January 13, 2008 in Nation/World

Nation in brief: Banks may have hidden loan risk

• Print
• Email
• Share

Authorities in New York and Connecticut are investigating whether Wall Street banks hid crucial information about high-risk loans bundled into securities that were sold to investors, Connecticut’s attorney general said Saturday.

The investigations, first reported Saturday by the New York Times, center around “no-doc” or “exception” loans, that did not even meet subprime standards, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.

Investigators want to find out whether the banks properly disclosed the high risk of default on those loans when selling those securities to investors in Connecticut and elsewhere.

San Diego

Minutemen adopt highway section

The Knights of Columbus have adopted a highway. So have the Japanese American Citizens League, biker groups, Indian casinos and the International House of Pancakes.

Now add the San Diego Minutemen.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has granted an Adopt-A-Highway stretch of Interstate 5 to the ardent foes of illegal immigration – and not just any stretch. The two miles of freeway the Minutemen will be charged with beautifying include the U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint near San Clemente.

Critics disagreed said Caltrans ignored its own rule that bars groups that advocate violence or discrimination from participating in the program.

Mobile, Ala.

Body of infant found in marsh

A duck hunter Saturday found the body of the youngest of four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge by their father, raising hopes that the other bodies will be recovered, a sheriff said.

A search for the children – ranging in age from a few months to 3 years – began Tuesday near the mouth of Mobile Bay after prosecutors said the father, Lam Luong, confessed.

About 9 a.m. Saturday, a duck hunter found the body of an infant about five miles west of the bridge in a marshy area.

“The inevitable nightmare we have feared has now been confirmed,” Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said.

No comments on this story so far. Add yours!