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Bloomberg Agrees to Buy Bureau of National Affairs for About $990 Million

BNA, which publishes the Daily Labor Report and U.S. Law Week, will 'significantly grow Bloomberg's presence in Washington' and its research will contribute to coverage and analysis of employment, health care, labor, accounting, intellectual property and telecommunications, Bloomberg said.

New York Pensions Set Return Expectations Too High at 8%, Mayor Bloomberg Says

" 'It's much too high an assumption for us, I think it should be lowered,' Bloomberg said today at a news briefing, referring to the city's five pensions holding almost $104 billion. 'That's going to require the city to put in more money.' "

NYC Actuary Said to Seek Lower Pension-Fund Rate of Return of 7% from 8%

"In the 10 years through June 2010, America's biggest state pension systems -- battered by the Internet stock bubble, the financial crisis of 2008 and the longest recession since the Great Depression -- earned an annualized return of less than 4 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

Health Care Bigger Worry for State Governments Than Pensions

'There's no way they will be affordable with health-care costs continuing to explode,' [said Charles Millard, managing director for pension relations at Citigroup] at the Bloomberg State and Municipal Finance Conference in New York.

ESG Opponents Get Novel Win in American Airlines 401(k) Suit

"The airline breached its fiduciary duty of loyalty -- but not its fiduciary duty of prudence -- in allowing its $26 billion retirement plan to be influenced by corporate goals unrelated to workers' best financial interests, Judge Reed O'Connor ... said after a four-day, non-jury trial. The 2023 lawsuit, which says the airline wrongly offered 401(k) funds managed by companies that pursue ESG policy goals through proxy voting and shareholder activism, is the latest battle in the broader debate over socially conscious investing." [Spence v. Am. Airlines, Inc., No. 23-0552 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 10, 2025)]

Pensions Resist Rules That Would Magnify Liability

The proposed changes would require states, cities, school districts and other public employers to disclose their expected pension liabilities on their balance sheets for the first time.

Pennsylvania Won't Take Over Pittsburgh's 62%-Funded Pension

Had the Public Employee Retirement Commission today deemed the system under 50 percent funded, the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System would have taken it over, as state law requires. That might have meant higher costs.

America Last Among Peers With No Paid Maternity Leave for Federal Workers

The U.S. government doesn't provide a benefit many on Wall Street take for granted and that the European Union, Japan and Russia require. A bill introduced Feb. 10 to give federal employees four weeks paid time off to care for new children isn't likely to make it to a vote.

Employers May Win U.S. Health Law Exemption to Switch Insurers

Excerpt: The U.S. is weighing whether to allow employers to avoid the requirements, even with a new insurer, as long as benefit levels stay the same[.]

General Growth Properties Reaches $5.75 Million Settlement Over 401(k) Plan Losses

Excerpt: The agreement, which requires court approval, is in the 'best interests' of General Growth and its creditors because the Chicago company will get a release of all claims in the lawsuit without having to pay for the settlement, it said.