According to Federal Times, the GSA stands to lose $250 million in funding next year. That funding would force it to cut back on projects that find waste and fraud impacting American taxpayers.

Estimates indicate that more than $3 billion in savings could be missed due to the cuts.

READ MORE at federaltimes.com.

Tim Cook testified at a hearing Tuesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which released a damning report Monday on Apple's tax practices.

"We pay all the taxes we owe - every single dollar," Cook said. "We don't depend on tax gimmicks."

Cook, who is more accustomed to commanding a stage in front of investors and techies than facing a congressional committee, took a defensive tone with his opening statement. He punched out words when stressing the 600,000 jobs that the company supports and noting that Apple is the nation's largest corporate taxpayer. Cook said he advocates an overhaul of the U.S. tax code.

The bid to expand the government's e-Verify system was quashed late last week in a Senate committee. It would have required all U.S. employers to implement e-Verify within a year and a half of passage of any immigration legislation.

Those who voted against it told FCW that implementing the program within 18 months would be impossible.

READ MORE at fcw.com.

That's exactly what thousands of people have done after stumbling upon Poshmark, a smartphone app that allows users to sell their stuff and make some quick cash.

Poshmark connects users by allowing them to shop in each other's closets anytime they wish. Once an account is created, all you have to do is take a picture of an item you want to see, write a description and upload it. When another user likes what you have, they make you an offer.

If you accept it, all you have to do is package it up, sent it away and wait for your cash.

One local user, Kenita Calhoun, has already sold hundreds of dollars in merchandise. Not only is she a successful seller, though, she's hooked on buying as well. She calls it her "Posh Karma" - she thinks if she buys from others, they'll return the favor.

"With Poshmark, it's more a sense of openness and love," she said. "We all share the same passion for fashion."

“I've often referred to this facility as the best kept secret in the gaming industry," said Al Britton, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races President.

Maryland was reportedly losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year to out-of-state casinos with table games. But that trend may be changing. Maryland Live was successful with slots, but with the addition of table games, gamblers started pouring in.

Maryland Live! president Rob Norton says revenue and traffic are up 20-30 percent with the addition of table games.

“Now if I want gamble with my friends or just have a night out, they can just come within 15 minutes of where they live to meet me at Maryland Live," said Dennis Jones, a Maryland resident.

But the exodus to Maryland wasn't a surprise for Britton. He says his casino planned ahead by offering a different, destination experience that includes on-site horse racing, top shelf dining, more experienced staff and a nearby hotel.

“A large number of our guests will go and try the new casino,” explained Britton. “But we think we will get most of those folks back because of how we treat them and the relationships we've built with them."

Virginia's Beverley Creed says she lives in between both casinos and prefers the Hollywood Casino experience.

"I really, really enjoy it,” said Creed. “And knock on wood, I'm pretty lucky.”

Both casino leaders say their hope is that this casino war plays out more like a bloodless battle where everyone wins.

Lest we forget the fashion that was on display in each episode - most notably the clothes worn by Kerry Washington in her role as Olivia Pope.

"Her coats are amazing, her suits are amazing, her blouses...everything" D.C.-based event planner Yodit Gebrayes says. "Even her shoes."

If you want to get your hands on them, unsurprisingly, there's an app and a website for that. A new site, GetThis.TV, syncs with shows like Scandal, allowing users to shop for the exact fashion that the stars are wearing on screen.

A quick search for a recent episode of the ABC drama tracks down a red Michael Kors dress and blazer worn by Mellie Grant, priced at more than $1,000. A blue blazer worn by Olivia Pope rings in for more than $300.

The app's curators have also identified similar looks for less from shows including Revenge and Shark Tank. Non-apparel items, such as accessories, glasswear and furnishings, are on the site as well.

And this year, the expo featured trends in mobility and security concerns, from smartphone waterproof casings with military-standard durability to the so-called "most secure flash drives on the planet" - said to be used by the Pentagon and the White House.

Tech companies are building new hardware for an increasingly mobile world. But they're also developing and selling new software.

With new technology comes new opportunities to move more and more of the federal workforce mobile. But that mobility also creates security concerns - a major focus at this year's FOSE.

Mischel Kwon is the former director of the federal government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

Leading a session on current threats in cyberspace, Kwon warned that mobile devices "up the risk" of an attack.

“The idea of an enclave with a firewall in front of it; those days are over,” Kwon says. “So the way we monitor our networks needs to be different, where we place our sensors, how we protect our data.”

