BUSINESS
April 11, 2013 | By Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times
Blue Shield of California may be losing its longtime grip on one of the healthcare industry's most coveted insurance contracts. Officials at the California Public Employees' Retirement System are recommending breaking up Blue Shield's current statewide HMO contract and replacing it with as many as four health plans for more than 400,000 public workers and their families. The CalPERS board of administration will consider its staff's recommendation next week and decide among seven companies that submitted bids.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 2, 2013 | By Kate Mather
The search for two teenage hikers believed to be lost in Orange County's Trabuco Canyon was set to continue Tuesday morning. About 8:25 p.m. Sunday, Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, both of Costa Mesa, called authorities from a cellphone and said they were lost, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said. The two thought they were about a mile away from their vehicle, the Sheriff's Department said, but the phone's battery died before authorities were unable to pinpoint a location.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 2, 2013 | By Matt Stevens
A major construction project to install a new power circuit in Los Feliz will force road closures and limit left-hand turns in the neighborhood starting Tuesday and stretching into the fall. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will begin installation of a new underground and overhead 4.8-kilovolt circuit to alleviate other overloaded circuits that collectively serve about 5,500 customers in Los Feliz, the utility company said. The first of the project's three phases begins Tuesday, according to a statement from the DWP. As a result, no left turns will be allowed at the intersection of Los Feliz Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Officials expect this phase to last until May. In the coming months, construction crews will install 1,750 feet of conduit and more than 6,000 feet of cables and related equipment.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 2, 2013 | By Diana Marcum
The city of Stockton's impending bankruptcy case sets up a battle over employee pensions. A federal judge ruled Monday that Stockton was eligible for bankruptcy protection , rebutting Wall Street creditors who claimed the city was not. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein found that Stockton can move forward with a plan to reorganize its debt. The city's creditors, he said, had acted in bad faith by refusing to negotiate. "The creditors got a big black eye today," said Karol Denniston, an attorney who helped draft the legislation that guided Stockton's mandated mediation before filing for Chapter 9 protection.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 1, 2013 | By Diana Marcum
A federal judge ruled Monday that Stockton is eligible for bankruptcy protection, but left the door open for CalPERS obligations to be part of negotiations in the coming phases of the bankruptcy. Over the objection of creditors who argued the city could come up with more money, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein said Stockton can move forward with a plan to reorganize debt. He twice stated that the creditors had acted in bad faith and had refused to pay their share of the costs for negotiations.
BUSINESS
March 19, 2013 | By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO - Three years after a major influence-peddling scandal rocked California and the nation's largest public pension fund, a federal grand jury indicted two former top officials on fraud, conspiracy and obstruction charges. The indictment, unsealed Monday in San Francisco, names as defendants Federico Buenrostro Jr. of Sacramento, a former chief executive of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, and Alfred J.R. Villalobos of Reno, Nev., a former CalPERS board member and one-time deputy Los Angeles mayor.