News & Brews January 29, 2024
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PSERS investment advisor hit with $1.5M fine
The Inquirer reports, “The Securities and Exchange Commission has slapped $1.5 million in penalties, refunds, and interest on consultant Aon Investments USA Inc. to settle charges the Chicago firm misled the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) about errors that caused an exaggerated profit report for 2011-2020.” Because of the mistake, payroll deductions increased for about 100,000 public school employees who originally thought their deductions would not increase.
‘Keys’ to a Pa. presidential victory in 2024?
Opinions among political strategists and campaign operatives vary on who can and will win the presidential race in Pa. in 2024. The Post-Gazette reports that one GOP consultant said, “If this election is about Trump’s character and behavior, he’s not going to do well with independents. What are independents thinking about when they go to vote? Is it Biden’s record on core issues or Trump’s tweets?” Meanwhile, another said, “I don’t know [that] the Republicans are going to win Pennsylvania.” Still, another argued, “It’s purely a numbers [meaning turnout] game at this point.” Meanwhile, the Biden campaign is “full steam ahead going into the general election.”
‘Inquirer Ed Board still silent on Shapiro admin’s sexual harassment scandal’
The Broad + Liberty editors write that while the Inquirer Editorial Board has written “on the Central Bucks School District and its board members no fewer than four times in the last twelve months” and has “even spilled ink to endorse each of the Democrats running for Central Bucks School Board in the local election last November,” the Inky editors have remained “silent” when it comes to the sexual harassment scandal involving Gov. Shapiro’s former secretary of legislative affairs, Mike Vereb. “We’ve had our share of disagreements with the Inquirer’s editorial board,” the Broad & Liberty editors write, “Yet presently, there’s no editorial even to disagree with. In this respect, the paper has failed — utterly and miserably.”
Check out this new School Choice Calculator
EdChoice and the Reason Foundation have joined forces to create the K-12 School Choice Calculator (SCC). The SCC “is a tool for policymakers, legislators, fiscal analysts, and other citizens who are interested in learning about the potential fiscal impact of education savings account programs on taxpayers in their states. The SCC allows users to design an ESA program for any state and provides a range of estimates for the fiscal effects of an education savings account (ESA) program on state and local taxpayers combined.” Read more about the SCC’s methodology here, or access the calculator directly here.
‘General Assembly retirement tracker’
When the new Pa. legislature convenes in 2025, a lot of familiar faces will be absent. City & State PA has compiled a ‘retirement tacker’ to keep tabs on “all the retirements, resignations and impending departures in the General Assembly during a major election year in the commonwealth.” The tracker also recaps which lawmakers left their chambers in 2023.