Loan

Respondents to The Evening Sun's informal telephone survey are nearly split on the issue of U.S. loan guarantees to Israel.The guarantees should not be conditional on Israel stopping further settlement of the West Bank, say 52 percent of respondents to "It's Your Call." Of 670 callers, 349 favor this position while 321 (48 percent) say loan guarantees should be conditional on stopping settlement.Among 669 respondents, 344 (51 percent) say the U.S. government should move ahead with the loan guarantee regardless of the planned Middle East peace conference, while 325 (49 percent)

Once again, the Harford County government, like many county and municipal governments around the state and nation, has perpetuated the practice of running a taxpayer-subsidized business banking system. Most recently, the Harford County Council approved a loan of up to $160,000 to HP White Laboratory in Street, an honorable business that has been in operation for more than 50 years. HP White plans to spend $4 million to expand its operation and add 50 new employees to its workforce of 34. This has the potential to add substantially to one of Harford County's most respected military contracting test operations.

Harry Potter novels will be available through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, Amazon said today, in announcing a deal with J.K. Rowling's Pottermor e website. announced today. Of course, there's a catch. To get access to the library, you'll need to spend $79 for an Amazon program that also offers perks such as free two-day shipping. “We're absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we'll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

College students taking out subsidized federal student loans will see their interest rate double in July unless Congress comes to the rescue. The rate on subsidized Stafford loans is a fixed 3.4 percent, but that's set to expire and revert to 6.8 percent for new loans issued starting in July. (Old loans stay at their current rate.) Subsidized loans, for which the government pays the interest while students are in school, are awarded to those in financial need. Unsubsidized loans, for which borrowers pay the interest, already charge 6.8 percent interest.

The Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company will use a $3.6 million loan from theU.S. Department of AgricultureRural Development program to expand and renovate its facility in northern Baltimore County. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin announced the funding Thursday. The company, which serves a predominantly rural area, will use the money to update outdated mechanical and electrical systems, replace the deteriorating roof and increase living and classroom facilities for its volunteers.

Columbia-based technology company Lotame Solutions Inc. has been awarded a $5.5 million venture loan that's expected to help boost sales and marketing. The loan came from Horizon Technology Finance Corp. The Farmington, Conn., finance company provides secured loans to venture capital and private equity-backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and clean-tech industries that are in the development stage. Lotame, which offers data management services to publishers, ad networks and marketers, plans to strengthen its global initiatives and hire new employees on its sales, technology and executive teams.

Prometric, a Baltimore-based provider of educational testing services, said Thursday it secured a $175 million loan to refinance the remaining debt of when it was purchased five years ago by Educational Testing Services Inc. for $435 million. The loan arrangement is in two parts: a five-year, $165 million loan arranged by TD Securities, and a $10 million revolving line of credit funded by nine banks. Prometric will also use some of the funds as working capital for company initiatives.

A determination of whether there was criminal conduct in the case of a gun that was registered to a Baltimore police commander but stolen from a Southeast Baltimore business may rest on whether the gun was "loaned" or "transferred. " Maryland's highest court ruled in 2006 that it is legal for a regulated handgun to be "loaned" between two people who are permitted to own and obtain a handgun. Although the state regulates the transfer of firearms, the Court of Appeals said that "transfer" only refers to a permanent exchange of title or possession and "does not include gratuitous temporary exchanges or loans.

Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young did not engage in illegal activities by moving into a house that his sister vacated before fulfilling the residency terms of her loan, the city solicitor said in an opinion issued Tuesday. But, solicitor George A. Nilson said, the city housing department could demand from $12,180 to $20,300 from Young's sister for defaulting on the terms of the loan by moving out before the 10-year minimum requirement. Young, who has been beset by questions about his various residences, said in a statement that he felt "vindicated" by Nilson's opinion that he had not acted illegally by moving into the home.

The state Board of Public Works has approved a $700,000 loan to AnneArundel County for land acquistion and construction of a 42,000-square-foot ice skating rink at Piney Orchard in Odenton.The county will loan the money to KMS Group Inc., which will lease the facility to the Washington Capitals and the Baltimore Skipjacks hockey teams for a practice facility. In addition, the rink will be open to the public for recreational skating and youth hockey.

