Analysis by the UK government has shown charging in both trust and insurance defined contribution (DC) schemes stands higher than estimates – and on the cusp of, or above, a proposed charge cap.The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) conducted more than 1,300 interviews with trust and contract schemes, as well as the 11 largest insurance DC providers in the UK.Through its research, and analysis of scheme data, the department found the average annual charge for members was 75 basis points in trust schemes and 84bps in insurance schemes.Previous estimates by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), a lobby group for insurance-based pension providers, said the average charge among its members was 52bps. Average figures also differed significantly when split by the size of the scheme.A small insurance scheme (six to 11 members) was paying as much as 91bps, while a trust scheme (with 12-99 members) was paying 94bps.Average annual charges fall as scheme size increases, the government said.An insurance scheme with more than 1,000 members fell below the 75bps threshold recently touted by the DWP.Charges for the largest trust schemes marginally fell below those of the larger contract-based schemes, with an average charge of 42bps.The government had been consulting on implementing a cap on member charges within DC schemes.The cap, which was initially expected to be between 50bps and 100bps, was aimed at schemes used for the rollout of auto-enrolment, with expectations for its application across all schemes.However, the cap was expected to be implemented by April this year, until it was announced by pensions minister Steve Webb that complications had forced the government to delay by at least a year.This sparked a backlash from opposition ministers in the UK Parliament, amid accusations the government had given in to vested interests in the insurance industry.In its research, the department added that the size of the scheme, along with adviser commissions, contributions and when the scheme was set up, impacted the most on charging levels.Trust schemes set up before 1991, on average, had a higher charge by 10bps to those set up after 2001.The difference between schemes in the insurance sector was 20bps.The use of active member discounts (AMDs), which results in non-contributory members facing additional charges, and another aspect the current government aimed to abolish, were also analysed.Government research showed only 3% of trust schemes operated such a policy, with marginally more insurance providers doing so, at 10%.On average, non-contributory members faced an additional 38bps charge in their DC fund compared with active members.
National Review Online 10 May 2012This spring the journal Economic Inquiry published a study by Joseph Sabia and Daniel Reese which found very solid evidence that pro-life parental involvement laws reduce the suicide rate for teen females. This peer-reviewed study is both methodologically rigorous and well done. Analyzing state-level suicide data from 1987 to 2003 and holding constant both state-level trends and a range of economic and demographic factors, it finds that parental involvement laws reduce the suicide rate for teen females anywhere from 11 to 21 percent. The authors argue that this is because parental involvement laws reduce the incidence of stressful life events. These include unprotected sexual intercourse, STDs, pregnancies, and abortions.The authors utilize an impressive range of statistical tests to document their findings. For instance, the regression results indicate that parental involvement laws have only a marginal impact on the suicide rate of older females who would not be directly affected by the law. Also, parental involvement laws have little impact on the suicide rate for teen males. However, this is consistent with the hypothesis that unprotected sex imposes a greater psychological burden on female adolescents than on their male counterparts. Finally, parental involvement laws have less of an effect on teen female suicide rates — if adjacent states are not enforcing parental involvement laws.Overall, this study contributes to a growing body of peer-reviewed research which documents the positive public-health impact of pro-life parental-involvement laws. There exist at least 16 peer-reviewed studies which find that parental involvement laws result in statistically significant reductions in the in-state abortion rate for minors. Obviously some minors circumvent these laws by obtaining abortions in states without such laws. However, every study that tracks both in-state and out-of-state abortions finds that the in-state decline significantly exceeds the out-of-state increase.Additionally, a 2003 study in the Journal of Health Economics by Phillip Levine found that parental-involvement laws reduce the pregnancy rate of 15- to 17-year-olds by 4 to 9 percent. A 2008 study in the Journal of Law Economics and Organization by Jonathan Klick and Thomas Stratmann shows that parental involvement laws reduce gonorrhea rates anywhere from 12 to 20 percent for females under 20. Pro-choice opponents of parental-involvement laws frequently argue that they will lead to a higher incidence of child abuse. However, there is no comparable body of peer-reviewed evidence demonstrating the negative public-health impact of these laws.http://nationalreview.com/corner/299637/pro-life-parental-involvement-laws-reduce-teen-suicide-rates-michael-j-new
