Dorchester County gets funds for water projects
Dorchester County will receive a $3 million injection of federal stimulus funding to help build water and sewer lines and a stormwater management facility at a technology park in Cambridge, federal officials said Friday. The federal Economic Development Administration grant is expected to help create jobs and encourage private investment in the area, officials said. The project was made possible due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Maryland congressional leaders hailed the funding and the project as an effort that protects the Chesapeake Bay while encouraging private investment in the region.
- Gus G. Sentementes
Federal home loan agency funds squeezed
WASHINGTON - The Federal Housing Administration is tightening rules for lenders after reporting that its financial cushion will sink below mandatory levels for the first time in its 75-year history. Officials, however, insisted Friday that the agency won't need a rescue. The agency doesn't expect to raise fees for borrowers or curtail the number of loans it insures, said David Stevens, the FHA's commissioner. The FHA has insured nearly a quarter of all new loans made this year, and about 80 percent of that business is from first-time homebuyers. As of this summer, about 17 percent of FHA borrowers were at least one payment behind or in foreclosure, compared with 13 percent for all loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
- Associated Press
Dannon to pay yogurt buyers $35M after suit
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - The Dannon Co. said Friday it will reimburse consumers for up to $100 of Activia and DanActive yogurt purchases and change its marketing and labeling to settle a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in 2008, alleges Dannon overstated the yogurt's health benefits. The company claims the products can strengthen the body's defenses or regulate digestion because of bacteria they contain. White Plains, N.Y.-based Dannon, a unit of France's Danone, denies any wrongdoing. The settlement still needs to be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. As part of the settlement, Dannon will set up a fund of up to $35 million to reimburse qualified consumers for purchases.
- Associated Press
