Business
ING’s “cafes” may be trying to avoid regulation
The Bay Citizen reports that the Internet banking giant, ING Direct USA, may be trying to bypass regulation by opening “cafes” instead of branches. By not offering deposits at the cafe, ING does not have to follow regulation that requires banks to lend money to low- and moderate-income borrowers in metropolitan areas. ING claims the…
Read MoreCompanies cheating vets out of business
‘The Dayton Daily News reports that the U.S. Veterans Affairs inspector general’s office has estimated $500 million worth of VA contracts through the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program go to ineligible businesses each year. After the VA beefed up its review process over whether firms actually are headed by disabled veterans, it found 1,800 companies…
Read MoreIL governor wants to retain jobs; gives tax credits to big companies
“A Chicago Tribune analysis shows IL Governor Pat Quinn has pledged about half a billion dollars in tax credits over the next decade to create 5,709 jobs and retain 22,610 workers through the Economic Development for a Growing Economy program, or EDGE.” Quinn’s focus has shifted from job creation to job retention since he took…
Read MoreSubsidiary of Koch Industries has direct interest in Keystone XL
“In recent months Koch Industries Inc., the business conglomerate run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has repeatedly told a U.S. Congressional committee and the news media that the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has “nothing to do with any of our businesses.” But Inside Climate News reports that the company has told…
Read MoreDeveloper rarely backs up grandiose financial promises
An investigation by FLORIDA TODAY reporters Mackenzie Ryan and Michelle Spitzer takes a look at Tom Garo, a developer who frequently pledges high dollar donations to various organizations but who rarely follows through on his promises. Recently, Garo publicly promised more than $3 million would be given to Brevard public schools. However, school officials have…
Read MoreThe NJ Casino Reinvestment Development Authority forced by former admin. to make bad loan.
The Press of Atlantic City reports that the former governor of New Jersey pressured the CRDA to make a $4 million loan to another state agency. Corzine’s administration pressed the agency responsible for reinvesting casino dollars to make the loan, former Executive Director Tom Carver said. The loan helped a Democratic Party contributor and Corzine…
Read MoreDeveloper plagued with business, legal problems
“A Nashville Business Journal investigation has uncovered a trail of unpaid bills, bounced checks, evictions, troubled business associates and unfulfilled plans left by Dennis W. Peterson.” Peterson, the developer of a proposed $750 million mega theme park near Nashville, has racked up at least three quarters of a million dollars in civil judgments in three…
Read MoreHead of Emerging Technology Fund profited off of private deals
The Dallas Morning News investigated Alan Kirchhoff, the former director of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s prized economic development program, the Emerging Technology Fund. The story traced the rapid rise of Kirchhoff and his friendship with a powerful member of the tech fund’s advisory committee, William E. Morrow. The News obtained a Texas Ranger investigation that…
Read MoreCanadian stock promoter secretly facilitated Chinese reverse mergers
An investigative report by Chris Cary and Justin McLachlan, of Sharesleuth.com, revealed how a Canadian stock promoter and his associates worked as the hidden force behind the creation of nearly a dozen Chinese companies that gained listings on U.S. exchanges through so-called reverse mergers with American shell companies.
Read MoreBehind the foreclosure crisis in three U.S. cities
To answer nagging questions about the foreclosure crisis, Jennifer LaFleur of ProPublica and Sanjay Bhatt of The Seattle Times built a database based on a random sample of some 1,200 foreclosure filings from the central county of three metro areas — Seattle, Phoenix and Baltimore. Their findings challenge some of the conventional wisdom about the…
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