That killer instinct, of course, would probably have been there had Gareth Bale been here, but the star forward was sunning himself in Marbella instead. Without him, Tottenham were impressive, but only in patches. Soldado took his spot-kick well while a pair of bruising performances from Etienne Capoue and Paulinho stifled Swansea’s creativity. Tottenham should have had the chance to bury the game in the first half but referee Neil Swarbrick failed to give what looked to be a clear penalty following a foul by Jonjo Shelvey on Andros Townsend. Despite having to go through a 4,500-mile round trip to Georgia in midweek, Spurs pressed from the kick-off. Swansea had little time on the ball, but the hosts had to resort to long-range shots as Ashley Williams kept Soldado quiet. Paulinho drove in to Vorm’s arms from long range and Capoue did the same from a similar angle. Vorm looked on nervously as Nacer Chadli’s wicked free-kick flew a foot over the bar and Spurs then almost grabbed the lead thanks to a mistake from Williams. Press Association Roberto Soldado took his tally to four goals in three games as Tottenham maintained their 100 per cent record with a narrow 1-0 victory over Swansea. The Arsenal target rattled the frame of his own goal with a bullet header and Vorm did well to save the Paulinho’s follow-up from close range. Hugo Lloris had a quiet 25 minutes until the Spurs stopper was called in to action to save from Shelvey at the near post. It was all Spurs from then on. Paulinho strode past his marker but fired a low shot wastefully wide. Swansea could only clear Kyle Walker’s cross as far as Mousa Dembele, but Vorm pulled off an impressive acrobatic save to deny the Belgian. When Paulinho stabbed a volley inches wide of a half-open goal, Spurs fans groaned. It seemed nothing was going their way and that sense was only heightened when Swarbrick failed to award a penalty in the final minute of the first half. Shelvey bodychecked Townsend inside the penalty area, but the referee, after consulting with his flagging assistant, gave a free-kick a yard outside the box instead. One possibility was that the linesman had flagged for a nudge by Wayne Routledge on Townsend just before he entered the box. Michael Dawson put in a crucial tackle to deny Michu after the break, but the home side were still well on top. Townsend cracked a fizzing half-volley just over the bar soon after as Tottenham continued to lay siege to the Swansea box. The pressure paid off as Tottenham won a penalty in controversial circumstances. Townsend’s trickery allowed him to enter the Swansea box and he fell to the floor after little, if any, contact from Shelvey. Swarbrick paused before pointing to the spot and Soldado made no mistake, slotting the ball to Vorm’s right-hand side to make it 1-0. Swans boss Michael Laudrup brought on striker Wilfried Bony and the Swans came back in to the match briefly. Pablo Hernandez won a yard of space just outside the box after a weak header from Dawson, but his curling effort flew a yard wide. Lloris then pulled off a stunning save to stop a powerful volley from Chico Flores. Andre Villas-Boas brought Sandro on to shore up the Spurs midfield, while Soldado received a big round of applause as he departed for Jermain Defoe. Paulinho had a chance to kill the game off in injury time, but he ploughed a shot over the bar after first drawing a good save from Vorm. The £26million record signing scored the winning goal from the penalty spot for the second week running. Tottenham dominated the game, but a killer instinct was lacking at times and Michel Vorm also pulled off a couple of top saves in the Swansea goal. 
This time of year it is not uncommon to hear the phrase “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell that to the No. 3 USC men’s volleyball team (7-4, 5-3) as it returned to the friendly confines of the Galen Center last Friday with a clunk.One would assume the team would be happy to return home, after spending the entire month of February on the road. However, the Trojans were routed by the No. 7 Pepperdine Waves in three unimpressive sets (30-28, 30-28, and 30-26), leaving the one-time No. 1 team searching for answers to their newfound woes.“The team has been able to battle through some tough challenges over the last week,” senior middle blocker Hunter Current said. “With that, there is a renewed energy and confidence that we are ready to compete again.”Thanks to quirky schedule makers, who in a few short months have made the Trojans the road warriors of collegiate sports, the team will have a chance to mend its bruised heart with back-to-back home games this weekend against two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference foes: Pacific (6-10, 0-10) and No. 2 Stanford (7-3, 6-3).Friday night’s 7 p.m. tilt against the Tigers of Pacific University is subtly one of the most important matches USC will face all season. The Tigers are at the bottom of the MPSF, have yet to win a conference game and are fragile to say the least, and the Trojans are in desperate need of a morale boost after dropping three of their past four matches.This season, Pacific is led by Serbian sensation and freshman middle blocker Nikola Vukicevic, not to be confused with USC men’s basketball big man, Nikola Vucevic. The freshman star from Belgrade is second on the team in kills per set (2.33) while also hitting at an efficient rate of .426.Although the Tigers lack the fire power compared to other teams USC has faced, like Pepperdine, Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine, the Tigers started the season 