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     The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has posted an interview it did with Andrew Saul. Here are some excerpts with emphasis added: ... On one of my first field trips, I happened to notice on the door that we closed at 12 o'clock on Wednesdays. I frankly couldn't believe it , because we were losing basically 10 percent of our available time to service our customers by being closed on Wednesday afternoons. ... The 800 number, that has been a major problem, major concern for all our customers. If you called in, you would find you had an unacceptable waiting time � sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes 40 minutes. So, what we've done is we've immediately hired about 1,100 new operators . Our call time right now is down by about 50 percent. We've got farther to go, but I think if you watch over the next six months, we will get the call centers down to the proper waiting time, which will be close to zero. That's a prediction that I'm willi...

     From Michigan Live: U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington on Thursday, Jan. 30, sentenced Latashya L. Brooks to two years of probation. While on probation, Brooks must participate in a mental health treatment program, take all prescribed medications, and submit to psychological evaluations as directed by her probation officer.   Brooks in October appeared in the federal courthouse in downtown Bay City and pleaded guilty to interstate communication to make a bomb threat. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years� imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release. The plea agreement stated Brooks� sentencing guidelines were one year to 18 months. Court records show Judge Ludington departed downward from the guidelines due to Brooks� �limited mental conditions,� �reduced mental capacity,� and it being her first criminal conviction.   The agreement states that Brooks was upset over the Social Security Administration withholding things f...

     From the summary of a change to Social Security's HALLEX manual : We clarified that an ALJ must obtain concurrence from the Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judge (HOCALJ), Regional Chief Administrative Law Judge (RCALJ), and Regional Commissioner (RC) of the appropriate region to request the testimony of a particular FO [Field Office] employee at an appearance. We removed the phrase stating that the RCALJ may waive notification of the request because RCALJ's concurrence is now required.      How might this come up? Let's say it's the testimony of a claimant that a particular field office employee, that he can identify by name, told him that he could not file a claim for Social Security benefits and that advice was incorrect and cost the claimant money. The Social Security Act would allow backdating of a claim in this circumstance. Wouldn't the field office employee's testimony be relevant?

     A long time Social Security employee speaks ou t about the problems caused by Commissioner Saul's decision to open the agency's field offices on Wednesday afternoons. I hope she won't be punished. She's only speaking the truth.

     I'm hearing that Social Security Commissioner Saul is considering opening his agency's field offices to the public on Saturdays. Nothing is definite yet. This comes on the heels of a recent decision to keep the field offices open Wednesday afternoons.      I represent claimants before the Social Security Administration. I am extremely concerned about the level of service the agency delivers. If I thought this would help, I'd applaud it. However, I know it's going to have the opposite effect. Field office staff was already stretched almost to the breaking point before the decision to keep the offices open Wednesday afternoons. There is now no time for field office staff to deal with complicated time-consuming tasks because they're on a treadmill dealing with customers who want to be seen. You make the problem worse if you open the field offices on Saturdays. Opening the offices on Saturdays would be great for service if the agency had plenty o...

     From a television station in Nashville: Four people have been treated after feeling ill by a reported odor at a social security administration office in Nashville, the Nashville Fire Department (NFD) says.Crews were first dispatched to the social security office on Cumberland Bend around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, when someone smelled the odor and called NFD. The cause of the odor was determined to be hydrogen sulfide, also called sewer gas, the source of which was a dry plumbing trap. ...      What's a plumbing trap? You have drains in bathrooms in office buildings. These drains are connected to sewer systems which are full of sewer gas which is nasty stuff. The gas is kept out of the building by a P trap or something like a P trap that depends upon some water caught in the trap to keep the gas out. Let the water evaporate and the gas gets in the building. Run some water into the trap and the problem is solved. Cleaning crews are supposed to take car...