FOSE 2013 also featured panels on the cloud and virtualization, business intelligence as well as records and information management.

The cuts are all part of the heavy budget crunch the department is facing due to sequestration.

Health care officials say that service will continue to be provided to military members, their dependents and retirees, but Military Times reports that a priority for that care will be placed on military treatment facilities and not civilian health care.

Most of those cuts will impact Tricare contracts, officials say. Tricare is the health care program that serves a great many military members both in the United States and stationed worldwide.

READ MORE at militarytimes.com.

Of the thousands of companies that had government contracts canceled between 2008 and 2012, nearly 1,300 of them are classified as small businesses that were guaranteed at least $2,500 in sales. The government is required to make up for any shortfall if the contract is canceled.

The Business Journal reports, though, that the GSA has not made those payouts.

READ MORE at bizjournals.com/washington.

Three tickets sold in Virginia - two worth $10,000 and another worth $1 million - are waiting to be claimed.

The two $10,000 tickets were sold in Alexandria and Manassas, while the $1 million winner was issued at a convenience store in Christianburg, just south of Blacksburg in western Virginia.

Since no one struck the big Powerball jackpot, the purse rolls over to Saturday's drawing and now sits at $475 million.

The gathering, scheduled to begin Wednesday morning in San Francisco, provides Google Inc. with an opportunity to flex its technological muscle in front of a sold-out audience of engineers and entrepreneurs who develop applications and other features that can make smartphones and tablets more appealing.

Reporters from around the world also will be on hand, giving Google a chance to generate more hoopla about its latest innovations.

The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., made a big splash at last year's conference by staging an elaborate production to highlight the potential of Google Glass - an Internet-connected device and camera that can be worn on a person's face like a pair of spectacles. Google co-founder Sergey Brin wowed the crowd last year by taking to the stage and then engaging in a live video chat with a group of skydivers who were in a dirigible hovering above the convention. When they jumped, the skydivers' descent to the rooftop was shown live through the Google Glass camera.

Some of the developers in attendance last year paid $1,500 apiece for a Google Glass prototype that was delivered to them in March.

Google hasn't spelled out what its executives will discuss during this year's opening keynote, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. PT and last for nearly three hours. Given that Google Glass is now being tested by the developers who bought the "Explorer" edition, the device might not be one of the featured attractions.

It's a safe bet the spotlight at some point Wednesday will shine on Android, which already has been activated on more than 750 million devices around the world. Google gives the mobile operating system away, making it easier for gadget makers to sell their devices at prices below Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad.

Android has helped Google make more money because its search engine and other services, including maps, are usually built into the devices that rely on the software. That tie-in drives more visitors to Google, giving the company more opportunities to sell the advertising that generates most of its revenue.

Much of the speculation about the conference, dubbed "Google I/O," has centered on a possible upgrade to the Nexus 7, a mini-tablet that debuted at last year's event as an alternative to the similarly sized Kindle Fire made by Amazon.com Inc. and the larger iPad. A few months after the Nexus 7 came out, Apple released the iPad Mini to counter the threat posed by Google's entrance into the market.

The next version of the Nexus 7 is expected to feature a much faster processor and a higher resolution display screen while maintaining the same $199 sales prices. If that turns out to be true, it could siphon even more sales from the iPad Mini, which starts at $329.

There's also speculation that Google will unveil a music-streaming service that would allow Android users to listen to their favorite songs and artists for a monthly fee. Google has long been rumored to be in talks with music labels to work out the licensing rights for a service that would compete with Spotify, Internet radio provider Pandora Media Inc. and other outlets that stream digital music to Internet-connected computers, smartphones and tablets.

Another Google-designed phone under the Nexus brand is also a possibility. Google also could use the occasion to introduce a model made by its unprofitable Motorola Mobility subsidiary.

A sneak peak at the next generation of Android, code named "Key Lime Pie," could be in the offing, too.

Other potential product introductions include laptops running on Android or another Google operating system based on the company's Chrome web browser.

Google also may provide more insights into the popularity of Google Plus, a social networking alternative to Facebook that launched nearly two years ago. Google Plus had more than 135 million active users at the end of last year, based on Google's last public disclosure about activity on that network. That left Google Plus far behind Facebook, which boasts 1.1 billion active users.

In an attempt persuade more people to use its social networking service more frequently, Google has promised to keep adding tools that aren't available on Facebook.

On other fronts, Google is believed to be working on a digital gaming center that could be unveiled Wednesday. Getting into gaming would give Google an opportunity to participate in one of the most popular activities on mobile devices.

