As promised, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced his approach to scaling back state pensions which he says would save taxpayers $93 billion over 30 years. According to the Times-Union, "Among the proposed changes: Raising the standard retirement age from 62 to 65; eliminating early retirement; requiring a 6 percent employee contributions for a workers' entire career rather than a limited period of time; excluding the use of overtime from calculating retirement pay; and banning the cashing in of unused sick days or vacation time." Teacher's retirement ages would be raised from 57 to 62. more ›

After getting sued for "alleged misstatements and omissions about its lending policies and procedures," Countrywide Financial and its auditor have agreed to settle the class-action lawsuit. The lead plaintiffs were the NY State Common Retirement Fund and five NYC pensions; NY State lost over $10 million and the city funds lost about $5 million. The Daily News reports that the state and city won't get all of it back, but City Comptroller John Liu Liu said, "Right now, without the settlement, we get nothing. So even if we get a couple of million dollars back, we're ahead." Countrywide said it "denies all allegations of wrongdoing and any liability under the federal securities laws. Countrywide agreed to this settlement to avoid the additional expense and uncertainty associated with continued litigation of plaintiffs' claims and Countrywide's defenses." more ›

Even though he's serving a jail sentence, cleaning prison bathrooms, for stealing millions from the Roslyn schools district, it's certainly nice to be Frank Tassone, knowing that he still gets his $173,495 annual NY State pension. Newsday reports that he and other former Roslyn officials still get their considerable pensions, even while serving jail time. more ›