2016 12 18 20 13 07
Regulators listen to community banks, change residential mortgage rules
Thanks to an outcry from 2,500 community banks and trade associations across the nation, regulators – in a rare move – agreed to change the rules that will ultimately impact the type of residential mortgages banks are able to offer, their capital levels and how they weigh the risk of the assets on their…
Read MoreEngineering Round-Up
More health providers drop out of Illinois’ exchange, state argues competition still exists
As the deadline looms when Illinois’ insurance exchange must be up and running under the Affordable Care Act, Illinois continues to see an exit of major health insurance providers. Although Illinois recently predicted as many as 16 carriers would be participating in its health insurance exchange, as of press time that number had dwindled…
Read MorePOINT: PRESIDENT’S CLIMATE CHANGE PROPOSAL & COAL President has both duty and authority to act on climate change threat if Congress won’t
It is getting harder and harder to ignore the freakish and downright dangerous weather swirling around every part of the globe, giving firm evidence that climate change is already making a mess of things for us all. In addition to floods and droughts, it’s getting hotter, with last year standing as the hottest year…
Read MoreThe Patriot Act, not your credit score, could be what’s holding up your mortgage loan app
When Congress passed the Patriot Act in late 2001, many Americans agreed it was a good idea. The legislation was written to identify foreign and domestic terrorists by tracking the movements of those funding them. As a result, most of the Act’s new regulatory powers were given to the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury.…
Read MoreCOUNTERPOINT: PRESIDENT’S CLIMATE CHANGE PROPOSAL & COAL Using the EPA to write carbon constraints because Congress wouldn’t is wrong
On June 25, President Obama announced his comprehensive plan to address climate change. The announcement was hardly a surprise to the coal industry, as Mr. Obama promised during the 2008 presidential campaign that he would bankrupt the coal industry. However, for the past five years we have held out hope, albeit faint, that the…
Read MoreDysfunctional government is the greatest threat to our future
It seems these days we are beset and besieged by a host of difficult problems, both on the state and national level. One might, in fact, have a difficult time just choosing what our biggest challenge is. Consider the following. Our economy is still not fully recovered from the Great Recession. Unemployment remains high…
Read MoreTiming of phasing out now-profitable Fannie and Freddie questioned by SWIL lending community
Southwestern Illinois mortgage banking professionals say a federal housing reform bill introduced to replace Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA with a new agency to regulate the industry comes too late and reaches too far. On June 19, U.S. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.)’s introduced a bill calling for liquidating…
Read MoreHuman-Powered Vehicles Can Drive Meaningful Change
Each year, at locations around the globe, teams of mechanical engineering students gather to demonstrate and race vehicles they have designed. The vehicles negotiate tight turns, slaloms, rough pavement and grocery stops. Peak speeds are often around 45 mph. The men and women designing and competing bring new ideas and innovations each year. And…
Read MoreQ&A with Les Sterman
Chief Supervisor Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District Council IBJ: How has the levee restoration project been progressing? Sterman: We’ve been making progress – not as fast as I would like or had hoped – but we are making progress. We’re gradually getting the design through the Corps of Engineers review process. The nature of the…
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