It's something that Maryland resident Nancy Kassner worries about when it comes to the two dogs and horse she cares for - ones that may outlive her.

To get ahead of that potential situation, Nancy and many other people have begun putting together trusts for their beloved animals to make sure they are taken care of when she's not able to do it herself.

"Unlike children, they can't speak for themselves," Kassner said. "They need someone to take care of them."

Local lawyers are jumping in to help pet owners make sure their animals are taken care of properly in case they pass on. In some cases, these trusts can be worth thousands of dollars.

One Rockville-based lawyer, Mindy Felinton, says that how much you set aside for your pets depends on several factors. Those could include what type of pet you have and how long you expect it to live.

Felinton suggests that pet owners will want to think of expenses such as grooming, veterinary care, travel, food, boarding, exercise and even a funeral for their pet.

"It's important to make sure that we don't run out of money," she said. "Otherwise, they could unfortunately end up, and they often do, at the shelter or at the slaughterhouse."

That's exactly what Kassner is trying to avoid.

"I'm very relieved that I know they will have a place to be when I die," she said.

If a pet trust isn't in your budget, there are more affordable options available, one of which is a pet protection agreement that's available through the ASPCA.

The ASPCA also suggests having a third person included to manage and care for your pet after you pass away, looking into all potential sources of funding for the trust or even donating your pet to a shelter or home.

Especially in the cases of more exotic or larger animals, such as horses, the ASPCA recommends making sure that your animal is placed in a situation that is socially amenable.

Extended summer hours begin Friday and run through Sept. 30.

The casino currently stays open all weekend from 8 a.m. on Friday to 3 a.m. on Monday, but it closes for a few hours early each morning during the rest of the week.

Maryland voters approved the operating hours as part of November's gambling referendum and the Lottery and Gaming Control Commission approved the Worcester County casino's application to offer slots games around the clock. Though the casino will be open 24 hours, owner William Rickman tells The Daily Times of Salisbury that liquor sales will stop at 4 a.m. for four hours.

Infighting among relatives of the restaurant's late founder, Owen Edward Brennan, flared up last month when a shareholder meeting led to a standoff inside the restaurant. Police were called to intervene. The heated confrontation ended with a temporary truce, but the tangled family dispute is heading to court.

Starting Monday, a federal judge is scheduled to hear testimony in a lawsuit that two Brennan family members filed against a competing faction of relatives vying for control of a restaurant that boasts of once serving John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Gary Cooper and other Hollywood legends.

Ted Brennan and his daughter, Bridget Brennan Tyrell, are seeking a court order barring three other relatives - Owen "Pip" Brennan and his two sons, Blake and Clark - from entering the restaurant or taking any action under the guise of being a shareholder, director or officer of Brennan's. Ted and Pip Brennan are brothers and sons of the restaurant's founder, who died in 1955 at age 45.

Ted Brennan and his daughter claim they have been solely in control of Brennan's since December 2010 and remain its only shareholders. Pip Brennan sold his shares two years ago as part of a settlement resolving state court litigation between them.

Pip Brennan, however, claims he is entitled to keep control over his shares of stock and maintain his voting authority because Brennan's Inc. allegedly has failed to comply with the settlement's payment conditions.

The Brennan family has been a prominent fixture of New Orleans' vaunted culinary scene for decades. Its famous Bananas Foster dessert was invented in 1951. Sliced bananas are cooked tableside in sugar, spices, liqueur and rum. The alcohol is burned off with a dramatic flourish and it's poured over ice cream.

In the 1960s, the family opened restaurants in Houston and Dallas and purchased Commander's Palace, another upscale New Orleans restaurant. The expansion, however, led to a decline in the original restaurant's quality and fueled a schism between some family members. Although those divisions date back decades, Hurricane Katrina seemed to drive a bigger wedge between brothers Ted and Pip.

Pip's sons, Blake and Clark, started managing the original Brennan's in 1995 and were making plans to expand when the 2005 storm struck, leaving the building heavily damaged. The brothers abandoned their positions "without notice" in March 2006 while the restaurant was being repaired, lawyers for their adversaries wrote in a court filing.

But a lawyer for Blake and Clark says Ted had informed the brothers just before Katrina that they would never be anything but employees of the restaurant and should leave if they weren't satisfied.

"Blake and Clark managed the restaurant to its highest financial success and critical acclaim," their attorney wrote in a court filing Thursday.

Ted and another brother, James, who died in 2010, subsequently voted to remove Pip as an officer of Brennan's Inc.

