Newswires

April 30– ALAMEDA– Police and firefighters will begin paying into a trust to help fund the city’s bill for retiree medical benefits under contracts that the City Council approved Wednesday. “This will not fix the problem overnight, but it’s a first step in the right direction,” said Alan Kuboyama, president of the Alameda Police Officers Association.

April 30– ST. LOUIS– Pastor Jim Staley became a lightning rod for more than his controversial beliefs. Some critics accused the St. Charles pastor, who attracted worldwide online attention to his Passion For Truth Ministries, of heresy, spending church money on himself and cheating others out of cash. Until Thursday, Staley, 40, who rents a $1 million home after…

April 30– Senior citizens and middle-age residents should take advantage of local services that could provide better access to health insurance coverage and health care, says Darryl Neher, Democratic candidate for Bloomington mayor. The Cover Monroe Project of the ACA Volunteers of Monroe County, a local not-for-profit, helps people younger than 65…

April 30– Talks between the Kahler Hotel Group and the union representing most of its employees are at an impasse over health care benefits and wages. KHG, which includes four downtown Rochester hotels and the Textile Care Services commercial laundry, has been talking with Unite Here Local 21, since the start of the year. Due to a April 14 ruling by the National…

May 01– Alan Jay Kaufman, CEO of H.W. Kaufman Financial Group in Farmington Hills, has pledged more than $1 million to endow a faculty professorship in insurance and risk management within the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Sanjay Gupta, acting dean of the Eli Broad College and himself the Ross E. Palmer endowed professor in accounting…

“He was an excellent physician, a wonderful Air Force officer and a very modest man,” said Clark C. Rogers, a retired lieutenant general and fighter pilot who got to know him when Dr. Schwark was hospital commander at Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C.. We all thought very highly of him, “said Mr. Rogers, who added that Dr. Schwark was also a flight surgeon and…

The trends in patient deaths from preventable hospital acquired conditions illustrate the reality of both motivations along with the harm to patients, families and the medical care system overall.Albuquerque, NM—- 04/30/2015– The myths of medical malpractice are not based in reality. It is estimated by the Journal of Patient Safety that there as as many as…

PEMBROKE, Bermuda _ Validus Holdings Ltd. on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $173.4 million. The Pembroke, Bermuda- based company said it had profit of $1.98 per share. Validus shares have climbed nearly 1 percent since the beginning of the year.

Riffenburg Insurance Services is proud to announce that Michael Riffenburg, founder and owner of the Spartanburg, SC insurance company, was recently recognized by United Healthcare Insurance Company for delivering strong sales results for AARP Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans. Jim Cook, vice president of agent distribution with United Healthcare,…

Lohman will be speaking alongside Robb Hill, Director at 401 Advisors with special guest speakers from Denman& Company, and more. Topics of discussion will include:• Iowa& National Economic Update• What Every Fiduciary Needs to Know For 2015• Target Date Fund Conundrum• Washington D.C. Legal& Compliance Update• Industry Expert Panel– Insights& Local Perspective•…

In January, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., agreed to settle allegations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of illegal kickbacks. In all, the CFPB extracted $3.573 million from the settlement– with Wells Fargo paying the bulk of the amount. The other three defendants– Adam Mandelberg, William Peterson and Angela Pobletts– were all loan…

Extended IRA is a concept not a product. It is a way for the beneficiaries of IRAs to ease the tax burden of taking required distributions from inherited IRAs and maximizing the deferral period for the money in that account. Extend payments over the life expectancies of IRA beneficiaries using an IRS proscribed life expectancy table.

When the owner of a nonqualified deferred annuity dies and leaves the money to a nonspouse individual beneficiary, that beneficiary has several different distribution options:. Five-year Rule Nonqualified Stretch Annuitization. The five-year rule requires that the entire balance of the annuity be distributed within five years of the owner’ s death.

A.M. Best has downgraded the financial strength rating to B- from B and the issuer credit rating to“ bb-” from“ bb” for Granada Insurance Company. Concurrently, A.M. Best has withdrawn the ratings in response to the company’ s request to no longer participate in A.M. Partially offsetting these negative rating factors are Granada’ s long-standing local market presence,…

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the following ratings for Idaho Housing and Finance Association’s single-family mortgage bonds:. –$27.72 million single-family mortgage class I bonds, series 2009 C at’ AAA’;. SUFFICIENT ASSET PARITY LEVELS: As of Dec. 31, 2014, the class I and II bonds had asset parity levels of 117% and 107%, respectively.

Bass Lake and Oakhurst residents can personally attest to the heart aches caused by these devastating fires as the Courtney Fire or Junction Fire destroyed more than 30 homes last year leaving many homeless and without a change of clothes. Those very same fires caused mass evacuations and saw the Oakhurst Community Center and Coarsegold Community Center…

CDC data indicates more than 10,000 new lung cancer cases annually in Pennsylvania. In response to higher-than-state-average incidents of lung cancer in its region of service, Susquehanna Health developed a new, expanded program scheduled to launch in May to provide smoking cessation counseling and low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screenings.

–American Savings Bank, F.S.B., a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., today reported net income for the first quarter of 2015 of $13.5 million, compared to $12.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and $14. 4 million in the first quarter of 2014.. $1 million lower provision for loan losses, with no repeat of the lava flow-related…

National Fuel Gas Company today announced consolidated earnings for the second quarter of its 2015 fiscal year and for the six months ended March 31, 2015, of $16.7 million, or $0.20 per share, and $101.4 million, or $1.19 per share, respectively. Earnings for the current quarter and six months ended March 31, 2015 were reduced by a $69.5 million non-cash charge to…