Federal retirement claims processing times increase
Federal employees, on average, are waiting longer to see their retirement applications processed. New data from the Office of Personnel Management for August shows it takes an average of 70 days to process a claim from a retiring fed. But if retirement claims are coming to OPM in less than 60 days, those cases take, on average, 45 days to complete. At the same time, OPM received more than 9,400 retirement claims last month. OPM's backlog of retirement claims dropped by 2,000 to 24,300. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
-------- Â
6:55
--------
6:55
1. Energy dept sued over plan to purge FOIA requests
The Energy Department is being sued over its plan to purge old Freedom of Information Act requests. The nonprofit group American Oversight filed the suit in U.S. District Court last week. It challenges DOE’s effort to require individuals to re-confirm their interest in FOIA requests. In an August notice in the Federal Register, DOE announced that those with a FOIA request submitted prior to October 1, 2024, must email the agency within 30 days to keep the request open. American Oversight argues the move violates the law and would open the door for other agencies to sidestep their obligations under FOIA. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
-------- Â
5:50
--------
5:50
Department of Health and Human Services employees call for RFK Jr.’s resignation
Federal employees at the Department of Health and Human Services are calling for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. A letter signed by more than 1,000 HHS workers warns that Kennedy’s actions this year have endangered the nation’s health. Most recently, Kennedy fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The employees say the secretary has also been spreading inaccurate health information. Earlier this year, HHS laid off thousands of employees in a reduction in force.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
-------- Â
6:46
--------
6:46
House Homeland Security Cmte looks to reform the Cybersecurity Sharing Act
The House Homeland Security Committee wants to reauthorize and reform the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. The law expires at the end of this month. On Wednesday, the committee passed a bill that would extend the law for another 10 years. It would also update the law to account for advances in artificial intelligence and require the Department of Homeland Security to improve its outreach on emerging cyber threats. The bill is advancing in the House, but its path forward in the Senate remains unclear as the law’s expiration nears.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
-------- Â
8:06
--------
8:06
Positive results for Thrift Saving Plan funds in August
All 16 funds in the Thrift Savings Plan posted positive results in August. New data from the Federal Thrift Investment Retirement Board shows that the S fund had the largest month over month increase of just over 4%, while the I fund also continued its strong performance. Every fund is positive year-to-date with 11 funds posting double digit returns for 2025. The I fund continues to earn the biggest returns with a 21.5% gain for this year while all the L funds are seeing returns over 10% over the last eight months. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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.