TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalLegislature's failure gives taxpayers a pension headache
The Pennsylvania General Assembly failed to pass a pension reform bill Wednesday that would have changed the retirement plans for future state government and public school employees. Beginning in 2018, the bill would have allowed new employees to choose from three new benefit plans, a 401(k) plan or one of two hybrid plans that are a combination of a defined-benefit and contribution plan. The legislation would not have affected current or retired employees who are part of the State Employees Retirement System and Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System. The new plan structure was expected to lower pension payments by the state and school districts by some $2.6 billion over three decades. However, the new plans did not provide any short-term savings, nor did they do anything to lower the state’s $60 billion pension debt.
After four years of being tossed about in the legislative mosh pit we call the General Assembly, a viable pension reform bill had survived, or at least it looked like it had.
But alas, the floor of the Legislature has shown itself, once again, to be a place where good ideas go to die.
Yes, you can place the pennies on the eyelids of yet another promising piece of pension reform legislation.
Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/legislature-s-failure-gives-taxpayers-a-pension-headache/article_fd736c5c-9d18-11e6-8853-338d9320e663.html
Trump is refusing to pay nearly $767K owed to his campaign pollster
Donald Trump's hiring of pollster Tony Fabrizio in May was viewed as a sign that the real estate mogul was finally bringing seasoned operatives into his insurgent operation.
But the Republican presidential nominee appears to have taken issue with some of the services provided by the veteran GOP strategist, who has advised candidates from 1996 GOP nominee Bob Dole to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The Trump campaign's latest Federal Election Commission report shows that it is disputing nearly $767,000 that Fabrizio's firm says it is still owed for polling.
Trump campaign officials declined to provide details about the reason the campaign has declined to pay the sum to Fabrizio Lee, the pollster's Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based firm. "This is an administrative issue that we're resolving internally," said senior communications adviser Jason Miller. Fabrizio did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fabrizio was an ally of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who persuaded a skeptical Trump in the spring that he needed a professional pollster. The abrupt departure of Manafort in August and Trump's hiring of pollster Kellyanne Conway to be his campaign manager raised questions about whether Fabrizio would stay on. There have also been multiple reports that Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have rejected Fabrizio's advice.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/elections/ct-trump-pollster-20161031-story.html
Giant Eagle will lay off, buy out 350 corporate employees to cut costs
Giant Eagle, Inc. will lay off corporate employees as part of a larger cost-cutting plan that involves eliminating 350 positions at the O'Hara-based grocery chain.
The company, which employs about 34,000 in more than 420 locations, announced Oct. 17 that it planned to offer buyouts to some corporate employees as part of a strategic plan aimed at reducing its overhead.
“Beyond the voluntary separation agreements that have resulted, the company has made the difficult decision that additional positions across its corporate office must be reduced,” Giant Eagle Spokesman Dan Donovan said in a statement Monday. “Considering both voluntary and involuntary actions, approximately 350 total positions have been eliminated as the company streamlines its corporate operations.”
A company representative said the “majority” of affected operations are at the grocery chain's headquarters. The company did not specify how many positions will be eliminated through buyouts as opposed to layoffs, and did not release the names of any other Giant Eagle locations where corporate employees could be affected. Timing of employee separations will vary based upon individuals' roles and responsibilities.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/11396181-74/eagle-giant-company
Pennsylvania Superior Court reverses conviction for man giving ex the middle finger
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania on Monday overturned a Pittsburgh man's disorderly conduct conviction for giving his ex-wife the middle finger during a 2014 custody exchange.
Jason Roy Waugaman, 35, of Troy Hill, had been charged in November 2014 because his ex-wife said they had a confrontation when he dropped their children off at her apartment. She stood in front of his truck and he accelerated toward her, swerving with about a “yardstick” worth of space between them and giving her the finger as he squealed out of the parking lot.
In September 2015, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani found Waugaman not guilty of reckless endangerment but guilty of disorderly conduct for the gesture, and sentenced him to 90 days of probation.
Waugaman appealed the ruling to the Superior Court, which reversed the conviction on Monday because other cases have held that giving someone the middle finger is not “obscene” or sexually prurient under the courts' interpretation of state law.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/11398165-74/finger-giving-court
Somerton civic leader charged with stealing 19G in alleged U.S. flag scheme
The president of the Somerton Civic Association has been charged with stealing more than $19,000 from the organization and from community residents who expected that he would use the money to buy American flags for the streets of Somerton, according to court documents.
Seth Kaplan, 31, was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of theft and one count of receiving stolen property. He was released on his own recognizance. Reached by phone Monday, he referred questions to his attorney, Robert J. Donatoni.
