News Archive
Railroad Retirement benefits get COLA increase for 2019
Most railroad retirement annuities, like social security benefits, will increase in January 2019 due to a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the third quarter of 2017 to the corresponding period of the current year. Cost-of-living increases are calculated in both the [...]
Social Security benefits to get 2.8 percent COLA increase for 2019
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 67 million Americans will increase 2.8 percent in 2019, announced the Social Security Administration (SSA). The 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more [...]
Alternate Legislative Director receives DOT committee appointment
SMART Transportation Division Alternate Legislative Director Greg Hynes was appointed to the federal Department of Transportation’s Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking (ACHT) in early October. “Your experience and leadership as a representative of rail and lab [...]
Funeral arrangements announced for members who died in Wyo. train crash
Two members, Jason Vincent Martinez, 40, and Benjamin ‘Benji’ George Brozovich, 39, died Thursday, Oct. 4 when the Union Pacific (UP) train they were operating hit the rear-end of a stopped train near Cheyenne, Wyo. SMART TD would like to express our condolences t [...]
How Medicare responds to hurricane-related disasters
When a natural disaster, extreme weather or other emergency occurs that affects providers and the Medicare beneficiaries that they serve, special emergency-related policies and procedures may be implemented. The process begins when a governor of an affected state requests ass [...]
Candidates with ties to SMART TD seek local offices in Illinois, Indiana
Come Nov. 7, Macon County, Ill.’s county government could be getting a SMART influx with two candidates with Transportation Division ties seeking office in the Nov. 6 elections. Lloyd Holman, a member of the SMART TD Alumni Association, is seeking a seat on the Macon Co [...]
Two members of TD Local 446 killed in collision
SMART Transportation Division is mourning the loss of two members who were killed in a deadly train collision that occurred Oct. 4 west of Cheyenne, Wyo. Benjamin Brozovich, 39, of Lusk, Wyo., and Jason V. Martinez, 40, of Cheyenne, died when their Union Pacific freight train [...]