Posts Tagged: negotiated

California’s plan for ‘miraculous’ cures — at $49,000 per hour

A liquid nitrogen bank containing a suspension of stem cells for biomedical research. (Photo: Elena Pavlovich, via Shutterstock)

by DAVID JENSEN posted 07.08.2022

California is planning on spending $49,000 an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the next year to help scientists develop what some describe as “miraculous” cures and treatments for currently deadly afflictions. The spending plan was approved with no fuss last month while state lawmakers and the governor wrestled more noisily with a $308 billion state budget

Pension spiking’s ‘poster child’

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

by ED MENDEL posted 09.14.2015

A Moraga-Orinda fire chief drew national attention six years ago for retiring at age 50 with a pension much larger than his base pay. He went back to work as chief the following Monday, hired as a consultant with full salary. “People point to me as a poster child for pension spiking, but I did not negotiate these rules,” Peter Nowicki said.

Pensions key to Stockton bankruptcy

Waterfront, Stockton, Calif., at Weber Point. (Photo: Terrance Emerson)

by ED MENDEL posted 09.17.2014

Calpensions: During a hearing Oct. 1 on Stockton’s “plan of adjustment” to cut debt and emerge from bankruptcy, there may be a landmark ruling on whether CalPERS pension debt can be cut in bankruptcy.

The Vallejo city council last week voted to close a $5.2 million gap in the current budget, showing no alarm that in a five-year forecast the gap reopens, mainly driven by rising pension costs. Moody’s, a Wall Street credit rating agency, said earlier that Vallejo and two California cities currently in bankruptcy, Stockton and San Bernardino, risk returning to insolvency without pension relief.