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Federal Newscast

Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

THE FEDERAL NEWSCAST, (length about seven minutes), is a daily Monday through Friday, high-information compilation of nine 40-second news stories and news packages, generated by the non-partisan, non-political, private-sector team of reporters at Federal News Network. Federal News Radio Producer/Newscasters Eric White and Michele Sandiford assemble and read the stories on the THE FEDERAL DRIVE with TERRY GERTON, the weekday morning-drive program, heard from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. (ET) on the Federal News Network app (and website), on any smart speaker, and on WFED 1500 AM, a 50,000-watt 'Class A' powerhouse radio station in the nation's capital. The podcast is most popular with FNN's audience of highly educated listeners, who conveniently access THE FEDERAL NEWSCAST, 24/7, on any podcast platform . Listen to it (as just mentioned) or read the stories each weekday morning at FederalNewsNetwork.com, where the news items contain hyperlinks for those who want more information on a given story.

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  • 63 episodes
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  • English

Episodes 63

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  • Tuesday · 5 min

    Another government contractor settles with the Justice Department over its DEI practices

    For the second time in a matter of weeks, the Justice Department won a big settlement from a federal contractor to settle claims it violated the False Claims Act. Plus, a federal court holds up one of the White House's reduction efforts for one agency, and a large swath of soldiers get the ok to rejoin the military after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. These stories and more in today's Federal Newscast! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • Monday · 6 min

    House Republicans call for fair compensation for more federal law enforcement

    House Republicans are calling for fair compensation and benefits for more federal law enforcement personnel. A letter addressed to the Office of Personnel Management points out discrepancies in how some law enforcement officers are classified for retirement purposes. The GOP lawmakers are calling on OPM to review the benefits specifically for police officers at the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, as well as DoD’s Force Protection Agency, and personnel at the Federal Protective Service. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 11 · 5 min

    National Park Service designates 9/11 Memorial as an affiliated area

    The National Park Service has designated the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial as an affiliated area. The National Park Service, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon Memorial Fund signed a memorandum of agreement earlier this week to create a formal affiliation with the National Park Service. The agreement leaves ownership and day-to-day management of the memorial by DoD unchanged. Through the partnership, the organizations will work together to strengthen public understanding of the memorial, its national significance and the events it commemorates. Dedicated on September 11, 2008, the memorial honors the 184 victims killed at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 10 · 6 min

    Democratic lawmakers press VA Sec. Collins on rejecting reasonable accommodations

    All 11 Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee are pressing Doug Collins, the VA secretary, for answers about why the agency is rejecting requests from employees for reasonable accommodations. In a letter sent to VA yesterday, Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and 10 other lawmakers want Collins to provide answers to nine questions about the department's policies and actions in granting telework and other workplace flexibilities. The committee members say they continue to hear cases of veteran employees who were previously approved for telework accommodations now being required to commute to a duty station. The lawmakers want answers from VA by September 22. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 9 · 6 min

    Federal wildland firefighters to continue earning overtime pay after reaching limits

    Federal wildland firefighters will continue to earn overtime pay, even after they hit a legal cap on overtime hours. The continuing resolution that Congress passed last week included a provision to extend a waiver on the cap for federal overtime pay, at least until the end of 2027. Many wildland firefighters work extensive overtime during peak wildfire season. But due to a legal loophole, they often meet a ceiling on earning overtime pay. The National Federation of Federal Employees is calling for the passage of legislation to permanently scrap the overtime See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 8 · 6 min

    Lawmakers want Elon Musk to explain the lack of DOGE-claimed savings at DHS

    Two Democrat lawmakers are demanding Elon Musk, the former head of the U.S. DOGE Service, explain why 99% of the claimed savings from at the Homeland Security Department never materialized. Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) called on Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), chairman of the committee, to hold Musk accountable for DOGE’s actions. Thompson and Walkinshaw say a recent report by the Government Accountability Office shows DOGE alleged savings were mostly from IT contracts that it cancelled, but DHS continues to buy these services through other acquisition vehicles. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 4 · 6 min

    Army names an acting Secretary following Driscoll’s resignation

    Adam Telle, the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, will serve as acting Army secretary. President Donald Trump announced the pick on social media Thursday, calling Telle a "great patriot who is respected by all." Telle took the job overseeing the Army Corps of Engineers in August 2025 after serving as a longtime Senate staffer. He also worked in the White House's legislative office during Trump's first term. Telle has not served in the military. He replaces Dan Driscoll, who resigned this week amid clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 3 · 6 min

    U.S. Postal Service finalizes election ballot mail portal

    The Postal Service is finalizing a new portal to provide election officials with a simple, secure and efficient way to share lists of individuals receiving ballots by mail in their respective states. The U.S. Federal Ballot Mail Portal will soon be available to election officials who voluntarily wish to familiarize themselves with the platform. USPS says it also will provide tools, presentations and other resources to help election officials understand the platform and make decisions about whether and how they wish to use it. USPS is facing new questions from lawmakers about the portal after a whistleblower claimed that the portal has been hastily built and could fail. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 2 · 5 min

