On Our Radar

The Charlotte Observer, February 8, 2022, Biden’s COVID response treats those without homes as an afterthought The Biden administration rolled out plans in January to help Americans get N95 masks and at-home testing to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. While impressive, the plans leave behind more than 500,000 vulnerable individuals, including 10,000 North Carolinians, who are […]

Politico, February 9, 2022, ‘Nothing is sticking’: White House fights for Fed noms The White House and Senate Democrats have mounted an aggressive defense of President Joe Biden’s Federal Reserve nominees over the past few weeks, determined to avoid a repeat derailment of a key financial nomination. While all the Fed nominees seem to have

The Kansas City Star, February 8, 2022, Now Is The Worst Time to Buy a Home, Fannie Mae Poll Finds The number of Americans who say that now would be a good time to buy a house hit an all-time low of 25% in a recent Fannie May survey. Fannie Mae also found that young

Tampa Bay Times, February 2, 2022, Florida renters scramble for shelter as affordable housing erodes In 2021, Tampa Bay experienced the highest rent increase of any metro in the nation, at 24 percent. That far outshot the previous regional high point of the last two decades, when rent went up by 6.2 percent in 2015.

MarketWatch, January 26, 2022, ‘The new year holds both promise and potential pitfalls for the housing market’: New-home sales surge as supply shrinks The surge in new-home sales reinforced the report on new-home construction released earlier this month, suggesting that home builders have a captive audience of buyers eager to scoop up their properties. “This

Politico, 2/02/2022, Biden nominee ensnared in debate over ‘woke’ Fed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Lisa Cook to become the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board has drawn sharp resistance from Republicans over her views and ignited a broader debate over the central bank’s role in fighting racial inequality.  

The Washington Post, January 31, 2022, Opinion: A new Washington Football Team name feels hollow to us Native people It’s not the first or maybe even the 100th promise the owner of the Washington Football Team failed to deliver on. But this one best showed the kicking and screaming it took for his organization to

Boston 25 News, February 1, 2022, Proposal to convert vacant retail spots into housing Finding an affordable place to live continues to be a big challenge for many in Massachusetts. That’s why Boston 25 News is Getting Real about the housing crisis and looking at its impact and possible solutions. One idea gaining traction is

Washington Examiner, February 1, 2022, Biden Fed nominee faces grilling over reparations and police reform The battle over a Biden Federal Reserve nominee is escalating as Republicans prepare to grill her over her outspoken political advocacy, including her political support for reparations and policing reform, and Democrats accuse her critics of bias. Lisa Cook, a professor of

The New York Times, January 31, 2022, The Rush for a Slice of Paradise in Puerto Rico Many Puerto Ricans say they can no longer afford to remain in their homes with outside investors buying up properties and driving up prices. These are boom times for investors flocking to idyllic towns all over Puerto Rico,

CBS News, January 31, 2022, “Nobody wins. Everyone suffers”: High cost of child care strains families The soaring cost of child care is one of the most pressing issues facing families nationwide. The annual cost of child care rivals the cost of a college education in many states, according to a recent analysis from the

Bloomberg, January 28, 2022, U.S. Employment Costs Climb by a Solid 1% After Record Third-Quarter Gain U.S. employment costs rose at a robust pace for a second-straight quarter, wrapping up the strongest year of labor inflation in two decades as businesses competed for a limited supply of workers.

Poltico, January 31, 2o22, The surprising split over Biden’s Fed nominees President Joe Biden’s pick to be the Federal Reserve’s top Wall Street cop is dividing Big Banks and Big Oil. Sarah Bloom Raskin, who served as a Fed governor and as deputy Treasury secretary during the Obama administration, is well-known to financial institutions and

The Washington Post, January 30, 2022, Rents are up more than 30 percent in some cities, forcing millions to find another place to live Rental prices across the country have been rising for months, but lately the increases have been sharper and more widespread, forcing millions of Americans to reassess their living situations.

The New York Times, January 29, 2022, Facing a Ban, a School District Fights to Keep ‘Indian’ Nickname In June, after months of contested school board elections and combative monthly meetings, the school board voted to retire the name. But a month later, it voted to reverse the decision. All the efforts could be moot: