Saturday,  March 23, 2013 • Vol. 14--No. 247 • 25 of 36 •  Other Editions

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• SD woman pleads guilty to embezzling federal money
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A woman on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota has pleaded guilty to embezzling federal money.
• U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson says Donna Peterson from 1996 to 2008 managed an apartment complex in Mission where tenants received rent subsidy payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency. Peterson was accused of embezzling more than $32,700 in 2007.
• She pleaded guilty to theft of government funds and faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced June 3.

Six Day mail delivery still in limbo

• As part of the Congress' decision to go ahead with funding of the government through end of the fiscal year, the 6 day mail mandate was re-enacted earlier this week. 
• The House vote was 267 to 151 with some Democrats opposing the bill because of other spending measures included in it.
• This is a good next step, and the National Newspaper Association (NNA) extends its thanks to several key members of the Congressional Action Team who scrambled Monday and Tuesday to make calls to important leadership Republicans.
• It is now much more likely, but not certain, that the 6 day mail requirement will remain the law through 9/30 and part of the USPS delivery plan through end of the calendar year. Two things could happen to change that: 1) enactment of sweeping postal reform legislation that allows USPS to move forward with its plans;  or 2) a decision by USPS to flout the law and move forward anyway, which is certain to prompt a lawsuit.
•  There is some ambiguity coloring the victory celebrated this week when both House and Senate passed the spending bill to keep the government afloat through 9/30 and included the 6-day mail rider.
• The Congressional mandate gives USPS room to stop delivering letter mail so long as it delivers something, somewhere, six days a week. Since USPS has announced it intends to implement a new package delivery system after it kills newspaper delivery in August, Issa and Coburn believe it should go ahead with its plans.
• The Government Accountability Office issued a letter this week saying it is clear that USPS still have to do 6 day delivery, but it has not definitively ruled out the Issa/Coburn interpretation yet.
• USPS has not yet said what it will do. The management will go back to meet with

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