    August was a month of rebounds for the TSP

    August was a month of rebounds for the Thrift Savings Plan. All TSP funds ended in the black, the highest increase being the I Fund at 3.3%, followed by the C and S Funds at 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. The G and F Funds posted more modest increases, both below 1%. For 2026 so far, all but one of the 16 TSP funds have grown, with more than half seeing double-digit percentage increases. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • September 1 · 6 min

    Defense Dept opens use of three major AI tools for employees

    Defense Department employees can now use three major AI products at work. The department on Monday launched military versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Elon Musk's Grok to help the workforce with everyday tasks. DoD says ChatGPT can read documents for unclassified administrative and policy work. Grok is built for operational needs like market research and supply chain management. Google's Gemini was the first product launched on the Pentagon's AI hub last year. More than 1.7 million have signed up to use those services so far. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 31 · 5 min

    GSA orders Trade Agreement Act changes for AbilityOne and National Prison Industries

    The General Services Administration has removed the AbilityOne Commission and National Prison Industries' exception from the Trade Agreements Act for all of its contracts. In a deviation to GSA's acquisition regulations, the agency will now require the commission and all of its non-profits like SourceAmerica and the National Industries for the Blind, to only use products from countries that have existing trade agreements with the U.S. This means there are 78 countries, including China, Vietnam and Thailand, that the AbilityOne Commission and NPI can no longer import products from. This deviation comes on the heels of a letter from GSA to AbilityOne seeking more information about the products they are selling through the schedule contracts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 28 · 6 min

    400 federal positions will now earn salaries of up to $400,000

    Up to 400 federal positions can now earn salaries of $400,000. A new final rule from the Office of Personnel Management allows the higher pay rates for hundreds of workers under an authority known as “critical position pay.” The authority is meant to help agencies recruit and retain highly qualified and specialized government workers in mission-critical roles. OPM’s final rule this week aligns with President Donald Trump’s orders earlier this year to use the pay authority for up to 400 national security roles. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 27 · 6 min

    Federal wildland firefighters can now earn higher pay rates

    Federal wildland firefighters can now earn higher pay rates for more types of work. A recent final rule from the Office of Personnel Management authorizes a 25% “hazard pay” boost for work on prescribed burns. That’s in addition to firefighters already getting hazard pay when working on uncontrolled wildfires. OPM says the final rule creates “pay parity,” since both types of work involve similar health and safety risks from fire and smoke. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 26 · 5 min

    Thousands of feds who took the DRP have essentially been replaced

    Thousands of federal employees who left the government via the deferred resignation program have essentially been replaced. That's according to new data analysis from the Partnership for Public Service. The nonprofit finds that the agency and occupational series for more than 20,000 employees who took the DRP can be matched to a position later filled in the same category. The turnover marks a loss of institutional knowledge and capacity, the Partnership says. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 25 · 6 min

    NSA isn’t complying with federal laws on whistleblower protections, IG finds

    The National Security Agency doesn’t appear to be complying with federal laws that require the agency to outline whistleblower protections in its nondisclosure agreement. The NSA’s inspector general said the agency doesn’t have a central repository of its NDAs or an overarching policy. But for four of the five agreements the IG did find, whistleblower protection notifications were left out entirely. The agency said it has a plan in place to fix the issue. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 24 · 6 min

    Lawmakers call for investigation into CISA workforce cuts as threats increase

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is coming under scrutiny for workforce cuts as cyber and physical threats to critical infrastructure rise. A group of Democratic lawmakers are pushing for a Government Accountability Office report on the impact of recent workforce reductions and program cuts on CISA’s ability to fulfill its mission. The lawmakers, from the House Committee on Homeland Security and Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, pointed to CISA’s loss of nearly 1,000 employees, or about a third of its workforce, in the first half of 2025. Though CISA has announced plans to hire 300 employees to rebuild, the Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal proposes removing another 900 positions from the agency. CISA has also experienced leadership turnover during the second Trump administration. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 21 · 6 min

    Agencies are getting some help with logging cybersecurity data

    Add the employees at the Agriculture Department's Rural Development Agency to the growing list of successful feds who have won grievances before an arbitrator after losing their remote work and telework rights. Arbitrator Margaret Donaghy ruled Wednesday in favor of RDA employees represented by the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees. The union filed a grievance when USDA ended teleworking and remote work agreements without bargaining in April 2025. Donaghy ordered USDA to restore the telework and remote work arrangements and make the employees whole by paying any travel expenses, compensation or credit for additional hours worked. Suzanne Summerlin, the attorney representing the employees, says this is the fifth arbitration award won by employees in recent months with similar awards issued at the Forest Service, HUD, the IRS, and SSA. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • August 20 · 6 min

    Space Force opens its own recruiting squadron

    The Space Force has opened its own recruiting squadron nearing seven years after the newest service was created. The 320th Recruiting Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the service's first unit dedicated to bringing in new generations of guardians. Air Force united handled Space Force recruiting to save money as the youngest service matured. Now the military space workforce has expanded enough that the Space Force wants to grow its recruiting apparatus to keep up. The service has already reached its goal of enlisting 730 new guardians in 2026. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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