Archive - Illinois
Rep. Teague Pledges Deeper Inquiry Into Treatment for Brain-Injured Soldiers
Rep. Harry Teague promises to dramatically expand an inquiry into the treatment of soldiers who have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries. The New Mexico Democrat opened his investigation after our reports that the military seemed to be ignoring many of those injuries.
A Crib Sheet on Wall Street's Self-Dealing Money Machine
Here's a primer on our story on how banks ginned up the CDO business, taking riskier assets and, to hide how risky they were, putting them into new, riskier assets, and then buying those themselves.
Chart: A Bank's Best Customers
In the last two years of the boom, CDOs created by one bank commonly purchased slices of other CDOs created by the same bank.
Banks' Self-Dealing Super-Charged Financial Crisis
As investors left the market in the run-up to the meltdown, Wall Street created fake demand, increasing their bonuses — and ultimately making the crisis worse.
Take It With a Grain of (Sea) Salt: Gulf Microbe Study Was Funded by BP
Scientists at Berkeley this week announced that microbes had eaten oil so quickly the Gulf's oil plumes are now undetectable. They disclosed that BP funded their research. The media didn't.
SEC's New Ruling Cheers Investors, Irks Business Groups
Despite not making it into the financial reform bill, a contentious rule giving shareholders more clout over company leadership has been approved by regulators. It makes it easier for large shareholders to nominate board members.
Faced With Backlog, Feds Dismiss Deportation Cases Against Non-Criminal Immigrants
Homeland Security is reviewing and moving to dismiss deportation cases against suspected illegal immigrants without serious criminal records. While deportations overall are much higher under Obama, so are backlogs of immigration cases.
Documents Tie German Company to Chinese Subsidiary That Produced Defective Drywall
Documents tie a German company to a Chinese subsidiary that produced defective drywall, but family-owned Knauf Gips says it’s not legally responsible for the millions of pounds of defective drywall that was used to build U.S. homes.
California City's Officials Earned Thousands for One-Minute Meetings (or None at All)
The Los Angeles suburb of Bell has been roiled by the disclosure of extravagant pay for some of its top officials. Members of the city council have agreed to a 90 percent pay cut, and prosecutors are investigating.
Congress Slow to Act on Food Safety, Despite Outbreaks and Frequent Warnings
Calls to overhaul a broken food safety system haven't yet resulted in broad reform. Will half a billion recalled eggs do the trick?
Profiled Homeowner Gets a Mortgage Modification
Wells Fargo has finally given a loan modification to a long-frustrated homeowner who had feared foreclosure. The good news for Suzanna Wertheim came after ProPublica told her story and she appeared on "The Rachel Maddow Show."
