Washington gives props to feds at annual awards gala

Originally posted by Kellie Lunney on GovExec

A doctor at the National Institutes of Health who helped pioneer the use of a drug to combat the transmission of HIV from infected pregnant women to their babies has been named federal employee of the year by a nonprofit group.

Lynne Mofenson, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, will be honored at a black-tie event Thursday in Washington for her work in the late 1980s and 1990s to prevent mother-to-child transmission of AIDS. At that time, there was little that could be done to prevent such infection; today the number of HIV cases found in U.S. children has dropped to less than 150 per year.

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GSA spent $7.7 million on four years of virtual employee travel

Originally posted by Amanda Palleschi on GovExec

The General Services Administration spent $7.7 million during the past four years to transport its long-distance telecommuters to meetings and conferences, new documents reveal.

Reports first obtained by CNN and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee show that 60 percent of the 379 workers in GSA's virtual employee program traveled to conferences and meetings, mostly on cross-country flights. GSA is reviewing the program after CNN reported in August that an employee who worked for a regional office in Kansas City, Mo., while living in Honolulu, racked up $24,000 in travel expenses on the government's dime. The agency spent millions more on virtual employees during the past three years, CNN said.

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