Stories by Tamara Browning on Federal Newswire


Ducheneaux: Grassland program will 'help keep agricultural lands in production while delivering lasting climate outcomes'

Agricultural producers and private landowners have through May 26 to sign up for a U.S. Department of Agriculture voluntary private-lands conservation program.


Regan: EPA ‘taking another step to break down’ barriers to environmental justice

A New York nonprofit environmental justice organization will receive approximately $10 million spanning five years from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to advance environmental justice.


Small: Access to high-speed internet 'boosts opportunity and helps build bright futures'

A program that gives financial assistance for delivering broadband technical assistance to rural communities has $20 million available thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.


Pressley: 'Too many Black folks are scrutinized & killed by police'

Members of Congress are urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to condemn racial inequality by ending practices and policies in the enforcement of traffic safety that affect the well-being of Black drivers.


Noe: 'We’re thrilled to be able to hold the new member orientation tour again' at Oak Ridge

An advisory board for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee participated in a return to an in-person orientation and tour of clean up of the site, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic.


Shorter: The USDA ensures small businesses ‘have the knowledge and opportunity to prosper’

A series of regional economic development workshops to help small businesses, including farmers and ranchers, access capital and contract opportunities will continue in April and May.


Piquero: Reports on youth in custody sexual victimization ‘give stakeholders a more complete picture’

The Bureau of Justice Statistics recently released a report that discusses youth sexual victimization perpetrated by youth or by staff in juvenile facilities.


Lee: U.S. addresses ‘denials of labor rights under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’

The United States and Mexico reached an agreement that will guarantee the rights of a majority union at the VU Manufacturas auto parts facility in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.


Criswell: 'FEMA is here. We remain committed to the people of Mississippi'

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pledged support from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Mississippi to survey damage from recent tornadoes.


Buttigieg: ‘Remember to always contact 811 before you dig’

U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is partnering with NASCAR and certain states and organizations to promote the use of the national one-call number “811” for safe digging during April as National Safe Digging Month.


Ison: Georgia real estate investor ‘orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud individual investors’

A real estate investor from Social Circle, Ga., faces 20 years in prison for wire fraud and five years in prison for bankruptcy fraud after pleading guilty to a $3 million wire and bankruptcy fraud scheme.


Tarasca: Man facing prison for child pornography offense is ‘an extreme danger to our youth’

Sentencing has been set for a former resident of a Detroit, Mich., residential reentry center convicted of his second federal child pornography offense.


Ennis: Missouri man ‘misused and fabricated Social Security numbers to defraud' benefit programs

A MIssouri man who submitted nearly $980,000 in fraudulent applications to a pandemic relief loan program has been sentenced to five years and five months in prison.


Guzman: EPA will ‘close illegal large capacity cesspools’ to ‘safeguard our communities’

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to close two illegal cesspools at a mobile home park in Los Angeles County.


Vilsack: Tribal Forest Protection Act projects ‘will tackle our most pressing issues’

More than $12 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be invested in fiscal year 2023 for projects supporting the Tribal Forest Protection Act through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.


Vilsack: Expanding domestic fertilizer production ‘can grow independent local businesses’

The U.S. Department of Agriculture received $3 billion in applications during the first two rounds of a new grant program to increase domestic fertilizer production.


Vilsack: ‘USDA is committed to helping producers impacted by severe weather recover’

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s March 9 visit to a citrus grove in Polk County, Florida, underscored the USDA disaster assistance available to Florida producers affected by Hurricane Ian.


Granholm: 2024 energy budget provides ‘critical resources to transform the president’s historic clean energy investments’

The U.S. Department of Energy’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget requests $52 billion that includes investments into reducing energy costs.


Stone-Manning: Proposed $1.7 billion budget ‘will put people to work restoring our public lands’

President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposes $1.7 billion for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that includes investments to accelerate clean energy development.


Haaland: Biden’s 2024 budget supports the effort to ‘reduce wildfire risk throughout the country’

More than $4.2 billion of President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget has been proposed for the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture wildland fire and hazardous fuels management.