05-30-2023  2:59 pm   •   PDX and SEA Weather
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NORTHWEST NEWS

Oregon Man Died Waiting for an Ambulance, Highlighting Lack of Emergency Responders

Officials in Multnomah County have said ambulances should arrive to 90% of emergency calls within eight minutes. However KGW-TV reported that during a five-month period ending in February, that mark was missed about a third of the time.

Oregon, Awash in Treatment Funds After Decriminalizing Drugs, Now Must Follow the Money

Funding for drug treatment centers in Oregon, financed by the state's pioneering drug decriminalization policy, stood at over a quarter-billion dollars Friday as officials called for closer monitoring of where the money goes.

Former Senator Margaret Carter Receives Honorary Doctorate of Public Service

Margaret Carter was the commencement speaker for Willamette University's Salem undergraduate commencement ceremony

NEWS BRIEFS

Oregon and Washington Memorial Day Events

Check out a listing of ceremonies and other community Memorial Day events in Oregon and Washington. A full list of all US events,...

Communities Invited to Interstate Bridge Replacement Neighborhood Forums in Vancouver and Portland

May 31 and June 6 forums allow community members to learn about the program’s environmental review process ...

Bonamici, Salinas Introduce Bill to Prevent Senior Hunger

Senior Hunger Prevention Act will address challenges older adults, grandparent and kinship caregivers, and adults with disabilities...

This is Our Lane - Too: Joint Statement on the Maternal Health Crisis from the Association of Black Cardiologists, American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association

Urgent action is needed to combat the maternal health crisis in America and cardiologists have a vital role to play. ...

New Skateboarding Area Planned for Southeast Portland’s Creston Park

Area has largest number of overall youth and of people of color out of locations studied ...

Police: Toddler accidentally left in hot car outside hospital in Puyallup dies

PUYALLUP, Wash. (AP) — A toddler died after accidentally being left in a hot car outside a hospital near Tacoma, Washington, police say. The foster parent forgot the 1-year-old in the car while working at the MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup on May 24, KING-TV reported...

Body of avalanche victim in Washington state recovered after being spotted by volunteer

LEAVENWORTH, Wash. (AP) — Search crews have recovered the body of a climber who was one of three killed in an avalanche on Washington's Colchuck Peak in February. A search-and-rescue volunteer was on a personal trip to the mountain Monday when he saw the remains of 60-year-old...

Foster, Ware homer, Auburn eliminates Mizzou 10-4 in SEC

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — Cole Foster hit a three-run homer, Bryson Ware added a two-run shot and fifth-seeded Auburn wrapped up the first day of the SEC Tournament with a 10-4 win over ninth-seeded Missouri on Tuesday night. Auburn (34-9), which has won nine-straight, moved into the...

Small Missouri college adds football programs to boost enrollment

FULTON, Mo. (AP) — A small college in central Missouri has announced it will add football and women's flag football programs as part of its plan to grow enrollment. William Woods University will add about 140 students between the two new sports, athletic director Steve Wilson said...

OPINION

Significant Workforce Investments Needed to Stem Public Defense Crisis

We have a responsibility to ensure our state government is protecting the constitutional rights of all Oregonians, including people accused of a crime ...

Over 80 Groups Tell Federal Regulators Key Bank Broke $16.5 Billion Promise

Cross-country redlining aided wealthy white communities while excluding Black areas ...

Public Health 101: Guns

America: where all attempts to curb access to guns are shot down. Should we raise a glass to that? ...

Op-Ed: Ballot Measure Creates New Barriers to Success for Black-owned Businesses

Measure 26-238, a proposed local capital gains tax, is unfair and a burden on Black business owners in an already-challenging economic environment. ...

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS

Why do Kosovo-Serbia tensions persist?

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo flared anew this week after Kosovo’s police raided Serb-dominated areas in the region’s north and seized local municipality buildings. There have been violent clashes between Kosovo’s police and NATO-led peacekeepers...

Rights group says Uyghur student it reported to be missing in Hong Kong did not travel to city

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Amnesty International acknowledged Tuesday that a Uyghur student who it had said was missing in Hong Kong after being interrogated did not travel to the city, easing concerns over his safety but raising questions over how the allegations first emerged. The...

Teenager walks at brain injury event weeks after getting shot in head for knocking on wrong door

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ralph Yarl — a Black teenager who was shot in the head and arm after mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell — walked at a brain injury awareness event in his first major public appearance since the shooting. The 17-year-old suffered a traumatic brain...