4-0 en route to a top-10 standing throughout the first month of competition. Since its hot start however, the team has fallen on hard times, losing 10 of their previous 12 matches, with seven of the losses coming by way of a three-set sweep.If Friday night’s match is the tune-up game of the weekend for USC, Saturday afternoon’s clash with the No. 2 Cardinal is far and away the premiere showcase. While USC is limping into this weekend, searching for answers after the recent slump, the Cardinal are in the midst of a season-best four-match winning streak.Led by reigning National Player of the Week sophomore outside hitter Brad Lawson, Stanford heads into Saturday’s match looking like the team more apt to make a run at an NCAA title. Lawson, who leads the team in kills per set (4.91) and service aces (16), is joined by senior leader and fellow opposite hitter, Evan Romero, who last year set the school record for most kills in a season.After wins against perennial powerhouses UCLA and UC Irvine last weekend, a 4 p.m. showdown at the Galen Center with the Trojans is well worth the price of admission — which for students is free with a school I.D.For Bill Ferguson and the Trojans, the key to repairing the damage of last week’s embarrassing loss to Pepperdine is playing with the same heart and passion the team displayed so effortlessly while atop the nation’s standings just weeks earlier. While the team has found success this season as a unit, in order to regain the stride and swagger necessary to get back to the NCAA Final, junior team leaders opposite hitter Murphy Troy (4.05 kills per game), setter Riley McKibbin (552 assists this season) and middle blocker Austin Zahn (.460 hitting percentage this season) will need to do just that during this weekend’s home stand: lead.If the Trojans fail to regain that sense of leadership, résumé-boosting matches like the ones they will face this weekend will go in a bad direction and a once-promising season has the potential to follow suit.“As a senior, I would say this team has experienced worse problems than losing three of past four games,” Current said. “We are fortunate to experience some valuable ‘downs’ this early in the season, ultimately helping us to peak at the right time.”
Ja Morant and RJ Barrett, Williamson’s former teammate at Duke, are expected to be the next two picks, but everyone else after that is up in the air. ESPN will broadcast the NBA Draft for a 17th consecutive year. Here’s everything you need to know about how to tune in, including the start time and first-round draft order.MORE 2019 NBA DRAFT:SN’s final mock draft | Top 60 big boardWhat channel is the NBA Draft on today?Date: Thursday, June 20Time: 7:30 p.m. ETTV channel: ESPNLive stream: Watch ESPNESPN is planning to go live from Barclays Center with a pre-draft show starting at 7 p.m. ET. Rece Davis will host coverage along with analysts Jay Bilas, Chauncey Billups, Mike Schmitz, Bobby Marks and Adrian Wojnarowski with Maria Taylor on the floor interviewing players as they’re drafted. The 2019 NBA Draft is upon us, one week after the Raptors took the series against the Warriors to win their first championship.It’s a foregone conclusion the Pelicans will take Duke star Zion Williamson at No. 1, further fast-tracking New Orleans’ rebuild after reportedly acquiring Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Lonzo Ball from the Lakers for Anthony Davis in a blockbuster trade over the weekend. In addition to ESPN broadcasting Thursday’s coverage, the NBA Draft can be streamed on Watch ESPN. Viewers in Canada will be able to watch the NBA Draft on TSN. NBA Draft order: Round 1PickTeam1New Orleans Pelicans2Memphis Grizzlies3New York Knicks4Los Angeles Lakers*5Cleveland Cavaliers6Phoenix Suns7Chicago Bulls8Atlanta Hawks9Washington Wizards10Atlanta Hawks (from Dallas)11Minnesota Timberwolves12Charlotte Hornets13Miami Heat14Boston Celtics (from Sacramento via Philadelphia)15Detroit Pistons16Orlando Magic17Brooklyn Nets18Indiana Pacers19San Antonio Spurs20Boston Celtics (from LA Clippers via Memphis)21Oklahoma City Thunder22Boston Celtics23Utah Jazz24Philadelphia 76ers25Portland Trail Blazers26Cleveland Cavaliers (from Houston)27Brooklyn Nets (from Denver)28Golden State Warriors29San Antonio Spurs (from Toronto)30Milwaukee Bucks*The No. 4 overall pick is part of the reported Anthony Davis tradeYou can find the complete two-round order of picks here.
The Free Clinic of Southwest Washington received the Excellence Award for Impact for its diabetes program.The Nonprofit Network of Southwest Washington honors a nonprofit or one of its programs, “whose performance and delivery to the community sets a high standard of quality and outcomes,” according to a Free Clinic press release.In 2015, Free Clinic volunteer physicians recognized there were an increasing number of diabetes patients coming to urgent care. The Free Clinic launched a program to coordinate services for the patients.“A patient is seen by the Diabetic Caregiver Team and all diabetic medications and supplies are provided at no charge,” the press release states.Partnerships have been formed with Washington State University Vancouver to provide healthy eating classes, provide vouchers for fruit and vegetables at farmer’s markets and with Clark County Food Bank to bring the Fresh Food Truck to the Free Clinic in the summer.“It’s an honor to receive the award on behalf of our staff and volunteers who spearheaded this cross-disciplinary program,” said Ann Wheelock, executive director at the Free Clinic.