HUD to pay $62 million to La. homeowners to settle Road Home lawsuit
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 7th, 2011 4:39 am by HL
HUD to pay $62 million to La. homeowners to settle Road Home lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Wednesday that it will pay as much as $62 million to 1,300 Louisiana homeowners to settle a lawsuit alleging that a program that awarded federal grants to rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita discriminated against African Americans.
The lawsuit was filed by two civil rights groups and five homeowners, who maintained that the $9.8 billion Road Home program — called the largest housing recovery program in the nation’s history — relied on a formula that discriminated against thousands of African American homeowners.
Roger Clemens trial opens with jury selection
Prosecutors and defense lawyers on Wednesday disclosed the identities of more than a dozen high-profile potential witnesses in the perjury trial of Roger Clemens, the former baseball star charged with lying to Congress about taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Among those named were former Boston Red Sox star Wade Boggs and former New York Yankees Jason Giambi and David Cone.
Prosecutors also named Jorge Posada, currently a Yankees designated hitter and catcher, and the team’s general manager, Brian Cashman.
New oil spill, familiar worries in wake of Exxon’s Yellowstone pipeline breach
For 20 years, Exxon Mobil’s 12-inch Silvertip pipeline lay buried beneath the waters and muddy bottom of the Yellowstone River in Montana, and Friday it was feeding 39 barrels a minute to small refineries in the Billings area.
Then at 10:41 p.m., the pressure in the pipeline dropped — the sign of a leak.
Six minutes later, at the Exxon Mobil control room in Houston, workers used remote devices to shut down the pipeline’s pumps, reducing the flow. A valve near the refinery was closed, reopened, then closed again. Finally, 55 minutes after the pressure drop, the crucial valve on the other side of the river was closed.
