virginia Hospital Center, in Arlington, Va., following complications from gallbladder surgery last month.
The Pennsylvania Democrat was 77 and the longest-serving member of Congress from that state. A Marine in Vietnam, Murtha served as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense.
“With the passing of Jack Murtha, America lost a great patriot,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “He served our country on the battlefield, winning two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star. He served his country in his community, winning the hearts of his constituents, and served in the Congress, winning the respect of his colleagues.”
Murtha was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress and voted in 2002 to authorize President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq. However, his frustration over the administration’s handling of the war prompted him three years later to call for an immediate withdrawal of troops.
“The war in Iraq is not going as advertised,” the former Marine drill instructor said at the time. “It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.” Since then, he had been one of Congress’s most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq.
To see more, go to: www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1535 or
www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-passing-congressman-john-murtha.
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NOAA to Launch New Climate Change Office
Amid blizzards in the east and torrential rains in the west, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Feb. 8 that it was creating a new office dedicated to studying and disseminating information on global climate change.
The new NOAA Climate Service will unify NOAA’s climate capabilities under a single climate office, and integrate the agency’s climate science and services and make them more accessible, said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. The new office will include climate research, observations, modeling, predictions and assessments generated by NOAA scientists, Locke said.
Thomas R. Karl, director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, will serve as transitional director of the new service. New positions for six NOAA Regional Climate Services Directors will be announced soon and will provide regional leadership, NOAA said.
The department said the new office was created because NOAA has been deluged with questions about how climate change would effect people in their own backyards—changes such as sea-level rise, longer growing seasons, increases in heavy downpours, earlier snowmelt and extended ice-free seasons.
“By providing critical planning information that our businesses and our communities need, NOAA Climate Service will help tackle head-on the challenges of mitigating and adapting to climate change,” said Locke.
New Climate Web Site—NOAA also unveiled a new Web site—www.climate.gov—that serves as a single point-of-entry for NOAA’s extensive climate information, data, products and services. Known as the NOAA Climate Portal, it includes an interactive “climate dashboard” that shows a range of constantly updating climate data such as temperature, carbon dioxide concentration and sea level, and features the new climate science magazine, “ClimateWatch.”
To see more, go to: www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100208_climate.html.
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