Florida homeowners to benefit from national mortgage settlement A $25 billion settlement has been reached between 49 states and the nation's five largest banks, which will help homeowners across the country with loan reductions, refinancing and cash payments for those who lost their homes between 2008 and 2011 due to fraudulent bank practices. The settlement is likely to affect tens of thousands of Sunshine State residents. How Florida's share of the settlement money will be distributed Florida will receive $8.4 billion of the $25 billion national award. This is ...

Realty-Trac numbers show fluctuating foreclosure activity over past year Data from the real estate research firm Realty-Trac shows a housing market still struggling with foreclosures and bank-owned homes. Some believe the increase in foreclosures is a sign that the nation's banks and mortgage servicers are more confident in new mortgage and foreclosure rules and are willing to begin the foreclosure process on distressed properties. Late 2011 by the numbers In the fourth quarter of 2011, about 24 percent of all home sales in the United States were sales of foreclosed ...

Drug-sniffing dog cases heard by US Supreme Court Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases involving drug-sniffing dogs. The decisions made by the justices will affect the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against "unreasonable searches and seizures" when it comes to searches outside of vehicles and homes. Florida v. Jardines and Florida v. Harris: The facts The first case the justices heard, Florida v. Jardines, deals with allowing dogs trained to detect certain drugs to sniff outside of a person's home. In ...

Can police force a DUI suspect to provide a blood sample? This term the United States Supreme Court will hear several criminal procedure cases. One of these cases may change how some states collect evidence in DUI cases. The question the Justices must answer is whether a law enforcement officer must obtain a search warrant before forcibly drawing a suspect's blood to determine his or her blood alcohol content. Each state has slightly different impaired driving laws. In Maryland, for example, law enforcement officers need to obtain a warrant from a judge or a prosecutor ...

Louisiana law enforcement cracking down on texting while driving The next time that your cellphone beeps or vibrates while you are driving on the highway, you might want to resist the temptation to read or answer the text message, because it could cost you. Louisiana State Troopers recently announced that their officers are out in full force to enforce the law against texting while driving. The law enforcement agency said that they will use a combination of marked and unmarked vehicles to ferret out texting drivers. The unmarked vehicle will look for evidence of texting ...

The risk and liability of deadly hit-and-run accidents in Sacramento In California, it is illegal to leave the scene of a car accident or pedestrian accident. Despite this law, drivers often flee the scene of accidents they have caused. The Sacramento area has seen a series of fatal hit-and-run accidents in the last few months, including: -In the first week of December, a pedestrian was killed in Vacaville when he was struck by a pickup truck that fled the scene of the accident. -In November, a 61-year-old female bicyclist died from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run ...

Items to include in a commercial lease agreement Pennsylvania small business owners know the importance of a proper work space. Often, small business owners rent workspace. There are several factors to consider when signing a commercial lease agreement. A commercial lease is a contract between a landlord and a business for rental of a piece of property. Business owners often choose a commercial lease over purchasing property because it requires less capital. Differences between commercial leases and residential leases Commercial leases are different from residential ...

Selling a business? How to determine its value There comes a time in the lives of many Pennsylvania business owners when they have to consider selling their business. Whether this is a joyous occasion or not, it is important to understand how a business is valued. Otherwise, business owners could be getting less than they deserve. Valuing a business There are many factors that go into valuing a business, and sometimes the calculations are more important than the actual numerical result itself. One important factor that goes into valuing a business is the profits. ...

Who will make your health care decisions if you can't? What would happen if loved ones suddenly could not make decisions for themselves? Who would make these decisions? What kinds of decisions would they be able to make? These are overwhelming questions to think about, but they are important ones. Texas residents thinking about these questions may want to consider making an advance directive. What is an advance directive? Texas offers advance directives to its citizens. These allow people to officially communicate their health care decisions in the event that they ...

Credit Card Consumers Find Valuable Information on Website The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working to help American consumers by making credit card company and other lender practices more transparent. In June, the CFPB launched a website that posts complaints against specific banks and other lenders made by credit card customers. Visitors to the website can search for complaints by type, such as by particular complaint, card issuer name and by zip code. Resistance From Banking Industry The banking industry has fought the creation of this website. ...

Modifying a Connecticut Child Support Order Parents have a legal obligation to support their children financially. When parents divorce, or in cases when parents were never married, the parent who does not have custody of the child must pay child support to fulfill his or her responsibility to meet the child's financial needs. In some cases, parents' situations change as time goes on and they need to change child support orders after the court issues them. Connecticut parents should be aware of when they may modify child support orders and why they need to make modifications ...

Michael Pellini, President and CEO of Foundation Medicine, will give a presentation titled "Clinical Application of Comprehensive Cancer Genomic Analysis Utilizing Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in Clinical Oncology" at GTC's 6th Oncology Biomarkers Conference in San Francisco, CA on March 20-22, 2013. Advances in our understanding of cancer biology and the explosion of discoveries emerging as academic and public efforts worldwide apply NGS to cancer genomes are being translated into real clinical benefits for cancer patients. The elucidation of genomic changes ...

Artwork is incomplete without framing. After the creation of art, art framing is necessary to set it in style. Selection of a wrong frame can ruin the entire look of piece and may leave a bad mark on the room you hang it in. Edges Art offers quality picture framing and also provides the best consultation in personalised design. People can also buy art at an affordable price here. Work can be displayed well with picture framing. As frames help to protect the piece for years, it's worth to invest in it. If you have a picture and would want it to be properly framed, finding ...

