Tuesday, April 28, 2009

LA Daily Blog NEWS HEADLINES (4/28/09) - Mayor's Pension Appointee RESIGNS Over Jack Weiss Campaign Scandal

via Google Alerts - zuma-dogg by zumadogg@gmail.com (zuma dogg) on 4/28/09
Aw hell yeah, and for the first time in a long, long while Zuma Dogg cannot hold back...(clears throat)...Hooooooody hoooooooooooooooooooooo! Oh my goodness, a Villaraigosa pension board appointee RESIGNS over Jack Weiss fundraiser. ...
LA Daily Blog - http://ladailyblog.blogspot.com/

via L.A. Times - Business on 4/28/09
The huge public pension fund may require investment companies that it does business with to disclose fees paid to placement agents.

The leader of the California Public Employees' Retirement System -- the country's largest public pension fund -- on Monday ordered its staff to draft a policy requiring investment companies hired by the fund to disclose fees paid to the firms' outside marketers.

A new city ordinance will bar the consultants from demanding upfront fees from any homeowner -- not just those in default, who are protected under state law.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to make it illegal for so-called mortgage consultants to charge an upfront fee for services when helping distressed homeowners try to modify their payments.

The governor pushes for $3.6 million for college education funding. A Senate bill proposing the assistance is scheduled to be heard Wednesday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger renewed his push Tuesday for $3.6 million to help finance college education for the citizen soldiers of the California National Guard.

The board fails to pass the proposal, instead creating a task force to study the issue.

A proposal to make it faster and easier to fire ineffective, unprofessional or abusive teachers failed to pass at Tuesday's meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Education. A slim majority instead voted 4 to 3 to establish a task force to study the issue.

via L.A. Times - Business on 4/29/09
Bill Lockyer says he wants to ensure that the third-party go-betweens did not engage in any improper conduct to win investment deals for their clients with the giant pension fund.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer on Tuesday asked the country's biggest public pension fund to conduct an internal investigation into investments it made through so-called placement agents, who raise funds for outside asset managers.

Kitson & Partners has teamed with Florida Power & Light to develop a fully solar-powered city called Babcock Ranch in southwest Florida, near Fort Myers and the 73,000 acre Babcock Ranch Preserve. The city will feature the world’s largest photovoltaic solar plant, a smart power grid, electric vehicle charging stations and a variety of other [...]