Free Republic

When the mayor of Richmond, Calif., and a gaggle of activists and homeowners showed up at the Wells Fargo Bank headquarters in downtown San Francisco this month, they were on a mission to speak with the bank’s chief executive. They wanted the bank to drop a lawsuit aimed at stopping Richmond’s first-in-the-nation plan to use the government’s constitutional power of eminent domain to “seize” hundreds of mortgages from Wells Fargo and other financial institutions. … Wells Fargo, three other banks and even the Federal Housing Finance Agency think otherwise. The banks have filed two lawsuits alleging that the plan is...

Richmond's controversial plan to seize underwater mortgages through eminent domain includes loans for at least two homes purchased for over $1 million as well as other high-end properties - a revelation that appears to undermine the city's argument that the plan would combat blight. The city is pursuing mortgages with balances ranging from $98,000 to $1.12 million, according to data collected by Marc Joffe, an analyst who received the property addresses, loan balances, offer amounts and other information through a California public records request and shared them with The Chronicle. --SNIP-- Eminent domain is the seizure of private property for...

Richmond Threatens Eminent Domain To Address Foreclosure Crisis Richmond city leaders were moving ahead with a plan to head off the foreclosure crisis, a plan that is not without controversy. The city has offered to buy more than 600 underwater mortgages at below the homes’ current value. “If they are unwilling to negotiate a sale of the loans, which we want them to do, then we will consider using eminent domain as another option to purchase these loans at fair market value,” said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. Richmond is the first city in the country to take the controversial step...

Richmond California is considering invoking eminent domain to condemn and seize hundreds of underwater mortgages to help troubled homeowners. The controversial move would be the first of its kind in the country. Richmond is not the first to consider it. San Bernardino (also known as San Berdoo) considered … and rejected it. Richmond is the farthest along in a plan advocated by Steven Gluckstern’s Mortgage Resolution Partners LLC for U.S. cities to confiscate mortgages and write them down in an effort to help homeowners escape oversized debt burdens. The idea has drawn opposition from bondholders such as Pacific Investment Management...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released their purchase only house price index this morning. It rose 0.7% in May. fhfa072313 The Pacific, West South Central, New England and Middle Atlantic continue to rise. East South Central? Not so much. fhfaregion072313 States in Each Census Division Pacific Census Division: Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California Mountain Census Division: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico West North Central: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri West South Central: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana East North Central: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio East South Central: Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama...

Update: Here are the denials. It’s unclear to me whether my sources know something Deutsch doesn’t or were basing their opinion on his reporting. I will update for accuracy as it goes on. Sources close to JHPolitics are confirming what was broken by Willie Deutsch of Bearing Drift. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is, if reports are to be believed, resigning from office over pending corruption charges. Willie’s take: The man who pushed out the RPV chairman over trumped up corruption charges while running for governor is currently in the middle of finalizing a plea agreement which includes his resignation as...

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) — As Father’s Day approaches, children are reminded to appreciate their dads and the impact on their lives. Today dads around the city were honored a week in advance of Father’s Day. Celebrate Fatherhood 2013 was held this afternoon at the Collegiate School Aquatics Center. While these dads and their children enjoyed the moon bounce and competed in contests, an alarming amount of children in the area won’t have fathers around to celebrate the holiday. First Things First, an organization dedicated to keeping dads involved in kids’ lives, reports that 60 percent of all families in the...

FBI agents shot one bank robbery suspect dead and arrested two others at a bank in the small town of Richmond on Friday, investigators said. Federal investigators had been tailing the three men on I-90 and to the bank because they were suspected of previous bank robberies and were thought to be planning another, a source close to the investigation said. FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde said the men "had been the subject of an investigation," but declined to elaborate. The shooting occurred at about 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Associated Bank at 10910 N. Main St. in Richmond,...

<p>Forensic evidence appears to link Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev to an unsolved triple murder committed in suburban Boston in 2011, according to a source.</p> <p>Initial testing of evidence found at the scene may also link his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to the murders, the source said. Additional testing is under way, according to the source, who said the brothers made cellphone calls from an area near the crime scene around the time of the murders.</p>

Saturday night race! Nationwide race is on ESPNEWS.