A dangerous confluence of recent business stories have been attention grabbers. First, the Obama administration announced an initiative to ensure more home loans for those with weak credit. Then, a number of prominent economists issued forecasts reflecting a slowing economy over the next several quarters. For the public, it's déjà vu all over again: an all-knowing federal government again pushing its way into the housing market against the backdrop of a softening economy. Yet again, we hear calls for banks to facilitate more home loans to mortgage seekers with less-than-stellar credit.

Remember when President Barack Obama stuck a federal takeover of the student loan program into the "Affordable Care Act," AKA "Obamacare"? The dirty deed was accompanied by a promise that federal control would save taxpayer money and cut off all the private sector profiteers anxious to put the screws to student loan applicants. Now comes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with a daunting report on the grand experiment: A startling 35 percent of student loan-borrowers under 30 years of age were 90 days or more late in their payments as of December 31, up from 26 percent in 2008 and 21 percent in 2004.

Columbia-based technology company Lotame Solutions Inc. has been awarded a $5.5 million venture loan that's expected to help boost sales and marketing. The loan came from Horizon Technology Finance Corp. The Farmington, Conn., finance company provides secured loans to venture capital and private equity-backed companies in the technology, life science, healthcare information and clean-tech industries that are in the development stage. Lotame, which offers data management services to publishers, ad networks and marketers, plans to strengthen its global initiatives and hire new employees on its sales, technology and executive teams.

The only residents of the Westport waterfront last week were a gaggle of geese that commandeered a large puddle amid the brush and broken asphalt. The only structure was a battered chain-link fence, capturing wind-blown litter along the perimeter. By now the 43-acre tract, assembled and cleared over several years with millions of dollars and personal resolve, was supposed to house hundreds and bustle with office workers. There should be a towering skyscraper and a stadium. Instead, the development company that was going to make that happen is in bankruptcy and the future of the $1.4 billion Westport Waterfront project, thought of as a potential "Harbor West," is uncertain.

The developers of the stalled Westport Waterfront filed a $225 million suit in bankruptcy court Wednesday alleging that out-of-state financiers posed as potential investors in the project and then conspired with others to upend development plans. Investors based in Utah gained access to confidential information about the project by offering to help refinance it, according to the suit filed by developer Patrick Turner, Thomas Fore, and their companies affiliated with the Westport project.

The company affiliated with developer Patrick Turner that was planning to redevelop the waterfront of the Westport neighborhood in southwest Baltimore has filed for bankruptcy. Inner Harbor West LLC, the subject of a Chapter 7 involuntary bankruptcy petition filed by two creditors earlier this month, has asked a federal judge to convert the case to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to documents filed Tuesday in Maryland's bankruptcy court. If the change is allowed, Inner Harbor West LLC could reorganize with trustee oversight and develop a plan to repay creditors.

Payments on the $7 million loan Carroll County General Hospital tookout from the county in 1980 have been rescheduled, county finance officials said.The loan -- of which the hospital owes about $3.7 million -- was being repaid with annual payments of $563,300, and was to be retired in 2000. The restructured payments, which total about $400,000 a year, will be made through 2005, finance officials said.The rescheduling comes in the wake of $9.4 million in new loans the hospital took out in November, borrowing the money from the county's $15 million bond issue.

The county will propose lending Union Bridge $31,000 to help the town extend its water system to 29 homes currently served by a spring or other sources.The Maryland Department of the Environment has offered the town a $70,000 grant and a $60,000 loan for the project, estimated at $130,000.But Union Bridge officials and residents are concerned the town would be unable to repay the loan, said Marlene Conaway, assistant county planning director.As an alternative, Union Bridge officials have proposed charging 29 homeowners -- 25 supplied by Dennis Bowman's Big Spring Farm and four others -- $1,000 each for area water connection fees.

James Gabriel Thompson, a retired savings and loan association president, died of cerebral vascular disease Jan. 29 at Oak Crest Village. The former Guilford resident was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised in Gwynn Oak, he was the son of Stephen Thompson, a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad chief clerk, and the former Sue Jones, a homemaker. He was a 1945 Loyola High School graduate. After serving in the Coast Guard in Washington, he earned a degree in business at what is now Loyola University Maryland.

A Baltimore County police union is suing the county retirement system's board of trustees over a $25 million loan the county took from the pension fund to update recycling facilities in Cockeysville. In a lawsuit filed last week in Circuit Court, the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4 claims the deal reflects a breach of duty, and the board did not get enough advice on the consequences of the loan or obtain adequate security. "We have a responsibility to the people we represent, and quite frankly, all county employees should be concerned about this," said union President Cole Weston.