June 18, 2010 at 1:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Bank failures,
Banking,
Government
By Tribune staff report
The bailout of Chicago-based ShoreBank has hit a serious snag as the Federal Reserve and Treasury drag their feet on whether to provide funding to the ailing South Side lender, sources close to the situation say.
Last month ShoreBank lined up commitments from private sources, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, General Electric and Chase, for a capital infusion of about $135 million. That private money was to have made ShoreBank eligible for about $75 million in government funds from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank has needed to raise about $200 million to stave off possible seizure. Get the full story »
June 16, 2010 at 6:15 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Investing,
Stock activity
Dow Jones Newswires | BP PLC (BP) said it won’t issue more
dividends this year and agreed to put $20 billion in an independently
administered oil-spill escrow fund to help pay for claims as a result of
the Gulf oil disaster.
BP announced the moves after Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, Chief
Executive Tony Hayward and other company executives met at the White
House with President Barack Obama, who said BP also will set aside $100
million for those workers who lost jobs due to the drilling moratorium.
Get the full story »
June 16, 2010 at 2:25 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Housing,
Real estate,
Taxes
Associated Press | The Senate has approved a plan to give
home buyers an extra three months to finish qualifying for federal tax
incentives that boosted home sales this spring.
The move by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would give buyers
until Sept. 30 to complete their purchases and qualify for tax credits
of up to $8,000. Under the current terms, buyers had until April 30 to
get a signed sales contract and until June 30 to close the sale.
Get the full story »
June 16, 2010 at 2:07 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Pharmaceuticals
Dow Jones Newswires | The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has
extended its review of Merck & Co.’s application to broaden
use of cervical-cancer vaccine Gardasil to include older women.
Merck expects to hear back from the FDA by the end of the year, said
spokeswoman Pam Eisele. The Whitehouse Station, N.J., drug maker had
expected a response from FDA before next week’s meeting of a vaccine
advisory committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control &
Prevention.
Get the full story »
June 16, 2010 at 12:46 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Jobs/employment
Associated Press | Republicans and a dozen Democratic defectors
in the Senate dealt a defeat to President Barack Obama Wednesday, just
days after he pressed Congress to renew pieces of last year’s economic
stimulus bill.
A catchall measure combining jobless aid for the long-term unemployed,
aid to cash-strapped state governments and the renewal of dozens of
popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals failed to muster even
a majority in a test vote, much less the 60 votes that would be
required to defeat a GOP filibuster.
Get the full story »
June 15, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Pharmaceuticals
Reuters | Top U.S. health officials laid out a road map Tuesday
to speed drug development and ensure the safety of diagnostic and gene
tests based on personalized medicine — treatments tailored to a
person’s genetic makeup.
In a commentary released online by the New England Journal of Medicine,
Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration,
and Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health, said
their agencies will invest in efforts to provide companies with a clear
regulatory path for drugs and companion diagnostics.
Get the full story »
June 11, 2010 at 2:12 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Pharmaceuticals
Associated Press | The Food and Drug Administration has put five
makers of genetic tests on notice that they must get federal approval
before marketing their products for use by consumers.
The regulatory letters posted online Friday are the first sign that the
government agency plans to crack down on companies marketing products
that claim to predict inheritable diseases using DNA samples.
Get the full story »
June 11, 2010 at 12:58 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Media,
Sports
By Joe Flint | NBC’s affiliates are worried that the network will stop carrying big-ticket sporting events after its deal to merge with Comcast Corp. closes.
In a meeting with commissioners and top staffers at the Federal Communications Commission this week, NBC affiliates said one of the conditions of regulatory approval of cable giant Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC Universal should be a commitment to keep sports on NBC. Details of the meeting were disclosed in a regulatory filing by the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, which represents the NBC affiliate board.
Get the full story »
June 11, 2010 at 5:55 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Government
Associated Press | The Illinois Lottery has topped $2 billion in
sales for the fourth year in a row. The lottery, a state agency, passed
the $2 billion mark on May 25 and is on track to beat last fiscal
year’s sales. The state’s fiscal year ends June 30.
Get the full story »
June 10, 2010 at 2:59 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Housing,
Mortgages
Dow Jones Newswires | A measure to put the Federal Housing
Administration on firmer financial footing sailed through the House of
Representatives Thursday.
The legislation, approved 406-4, would nearly triple the cap on annual
premiums the FHA can charge borrowers and give the agency more power to
protect itself from fraudulent or poorly underwritten loans.
Get the full story »
June 10, 2010 at 2:49 p.m.
Filed under:
Education,
Government
From Bloomberg News | Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, plans to hold hearings into the federal grant and loan money going to for-profit colleges, including Hoffman Estates-based Career Education Corp. Career Ed stock was up 12 cents Thursday afternoon on the NASDAQ.
Read the full story: bloomberg.com
June 10, 2010 at 2:14 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Health care,
Pharmaceuticals
Associated Press | Federal health experts say a first-of-a-kind
multiple sclerosis drug from Novartis is effective at controlling
tremors, concentration problems and other symptoms of the debilitating
disease.
Swiss drugmaker Novartis has asked the Food and Drug Administration to
approve its drug Gilenia as the first pill for multiple sclerosis. All
existing drugs require frequent injections or infusions.
Get the full story »
June 9, 2010 at 2:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Government
By Becky Yerak | About
30 people showed up downtown at noon Wednesday to protest the expected
federal bailout of ShoreBank, the troubled South Side lender.
Last month, ShoreBank firmed up commitments for about $135 million in
new capital from such private sources as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank
of America, Chase and General Electric. With the private capital,
ShoreBank might also be eligible for about $75 million in money from the
U.S. Treasury. It’s finalizing the deal.
Get the full story »
June 8, 2010 at 1:23 p.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Government
Dow Jones Newswires | Moody’s lowered Illinois’s general
obligation bond rating, after the state’s legislature failed to enact
significant recurring measures to address the state’s structural budget
imbalance for the fiscal year starting next month.
The ratings agency lowered the rating by one notch to A1, which is four
notches below AAA, and revised the outlook to stable, due to the state’s
strong powers to control revenue and expenditures.
Get the full story »
June 7, 2010 at 12:28 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Health care
Associated Press | The Obama administration is making $51 million
available to states that want to beef up oversight of health insurance
rate increases.
Outrage over premium hikes was a turning point in the national health
care debate this year, after Anthem Blue Cross proposed increases of up
to 39 percent in California. The company ultimately withdrew the plan,
but not before President Barack Obama used it to help revive his stalled
legislation. The $51 million announced Monday is the first installment
of a five-year, $250 million program created under the health care
overhaul law to help state regulators challenge unreasonable rate hikes.
The Health and Human Services department said states can get $1 million
each this year.
Get the full story »