Their official name is the Richmond County Tea Party Patriots -- and they arguably put Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY) in office twice, first in 2010 when Tea Party supported this U.S. Marine veteran for the U.S. House, and again in 2012. Grimm won the 2010 general election for his district which covers both parts of New York City's Staten Island and Brooklyn with 51 percent of the vote. Ron Devito also created a video of the entire collection of speeches. It can be seen on YouTube.

A few years ago, Alaska’s proposed “Bridge to Nowhere” became a national symbol of wasteful government spending on little-needed projects. Now Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has pushed through his own version of this embarrassment, a $1.4 billion highway outside Hampton Roads that qualifies as a “Road for Nobody.” McDonnell has perplexed people across the state by his insistence on adding a tolled, four-lane highway parallel to U.S. 460. It will stretch for 55 miles from Petersburg, a Richmond suburb, southeast to Suffolk. The deal signed in December to build the road is especially insulting to traffic-jammed Northern Virginia, where...

Maryland and Virginia have vowed to tackle the issue of guns when their state legislatures convene this month in the wake a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, but the neighboring states are taking drastically different approaches. In Maryland, Democrats running the General Assembly have called for a crackdown on the kinds of powerful firearms and high-capacity magazines used last month by the Newtown, Conn., shooter to kill 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Republicans who control Virginia's General Assembly, however, not only dismissed the need for new gun restrictions but expressed interest in arming...

LIsten to KFI AM 640 The Lisa Ann Walker Show. She has family on Staten Island. KFI will offer the pdcast after the show airs. She reports lots of bodeis still being found. The news is not being reported becuase of the election and the possibiklty of another storm.

Romney To Campaign At University Of Richmond Sunday Richmond, VA—Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney will be campaigning in Virginia this weekend, and is scheduled to make a stop at the University of Richmond on Sunday. The "Victory Rally with Mitt Romney in Richmond" will be held on Sunday, October 28 at the Robins Center at the University of Richmond (28 Westhampton Way Richmond, VA 23173). Doors open at 2:15, and the event begins at 4:15. Tickets are free, but required for entry. To RSVP for a ticket, visit www.mittromney.com/VA. To pick up free tickets in person, visit the following...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Police believe ... same person ... three armed robberies ... Virginia Commonwealth University's ... downtown Richmond ... Tuesday night. There were no injuries ... robberies ... 9:50 p.m. in the 1000 block of Grove Avenue... and at 10 p.m. in the 1300 block of West Clay Street ... 10:12 p.m. in the 700 block of West Clay,.... Richmond and VCU police were searching ... black man in his 20s ... small, silver, semiautomatic handgun ... wearing a ... gray hoodie ... white Chevrolet Impala. Police said ... victim's wallet and cell phone.... There ... two victims in...

UPDATE: VCU president calls crimes on or near campus 'untenable' VCU News conference By: Times-Dispatch Staff | Times-Dispatch Published: October 08, 2012 Updated: October 09, 2012 - 9:06 AM RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao today branded as untenable a string of two robberies, three attempted robberies and one brandishing of a firearm that occurred in rapid succession on or near the school's main downtown Richmond campus. "A safe learning, living and working environment is essential... three-paragraph email.... Rao ... scheduled to meet ... Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood ... Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones to discuss the...

Blow off a little steam Saturday night under the lights at Richmond as we see who makes the Chase.. 8 drivers have a shot to fill out the field for the last open Chase slots, as long as they can keep it on the track and out da bushes.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Police are searching today for a group of about 15 young people believed to have punched one passerby and robbed and beaten another in rapid succession on Virginia Commonwealth University's main downtown Richmond campus. Neither victim was seriously injured in the two attacks, which happened along Shafer Street on the Monroe Park campus about 2:55 a.m. VCU and Richmond police described the assailants as a group of 15 black males between the ages of 17 and 22. “Last night there was a tremendous amount of activity in this area between the hours of 2 a.m. and 3...

RICHMOND, Va. -- Police were searching this morning for a group of about 15 young men believed to have committed an assault and a violent robbery in rapid succession on Virginia Commonwealth University's main academic campus in downtown Richmond. Neither victim was seriously injured in the two attacks, which occurred along Shafer Street on the Monroe Park campus about 2:55 a.m. VCU and Richmond police described the assailants as a group of 15 black males between the ages of 17 and 22.