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Occupational Health and Safety
The Drug Enforcement Administration recently announced the launch of an improved system to help more than 1,500 registered drug manufacturers and distributors in the U.S. more effectively identify potential illicit drug diversion and work against the opioid epidemic. In October 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law the Substance Use–Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. A provision in the bill requires the DEA to give drug manufacturers and distributors access to anonymized information via the Automated Reports and Consolidated Orders System to help them identify, report and stop suspicious orders of opioids and reduce the rate of diversions.
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Government Executive
The Trump administration announced a new competition with interagency backing to reward private citizens who develop new tools and technologies that help identify illicit opioids trafficked through international mail. Four agencies are collaborating to implement the competition with $1.55 million in prize money to help the administration solve an increasingly significant problem that has continued to escalate as the opioid crisis has taken hold across the country. The competition follows a reform Trump signed into law in 2018 that will make it harder for foreign countries to send packages into the U.S. if they do not provide the U.S. government with advanced electronic information about the shipments. It comes after years of investments by a slew of agencies to tackle the growing use of the mail system to traffic opioids.
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U.S. Department of Labor
The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Hilti Inc. — a hardware merchant wholesaler — for exposing employees to struck-by hazards after an employee was injured while operating a forklift at a distribution center in Atlanta. The Plano, Texas-based company faces penalties of $164,802. OSHA inspectors determined that Hilti failed to provide forklift operator training and instructions to employees operating the vehicles, and ensure that employees performed daily forklift inspections. The company also exposed employees to corrosive materials; failed to provide eyewash stations and showers in the work area; failed to develop a written hazard communication program and data sheets for forklift battery electrolytes; and failed to notify OSHA within 24 hours of any incident that leads to an employee’s hospitalization, as required.
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Route Fifty
Most local governments aren’t racing to adopt blockchain while the technology remains in its infancy, policy experts said recently during a National League of Cities event. Not to be confused with cryptocurrency, which exists on blockchain, the technology functions as a transaction ledger that can only have “blocks” of information added to it but not altered. Cryptography ties new blocks to preceding ones in the “chain” by having hundreds of computers and servers in the network solve the same mathematical proof, called “mining,” thereby validating the transaction.
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The Associated Press via Claims Journal
Soon after Duke University star freshman Zion Williamson’s shoe ripped apart, Nike’s stock price took a hit. The freak injury during one of the college basketball season’s marquee games immediately sparked debates about everything from the shoe manufacturer to insurance issues and whether the likely NBA lottery pick should risk his professional future by continuing to play for the top-ranked-for-now Blue Devils.
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Governing
Collectively, the 50 states, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories have more than $6 billion in federal funding at stake due to Trump's emergency declaration to build a border wall. After failing to get the money from Congress and shutting down the government over the dispute, the administration declared a national immigration emergency so that it could cobble together the funds for the $8 billion wall from defense accounts that provide billions in military construction and National Guard funding to the states.
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Government Technology
Florida may soon join the growing ranks of state governments that are assessing the potential benefits of blockchain technologies. A newly introduced Senate bill would create a working group to study the technology, with an eye toward understanding how it might "improve processes, increase efficiency and promote transparency in government" and businesses, according to the text. The group, which would be established in the state’s Management Services Department, would ultimately compile a report and share their findings with the Governor's office and the state Legislature.
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The Associated Press via Claims Journal
New York City has reached a tentative settlement to pay back $5.3 million obtained through fraudulent claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Superstorm Sandy. The New York Times says the city got relief funds for supposedly storm-damaged Transportation Department vehicles that had actually been out of use before Sandy hit in 2012. The city says a deputy commissioner “lacked personal knowledge about the vehicles” and did not direct employees to inspect them before signing the paperwork.
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A.M. Best's Market Segment Report via Insurance Journal
The U.S. property/casualty industry is expected to report that 2018 was its third consecutive year with an underwriting loss. A new A.M. Best analysis projects an estimated net underwriting loss of $12.1 billion in 2018, which follows a $25.3 billion loss in 2017. The underwriting loss in 2017 was $18 billion more than the underwriting loss in 2016. The expected 2018 loss can be attributed primarily to catastrophes that included a pair of major fourth-quarter events. According to A.M. Best, while these 2018 losses declined by more than half from 2017, they remained elevated over historic averages.
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