New program encourages county employees to come up with cost savings
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on June 5th, 2011 4:34 am by HL
New program encourages county employees to come up with cost savings
David Rivas pays attention to details. So when the bespectacled government mechanic heard something that didn’t add up in a recent class on bus maintenance, he dug into the three-inch-thick troubleshooting manual.
And there it was: Montgomery County, he figured out, had for years been changing transmission fluid twice as often as it should.
It was more than a passing revelation for Rivas, a father of three whose wife lost her job as the family was saving up to buy a house.
After more than 30 years, Metro map is being redesigned by creator Lance Wyman
More than three decades ago, Lance Wyman designed the Metro map’s iconic interlocking colored lines, which have become the symbol of the transit system for millions of Washington commuters and tourists. Now he’s been hired to give it a makeover.
It is a challenge for the 73-year-old graphic designer. He has to find a way to add the new rail line to Dulles International Airport and integrate other changes to the map without ruining the classic, clean look.
“I get nervous,” Wyman said when he considered everything he’s been asked to accomplish. “We did that original one almost 40 years ago. It is amazing that it stuck.”
Gates, in Kabul, urges Afghans to ‘step up’
KABUL — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in Kabul on Saturday with a message that Afghans must assume more responsibility for their security because the international commitment to Afghanistan is “not infinite, in either time or resources.”
Gates, on his last of 12 trips to Afghanistan in his four-year tenure as secretary of defense, stressed that the U.S. commitment to supporting Afghanistan’s government and training its security forces will be robust, but added that for the transition to be successful, “the Afghan government and security forces must be willing to step up and take more and more responsibility for governing and defending their own territory.”
Biden, Ford’s Theatre to honor Julie Andrews, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Lincoln Medal
WASHINGTON — Ford’s Theatre in Washington is honoring Julie Andrews and basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for their contributions that exemplify President Abraham Lincoln’s legacy.
Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to speak at the Ford’s Theatre Gala on Sunday evening. Andrews and Abdul-Jabbar each will receive the Lincoln Medal for their commitments to education, understanding and equality.
The event is hosted by Richard Dreyfuss with appearances by Scott Bakula, Avery Brooks and other stars.