"We cooperated with law enforcement, and we are in the process of making full restitution," Donatoni said. "We intend to continue to cooperate with law enforcement. We have a hearing date in November."
Lou DeCree, the civic association's former vice president, who is now its acting president, said board members were "in shock" when Kaplan's alleged theft was discovered on the weekend of Oct. 9.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20161101_Somerton_civic_leader_charged_with_stealing_19G_in_alleged_U_S__flag_scheme.html
Pennsylvania Democrats ask judge to bar Trump's polling place observers
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has sued Donald Trump and an informal adviser to his presidential campaign for their plans to position volunteer observers at polling places on Election Day.
The federal lawsuit, filed Sunday in Philadelphia, accuses Trump's campaign and Roger Stone Jr., a longtime national political adviser, of "conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting in the 2016 election."
The lawsuit, which loops in the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, is similar to lawsuits filed Sunday by the state Democratic parties in Arizona, Ohio, and Nevada against Trump, Stone, and the state Republican parties there.
Stone, who has been using the Super PAC Stop The Steal, to sign up volunteers, said in an emailed statement that he is "honored but the lawsuit is without merit."
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20161101_PA_Democrats_ask_judge_to_bar_Trump_s_polling_place_observers.html
Avoiding SEPTA strike has come down to resolving pension issues, source says
With just three hours to go before almost 5,000 transit workers in Philadelphia strike, negotiations have come down to a dispute over pensions, a source with knowledge of the negotiations said.
The union workers are unhappy that their pensions don't grow commensurate to their pay once a worker makes more than $50,000. Managers pensions are uncapped, and members of Transportation Workers Union 234 want their people to also have uncapped pensions, the source said.
While there are other issues at issue, including medical benefits and schedules, it appears a strike that could affect hundreds of thousands of people will be either avoided or begun over the pension question.
SEPTA officials said negotiations were still going in earnest shortly before 9 p.m.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20161031_SEPTA__union__still_talking_as_possible_strike_looms.html
Florida man pleads guilty in spamming scheme that generated $1.3M
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A Florida man has admitted his role in a computer hacking and identity theft scheme that federal prosecutors in New Jersey say generated $1.3 million in illegal profits.
Timothy Livingston recently pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and an aggravated identity theft charge. The 31-year-old Boca Raton man faces up to 10 years in prison when he's sentenced Jan. 27.
Authorities say Livingston operated a business known as A Whole Lot of Nothing that sent spam emails on behalf of clients including legitimate businesses such as insurance companies and illegal ones such as online pharmacies.
Livingston also had a New Jersey man write computer programs that sent spam in a way that concealed its true origin and bypassed spam filters.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20161030_ap_4142bdd6255149a9ad1df953eb189e20.html
New Jersey bill would shield patients from 'surprise' costs
Patients would be shielded from “surprise” medical costs for out-of-network health care treatment under a bill that advanced from an Assembly committee Thursday.
The Appropriations Committee voted 8-0 to forward the bill to the Assembly, with eight Democrats voting yes and the panel’s three Republicans abstaining. The measure, co-sponsored by Assemblyman Gary Schaer, D-Passaic, would require a health care facility to disclose to a consumer whether the facility is in or out of that person’s covered health benefits plan.
Doctors likewise would be required to inform patients which health care plans the physician participates.
The bill also provides that unless the consumer specifically selects an out-of-network doctor to provide services, that person will not incur any out-of-pocket expenses beyond what they normally would have paid under their in-network health benefits plan.
Read more: http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2016/10/31/bill-surprise-out-network-medical-costs-new-jersey-healthcare/93059336/
Mayor calls Atlantic City's battle against state takeover its "Revolutionary War"
ATLANTIC CITY — A defiant Mayor Don Guardian dressed as George Washington for Halloween, the day before the state decides whether to take over this city.
It was a fitting costume for a man who has fought for his city’s independence. He’s been “fighting that Revolutionary War,” as he put it on WOND Monday afternoon.
That fight is out of his hands now after a year of dueling press conferences, trips to Trenton and marathon City Council meetings. The state is expected to decide Tuesday whether it will accept the city’s fiscal recovery plan or take over the city’s finances for five years.
Will the unlikely mayor — an openly gay Republican in a Democrat-controlled city — pull off another political upset? Guardian was confident Monday while giving out candy for “Trunk or Treat,” where 3,000 young people citywide collect candy from cars in designated areas.
Read more: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/guardian-calls-atlantic-city-s-battle-against-state-takeover-its/article_f254ec93-72f8-5be0-8aa2-0e9534dd3e34.html
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