PAGE 8
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
I will not answer if you have a specific question about the image. If you need me to help with something else, please let me know!
FINANCE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this Oct. 23, 2013 file photo, Dennis Marton walks with protesters at a rally outside The Theodore Levin United States Courthouse in Detroit. The city of Detroit reached tentative agreements to preserve pensions for retired police office and firefighters but cut monthly payments for other former employees, officials said Tuesday.
Detroit still needs $350M from state lawmakers
I ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — Pressure was building Wednesday for Michigan lawmakers to commit $350 million to Detroit pensions, a day after the city reached tentative agreements with pension funds and a retiree group to reduce payouts.
The city has an $816 million pledge from foundations, philanthropists and Gov. Rick Snyder to shore up pension funds and prevent the sale of city-owned art as part of Detroit's strategy for exiting the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history.
But the state's share still hasn't been nailed down, and some in the Republican-controlled Legislature aren't sold yet.
“It's not going to be easy because it's so easily demagoued,” said House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, who supports the plan. “There will be an important balance between ensuring Detroit's success on the positive side and ensuring Detroit doesn't lapse back
into trouble on the cautionary side."
Retired police officers and firefighters would see smaller cost-of-living payments but no cut in pension benefits under a deal announced Tuesday. Detroit's other retirees, who have smaller pensions, would get a 4.5 percent cut and elimination of yearly inflation allowances under a separate compromise.
Retirees and city employees who qualify for a pension will get a ballot in a few weeks. If they don't support the plan, the $816 million vanishes and deeper pension cuts are inevitable, Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr warned.
Bolger said the city's unions should put money in the pot and not just in the form of concessions from members.
"They have profited from these contracts. They have collected union dues. They should step forward and join in mitigating the effects of the bankruptcy", he said.
State aid for Detroit is tricky for the Republican governor and lawmakers who are uncomfortable with
talk of a "bailout." Some legislators are worried about the rescue setting a precedent if other cities collapse. Draft legislation is in the works; the money could be diverted from tobacco settlement funds that Michigan receives each year or come from securitizing future payments to get a lump sum up front.
One potential advantage for Snyder is that southeastern Michigan is home to many lawmakers who want to see the city turn a page. Nearly five of every 10 lawmakers represent parts of Wayne, Oakland or Macomb counties. City retirees at risk of significant pension cuts without state aid also live in many of those districts.
Snyder, Bolger and other leaders in the Capitol are hoping to persuade them that Michigan's long-term health is related to a healthier Detroit. The House returns Thursday, while the Senate is back in session next week.
But lawmakers outside the region say their constituents have other priorities, such as better roads and schools.
Federal judge overturns 6-week abortion ban
POLICY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a North Dakota law that bans abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they're pregnant.
U. S. District Judge Daniel Hovland said the law is "invalid and unconstitutional" and that it "cannot withstand a constitutional challenge." The state attorney general said he was looking at whether to appeal the decision by the Bismarck-based judge.
North Dakota's heartbeat measure was among four anti-abortion bills that Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed into law last year with overwhelming support from the state's Republican-led Legislature. Backed by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, the state's only abortion clinic, the Red River Clinic in Fargo, filed a lawsuit against the
North Dakota is among several conservative states that have passed new abortion restrictions in recent years, but abortion rights supporters called North Dakota's fetal heartbeat law the most restrictive in the country. A fetal heartbeat law passed in Arkansas would ban abortions at 12 weeks into pregnancy, but it was overturned by another federal judge. The state's attorney general has said he will appeal.
heartbeat law last July.
"The United States Supreme Court has spoken and has unequivocally said no state may deprive a woman of the choice to terminate her pregnancy at a point prior to viability," Hovland wrote in his ruling. "The controversy over a woman's right to choose to have an abortion will never end. The issue is undoubtedly one of the most divisive of social issues. The United States Supreme Court will eventually weigh in on this emotionally-fraught issue but, until that occurs, this Court is obligated to uphold existing Supreme
"The court was correct to call this law exactly what it is: a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women."
Court precedent."
NANCY NORTHRUP Center for Reproductive Rights
Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights praised Hovland's ruling.
"The court was correct to call this law exactly what it is: a blatant violation of the constitutional guarantees afforded to all women," Northrp said in a statement. "But women should not be forced to go to court, year after year in state after state, to protect their constitutional rights. We hope today's decision, along with the long line of decisions striking
down these attempts to choke off access to safe and legal abortion services in the U.S., sends a strong message to politicians across the country that our rights cannot be legislated away."
Supporters of the measure have said the measure is a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks. Opponents say it's an attempt to shutter the Red River Clinic.
The director of the Fargo clinic, Tammi Kromenaker, said Hovland's ruling was expected.
"It's not a surprise that the judge ruled this way but it's definitely a relief," she said. "We told the Legislature and we urged the governor to veto the bill, telling him this was not going to withstand constitutional muster."
Last year, lawmakers in oil-rich North Dakota allocated $400,000 that was requested by Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to defend against any lawsuits arising from the state's new abortion laws.
Stenehjem told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he needed to read Hovland's ruling and talk to the governor and others before deciding what the state will do next.
“There are those who believed that this was a challenge that could go to the Supreme Court," Stenehjem said. "Whether or not that's likely is something we need to confer about."
- Bank online and on your phone
Well, maybe just your banking.
- Get email alerts to keep track of your account
- Use any Commerce ATM without fees
At Commerce Bank, we're working behind the scenes to save you some time ... and a little money, too. A KU Checking Account helps you:
Use your KU Card to access your Commerce account. It's a whole lot easier than a pop quiz.
+