News
Obama moves against bad bank assets
Gerald Herbert/AP Photo
President Barack Obama smiles Monday in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Joining him, from left are, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chair Sheila Bair. WASHINGTON — The Obama administration aimed squarely at the crisis clogging the nation’s credit system Monday with a plan to take over up to $1 trillion in sour mortgage securities with the help of private investors. For once, Wall Street cheered. The announcement, closely stage-managed throughout the
day, filled in crucial blanks in the administration’s financial rescue package and formed what President Barack Obama called “one more critical element in our recovery.” The coordinated effort by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. relies on a mix of
government and private money — mostly from institutional investors such as hedge funds — to help banks rid their balance sheets of real-estate related securities that are now extremely difficult to value. The goal, said Obama, is to get banks lending again, so “families can get basic consumer loans, auto loans, student loans, (and so) that small businesses are able to finance themselves, and we can start getting this economy moving again.” It was a huge gambit and one that came like a tonic to Wall Street, which had panned an earlier outline of the program that lacked detail. Stocks soared, the Dow Jones industrial average shooting up nearly 500 points, thanks to the bank-assets plan and a report showing an unexpected jump in home sales. The introduction of the plan was closely choreographed so that the president — rather than Geithner — would be the first administration official to appear on camera at midday to discuss it. Geithner met earlier in the day, before markets opened, with a group of reporters at the Treasury Department to go
over specifics. But cameras and broadcast-quality audio recorders were barred. It was the reverse of what happened Feb. 10. Then, after Obama had helped raise expectations toward Geithner and the plan, the treasury secretary went before cameras and bombed. The Dow plunged about 300 points amid investor confusion about details. The fleshed-out plan is designed to help fix a value on damaged mortgage loans and other toxic securities. If the value of the securities goes up, the private investors and taxpayers would share in the gains. If the values go down, the government and private investors would incur losses. “This will help banks clean up their balance sheets and make it easier for them to raise capital,” Geithner said. The plan will take $75 billion to $100 billion from the government’s existing $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. The government will pair this with private investments and loans from the FDIC and the Fed to generate $500 billion in purchasing power.
—AP
ND city scrambles to prepare for flooding
Williston Herald, Alan Reed/AP Photo
Sunday, a trailer home and garage immediately off of U.S. Highway 85 on the south edge of Waterford City, ND is surrounded by water from Cherry Creek. High school and college students were let out of class Monday in Fargo to help with sandbagging as residents raced to hold off a threat of flooding from the rising Red River.
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
FARGO, N.D. — The city of Fargo is racing to fill 1.5 million sandbags to prepare for record flooding as a nearby river is expected to crest more than 20 feet above flood stage. Volunteers were being bused to a city utility building the size of a football field where they will fill sandbags, officials said. The city also bought two machines that resemble large spiders and can produce about 5,000 sandbags an hour. “It looks a little ‘Star War’-ish in here,” said Bruce Grubb, Fargo’s enterprise director. The National Weather Service projected that the Red River would crest between 37 feet and 40 feet between March 28 and April 1. That’s about 22 feet above flood stage and about a half-foot higher than the 1997 spring flood that swamped several homes. A storm also was expected to drop one or two inches of rain in the Red River Valley starting Sunday. “If we go to 40 feet, we’re going to be tested,” Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said Saturday after touring sandbagging operations with North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven and other officials. Officials said it would be difficult to predict the extent of flooding. Walaker said an aerial tour of the river basin indicated the situation “didn’t look as threatening as we’ve been hearing.” City officials said 225 National Guard soldiers have been called in ahead of the flooding, and the mayor said the North Dakota State University football team was scheduled to help with the sandbagging process.
Stephen Colbert wins NASA space station name contest
Jason DeCrow/AP Photo
In this Monday, March 5, 2007 file photo, Stephen Colbert poses in New York. Colbert, whose mock presidential campaign could not get off the ground, is succeeding at a much higher altitude electoral pursuit: getting the new room of the international Space Station named "Colbert." WASHINGTON — NASA’s online contest to name a new room at the international space station went awry. Comedian Stephen Colbert won. The name “Colbert” beat out NASA’s four suggested options in the space agency’s effort to have the public help name the addition. The new room will be launched later this year. NASA’s mistake was allowing write-ins. Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central show, “The
Colbert Report” to write in his name. And they complied, with 230,539 votes. That clobbered Serenity, one of the NASA choices, by more than 40,000 votes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast by the time the contest ended Friday. NASA reserves the right to choose an appropriate name. Agency spokesman John Yembrick said NASA will decide in April, but will give top vote-getters “the most consideration.”
—AP
POLICE REPORTS
MUNICIPAL WARRANT
Names are compiled from the Norman Police Department and OUPD. The reports serve as a record of arrests, not convictions. Those listed are innocent until proven guilty.
Toni Rose Castaneda, 25, 1004 E. Main St., Sunday
COUNTY WARRANT DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED
Robert William Drake, 30, 1430 24th Ave. SW, Sunday Francis Brownlow Williams, 25, 24th Avenue, Sunday
Matthew Robert Erickson, 22, 187 N. Cockrel Ave., Sunday
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Roberto Mitchell Hernandez, 22, North Peters Avenue, Sunday Muriel Littlecalf, 48, 5401 Huettner Dr., Sunday
PUBLIC INTOXICATION Timothy Lawton Mitchell, 21, North Interstate Drive, Sunday
Samuel Tyrone Woodfork, 20, South Flood Avenue, Sunday
GRAND LARCENY Amy J. Cory, 40, 3499 W. Main St., Sunday, also contributing to the delinquency of a minor
OUTRAGING PUBLIC DECENCY Richard Steven Cox, 23, Asp Avenue, Sunday
—AP
$1,000 Fellowship to Study WIND ENERGY! Accepting applications for the 2009-2010 Mark Coleman Fellowship on the Environment “Wind Energy: The future for Oklahoma?” Many experts are predicting that wind generated electricity will be the next major growth opportunity in the Oklahoma energy industry. • What are Oklahoma’s assets that drive this prediction? • What are the obstacles to the growth of the wind industry in Oklahoma? • Who are the winners as this industry develops? • Are any stakeholders losers in this process? • What is the potential role and economic niche for distributed vs. centrally generated electricity? Hands-on Experience in Environmental Decision Making Both semesters of the 2009-2010 academic year will be spent researching the history, regulatory context, ecological, economic, and political aspects of wind energy. The project will culminate in one or more public presentations on the work and submission of a 20-page paper. Money and Academic Credit, too! The Coleman Fellowship carries a stipend of $1,000 plus reimbursement for three hours of tuition & fees at the in-state rate (one credit hour in Fall and two credit hours in the Spring), supplies, and travel associated with the research. Who Can Apply? Any full-time, regularly enrolled, undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma, who is planning to graduate no earlier than May 2010 and no later than May 2012. For application information, please email ipe@ou.edu or call 325-0595.
Application Deadline: April 8, 2009