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Top Stories: Another Chance For DROP?; Cowboys Take On The Packers

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The top local stories this morning from KERA News:

Retired Dallas police and firefighters may be able to pull money out of their lump-sum pension accounts again if a state judge gives the okay.

Those accounts, known as the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), allow first responders to retire on paper but keep working - as they maintain a separate savings account with a higher interest rate.

DROP accounts have been blamed for worsening the fund. It could go bankrupt in a decade if it’s not fixed.

The board of the Pension Fund yesterday said it wants to allow retirees to resume withdrawing money from their DROP accounts, beginning at the end of March – but with a limit of $3,000 a month.

The state district judge who issued a temporary restraining order on the withdrawals last month will decide Tuesday whether to continue blocking them.

Other stories this morning:

  • Retired police sergeant Pete Bailey's leading a new group of police and fire retirees, who say their voices haven’t been heard in the pension debate.
  • The Dallas Cowboys are back in the NFL playoffs. They’ll take on the Green Bay Packers Sunday in Arlington. They defeated the Packers earlier this season, but Green Bay has bounced back and won seven straight games.

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. 

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.