ENTERTAINMENT

Rapper Fetty Wap sentenced to 6 years in prison for drug-trafficking scheme

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — As friends and family looked on, rapper Fetty Wap on Wednesday apologized for his actions and said he was “exactly where I'm supposed to be,” before a judge sentenced him to six years in federal prison for his role in a New York-based drug-trafficking scheme. ...

Matchbox Twenty returns after long absence to offer an album of exuberance, 'Where the Light Goes'

NEW YORK (AP) — More than a decade has passed since the last Matchbox Twenty album, so, fans can be forgiven for thinking it was the end of the line. That's what Matchbox Twenty was thinking, too. “We had pretty much come to terms that we didn’t think we’re ever going to make...

Dudamel in surprise move resigns from Paris Opéra 2 years into 6-year contract

Gustavo Dudamel announced his resignation as music director of the Paris Opéra on Thursday, a surprise decision two seasons into a six-year contract scheduled to run through the 2026-27 season. A 42-year-old Venezuelan who lives in Madrid, Dudamel was hired in February by the New...

U.S. & WORLD NEWS

See the images of North Korea's launch pad activity as it prepares its first spy satellite

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday it would launch its first military spy satellite in June and...

Nun whose body shows little decay since 2019 death draws hundreds to rural Missouri

Hundreds of people flocked to a small town in Missouri this week and last to see a nun whose body has barely...

Iowa apartment collapse leaves residents missing, rubble too dangerous to search

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Five residents of a six-story apartment building that partially collapsed in eastern...

Notre Dame's fire-ravaged roof rebuilt using medieval techniques

SAINT-LAURENT-DE-LA-PLAINE, France (AP) — If time travel was possible, medieval carpenters would surely be...

Malta says it didn't find migrant boat in distress alerted by NGOs

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Authorities on the European island nation of Malta have contested accusations made by a...

Possible Putin trip in spotlight as Russia, China foreign ministers set for meeting in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers are expected to meet with their counterparts from...

By The Skanner News | The Skanner News

By Cora Currier, ProPublica

The big bank settlement over mortgage servicing abuses was finalized last week, detailing the agreement's actual terms.



Bank of America, Citigroup, Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) and JPMorgan Chase are on the hook for billions, which will be divvied up among penalties paid to the federal and state governments, direct payments to homeowners wrongfully foreclosed upon, and credits to the banks for providing "consumer relief." (Read the government's complaint and the banks' consent judgment.)

Here's a breakdown of key settlement numbers, showing where the money is going and how much help it will really provide for homeowners.

$1.4 billion: total direct payments from the settlement to homeowners who were wrongfully foreclosed upon between 2008 and 2011.

750,000: foreclosed homeowners expected to qualify.

$2,000: estimated average payout.

3.8 million: total foreclosures between 2008 and 2011.

25 percent: expected increase in foreclosures in 2012. That would mean about 1 million foreclosures, up from 804,000 last year, partly as a result of banks clearing a backlog held up by the settlement proceedings.

$3 billion: total for which banks can be credited for offering refinancing to underwater homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth. (There are questions about exactly how the credits will work and why the banks are being given incentives rather than punishment.)

$17 billion: total from the settlement that banks can be credited for offering loan modification ($10 billion) and other forms of "consumer relief" ($7 billion) for underwater borrowers — counted separately from the refinancing incentives.

11.1 millionunderwater mortgages in the U.S.

$717 billion: negative equity from those underwater mortgages.

3 million: estimated underwater mortgages owned or guaranteed by government-controlled Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which are not covered by the settlement.

5 percent: portion of the country's underwater mortgages that might qualify for modification under the settlement, according to a Brookings Institute estimate. (Officials have put the number closer to 10 percent.)

$10.9 billion: Bank of America's total outlay in the settlement, more than any other bank.

$2 billion: Bank of America's fourth-quarter 2011 profit.

$1 billion: settlement of allegations that Bank of America passed bad loans on to the Federal Housing Administration to insure. A government audit, made public with the settlement, showed similar patterns at other banks.

$6 billion: amount that the FHA paid in insurance claims on defaulted mortgages handled by the five banks between 2008 and 2010.

60-200: documents signed daily by different individual loan processors working for Bank of America, according to the government audit.

12-18 inches: height of the stacks of documents one Bank of America employee signed "without a review."

$1 million: fine to be levied on the banks for each violation of the terms of the overall settlement, escalating to $5 million for repeat violations. (Exactly how fines will be tallied is still unclear.)