The Filter: State Pension Funds Betting on Wall St. Rebound
(March 9) — with so many news aggregators out there, who can keep up? AOL News filters the filters to steer you to the headlines that really matter.
Skip Those, Read this: It’s the 11th hour for health care reform, and The Huffington Post leads with an associated Press story on President Obama’s renewed efforts to get legislation passed. he gave a campaign-style speech Monday at Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, and appealed for help to his audience, which consisted mostly of students. “So I need you to knock on doors. Talk to your neighbors. Pick up the phone,” the president said. The Daily Beast also leads with an AP report — this one on a possible deal in the works to appease House Democrats who say they will block a health care reform bill if it expands women’s access to abortions.
Public and Private Pensions: The Slatest leads with a New York Times story about how states are taking more risks investing pension funds than companies. Companies are pulling their funds from stocks and buying long-term bonds, in order to be less exposed to the vacillations of the market. but government entities are trying to recoup the losses from the recent stock market plunge and betting heavily on the market to rebound. “In effect, they’re going to Las Vegas,” said the former chairman of the Texas Pension Review Board. “Double up to catch up.” meanwhile, the Daily Beast picks up a related Reuters article on the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which on Monday filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs, trying to prevent the bank from paying out 47 percent of its revenue in compensation. the union says shareholders rather than bankers deserve the lion’s share of profits.
Terror Trial Surrender? the Slatest links to a blog post from the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder, examining the impasse on trials for high-level terrorist suspects, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. the Justice Department advocated trying them in civilian courts, but it seems the White House, which already backed down on trying Mohammed in a New York federal court, may be opting for military tribunal trials for all of them. “The arguments that the administration is the victim of irrational Republicans and ‘court-imposed timelines’ aren’t sufficient to explain the lack of a concerted, daily, public communications effort to fight for the principle of trying the 9/11 terrorists in federal courts,” Ambinder writes.
Catch of the Day: in a bit of post-Oscars news, the Slatest picks up a New York Times article on a sting operation at a hip L.a. sushi restaurant by law enforcement officials and the team behind the “The Cove,” which won the Academy Award for best documentary on Sunday. Using hidden video cameras and microphones, they caught the Hump restaurant serving whale meat, which is illegal. (“The Cove” documents the struggle between animal-rights activists and Japanese officials over dolphin hunting.) “Video of their meal shows the two activists, both vegan, being served what the waitress can be heard calling ‘whale’ — thick pink slices — that they take squeamish bites of before tossing into a Ziploc bag in a purse,” reports the Times. Lab analysis showed the slices came from a Sei whale, which are an endangered species.
Lindsay Lohan Lawsuit: Lindsay Lohan is suing E-Trade for $100 million, alleging that the company is running an advertisement based on her without her permission. the Daily Beast picks up the New York Post report, which describes the ad as featuring a baby called “Lindsay,” who is a “milkaholic” and steals another baby’s boyfriend.
The Filter: State Pension Funds Betting on Wall St. Rebound
