Rattner settles Cuomo suit for $10M
NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Steven Rattner, President Barack Obama's former car czar, has agreed to pay New York state $10 million to settle two lawsuits over a pension kickback scheme.
"I am pleased to have reached a settlement with the New York attorney general's office, which allows me to put this matter behind me," Rattner said in a statement issued in conjunction with the agreement announced Thursday by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. "I apologize if during the course of this process there is anything I did that may have made reaching this agreement more difficult. I respect the work of the attorney general and his staff to ensure that the New York State Common Retirement Fund operates properly and in the best interests of New Yorkers."
The agreement bars Rattner from involvement with any public pension fund in the state for five years, The New York Times reported. He did not admit any wrongdoing.
"I am gratified that we have been able to reach an agreement in this case, as it resolves the last major action of our multiyear investigation," Cuomo, who will be sworn in Saturday as governor, said in a statement. "The state pension fund is a valuable asset held in trust for retirees and supported by taxpayers. Through the many cases, pleas and settlements in this investigation, I believe we have been able to help restore and protect the integrity of the state pension fund."
Rattner settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, paying $6.2 million and accepting a two-year ban from certain businesses on Wall Street.
Rattner disclosed a net worth of $188 million to $608 million when he was appointed to head Obama's auto task force in 2009.
U.S. revokes Venezuelan envoy's visa
WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The Obama administration has expelled the Venezuelan ambassador, revoking Bernardo Alvarez Herrera's visa while he was on vacation in his homeland.
The move came a day after President Hugo Chavez said he would not accept Larry Palmer, President Obama's choice for ambassador to Caracas, the Los Angeles Times reported. Chavez said Palmer is not acceptable because of comments he has made about Venezuela.
Palmer, a career diplomat, served as ambassador to Honduras from 2002 to 2005 and since then has been president of the Inter-American Foundation. Testifying before a Senate committee, he described morale in the Venezuelan army as low and said Chavez's government has ties to leftist rebels in Colombia.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley described the expulsion of Herrera Wednesday as "appropriate, proportional and reciprocal action." Earlier in the day, Mark Toner, an acting department spokesman, told reporters at a briefing it is important for the United States to have an ambassador in Caracas because of the tensions with Chavez.
Herrera has been on vacation, El Universal of Caracas said.
NYC misses blizzard cleanup deadline
NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Several blocks of New York's outer boroughs remained buried in snow despite a promise from the city to have the Christmas 2010 blizzard fully cleared Thursday.
Amid allegations sanitation workers slowed down cleanup efforts to protest budget cuts, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson called for an investigation into the city's response to a mammoth holiday snowstorm that dumped 2 feet of snow up and down the East Coast, the New York Daily News reported.
"Our response was inadequate and unacceptable. Clearly, the response to the storm has not met our standards," Bloomberg said at a Queens news conference, while noting the city hired 2,000 day laborers to augment the 1,600 snowplows on the city streets.
Harry Nespoli, who leads New York's sanitation workers' union, said it was one of the biggest blizzards he's ever seen, and visibility was next to zero during much of the work.
Paterson said it would be a "very, very serious breach" if a slowdown had been ordered, CNN reported.
Bloomberg acknowledged some streets were still snow-filled, though he said every street had been plowed at least once.
Murkowski certified winner in Alaska race
JUNEAU, Alaska, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Alaska officials Thursday certified Lisa Murkowski the winner of the state's U.S. Senate race, but it was unclear whether the decision would yet be challenged.
The incumbent Murkowski ran as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary to Tea Party-backed candidate Joe Miller. Miller lost his challenge to the Election Board decision to count misspellings of Murkowski's name as valid, giving her a 10,000-vote lead, in the state courts and in U.S. District Court. He has said he would decide by Friday whether to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, The Hill reported. Democrat Scott McAdams came in third in the contest.
Murkowski's win was certified by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell.
Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney said it "feels great" to finally have Murkowski declared the winner, Politico reported.
"We spent six weeks running a campaign, and it took eight weeks to get the final result," Sweeney said in a statement. "While the long wait may make it anticlimactic, it does not diminish the historic accomplishment of our campaign."
A Miller spokesman had no comment Thursday.
