| Home lenders lifting threshold
Ohioans with less-than-stellar credit might soon have trouble getting a mortgage, thanks to a pullback by banks that have been burned too many times. A number of banks with operations in central Ohio are tightening loan requirements and getting away from loans that are considered riskier. JPMorgan Chase recently said it will reduce sales of "no-doc" loans, which are made to borrowers who don't have proof of income, as well as loans with high loan-amount to house-value ratios. The bank also eliminated adjustable-rate mortgages that reset after two or three years. Adjustable-rate loans have been blamed for Ohio's high foreclosure rate, as many borrowers were unable to make payments when their interest rates were reset upward. National City still is making loans through bank branches, but officials said Monday that it no longer would sell home-equity loans and lines of credit through brokers.
b0213 BC-ReligionToday 08-10 0988 8/9/2007 Southern Baptist seminary to offer academic program in homemaking
Eds: This item moved previously as an advance and is now available for use. By ROSE FRENCH Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers coursework in Greek and Hebrew, in archaeology, in the philosophy of religion and -- starting this fall -- in how to cook and sew. Southwestern Baptist, one of the nation's largest Southern Baptist seminaries, is introducing a new academic program in homemaking as part of an effort to establish what its president calls biblical family and gender roles. It will offer a bachelor of arts in humanities degree with a 23-hour concentration in homemaking. The program is only open to women. Coursework will include seven hours of nutrition and meal preparation, seven hours of textile design and "clothing construction," three hours of general homemaking, three hours on "the value of a child," and three hours on the "biblical model for the home and family." Seminary officials say the main focus of the courses is on hospitality in the home -- teaching women interior design as well as how to sew and cook.
Episcopal Diocese, All Saints settle suit
ATTLEBORO - A legal battle between the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and breakaway parish All Saints Anglican Church has been settled out of court.Details of the agreement, which was announced Monday, were not released in full, but both sides indicated they were pleased with the outcome of the lawsuit filed by the diocese about six weeks ago to recover money and property it claimed was wrongfully taken by the dissident church. The suit alleged as much as $200,000 was improperly kept or used by All Saints Anglican when it left the diocese and the local parish known as All Saints Episcopal Church over issues concerning gay clergy and gay unions. Members of All Saints Anglican hold a more conservative theological view on those issues than members of the mother church.Rev.
General Assembly ends 2007 session
RALEIGH -- A week of marathon meetings came to a raucous close as the House and Senate -- three days after passing a $20.7 billion state budget -- finished the rest of their must-do bills and adjourned for the year.
Legislation on landfills, ethics, water wars and amorous pets kept negotiators dashing from full sessions to hallway conferences to impromptu committee meetings as they hammered out deals late into the night Thursday.
House members clutching papers, bags and mementos from their chamber desks edged toward the doors even as they shouted "Aye!" to the adjournment motion, and first-term House Speaker Joe Hackney rapped the gavel on the year's regular session at 10:36 p.m.
"You have had an incredible year, a very, very successful session, one that recognized much of the needs of this state," Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said shortly before that chamber adjourned at 10:15 p.m.
First black member of board dies
Henrietta Swilley, a retired schoolteacher who became the first black Bay County School Board member, died last week. She was 82. Swilley spent more than three decades in the school system as a teacher and an elementary school principal. She was elected to the school board in 1990 and served for six years, until suffering a stroke. Her career spanned the years of segregation and helped minorities advance from teaching in blacks-only classrooms to holding district-wide positions in Bay County. Colleagues remembered her this weekend as a smart, forceful mentor with exacting personal standards. She always believed that you had to be excellent in everything you did, said School Superintendent James McCalister. Excellence was her watchword. Swilley graduated from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee where she met her husband, Jack and took her first teaching job in Bay County in 1954.
SW La. ports’ fight over LNG appears headed to court
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) The ports of Lake Charles and West Cameron appear headed to court in their dispute over whether the Port of Lake Charles can legally own the Cameron Parish site where a $750 million liquefied natural gas terminal is being built. The Port of Lake Charles gets $45,000 rent each month from Sempra Energy of San Diego, which will pay a royalty based on the amount of gas flowing through the terminal once it is open. .
Court sides with Banking Dept. in high-cost loan lawsuit
A payday lending business violated Pennsylvania consumer law by providing loans of as much as $500 to people in return for 6 percent interest plus a $150 monthly fee, a state court ruled Tuesday. A Commonwealth Court panel agreed with the Banking Department's claim that fees charged by Advance America Cash Advance Centers exceeded limits of the state's Consumer Discount Company Act. The Banking Department sued Advance America's parent company, NCAS of Delaware LLC, in September, three months after the company began offering the loan product. The lawsuit called Advance America's $150 "monthly participation fee" an illegal and usurious sham. The opinion issued Tuesday prevents Advance America from continuing to lend money or "collecting on lines of credit or loans currently outstanding in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pursuant to the" violations of state law.
Indonesian court begins hearing on Soeharto case
The south Jakarta district court began a hearing on the lawsuit against former dictator Soeharto here on Thursday, aiming at returning billions U.S dollars allegedly stolen from state during his rule.
Preceding Judges Wahyono offered the state prosecutors and lawyers for Soeharto to try to reach a deal by themselves. The move so called mediation.
According to the law, mediation is a must in civil suit, he told during the 20-minute session.
The judge gave them one month to achieve a deal before they would continue the hearing.
Soeharto allegedly misused education funds collected from state- owed banks, according to a prosecutor of the Attorney General Office Dahmer Munthe.
The former strongman did not channel the funds appropriately through one of his foundations of Supersemar that was established in 1974, said the prosecutor.
|
