Retirement system needs more money

The Retirement Systems of Alabama says the public education health insurance plan will need $282 million, cuts in benefits, significant increases in member contributions, or a combination of all three next fiscal year, to stay even.

Retirement Systems CEO David Bronner said in the October issue of the RSA 'Advisor' the above numbers were crunched in June before there were 2,000 more retirees in the system than there are now.

At that time only $157 million in new dollars were needed, Bronner said. Because there are fewer active employees and more inactive ones, the new money needed for the 2010-11 fiscal year is $282 million, Bronner said.

He said the public education insurance plan, called PEEHIP, will use two-thirds of its reserves this fiscal year that began on Thursday.

One Alabamian on Forbes list

Only one Alabamian made the list of the top 400 wealthiest Americans, according to Forbes.

Marguerite Harbert of Birmingham, the 85-year-old widow of construction businessman John Harbert III, is worth $1.6 billion, Forbes said. Harbert built power plants, water systems, airports, pipelines, and bought coal reserves in Kentucky and Tennessee, Forbes said. He sold the coal during the energy crisis, Forbes said.

Forbes said John Harbert took $6,000 he won in craps and plowed it into a construction company. He died in 1995. She inherited the money.

Keller statue to be unveiled

If you're in the nation's capital on Wednesday, the official unveiling of the Helen Keller statue will take place in the Capitol rotunda at 10 a.m.

The statue was formally accepted last week with a resolution passed by the U.S. House following a similar resolution passed by the U.S. Senate.

Keller was born in Tuscumbia in 1880 and soon became blind and deaf. Because she was deaf she couldn't learn to speak. But she overcame her disabilities, became educated, and remains an inspiration today as someone who persevered and overcame what should have been a mental, visual and hearing imprisonment.

'Her statue will vividly remind us how a young girl from the rural South overcame tremendous challenges to become a symbol of hope and determination for people throughout the world,' U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, said.

Bachus said Keller was not even 2-years-old when illness caused her blindness and deafness.

'That would be difficult enough for a child and for a father and mother to deal with today with all our advantages,' Bachus said. 'Imagine how devastating it must have been for a family in the Deep South during the 1880s.'

Keller had a home tutor, Anne Sullivan. Their relationship was portrayed in the film, 'The Miracle Worker.'

The Keller home, Ivy Green, is a tourist attraction in Tuscumbia.

Shelby introduces budget amendment

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama has introduced a federal balanced budget constitutional amendment, like he has every year since 1981.

Alabama has a balanced budget amendment and unlike the federal government cannot deficit spend. Shelby's amendment would require Congress to balance its budget and reduce the nation's debt.

'The 2009 budget deficit will be larger than all budget deficits from 2002 through 2007 combined,' Shelby, R-Ala., said.

He said the White House projects $10.6 trillion in additional deficits between now and 2019.

A constitutional amendment must be passed by Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the states, Shelby said. Times of war would be exempted from the mandate the government could spend only what it takes in. And not more than 20 percent of the gross national product of the United States during the previous calendar year could be spent.

Department sponsoring art exhibit

The Alabama Department of Mental Health is sponsoring the fifth annual Capitol showcase for consumer art. The art exhibit is on the main floor of the Capitol, in the Old Supreme Court chamber.

The artists are hundreds of mental health consumers with mental illness, intellectual disabilities and substance abuse disorders, the department said.

Hammett beginning to receive honors

House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, who is retiring next year at the end of three terms as speaker, is beginning to receive the honors that will come his way over the next 12 months.

Later this month the Alabama Higher Education Partnership will honor Hammett with the 2009 Courage of Conviction Award, said partnership executive director Gordon Stone. Hammett will be honored at an Oct. 16 banquet for his 'outstanding leadership throughout his career in the business and political community,' Stone said.

The Courage of Conviction Award recognizes Alabama leaders who ensure that the state will rise above its past, Stone said.

Leaders are recognized for strengthening the link between higher education and the business community, encouraging educational effectiveness, advocating with the legislature and promoting economic development, Stone said.