Michael Kevane

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the trustee for Puerto Ricos COFINA bonds not to make a $16 million payment due on June 1, allowing creditors to litigate competing claims to the money that could be central to how the bankrupt U.S. territory restructures debt. Judge Laura Taylor Swain made the ruling during a hearing in her Manhattan courtroom, putting a freeze on the payments while stakeholders hash out central disputes over who is to be paid first and from which revenue sources. Puerto Rico, with $70 billion in bond debt and another $49 billion in pension liabilities, is embarking on the biggest financial restructuring in U.S. municipal history. Sorting out obligations of the COFINA sales tax authority, which owes some $17 billion, is arguably the biggest task in the restructuring. Swain’s ruling granted a request by the COFINA trustee, Bank of New York Mellon, for “interpleader,” a move authorizing the bank to hold onto the interest payment due on Thursday without fear of liability, while claims over the money are resolved. Judge Swain did not rule on the underlying claims, a process that could take months, but said “their existence makes it clear that interpleader is warranted.” Senior creditors of COFINA argue the authority has already defaulted, through the Puerto Rican government’s indications that it plans to cut debt repayments. They say junior COFINA creditors should therefore stop being paid, to ensure payment for seniors. Meanwhile, holders of Puerto Rico’s $18 billion in general obligation (GO) debt argue that COFINA’s assets belong to them, under a constitutional guarantee giving them first claim on all the island’s resources.

Source: UPDATE 2-U.S. judge freezes a Puerto Rico debt payment subject to competing claims

Ira Kukin was a chemist, and was the benefactor of Henry Rosovsky’s dream, the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.  The couple times I met him as an Academy Scholar, he was engaged and curious.

Yeshiva University mourns the passing of Dr. Ira Kukin, a Benefactor of the University. The service that he and his wife, Doris z”l, provided to YU was all-embracing. He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1981 and later served as its Vice Chairman. He served on the Boards of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Stern College for Women and Yeshiva College in the oversight of Academics Affairs. He was also a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Sy Syms School of Business, which opened its doors on September 8, 1987. He also helped raise funds for it. He and Doris established the Dr. Ira and Doris Kukin Entrepreneurial Lecture Series at Sy Syms, the Frank J. Scardilli Lectureship at Cardozo and the Ira Kukin Chemistry Lecture series at the undergraduate schools as well as a chair in molecular biology at Stern College and the Ira and Doris Kukin Distinguished Visiting Professorship of Finance at the Sy Syms School of Business. In 1986, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his leadership. He had a long career as a research scientist turned entrepreneur. He obtained degrees in chemistry from CCNY and Harvard University and taught at both Harvard and the Associated College of Upper New York. He transformed his research on colloid chemistry and combustion thermodynamics into Apollo Technologies International Corp., a leader in the specialized field of boiler efficiency. Condolences are extended to his children, Dr. Marrick Lee (and Phyllis) Kukin, Lori Sue (and Jeffrey) Moskowitz, and Jonathan Liener (and Leora) Kukin and all of their grandchildren. May they be comforted among all who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem. Yeshiva University Richard M. Joel, President Norman Lamm, President Emeritus

Source: IRA KUKIN Obituary – Livingston, NJ | New York Times

Computerworld filed a FOIA request for H-1B gender data last year and was told that providing such information would be “unreasonably burdensome.” “In order to determine the gender of H-1B applicants, USCIS staff would have to manually search each applicant’s immigration file, an unreasonably burdensome and costly requirement because it would require agency personnel to request, ship and manually review thousands of immigration files,” wrote Alan D. Hughes, associate counsel at the Commercial and Administration Law Division of the Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Services in denying Computerworld’s appeal to receive gender data.

Source: Obama Administration refuses to reveal H-1B sex breakdown – The Unz Review

But now, for the first time, a staggering fiscal cost has been calculated: $520 million annually. A new study, described as the most comprehensive look ever at the expense of homelessness on a community, has determined that more than $3 billion was spent over a six-year period in the county on services such as trips to the emergency rooms, jail stays and mental health care. “Home Not Found: The Cost of Homelessness in Silicon Valley” also identified how a small group of about 2,800 persistently homeless alone cost the county about $83,000 each, per year. “What this shows is that having people live out in the open is tragic for the individual, destabilizing for the community and, at the end of the day, very expensive for the public,” said Dan Flaming, president of Los Angeles-based Economic Roundtable, which produced the report for Santa Clara County and the nonprofit Destination: Home…. The study… tracked more than 104,000 homeless in the county from 2007 to 2012, mining data from sources that included hospital and criminal-justice records…. The county has 7,567 homeless — the nation’s seventh-highest total — according to the most recent published survey, the 2014 Annual Homeless Report to Congress.

Source: Homeless in Santa Clara County: Report puts cost at $520 million a year – The Mercury News