Looks like the USDA forgot its 'A' stands for all agriculture and not just beef this week, and Monsanto might have more power than the federal court system. It'

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Is Denver's B-Cycle program nothing but a form of U.N. control of the city? The Mayoral Republican gubernatorial frontrunner thinks so.

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It's worth keeping tabs on some of the super-cool clean tech projects being backed by ARPA-E. Here are some of our favorites.

I’m making this trek to ask Maine Gov. Paul LePage to lead, follow, or get out of the way of clean energy development.

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More than 1,000 workers will study the environmental effects of energy production.

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Mr. Walker channels five decades of practiced expertise into his work with Florida Gateway College and the city of Lake Butler

Economic & Health Policy Implications

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Ashton Whiteley - China says it aims to combine its financial and insurance regulatory bodies as one of a series of drastic changes to its ministry.

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European airlines are beginning to see faint glimmers of economic sunlight and preparing to come out of their coronavirus hibernation.Deutsche Lufthansa AG (OTCMKTS:DLAKY) on Friday said group airlines Lufthansa, Eurowings and SWISS will collectively reactivate 80 aircraft for June, doubling the operational fleet size to serve a total of 106 destinations. IAG Group this week said it plans to ramp up passenger service in July on the expectation that travel restrictions will ease and more people will start flying again. Both airlines have shrunk flight operations to less than 10% of their pre-crisis level as the pandemic caused the travel market to collapse.Most of the Lufthansa Group aircraft currently in service today are flying cargo or rescue missions for governments and travel operators to bring home tourists and other travelers stranded abroad by coronavirus travel bans. Lufthansa operates a dedicated fleet of freighters and is using many passenger planes for dedicated cargo operations too.With the outbreak past its crest in Europe, Lufthansa said it will gradually expand its flight schedule each month as Germany and other European countries loosen travel restrictions and open borders "We sense a great desire and longing among people to travel again. Hotels and restaurants are slowly opening, and visits to friends and family are in some cases being allowed again. With all due caution, we are now making it possible for people to catch up and experience what they had to do without for a long time. It goes without saying that the safety and health of our guests and employees are of the highest priority," said Harry Hohmeister, the head of commercial passenger airlines at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, in a statement.Starting in June, Group airlines will again fly to leisure destinations in Mallorca, Spain; the German island of Sylt; Rostock, Germany; and Crete, Greece. The June flight schedule will be published within a week.The company cautioned travelers to prepare for longer wait times at airport security checkpoints as authorities impose stricter hygiene regulations. And catering services on board will also remain restricted until further notice.Earlier this week, Lufthansa Group began requiring all passengers to wear face masks to help protect passengers and crew members from infection.Meanwhile, the parent company disclosed this week that it is negotiating with the German government for an emergency financial aid package worth 9 billion euros ($9.7 billion) to help fund operations and payroll until revenues pick up in a meaningful way.Germany privatized Lufthansa in the late 1990s.The relief package would include a secured loan and a non-voting equity stake of up to 25% for the government. Lufthansa would also be required to suspend future dividend payments as part of the deal.Lufthansa officials have warned the company may file for bankruptcy without stabilization aid. An issue under debate is the government's request for two board seats, which could give the government a say in how many workers to retain or other policies.Most of Lufthansa's workers are on leave and receiving aid under a government safety-net program.The International Air Transport Association has said governments need to do more to help airlines get through the worst crisis in aviation history because of the enormous number of jobs involved and because air travel is critical to reviving the global economy.Photo: Lufthansa AirlinesSee more from Benzinga * BLS Report: Six Years Of Trucking Sector Job Gains Have Disappeared * USA Truck Sees Green Shoots Amid Uncertainty; Shares Surge * California Targets Two Trading Companies Over Fuel Prices, But Diesel Isn't Part Of The Lawsuit(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Nigerian cybercriminals specialized in business email compromise (BEC) attacks were observed leveraging COVID-19 lures in recent attacks on healthcare and government organizations, Palo Alto Networks reveals.

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This week, we highlight three new titles from the ASPA Series in Public Administration and Public Policy.

Market disruptions, climate change, and health pandemics lead the growing list of challenges faced by today’s leaders. These issues, along with countless others that do not make the daily news, require novel thinking and collaborative action to find workable solutions. However, many administrators stumble into collaboration without a strategic orientation.

Using a practitioner-oriented style, Strategic Collaboration In Public And Non-Profit Administration: A Practice-Based Approach To Solving Shared Problems provides guidance on how to collaborate more effectively, with less frustration and better results.

Linking collaboration theory to effective practice, this book offers essential advice that fosters shared understanding, creative answers, and transformation results through strategic collaborative action. With an emphasis on application, it uses scenarios, real-world cases, tables, figures, tools, and checklists to highlight key points.

The appendix includes supplemental resources such as collaboration operating guidelines, a meeting checklist, and a collaboration literature review to help public and nonprofit managers successfully convene, administer, and lead collaboration. The book presents a framework for engaging in collaboration in a way that stretches current thinking and advances public service practice.

A guidebook through the minefield of government contracting and procurement, Government Contracting: Promises and Perils describes the dangerous practices commonly applied in the development and management of government contracts and provides advice for avoiding the sort of errors that might compromise their ability to protect the public interest.

It includes strategies for increasing profits for government contractors, rather than incurring burdensome costs, through compliance with government mandated subcontracting and financial management systems.

Drawing from his in-depth investigation of government agencies across the country, the author examines present-day scenarios that regularly lead public servants and government committees to manage contracts with tools that are less than optimal and to select contractors that may not be the best qualified. He then delineates practical processes, contracting documents, and contract management tools to mitigate detrimental outcomes and alternative approaches to supplant the imperfect methodologies.

The author includes a CD-ROM with the book that provides a number of practical tools that you can apply as well as examples of contracts and templates that are the best he discovered during his research. The book also outlines an approach for performing advance contract planning, conducting contract negotiations, and administering contracts useful when planning for the management of the contracting process throughout the contracting cycle, negotiating a contract that protects the interest of all contracting parties, and ensuring successful contractor performance.

Filling a gap in project management literature, Managing Public Sector Projects: A Strategic Framework for Success in an Era of Downsized Government supplies managers and administrators—at all levels of government—with expert guidance on all aspects of public sector project management.

From properly allocating risks in drafting contracts to dealing with downsized staffs and privatized services, this book clearly explains the technical concepts and the political issues involved.

In line with the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and the PMBOK^® (Project Management Body of Knowledge), David S. Kassel establishes a framework those in the public sector can follow to ensure the success of their public projects and programs. He supplies more than 30 real-life examples to illustrate the concepts behind the framework—including reconstruction projects in Iraq, the Big Dig project in Boston, local sewer system and library construction projects, and software technology.

This authoritative resource provides strategic recommendations for effective planning, execution, and maintenance of public projects. It also:

• Highlights the differences between managing projects in the public sector versus the private sector
• Explains how to scrutinize costs, performance claims, and the backgrounds of prospective contractors
• Presents key safeguards that should be included in all contracts with contractors, consultants, suppliers, and other service providers
• Details the basics of project cost estimation, design and scheduling, and how to hold contractors responsible for meeting established project standards

In an age of downsized government and in the face of a general distrust of public service, this book is a dependable guide for avoiding management practices that are common to projects that fail and for adopting the practices common to projects that succeed in terms of cost, schedule, and quality.