by Alexandra Andrews, ProPublica
Among the servicers participating in the government’s mortgage modification program is a new recruit that’s not like the others. PennyMac, a firm founded by the former president and chief operating officer of Countrywide, buys distressed home loans on the cheap with the goal of modifying them and later selling them for a profit. The [...]

by Jake Bernstein, ProPublica
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shuttered five banks on Friday, bringing the total number of failures for the year to 77. The agency’s insurance fund took a hit of nearly $4 billion. In March, the FDIC reported that its fund was at a 16-year low of $13 billion. New assessments on member institutions [...]

by Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, and Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday conceded that long-standing delays in disciplining errant health professionals were “absolutely unacceptable” and promised broad reforms to better protect patients from dentists, pharmacists, therapists and others accused of misconduct.
“The existing model protects licensees,” said Brian Stiger, who was appointed by [...]

by Carl Bloice
Now they are out to nickel and dime us to death. Here in my home town the traffic and parking department has been prevailed upon to “step up” its enforcement activity – and maneuvering to have parking meters work far into the night – in order help cover some of the city’s budget [...]

David A. Love, JD
Black Commentator Editorial Board
With his speech at Cairo University, President Obama has laid the groundwork, potentially, for a new era of peace in the Mideast.  Israeli officials are now realizing that they will have to accept a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.  Meanwhile, there is an indication that the President’s [...]

by Clive Betts and Cambria Politico
For the Liberal Democrats, the European votes looked a disaster, and one must wonder whether the party has much future in Wales, writes Clive Betts from the National Assembly press gallery.
Before the poll, the party was confident about winning the fourth seat; in the event, the Lib Dems came 14,000 votes [...]

by The Reverend Dr. Brit Minshall
President Obama addressed the Turkish parliament in the most diplomatic of terms concerning “the terrible events of the past,” an accepted reference to the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Turkish forces.  Morning Edition (April 11) reminded us that candidate Obama was quick to identify this [...]

by Carl Bloice
 
Michael T. Darda, chief economist at the research and trading firm MKM Partners, probably summed up last week’s message from Washington best, telling the New York Times, “Less bad is always a prelude to good.”
The things one learns.
We are being asked to believe that the results of the “stress tests” were “not as bad as [...]

by Chisun Lee, ProPublica
 
A stockpile of documents about hundreds of Guantanamo Bay detainees, some written by the prisoners themselves, could be destroyed under a little-known provision of a federal court order the Bush administration obtained in 2004.
For four years, records in the prisoners’ habeas corpus lawsuits challenging the legality of their detentions have been piling up [...]

by Ben Protess, ProPublica - 
The list of banks joining the Obama administration’s foreclosure relief program is growing—and so is the cost.
So far, the Treasury Department has committed more than $13 billion to 11 loan servicers participating in Making Home Affordable, the administration’s plan to modify mortgages for people on the verge of losing their homes. The servicers include [...]