"In the period of 2006 through the present, Ted and Bridget worked to ensure the restaurant's reopening after Hurricane Katrina, weathered the (BP) oil spill (in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010) and economic recession, and entered into agreements for the redemption of two of the partners' shares of stock. These were difficult economic times," their attorneys wrote.

Ted Brennan and his daughter claim Pip no longer has a stake in the restaurant and didn't have the authority to call a shareholder meeting on April 26 to vote on removing them as directors of Brennan's. Pip Brennan, in turn, argues that his brother was disqualified from voting at the meeting because creditors seized his shares last month.

An attorney for Pip and his sons claims Ted and Bridget mismanaged the restaurant into a "state of financial chaos."

Phil Wittmann, a lawyer for Ted and Bridget, rejected that claim: "The restaurant is running well, it was running well, there was no reason to come in and announce they were taking over."

An attorney for Pip and his sons declined comment.

After the shareholder meeting adjourned at a nearby office, Pip and his sons allegedly entered the closed restaurant without permission and tried to call a staff meeting, prompting Bridget to call the police, according to her lawsuit.

"The police came; there was a stand-off; and the lawyers were called to the scene," the lawsuit says. The suit claims Pip and his sons "refused to leave the premises (absent handcuffs) and threatened to disrupt the opening of the restaurant to customers that evening, the first Friday of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival."

The confrontation ended with an agreement to let Ted's son, Teddy, and Pip's son, Blake, temporarily co-manage the restaurant until U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan could hold a hearing on the case. Morgan is scheduled to hear testimony on Monday and Tuesday.

The lawsuit isn't the only legal matter hanging over the restaurant, which has millions of dollars of debt and is facing foreclosure. The pink building it occupies near Bourbon Street is scheduled to be sold at a sheriff's auction on May 23.

"The corporation has been attempting to work out a settlement of these judgments and in order to do so with any hope of success, the corporation must speak with one voice with third-party creditors and potential investors," lawyers for Ted Brennan and his daughter wrote.

___

The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Grand Cherokees and 2006 to 2010 Commanders.

U.S. safety regulators say cracks in a circuit board can cause a faulty signal as the SUVs are being started. If the vehicles shift into neutral they can roll away.

Chrysler says the problem has caused 26 crashes and two injuries.

Chrysler will notify owners and dealers will update software to take care of the problem. Chrysler found cracks in a circuit board that turns the four-wheel-drive system on and off.

Repairs will be made at no cost to owners.

The recall covers 295,000 vehicles in the U.S., 28,500 in Canada, and 4,200 in Mexico. The remaining 141,000 are outside North America.

The company says in documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Administration that it began looking into the problem after a customer complained that an SUV rolled away in January of 2012 after being started remotely.

In January, a trio of Northern Virginia women looked at that idea and thought they could do the same, except with clothing. That's how Style Ride got its start.

Earlier this year, Emma Baker and two business partners, Cindy Perkins and Jen Nemerow, bought and old bread delivery truck and turned it into a de facto boutique on wheels. Now, it cruises around the area hawking the latest trends in clothing, shoes, hand bags and jewelry.

Baker and her associates predicate their idea on the fact that for many people, most notably mothers, getting up and out to the store is more difficult than it sounds.

"When we have children, we're always trying to get to the store," she says. "We're always trying to keep up with the next trend. So, we all came together and said, 'Let's do a mobile boutique.'"

Baker, Perkins and Nemerow gave their truck a new paint job and a freshening up, and just a few months later, the truck has been a hit, especially with mothers and busy women.

"I always wanted a store when I was little, and now I have it," Perkins said ."It just happens to be in the back of a truck."

The ladies' mobile mall has been so popular that they're looking at getting a second truck to expand their reach. All the while, they hope they're showing other mothers that they can be business owners too.

"Our opportunities for where we can go and what types of people we can reach is really limitless," Nemerow said.

The company's local boss says it's a good plan.

“We feel we've got the best proposal we feel we've got the best casino product in the country,” says Lorenzo Creighton, president of MGM National Harbor

He wouldn't say more because the exact details are considered a secret at this point. The company handed out videos of its existing properties. The promise here has always been an $800 million destination casino resort complex with gambling, of course, but also restaurants and performance venues and 8,400 permanent jobs.

National Harbor's developer says the plans won't disappoint.

“MGM combined with this site is pretty hard to beat,” says John Peterson of The Peterson Company.

MGM may face competition from rival Penn National, which bought the nearby Rosecroft Raceway specifically in hopes of building a casino there. That company is not commenting. It has until 2 p.m. Friday to submit its proposal.

