Thursday Morning Federal Newscast

Written by Tom Temin
Edited by Emily Jarvis

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Oops! The federal government sent about 3,900 economic stimulus payments of $250 this spring to people who couldn’t do much with the money but buy cigarettes: prison inmates. The checks were part of the economic stimulus package approved by Congress and President Obama in February. More than half of the prison inmates got to keep their money because, under the law, they were eligible thanks to being recently jailed, according to a Social Security Administration spokesman. The rest were a mistake. But prison wardens returned most of those checks.

Federal agencies have been among the most enthusiastic buyers of alternative fuel cars. Trouble is, there just aren’t enough fuel stations to keep them running without a hassle. But that will change thanks to 300 million dollars in grants from the Energy Department. The grants will fund construction of 542 new refueling stations delivering ethanol, natural gas and other alternative fuels nationwide. Federal Times reports the competitive grants program falls under a government-industry partnership called Clean Cities. And the money comes from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Defense Department is taking no chances with H1/N1 flu. DOD will purchase its own supply of 2.7 million vaccine doses through Health and Human Services. That’s enough to vaccinate 1.35 million people and avoid disruptions to operations. DOD has reason to be worried. GovExec reports that during one week in July, more than 100 cases of H1/N1 flu were reported at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. By following public health guidelines to the letter, officials were able to contain the virus.

The now-concluded Cash for Clunkers program took 690,000 minivans, trucks and sport-utility vehicles off the road. They were replaced by more thrifty cars. But the biggest winner was not a U.S. carmaker, but Toyota. The Transportation Department said the Japanese company took nearly one in five of the new car sales. The Wall Street Journal says, General Motors Co. came in second with about 18 percent of the clunkers market, followed by Ford with 14 percent.

Be careful about discussing your financial or business dealings on Facebook or MySpace. The reason? Tax collectors may be patrolling these sites, looking for deadbeats. Wall Street Journal reports, state revenue agents have begun nabbing tax evaders by mining information on social-networking Web sites. They especially look for relocation announcements, professional profiles and financial boasting. Agents in Nebraska collected $2,000 from a deejay after telling about a big party gig. But, the Wall Street Journal reports, the Internal Revenue Service won’t say whether its agents use social-networking sites boost collections.

How much do you spend when you hit the gas station? The Navy will spend 2.4 billion dollars to refuel and upgrade its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Northrop Grumman will perform the work. The project should last three years.

You’ve heard of tornado drills, but soon comes a national cyber-security drill. The Department of Homeland Security is planning Cyber Storm three. NextGov says the exercise in September of 2010 will include government and industry in a test of the nation’s cyber response plan being developed now. It’ll be the third drill of its kind.

The Small Business Administration takes up YouTube: SBA has launched a channel promoting the agency’s programs and services. Administrator Karen Mills says the channel is designed to expand her agency’s outreach to a Web 2.0-connected culture. SBA plans to add detailed educational videos on what the agency does for current and future entrepreneurs. We’ve added a link on federal-news-radio-dot-com slash federal-drive.

More news stories

Energy awards stimulus grants for 542 alternative fuel stations (FT)

ACLU sues for laptop search details (NextGov)

Contractor reports of violations flowing into Defense IG’s office (NextGov)

Final Cash for Clunkers data (FNR)

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