Dean steps up education involvement

Canada-based Nortel Networks, which once employed thousands at its U.S. headquarters in Nashville, has heaped the federal government's pension agency with over a half-billion dollars in underfunded pension liabilities.

The telecom's pension benefits were to be funded by contributions made by Nortel to a trust. But after taking bankruptcy in January, Nortel could not make enough additional contributions to the plan to fund all of the benefits.