9/5 News Tidbits

Williams Sisters Advance To Fourth Round At U.S. Open; Oudin Upsets Sharapova

Serena Williams showed up at her U.S. Open post-match news conference wearing a T-shirt that read: "You can't spell dynasty without nasty!" "This is the new Nike Delicious campaign that I'm part of, because I'm delicious,'' she said, giggling. She had just beaten tricky Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the fourth round and, this time, there was no nastiness between the two players. The last time they met, in the third round of the French Open, the Spaniard pushed Ms. Williams to three sets, and Ms. Williams called her opponent a "cheat'' because she didn't say anything when she clearly hit a shot over the net with her arm, in violation of the rules. Ms. Williams' sister, Venus, also was tested Friday night by Magdalena Rybarikov, but Venus pulled out a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

In related news, Melanie Oudin scored the most surprising upset of the United States Open with her 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Russia's Maria Sharapova. Ranked No. 70 in the world, the 17-year-old American had hoped to get to No. 50, perhaps. And now? “I always want to win more than anything. I’m not going to give up, you know, no matter what the score is."

Obama Announces Plan To Help Americans Save For Retirement

U.S. President Obama said this morning that the IRS will start making it easier for companies to automatically enroll workers in retirement plans, and that his administration will also help individuals convert their tax refunds and unused vacation pay into savings. "Half of America's work force doesn't have access to a retirement plan at work, and fewer than 10 percent of those without workplace retirement plans have one of their own," the president said during his weekly radio address. "We cannot continue on this course."

One change will streamline automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans. At present, employers usually seek IRS approval of changes in their plans in order to make sure they are complying with the law. By issuing pre-approval, the IRS will make it easier for plan sponsors to adopt automatic enrollment plans more quickly, and to increase the rate of individual contributions, even without case-by-case approval by federal bureaucrats. The government will give similar help to employers looking to enroll workers in simple IRA plans, as long as the employees are free to opt out if they don't want to take part. Another change will allow people who get tax refunds each year -- more than 100 million families -- to direct the IRS to directly deposit that money into a savings plan. As early as 2010, people will be able to buy U.S. savings bonds with their tax refunds just by checking a box on their tax forms. Also, Treasury and IRS officials will now let employees contribute their pay for unused vacation time into their 401(k) plans. Down the road, President Obama said, he will press Congress for legislation to enroll workers without workplace retirement plans in IRAs through payroll deposit contributions at their places of work.