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I know you want to keep up with the latest news from the fabulous city of Bell, so here it is: 

[City manager Robert] Rizzo, whose forced-resignation could come as early as Thursday, would be entitled to a pension of at least $600,000 a year for the rest of his life, according to retirement calculations made by The Times and reviewed by pension experts….Not far behind would be Randy Adams, the man Rizzo hired as Bell police chief last July. If Adams steps down, his pension would be worth an estimated $411,300.

….Cristina Garcia, who grew up in Bell and is part of a newly formed citizen’s group, said fat pensions are another insult to city residents. “It’s unethical and immoral, that’s obvious,” she said. “What’s amazing is that it is all legal.”

Legal, baby, legal! Pensions, of course, depend heavily on just a small number of your highest paid years in the system, and Adams’s pension, which was about $200,000 after serving in Glendale for 37 years, has doubled in just the single year he’s been at Bell.

The Bell city council, which presumably set these salaries in the first place, and which pays itself outrageous salaries as well, will meet tonight in closed session to figure out what to do about this. Something tells me we can all guess the outcome.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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