News published on Federal Newswire in September 2014

News from September 2014


USDA Awards Grants to Help States Cut Down on SNAP Benefit Trafficking

Release: WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 30, 2014 - Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon today announced the release of just over $5 million in grant funds to identify, track, and prevent misuse of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by program recipients. These grants will particularly help state agencies reduce SNAP trafficking, primarily the exchange of benefits for cash or other goods or services.


Valley Forge National Historical Park to Test Prescribed Fire  as Meadow Management Tool

News Release: KING OF PRUSSIA, PA - Final preparations are underway for a prescribed fire at Valley Forge National Historical Park that will take place in October. The project will test the effectiveness of prescribed fire in reducing the encroachment of invasive plant species in park meadows. The area to be burned is an 18-acre meadow south of Yellow Springs Road near the park's southwest boundary.


News Release: For Immediate Release DHS Press Office Contact: 202-282-8010 OTTAWA -- Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson concluded a two-day trip to Ottawa, Canada, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for International Affairs ...


Nation's Ag Co-ops Set Record for Annual Sales and Income

News Release: Co-ops Set Third Consecutive Sales Record; Jobs Increased by 5 percent Last Year WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2014 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the nation's farmer, rancher and fishery cooperatives set a new sales record in 2013 , with total business volume of more than $246 billion. That surpasses the previous record, set in 2012, by $8 billion, a 4 percent gain. U.S. co-ops also enjoyed robust job growth over the previous year.


News Release: The owner of a Miami home health care agency has been arrested in connection with an $8 million health care fraud scheme involving Acclaim Home Healthcare Inc. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern ...


News Release: Six South Florida residents have been indicted for their alleged participation in a $6.2 million Medicare fraud scheme involving defunct home health care company Professional Medical Home Health LLC (Professional Home Health). Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s ...


News Release: The Justice Department announced today that developer Douglas Pauley and entities affiliated with him have agreed to pay $110,000 and make approximately $1.7 million in retrofits required to remove accessibility barriers at 30 apartment complexes, involving more than 750 units in West Virginia. The parties’ ...


News Release: The Justice Department filed a lawsuit yesterday against West Virginia-based developer Biafora’s Incorporated (Biafora) and several affiliated companies, for violating the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violated these laws when they designed and constructed twenty-three residential properties with barriers that make them inaccessible to persons with disabilities.


News Release: The Justice Department announced today it has published a new technical assistance publication about federal laws that protect the rights of voters with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. ...


News Release: Four members of an international computer hacking ring have been charged with breaking into computer networks of prominent technology companies and the U.S. Army and stealing more than $100 million in intellectual property and other proprietary data. Two of the charged members have already pleaded guilty. ...


News Release: The Justice Department today announced five settlement agreements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to make businesses in upstate New York and Corpus Christi, Texas, accessible to people with disabilities.


News Release: Today, United States Attorney General Eric Holder and European Union (EU) Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström welcomed high-level government officials representing over 30 members of the Global Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Online to a ministerial conference in Washington. The Global ...


News Release: Four defendants, including a Detroit-area physician, were charged in a superseding indictment with a $7 million health care fraud conspiracy. Fifteen defendants have now been charged in this case, including seven who have pleaded guilty for their conduct. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell ...


News Release: Timothy Flanagan, 33, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, for his role in the Apr. 30, 2012, cross burning in front of an interracial family’s home in Minor Hill, Tennessee, the Department of Justice announced. Flanagan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with others ...


News Release: An owner of a Detroit-area home health agency has been charged for her alleged role in a $2.6 million home health care scheme involving the payment of kickbacks to patient recruiters and physicians for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries.


News Release: Two Detroit-area residents were arrested today on charges related to a Medicare fraud scheme in which they are alleged to have referred Medicare beneficiaries to home health care agencies in exchange for kickbacks.


News Release: The Justice Department today announced that a North Ridgeville, Ohio, landlord, Emil Bagi, and his management company, Ridgeway Management Ltd., have entered into a consent decree and have agreed pay $30,000 to resolve claims that they discriminated on the basis of race at the Ridge Plaza Apartments, a 36 unit apartment complex they own and operate in North Ridgeville, Ohio. The settlement must still be approved by the federal district court in the Northern District of Ohio.


News Release: The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida permanently barred Marvel Angelita Ebanks, a tax preparer who prepared returns in Palm Beach County, Florida, and her company, Marvelous Enterprises Inc., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. A final judgment of permanent injunction was entered against Ebanks and her company by the court today.


Federal Reserve Board announces it will begin a quantitative impact study to evaluate potential effects of its revised regulatory capital framework on insurance holding companies

News Release: The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced that it will begin a quantitative impact study (QIS) to evaluate the potential effects of its revised regulatory capital framework on savings and loan holding companies and nonbank financial companies supervised by the Board that are substantially engaged in insurance underwriting activity (insurance holding companies).


Federal Reserve Board approves application by Chemical Financial Corporation

News Release: The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced its approval of the notice under section 4 of the Bank Holding Company Act by Chemical Financial Corporation ("Chemical"), Midland, Michigan, to acquire Northwestern Bancorp, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Northwestern Bank, a state savings bank ...