Penn National's odds of success are considered slim after spending millions to defeat Maryland's gambling expansion.

MGM's president responded this way when asked about Rosecroft: “Who?”

Watching it all play out are the people of Prince George's County. By vote, the majority support the casino. But in the neighborhoods around National Harbor, there remains ambivalence.

“I think it gonna be bad for people who can’t afford to gamble,” says Shirley Covington, who lives near the National Harbor. “They're probably gonna get addicted. And I’m totally against it.”

Falling gas prices, a rallying stock market and gains in the job market all fueled Americans' shopping habits even as cold weather tempered their desire to buy spring fashions.

Revenue at stores open at least a year - an industry measure of a store's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened and closed - rose 4.7 percent in April compared with the same month a year ago, according to a preliminary tally of 12 retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centers trade group.

That continues a trend that Americans started in early spring. In March, revenue rose 2.2 percent. And for the combined months of March and April, the figure rose 3.5 percent.

"April turned out to be decent despite adverse weather conditions," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at the ICSC.

While big chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp and Macy's Inc. don't report monthly revenue, the stores that do offer economists a snapshot of consumer spending habits. In total, the retailers that report monthly data represent about 6 percent of the $2.4 trillion in U.S. retail industry sales.

Among the big winners for April were Ross Stores Inc. and TJX Cos., which operates TJ Maxx and Marshalls stores. Both companies benefited from Americans' desire to buy brand-name fashions at discounted prices.

Ross said on Thursday that revenue at stores open at least a year rose 7 percent during April, helped by consumer demand for its low-price clothing and accessories. That's above Wall Street estimates: Analysts expected a 5.8 percent increase in April, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

TJX said that revenue at stores opened at least a year climbed 8 percent in April on strong customer traffic. That also tops the 6.8 percent increase that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected.

"Consumers responded to our extremely fresh selections of branded spring apparel," said Carol Meyrowitz, CEO of TJX in a statement.

But a few retailers posted gains that missed Wall Street estimates.

Costco Wholesale Corp., which accounts for about two-thirds of the retail sales tally, reported that revenue at stores open at least a year climbed 4 percent in April. That's below the 4.5 percent increase analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the warehouse club-operator to report.

Limited posted a 2 percent increase in revenue at stores opened at least a year. Revenue was hurt by the shift of some spring-break business into March due to an early Easter.

That's below the increase of 4.6 percent that Wall Street had expected. But the operator of Victoria's Secret, Pink, and Bath and Body Works raised its guidance in the first quarter.

Even though retailers several retailers posted solid gains during April, the month's results could have been better if it weren't for Mother Nature. Exceptionally cool temperatures lingered in April, which was the coldest in five years, according to weather research firm Planalytics Inc.

As a result, Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics, a research firm, said that some stores offered aggressive discounts to get rid of excess inventory of spring merchandise. While the discounting may have boosted revenue, it could hurt stores' first-quarter profits.

"When you are looking at 40 degree temperatures, no one wants to buy bathing suits and T-shirts," Perkins said. "There was definitely wide spread discounting as the month progressed."

In fact, Ann Inc., which operates Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft women's clothing stores, does not report month revenue data, but on Thursday it lowered its first-quarter revenue guidance. The chain said cold weather dampened sales and led to more markdowns than planned.

Mark Jeffries, the 61-year-old head of the high-profile clothing line, has long been chided for his comments about who he feels should patronize his company, but in a recent interview with Business Insider, retail author Robin Lewis affirmed that Jeffries only wants "thin and beautiful people" shopping at Abercrombie.

"He doesn't want his core customers to see people who aren't as hot as them wearing his clothing," Lewis told Business Insider. "People who wear his clothing should feel like they're one of the 'cool kids.'"

Most recently, Jeffries is under fire for not selling women's clothing in any size higher than large. No one at Abercrombie would comment for Business Insider.

Controversy about body image and target audiences are nothing new to Jeffries or Abercrombie. In a 2006 interview with Salon.com, Jeffries said that his company is "absolutely exclusionary," because he feels companies get in trouble when they try to target everyone.

Rather, Jeffries strongly believes that his company should only market to "cool, good-looking people."

"We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends," Jeffries told Salon.com. "A lot of people don't belong (in our clothes), and they can't belong."

It's the same reason Jeffries has insisted on only hiring good-looking people to work in his stores.

"Good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people," he told Salon. "We don't market to anyone other than that."