News release: “Fannie Mae announced today policy changes designed to encourage borrowers to work with their servicers and pursue alternatives to foreclosure. Defaulting borrowers who walk-away and had the capacity to pay or did not complete a workout alternative in good faith will be ineligible for a new Fannie Mae-backed mortgage loan for a period… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: June 2010
New GAO Reports: Warfighter Support, Assistance for Needy Families, Nanotechnology
Warfighter Support: Preliminary Observations on DOD’s Progress and Challenges in Distributing Supplies and Equipment to Afghanistan, GAO-10-842T, June 25, 2010 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Implications of Recent Legislative and Economic Changes for State Programs and Work Participation Rates, GAO-10-525, May 28, 2010 Nanotechnology: Nanomaterials Are Widely Used in Commerce, but EPA Faces Challenges in… Continue Reading
Research Finds Most Sperm Whales Have Highly Elevated Mercury and Lea Levels
Sperm Whale Toxicology Research overview via Ocean Alliance. Heavy metals from pollution threaten sperm whales with extinction: “US scientists who spent five years sampling the tissue of nearly 1000 sperm whales discovered surprisingly high levels of toxic heavy metals in the animals, a report shows. The levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and… Continue Reading
UK Clamp down on Government websites to save millions
News release: “The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, has today pledged to scrap hundreds of unnecessary and expensive government websites and slash the cost of the remaining sites to save millions of pounds. In autumn 2006 the Government committed to dramatically culling the number of websites. In March 2010 there were still 794… Continue Reading
Treasury OIG: Material Loss Review of BankUnited, FSB
Office of Inspector General Department of the Treasury – OIG-10-042 Safety and Soundess: Material Loss Review of BankUnited, FSB, June 22, 2010 “This report presents the results of our material loss review of the failure of BankUnited, FSB (BankUnited), of Coral Gables, Florida, and of the Office of Thrift Supervisions (OTS) supervision of the institution.… Continue Reading
Pew Research Center: Childlessness Up Among All Women; Down Among Women with Advanced Degrees
Childlessness Up Among All Women; Down Among Women with Advanced Degrees, by Gretchen Livingston and DVera Cohn, Pew Research Center, June 25, 2010 “Nearly one-in-five American women ends her childbearing years without having borne a child, compared with one-in-ten in the 1970s. While childlessness has risen for all racial and ethnic groups, and most education… Continue Reading
FTC Takes Action Against Twitter, Social Network Service Settles Charges It Deceived Consumers
Twitter Settles Charges that it Failed to Protect Consumers Personal Information; Company Will Establish Independently Audited Information Security Program: “Social networking service Twitter has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information, marking the agencys first such case against… Continue Reading
Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs and the Balance Sheet
Federal Reserve System Monthly Report on Credit and Liquidity Programs and the Balance Sheet, June 2010 “The Federal Reserve prepares this monthly report as part of its efforts to enhance transparency about the range of programs and tools that have been implemented in response to the financial crisis and to ensure appropriate accountability to the… Continue Reading
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 – This webpage links to facts sheets, summaries, comparisons and other relevant documents on this controversial legislation. Myth v. Reality The Facts About S. 3480, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Senator… Continue Reading
CBO: Average Federal Tax Rates in 2007
Average Federal Taxes by Income Group, June 2010: “This page contains CBO’s estimates of average federal tax rates (tax rates as a percentage of income) paid by households in various income categories for the four largest sources of federal revenues – individual income taxes, social insurance (payroll) taxes, corporate income taxes, and excise taxes –… Continue Reading
Privacy International: UK Police begin investigation into Google Wi-Fi grab
Follow up to Several State Attorneys General Announce Probes of Google Wireless Data Collection, via Privacy International, “Crime reference number 2318672/10 was today issued by London’s Metropolitan Police, marking the commencement of investigations into Google for alleged criminal interception of Wireless communications content. Privacy International, which brought the complaint, has been briefed by police on… Continue Reading
FinCEN Releases 14th SAR Activity Review-By the Numbers Total Filings Fall but Fraud and Terrorist Financing Reports Grow
News release: “The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today released its 14th edition of the SAR Activity Review By the Numbers, which covers suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed in 2009. The report shows that the total number of all SARs filed by financial institutions declined from 1.29 million in 2008 to 1.28 million in… Continue Reading
