In the News
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, November 1, 2:51 PM
WASHINGTON — About 4 million homeowners who may have been improperly foreclosed upon in 2009 and 2010 are getting an opportunity to have their cases reviewed. Whether they will be reimbursed is up to the same lenders who are accused of moving too swiftly to seize their homes.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Monday that mortgage services will begin sending out letters this month that ask borrowers if they want their case reviewed.
Small-Business Bills Advance In U.S. House Panel
-By Andrew Ackerman; Dow Jones Newswires; 202-569-8390; andrew.ackerman@dowjones.com
House Panel Backs Bill Boosting Nonpublic-Firm Shareholder Limit
October 05, 2011, 7:57 PM EDT
By Phil Mattingly
Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. House panel approved measures that would let closely held firms attract more investors without going public as part of a slate of Republican-backed legislation aimed at spurring economic growth.
By Dennis Romero
Metro has the cash to build two crucial elements of its Crenshaw/LAX light-rail line, even though there's been some foot-dragging about going forward on the MTA board.
The cash can be found, according a Metro analysis released last week. In fact, $2 billion dollars has been identified for only $400 million worth of work.
US Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was one of the strongest Congressional critics of the Comcast/NBCU joint venture when it was under review, and she is now saying that the move of FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker from the Commission to Comcast mere months after approval is proof that the review process is not in the public interest.
By Kevin Gosztola
A hearing titled, "Legislative Proposals to Address the Negative Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions," was held today. Focused on proposed legislation from Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), the hearing looked at how to "improve" the Dodd-Frank Act by "preserving" the internal reporting mechanisms or processes that companies have setup for whistleblowers (e.g. hotlines).
by Kate Shepherd
House Republicans on Wednesday took aim at a whistleblower provision of a recent bank reform law, part of a broader attempt to limit the impact of the legislation.
Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican, introduced draft legislation at a House Committee on Financial Services subcommittee hearing Wednesday that would require employees to report fraud to their employers before they can receive a monetary reward for reporting it to Securities and Exchange Commission. Read earlier item on whistleblower provision.
by Zach Carter
A cadre of top Democrats said Wednesday that heavy Wall Street speculation was driving up gas prices and blasted Republicans for pushing a new bill to delay any crackdown on such speculation until the end of 2012.
Four liberal California House members are among a group of lawmakers pushing for a "near term and significant" drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan no later than July in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death.
"In the wake of Osama Bin Laden's death, now is the time to shift toward the swift, safe, and responsible withdrawal of U.S. troops and military contractors from Afghanistan," members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus wrote to President Obama on Wednesday.
By John Eggerton
Attorney General Eric Holder told Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) that the Justice Department was not trying to regulate by consent decree in its merger review process, that its Comcast/NBCU merger review was "appropriately aggressive," and that the White House's courting of GE CEO Jeff Immelt did not and should not have played any part in that decisionmaking process.