Friday Afternoon Newscast

The White House is saying little about an environmental adviser who has made inflammatory statements in the past. Van Jones is an administration official who sp...

The White House is saying little about an environmental adviser who has made inflammatory statements in the past. Van Jones is an administration official who specializes in environmentally-friendly “green jobs.” He’s come under fire after news reports of a derogatory comment he made in the past about Republicans. And there’s also word that his name appeared on a petition after 9/11, asking for conressional hearings and other investigations into whether high-level government officers had allowed those attacks to occur. When asked today whether President Barack Obama still has confidence in Jones, spokesman Robert Gibbs said only that Jones “continues to work in the administration.” Jones himself issued a statement of apology yesterday to anyone he may have offended with his past statements. As for the 9/11 petition, he said “it certainly does not” reflect his own views, “now or ever.”

An investigation has begun into whether U.S. development funding for Afghanistan is being diverted to local warlords and extremists following allegations that road and bridge contractors were paying “protection” money to the Taliban. The State Department says U.S. Agency for International Development is looking into reports that some funds may be being going to the Taliban and others as part of a larger probe into other diversions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Afghanistan.

The Food and Drug Administration says a vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline successfully blocks the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer. In documents posted online, the FDA says Cervarix successfully blocked the virus nearly 93 percent of the time. Cervarix already is approved in nearly 100 other countries, but has been delayed in the U.S. since 2007 when the FDA said it needed additional data. The agency will ask a panel of vaccine experts next week whether Cervarix should be approved for girls and women ages 10 to 25.

Other News Links Biden wants Recovery Act business practices to become routine (GovExec)

VA is on call to administer swine flu vaccinations (GovExec)

Agencies cut back on travel (GovExec)

CMS considers contractors for identifier program (FCW)

Navy to form directorate to manage info, cyber and space capabilities (NextGov)

USPTO eyes unified communication system (FCW)

NIST releases specs for crypto key establishment (GCN)

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