Share of Cost, Federal News Digest for July 3, 2012
Washington Post
Friday’s storm raises questions about safety of cloud computing [General Services Administration, cloud computing] – Craig Timberg reports that there are concerns about the government’s shift to cloud computing – a process of storing information remotely at data centers controlled by Amazon or Google – in light of power outages caused by severe storms across the Midwest and East that affected Netflix and Pinterest, large companies that use cloud computing
GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3B in largest healthcare fraud settlement in US history [Justice Dept., Food and Drug Administration] – AP reports that as part of its settlement of criminal and civil charges brought by the Justice Department, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay the largest fine ever by a drug manufacturer for essentially bribing doctors to use an array of drugs for uses unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration and failing to report safety issues with the diabetes drug Avandia; the company’s unlawful practices were flagged by whistleblowers – salespeople at the company – over a decade ago
New York Times
Agency confronts hurdles in helping veterans match military skills to civilian jobs [Veterans Affairs Dept.] – James Dao reports on a job fair in Detroit arranged by the Veterans Affairs Department, part of the agency’s effort to help veterans who have difficulty convincing employers that their military skills translate to the civilian workplace
Cost to protect U.S. secrets doubles to over $11 billion [CIA, National Security Agency, Information Security Oversight Office] – Scott Shane reports that although there is an ongoing debate about how much government information needs to be classified, there is a move toward classifying more agencies’ information at an estimated cost of $13 billion – an amount exceeding the budget for the entire Environmental Protection Agency
Bloomberg News
Fed officials signal tighter rules on bank-sponsored money funds [Federal Reserve] – Steven Sloan reports on comments made by Federal Reserve Bank officials that signal the Fed is ready to take action to increase oversight of the $2.5 trillion money market fund industry even if the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t impose regulations on it; he reports that the SEC is at an impasse in its consideration of regulations
