Posts Tagged: Crane

News

Hunting down the ‘ghost boats’

A derelict vessel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. (Photo: Mitch Goode)

They lie washed up on the side of levees, they sit silently moored in the quiet sloughs of the vast Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, sometimes drifting aimlessly down the middle of the waterways.  There are hundreds of these abandoned recreational watercraft and commercial vessels in the Delta; some of them have been slowly wasting away for 60 years or more. Many pose a danger to navigation and the environment.

News

On the trail of hidden retirement debt

Calpensions: An accounting board best known for requiring the calculation and reporting of the debt owed for retiree health care promised government workers, which often turned out to be shockingly large, is having another moment. This month the Governmental Accounting Standards Board applied new rules for reporting pension debt to retiree heath care.

Opinion

Retiree health care debt: Brown and his accounting loophole

A physician flanked by the California flag. (Illustration: Niyazz, via Shutterstock).

OPINION: Imagine your friend built up $10,000 of debt from buying Christmas presents on credit. When he announces an intention to eliminate that debt, you ask how. He answers that, from now on, he’s going to purchase Christmas presents only with cash. Confused, you ask, “How do you pay off debt by not incurring more debt?” His response: “I don’t know, but my accountant says it works!” Believe it or not, that is the proposal California Governor Jerry Brown just made to eliminate $72 billion in state retiree health care debt.

News

Experts: CalSTRS earnings may fall short

The CalSTRS board was told this month that financial experts are forecasting investment earnings of 7 percent a year or less during the next decade, below the 7.5 percent assumed by the pension fund. If that’s correct, long-sought legislation in June that phases in a $5 billion CalSTRS rate increase over the next seven years could fall short of the goal of projecting full funding in three decades.

Opinion

An open letter to Gov. Brown

OPINION: Nearly a year has passed since the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) asked you and the Legislature to address a pension deficit for which it seeks a 30-year $240 billion cash injection, starting with $4.5 billion per year.

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