NCPERS News Clips

November 5, 2013

News Clips for November 5th, 2013

National News

• NCPERS Blog Post
  NCPERS’ Public Safety Conference comes to a close
• Loeb was ‘held in Cuba after hitting kid with car’
  Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb was detained in Cuba after “hitting a local kid with his car” during a long weekend trip, according to a bombshell magazine article.
• Is Congress helping Wall Street loot your 401(k)?
  Democrats and Republicans seem to be falling over each other trying to prove who can best help Wall Street loot the Treasury and the 401(k)s of the American worker..
• Pension Cutters: Bipartisan Slogans, Right-Wing Money
  Last week San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed delivered his usual speech about the benefits of slashing the retirement benefits of his city’s public employees – and why he is now pushing for a statewide ballot measure that could dramatically change the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians

State News

• Judges: The True Pension Referees in Bankruptcy Cases
  When a city is bankrupt, judges have a big say in whose bills will be paid. For now, all eyes are on Detroit and San Bernardino, Calif.
• Illinois unions hold strong despite blows to labor
  Across the middle of the country, organized labor has taken one hit after another in places that were once union strongholds: Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana, where workers lost bargaining power and saw their ranks shrink, leaving them weaker than almost any time in the past century.
• Detroit EM Orr forced to defend comment that pensions are 'sacrosanct'
  Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr said today he did not intend to mislead retirees and city workers on June 10 when he said pensions are sacrosanct.
• Governor doesn't plan immediate changes to pension reform law regardless of lawsuits' outcome
  Montana — Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that he doesn't plan any immediate changes to the state overhaul of the public employee pension system even if courts throw out portions of the law affecting retirees.
• How New Mexico reduced its pension liability by $1.5 billion this year
  New Mexico’s pensions are far from healthy. Last summer, the Pew Center on the States found New Mexico had failed to consistently pay its full annual pension contribution from 2005 to 2010.
• City fights pension board ruling
  The City of Omaha is appealing a judge’s ruling that allowed the board overseeing Omaha’s police and fire pension fund to spend city funds on lawyers and consultants.

Opinion

• Edward Siedle: Raimondo should address conflicts, misstatements, secrecy
  Let me congratulate Andy Stern (“Raimondo right to use investment tools,” Commentary, Oct. 27) on his good fortune after leaving the Service Employees International Union in 2010 — in particular, the two positions he has taken associated with a private equity titan, Ronald D. Perelman.
• Pew consultant offers pension advice
  David Draine, senior researcher with the Pew Charitable Trust, hopes to help a city task force find a real solution to a local pension crisis.