On Our Radar

Axios, March 16, 2023, Evictions Have Returned To — Or Exceeded — Pre-Pandemic Levels That’s according to data from the Eviction Lab — a Princeton University project aiming to fill an “information hole in the center of the evictions crisis” by collecting data from court filings and other sources, research specialist Jacob Haas told Axios.

The Washington Post, March 13, 2023, After SVB Collapse, Bank Stocks Slide Despite Government Intervention Wall Street pummeled the banking sector on Monday as fear and uncertainty following the abrupt closure of two tech-focused banks rippled through the financial system. Stock exchanges halted trading in several large regional banks after their rapid descent exceeded regulatory

American Banker, March 12, 2023, Regulators Shut Signature Bank, Pick Industry Veteran To Run Bridge Bank Regulators shut down Signature Bank in New York on Sunday amid fears of an industry liquidity crisis and tapped a veteran regional bank executive to run the bridge bank that will take its place. The shutdown of Signature by

Politico, March 13, 2023, Barney Frank Blames Crypto Panic For His Bank’s Collapse. Elizabeth Warren Blames Trump. Former Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Elizabeth Warren — two key architects of the post-2008 system of Wall Street regulation — are at odds over what’s dragging down banks once again. Frank, who chaired the House Financial Services Committee in

The Washington Post, March 13, 2023, Retreat In Rodanthe At least a dozen more houses in Rodanthe remain in serious danger of falling into the ocean. Faced with shrinking options, numerous homeowners are scrambling to move their homes — at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars — further from the tides that seem

American Banker, March 8, 2023, Small Businesses Return To Traditional Credit Sources — With A New Twist About 40% of small businesses applied for loans, lines of credit or cash advances last year, up from 25% in 2021, according to a survey by the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks. At the same time, only 34%

The New York Times Magazine, March 9, 2023, Why Poverty Persists In America On the problem of poverty, though, there has been no real improvement — just a long stasis. As estimated by the federal government’s poverty line, 12.6% of the US population was poor in 1970; two decades later, it was 13.5%; in 2010,

The Washington Post, March 3, 2023, Google Releases Civil Rights Review, Caving To Years Of Pressure The company disclosed in an April filing it retained a member of the firm, Debo Adegbile, “to inform our work and program development” related to equity, but did not reveal plans for the review until it was released Friday.

The Hill, March 3, 2023, Housing Affordability Hits Historic Low “Many millennials were able to buy homes before or during the pandemic homebuying boom, but many others were priced out of homeownership and forced to keep renting,” Marr added.  This was due largely to a combination of persistently high prices and surging mortgage rates, which

American Banker, March 2, 2023, Senate Democrats Ask Regulators To More Closely Monitor Zelle The lawmakers — including committee Chairman Sherrod Brown of Ohio as well as Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Mark Warner of Virginia — in a letter Thursday urged the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit

American Banker, March 2, 2023, As Credit Unions Push For Diversity, Politics Start To Push Back Corporate culture across the industry is one of the main challenges impeding the progress of diversity, as many boards of directors tasked with succession planning aren’t selecting young talent to join the executive ranks over worries surrounding lack of

Reuters, February 23, 2023, U.S. EPA Unveils $550 Million In Environmental Justice Grants The Environmental Protection Agency will fund organizations, which could include large non-profit groups, tribal nations and universities, that will serve as grantmakers for its new Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program that will invest in community-led projects in areas that have been

American Banker, February 23, 2023, Mortgage Rates Jump For Third Straight Week Although inflation is slowing, the pace of deceleration still has economists expecting further hikes in the federal funds rate this year, sending mortgage averages upward. They could head even higher over the next several days depending on results of upcoming data releases. “This

American Banker, February 22, 2023, Illinois Officials Unveil Proposals To Widen Regulatory Powers The measures draw on numerous ideas that have been enacted in recent years by Democratic lawmakers in New York and California, as well as by congressional Democrats. One bill would require digital-asset exchanges and related businesses to obtain a license to operate in

The Washington Post, February 22, 2023, Seattle Becomes First U.S. City To Ban Caste Discrimination But caste-based discrimination remains entrenched in society, and similar practices have followed the South Asian diaspora community to the United States and elsewhere, activists say. More recently, there have been efforts to bring attention to caste-based prejudice in Silicon Valley