Earning a 4.5-star rating for customer satisfaction, Home Exteriors Energy Consultants Inc. has won the prestigious CMUS Talk of the Town Customer Satisfaction Award in the Contractors — Doors & Windows category. The Talk of the Town Awards, presented by Talk of the Town News, Customer Care News magazine and Celebration Media U.S. (CMUS), honor companies and professionals that provide excellent customer service as reported by their customers through no-cost, user-review websites, blogs, social networks, business rating services, and other honors and accolades. This ...

Chabot Strategies and Direct Measures International strongly encourages communities to better train themselves against active shooters. This training is not just for law enforcement. We strongly encourage participation from schools, hospitals, colleges, businesses, government offices, community organizations, and more. Dr. Paul Chabot, President of Chabot Strategies said, "The mass killing of 20 children and six adults yesterday is yet another reminder that no community is immune from evil. Schools, hospitals, malls, theaters have all been terrorized this year ...

Everyone deserves to be safe and warm; but due to tough economic times and the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, many of our neighbors can use a helping hand. To bring warmth into the lives of infants, children and adults throughout the area, WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM is hosting its Fifth Annual Coat Drive December 18, 2012- January 18, 2013. "While reports have said that holiday spending is up, that is just not the case for so many of our neighbors. There are still numerous jobless and homeless individuals, families living in shelters and parents who simply cannot afford ...

The Dear Mr. Fantasy baseball podcast has announced the addition of a free weekly dispute resolution service for its audience. Joining with Fantasy Judgment, a professional fantasy league dispute resolution service, the program is offering a weekly segment to settle disputes involving any number of issues. With fantasy sports growing in popularity annually, there has been an increasing need for a dispute resolution service worldwide. Fantasy sports now account for approximately $4 billion in annual economic impact across the sports industry. The Dear Mr. Fantasy ...

The Law Office of Ranj Mohip, LLC is once again proud to announce that managing attorney Ranj Mohip has been recognized as a 2013 Rising Star by SuperLawyers.com. This is the second year in a row that Chicago real estate Attorney Mohip has been named a Rising Star. Upon receiving notice of the award, Mr. Mohip said, "While any recognition of achievement is welcome, receiving such an award from a group as prestigious as SuperLawyers is truly an honor." SuperLawyers is a service that rates lawyers who have attained a high-level of peer recognition and professional ...

Building on its reputation for groundbreaking web solutions, Golden Shovel Agency is updating its own website and brand in order to better provide rural communities the online presence needed to attract and retain business. Golden Shovel Agency currently has over 70 clients in 11 states that utilize Economic Gateway, gatekeeper service, webinars, or a combination of all three. Golden Shovel's Economic Gateway provides clients with a suite of economic development modules with all future enhancements and additions included. A mobile version of Economic Gateway will ...

BlueStep Systems, LLC (www.bluestep.net), a leading provider of software solutions for operators of post and non-acute care facilities, announced today that Tom Bang has been named Chief Executive Officer. BlueStep' s former CEO, Roy Rasband, will assume the role of Chief Technology Officer. He will continue to lead product and technology development efforts and drive the Company's product vision. Mr. Bang has been a leader in the healthcare technology and services sectors for over 25 years. As the CEO of A-Life Medical, Inc., a revenue-cycle management software solutions ...

Jon Mullane is an internationally acclaimed rock singer/songwriter with a passion for excellence and a power to inspire. His albums have been released to audiences and accolades in North America, Europe, and Asia. His music has been featured in numerous commercials and television shows, he has released several national charting radio singles, and has an extensive list of concert appearances. His recent single, the touching power ballad The One That Got Away from his album Shift, is a charted top 40 hit in Canada and has made a strong emotional connection with listeners ...

The Rolls-Royce of hair extensions, Jazzy Girls Luxury Hair Collection, will host a charity event/toy drive to help collect toys to benefit a local children's wish granting foundation. The event will be held on December 22 from 2pm to 7pm at Jazzy Girls Beauty Boutique (2015 W. Alabama St.) The five-hour, charity event will bring various people in the community together to help gather as many, new and unopened toys for children. The toys will be collected as a form of admission to the event and guests are strongly encouraged to bring a guest and bring a toy. Jazzy Girls ...

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo engineering students are gaining hands-on exposure to cutting-edge systems and technology, thanks to a $50,000 gift from the Gene Haas Foundation, founded by Haas Automation founder and president, Gene Haas. Opened in mid-September, the Gene Haas Laboratory for Robotics and Automation was made possible by the foundation's donation and provides students with new hardware, software and precision tools for the school's manufacturing engineering program. The donation includes $30,000 to enhance the University's Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering ...

Honest-1 Auto Care, the only national full-service auto repair and maintenance franchise that is 100 percent ESA Certified Eco-Friendly, has been ranked 321 in Entrepreneur magazine's 2013 "Franchise 500." This annual ranking of America's top franchise opportunities highlights companies based on quantifiable measures of the franchise operation, most importantly examining the financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system. "To be recognized on this list is truly a testament to the strength of our brand and our relentless commitment ...

The Painted Cabernet, located within walking distance to all downtown hotels in Santa Barbara, "speaks to the artist in all of us." The upscale urban painting studio, located at 1229 State Street, offers a friendly, hip, and creative environment. Instructional artists walk visitors step-by-step through the painting experience giving one-on-one instruction while affording the freedom to create. Visitors select a painting they want to reproduce, with the studio offers many choices. Patrons paint, drink wine, and socialize in a fun, vibrant, casual atmosphere. Hampstead ...