Could “robo-signing” be on the way out? Robo-signing is the now-notorious practice of agents who work for major mortgage lenders allegedly signing documents without having properly reviewed them, in order to speed struggling borrowers into foreclosure. A task force of all 50 state attorneys general is currently probing the banks’ alleged use of the procedure,
Continue reading …The number of Americans making first-time claims for jobless benefits fell last week to 409,000, from 421,000 the previous week, the government said. Still, as long as the figure remains around 400,000, we’re unlikely to see a reduction in the broader jobless rate.
Continue reading …The number of Americans making first-time claims for jobless benefits fell last week to 409,000, from 421,000 the previous week, the government said. Still, as long as the figure remains around 400,000, we’re unlikely to see a reduction in the broader jobless rate.
Continue reading …How would the nation’s school system be different if teachers were paid like engineers? Secretary of Education Arne Duncan proposed last month that a significant boost in teacher salaries could transform public schools for the better by luring the country’s brightest college graduates into the profession. Teachers should be paid a starting salary of $60,000,
Continue reading …Welcome to Fist Look, our daily roundup of early-bird news: • More than four days after Hurricane Irene struck, many northeast residents, including 300,000 people in Connecticut, still don’t have power. (The New York Times) • A billing dispute playing out in an upstate New York county courtroom has revealed details about the CIA’s secret renditions
Continue reading …As the old saw goes, money doesn’t grow on trees. But sometimes it sprouts up in the garden. An unemployed man in northern Illinois was out working in his backyard when he came across some serious green: bags filled with $150,000 cash. Wayne Sabaj was headed to pick some broccoli to go with his roast.
Continue reading …Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman unveiled his economic plan in New Hampshire this afternoon, calling for far-reaching structural reform of the U.S. tax code. Huntsman seeks the removal of “loopholes, deductions, and tax expenditures,” as well as an elimination of the capital gains, dividends and alternative minimum taxes. The former Utah governor’s plan, “Time to
Continue reading …Cord Jefferson at Good Magazine points to research that shows that first-and second-generation black immigrants make up 41 percent of all black students at Ivy League universities, even though they constitute less than 1 percent of the U.S. population. Jefferson writes that Ivy League schools brag about their diversity while “admitting hugely disproportionate numbers of
Continue reading …Poet and author Maya Angelou says a recently unveiled monument to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is inscribed with a quote taken out of context that makes the reverend seem “arrogant.” I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness, the inscription on the 30-foot-tall statue of King reads. “The quote makes
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