Despite the numerous problems facing state pensions across the country, state politicians are now calling on local pension funds to make “socially responsible investments” in local businesses and other community endavours. The practice is gaining traction on both sides of the aisle, earning the support a diverse group including these two unlikely bedfellows: “Using pension […]

Baltimore is considering an ambitious new plan to stave off bankruptcy by cutting off most new municipal employees from the city’s pension plan. Under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s proposal, new police would be switched to a hybrid defined-benefit/defined-contribution pension plan, while new civilian employees would get no pensions at all. And while veteran workers would escape the brunt of changes, they […]

Obamacare is going to “screw” America’s youth, the very demographic group that made up some of the President’s most ardent supporters, says Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith: The provisions required to make any sort of health insurance plan work—not just ObamaCare, but really any plan of its sort—require healthy young people to pay more in health insurance than they […]

“Frankly,” General Carter Ham, the outgoing head of the U.S. Africa Command told the NYT, “the intelligence community has not focused a lot on this part of the world. But we are starting to, out of necessity.”The U.S. was woefully underprepared for the 9/11/12 attack in Benghazi, Ham continued, and remains unable to quickly counter […]

When corporate CEOs in your state are ready to exchange HQs with Pacific Ocean views for those of a landlocked desert, you know you’re doing something wrong. That’s what’s happening in California, where nearly two dozen firms are considering dumping the Golden State for its drab and arid neighbor, Arizona.Like Texas, Arizona smells the blood […]

Russian counter-terrorism forces pulled off a successful raid against an Islamist militant forest outpost in Derbent, Dagestan, killing five. A sixth was killed in a shoot-out at his village home in Ingushetia. In the restive North Caucasus, this is par for the course, as Reuters notes: A suicide belt, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and grenades […]

Watson, IBM’s flagship supercomputer, is now officially in the health care business. Forbes reports that the company has reached an agreement with Memorial Sloan-Kettering and WellPoint to allow their health care providers to use Watson’s vast analytical powers to help make treatment decisions.Dr. Watson will analyze patients and give doctors several treatment options ranked according to probability as well as the reasoning […]

How much is that college degree really worth? It’s not just a question for students and parents anymore, but for Congress and for state officials as well, says the WSJ. This week Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are expected to re-introduce a bill to force states to provide more information about college […]

Iran’s politicians are engaged in an epic squabble that threatens to turn the country upside down just a couple weeks before national elections. Over at Foreign Policy, Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar does a great job summarizing what’s happening: During an unprecedented debate at the parliament, which ended in mayhem and the dismissal of the labor minister, Ahmadinejad […]

North Korea conducted its third nuclear test in six years this morning, literally and figuratively sending shockwaves through the Asia Pacific. Experts are saying this most recent test was larger than the previous two, perhaps in the six to seven kiloton range.The Nork nuke test challenges both Xi Jinping and Barack Obama for different reasons. For […]