At Deadline

Illinois funding bill OK'd The Illinois Senate on April 15 passed legislation to pay all of the required annual state contributions to the five Illinois pension funds — totaling $4.5 billion — for the next fiscal year without selling pension bonds, according to a statement from state Senate

Big changes at 3 firms CalPERS set to pick Canyon Wealth funds buy TPG stake N.D. contribution hike OK'd Delphi buys back stakes CalSTRS funding ratio falls Louisiana to send 2 invites BlackRock joins S&P 500

Florida State Board of Administration terminated four core-plus fixed-income managers that ran a combined $9.4 billion, and moved the assets to internal passive management.

BP PLC expects to contribute $1.25 billion to its worldwide defined benefit plans this year, of which $404 million will go to its U.K. pension fund, according the company's annual report issued March 3. A breakout of the expected contribution to its U.S. plans was not immediately unavailable. BP

Wis. hires hedge manager 3 CalPERS staffers quit Ky. ban on agents gains Morris gets up to 4 years Iowa PERS votes "no' PBGC takes on Relizon fund Victory names co-CEOs Provost joins Mercer LACERA narrows search Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System terminated Turner Investment

Dow, IP detail contributions, N. Carolina plans defer Fla. forex suit takeover, S.F. seeks deputy director, F&C Asset chairman ousted and January funding ratios rise

Also Verizon drops "smoothing," Alcoa to contribute $900M and other stories.

Grossman exits BlackRock Blake Grossman, a BlackRock vice chairman, will leave the firm by the end of the first quarter to “explore new opportunities beyond BlackRock,” according to an internal memo from Laurence D. Fink, chairman and CEO, obtained by Pensions & Investments . Bobbie Collins, a

Joseph DeSantis was named a chief investment officer at Fidelity Management & Research and will oversee a portion of the firm's domestic equities operations, confirmed Fidelity spokeswoman Sophie Launay. The position is new. Mr. DeSantis will report to Bruce T. Herring, group chief investment

S. Carolina tables firm The South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission voted 3-2 to table a proposal to create an external firm to manage the $24 billion system's illiquid assets, said Allen R. Gillespie, commission chairman. “It basically means we're not proceeding with Devco,” said

Wisconsin looks inward Wisconsin State Investment Board plans to bring more than $2.8 billion in externally managed assets in-house next year, raising to more than 50% the internally managed assets of the $71.2 billion Wisconsin Retirement System, according to a statement from the board. SWIB