Archive - Illinois
Lack of Foreclosure Data Leaves Big Questions
The 35-year-old Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), is outdated in today’s mortgage environment. It doesn’t require reports on teaser rates, balloon payments, fees and penalties, or borrower attributes, such as first-time homebuyers, age and their debt level.
Executive Order Suspending Fracking Brings Little Change
Gov. David Paterson recently issued an executive order suspending the approval of certain types of gas drilling permits. But his action did little to change the status quo, because the DEC had already stopped issuing such permits.
Fannie and Freddie’s Regulator Opposes Reducing Mortgages for Struggling Homeowners
The regulator for the government-controlled mortgage giants won’t let them trim loans for homeowners who owe more than their home is worth.
Survey Finds Banks Still Foreclose on Homeowners Seeking Loan Mods
A new survey say homeowners in the government's loan modification program are still being foreclosed on, despite it being against the rules.
Life and Death Choices as South Africans Ration Dialysis Care
In the United States, patients with kidney failure have access to life-saving dialysis treatments paid for by Medicare. But in less-affluent countries like South Africa, medical professionals rely on rationing. At Tygerberg Academic Hospital near Cape Town, a jury of doctors is making life-and-death choices based not only on a patient's medical condition but social factors such as living conditions and the patient's support network.
Find Homes With Tainted Drywall
When the Consumer Products Safety Commission provided data in October, the agency said it had received fewer than 3,500 reports of tainted drywall. ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune compiled a list of addresses from county property appraiser data and records in consolidated lawsuits filed in New Orleans federal court and found nearly twice that number: around 6,900 homes.
American-Made Drywall Emerges as Potential Danger
Thousands of Americans have houses contaminated by defective Chinese drywall; now a new group of homeowners say they are experiencing similar problems -- but their homes are built with drywall made in the United States.
What Are Alaska Native Corporations?
Questions and answers about Alaska Native Corporations
Rampant Fraud, Self-Dealing Alleged in Alaska Native Corporation
Cape Fox Corporation was prey to some of the worst abuses in a system that gives Alaska Native Corporations access to no-bid government contracts of unlimited size. As federal contracting grew, benefits went to non-native consultants instead of providing jobs, dividends to natives.
Revenues for ANCs Skyrocket, but Not Payouts to Natives
Revenues of Alaska Native Corporations have skyrocketed thanks to special privileges that allow them to obtain no-bid contracts of unlimited size. But profits and dividends haven’t kept pace, according to an analysis of ANC annual reports online at ProPublica.
Federal Probe of Chinese Drywall Falls Short
For thousands of U.S. homeowners who are grappling with the trauma caused by defective Chinese drywall, one thing is now clear: The federal government is woefully unequipped to help them with a product defect as expensive and widespread as this one.
