News published on Federal Newswire in April 2020

News from April 2020


Murray: Report Suggesting Top Health Expert Removed for Insisting Science Guide Search for COVID-19 Treatment “Incredibly Troubling”

News Release: (Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), released the following statement in response to reporting from the New York Times that Dr. Rick Bright was removed as Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) because he insisted COVID-19 treatments being pushed by the Trump Administration be scientifically tested.


Reclamation awards $1.1 million to six tribes for water resource technical assistance

News Release: WASHINGTON - Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman announced that six tribes will share $1.1 million through the Native American Affairs Technical Assistance to Tribes Program to develop, manage and protect water and related resources.


Confirmation of COVID-19 in Two Pet Cats in New York

Release: Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) today announced the first confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infection in two pet cats. These are the first pets in the United States to test positive for SARS-CoV-2.


News Release: MONTICELLO, Utah - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) today announced that it is seeking public nominations for five positions on the Bears Ears National Monument Advisory Committee (BENM-MAC). As published in a notice in the Federal Register, the BLM will consider nominations for 30 days.


Centra Health Inc. and Blue Ridge Ear, Nose, Throat, and Plastic Surgery, Inc. Agree to Pay Nearly $10 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

News Release: Lynchburg, VIRGINIA - Centra Health Inc. and Blue Ridge Ear, Nose, Throat and Plastic Surgery, Inc. have agreed to pay the government $9,345,845 to settle claims alleging they violated the False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act by engaging in improper financial relationships. Centra...


Clover Flat Prescribed Fire

News Release: Lakeview, Ore. - The Bureau of Land Management’s Lakeview District, Lakeview Field Office, plans to conduct a prescribed fire operation starting Wednesday, April 22 through Friday, May 1, to burn hand piles resulting from a sagebrush restoration project.


Wyden Statement on Unemployment Assistance Affected by GOP Governors “Reopening” States

News Release: Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the following statement regarding the effect of Republican governors “reopening" their states and workers' access to pandemic unemployment assistance...


Guatemalan Man Who Worked Using Someone Else’s Name and Social Security Number Sentenced to Prison

News Release: A man who used a false identification document and someone else’s name and social security number was sentenced today to three months in federal prison.


Release: Washington, DC, April 22, 2020 - Today, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced emergency benefit increases have reached $2.0 billion per month for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households across all 50 states and 3 territories to increase food security during the...


Delaware County Man Arrested for Manufacturing and Distributing Child Pornography

News Release: PHILADELPHIA, PA - United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced today that Peter Gilbert, 36, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, has been arrested and charged with one count of manufacturing and attempting to manufacture child pornography, and one count of distributing and attempting to distribute...


Gaston County Man Is Charged With Firearms Offense

News Release: CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Charlotte federal grand jury has returned a criminal indictment charging Keon Montrese Floyd, 32, of Gastonia, N.C. with possession of a firearm by a felon, announced Andrew Murray U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.


News Release: United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Mission, South Dakota, man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Third Degree Burglary and Larceny.


News Release: Darrin E. Jones Named Executive Assistant Director of the Science and Technology Branch.


Pryor man sentenced to prison for assault on elderly man

News Release: BILLINGS-A Pryor man convicted by a jury of beating an elderly man and causing facial injuries was sentenced today to 54 months in prison and three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.


DeFazio, Peters Urge Trump Administration to Waive Cost-Sharing Requirements for States Battling Coronavirus

News Release: WASHINGTON, DC -U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) today called on President Trump to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to waive all cost-share requirements for states responding to the global Coronavirus pandemic. On March 13, President Trump...


Murray, DeLauro, Scott Release Report Revealing DeVos’ Failure to Collect Usable Data to Protect Children from Excessive or Discriminatory Seclusion and Restraint

News Release: (Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Congressman Bobby Scott...


News Release: SALT LAKE CITY - Utah U.S. Attorney John W. Huber shared highlights of the Department of Justice’s China Initiative with law enforcement agents and officers, private sector business representatives, university officials, and others at a Salt Lake City Security Webinar Wednesday morning. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI sponsored the webinar.


News Release: United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Wagner, South Dakota, man convicted of Simple Assault was sentenced on April 20, 2020, by Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court.


News Release: Federal authorities announced today that an ongoing cooperative effort between law enforcement and a number of private-sector companies, including multiple internet domain providers and registrars, has disrupted hundreds of internet domains used to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to commit fraud and other crimes.


Tifton Bank Robber Pleads Guilty, Facing Maximum 20 Years in Prison

News Release: ALBANY, Ga. - A man who robbed a bank after threatening to blow it up has pleaded guilty to his crime, announced Charlie Peeler, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Randy Angelo Hill, 34, of Tifton, pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery during a video teleconference hearing before...