{"podcast":{"title":"Federal Newscast","slug":"federal-newscast-48285","podcast_index_feed_id":48285,"rss_url":"http://feeds.feedburner.com/FederalNewscast","website_url":"https://art19.com/shows/federal-newscast","image_url":"https://content.production.cdn.art19.com/images/5d/2b/af/18/5d2baf18-e018-4f60-b239-0747e6d8792b/595b7b04bb21a68fc933d44eb766b97e3c950b2538ac8c6d76657afdfa6f975e677dd976ab3a09d439c443b5f6d1f88120b77222065fffdb0447291d7cba2b82.jpeg","author":"Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio","episode_count":2396,"summary":"THE FEDERAL NEWSCAST , (length about seven minutes), is a daily Monday through Friday, high-information compilation of nine 40-second news stories and news packages, generated by the non-partisan, non-political, private-sector team of reporters at Federal News Network . Federal News Radio Producer/Newscasters Eric White and Michele Sandiford assemble and read the stories on the THE FEDERAL DRIVE with TERRY GERTON , the weekday morning-drive program, heard from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. (ET) on the Federal News Network app (and website), on any smart speaker, and on WFED 1500 AM , a 50,000-watt 'Class A' powerhouse radio station in the nation's capital. The podcast is most popular with FNN's audience of highly educated listeners, who conveniently access THE FEDERAL NEWSCAST , 24/7 , on any podcast platform . Listen to it (as just mentioned) or read the stories each weekday morning at FederalNewsNetwork.com , where the news items contain hyperlinks for those who want more information on a given story.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-16T12:18:34.712791+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/federal-newscast-48285"},"episode":{"title":"Democratic lawmakers press VA Sec. Collins on rejecting reasonable accommodations","slug":"democratic-lawmakers-press-va-sec-collins-on-rejecting-reasonable-accommodations","published_at":"2026-09-10T11:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/federal-newscast-48285/democratic-lawmakers-press-va-sec-collins-on-rejecting-reasonable-accommodations","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/federal-newscast-48285","url":"https://mgln.ai/e/345/rss.art19.com/episodes/8597f942-3639-4d43-b450-f26fba51347d.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg9GZWVkQnVybmVyBjoGRVQ%3D--1349f61597e261c82b72aa63507666dd2bce579d","audio_url":"https://mgln.ai/e/345/rss.art19.com/episodes/8597f942-3639-4d43-b450-f26fba51347d.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg9GZWVkQnVybmVyBjoGRVQ%3D--1349f61597e261c82b72aa63507666dd2bce579d","summary":"All 11 Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee are pressing Doug Collins, the VA secretary, for answers about why the agency is rejecting requests from employees for reasonable accommodations. In a letter sent to VA yesterday, Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and 10 other lawmakers want Collins to provide answers to nine questions about the department's policies and actions in granting telework and other workplace flexibilities. The committee members say they continue to hear cases of veteran employees who were previously approved for telework accommodations now being required to commute to a duty station. The lawmakers want answers from VA by September 22.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .","meta_description":"All 11 Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee are pressing Doug Collins, the VA secretary, for answers about why the agency is rejecting reques…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":375,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/federal-newscast-48285/episodes/democratic-lawmakers-press-va-sec-collins-on-rejecting-reasonable-accommodations/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/federal-newscast-48285/democratic-lawmakers-press-va-sec-collins-on-rejecting-reasonable-accommodations.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}