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Tag: Washington D.C.

  • CFPB rule to save Americans $10 billion a year in late fees faces possible last-minute freeze

    CFPB rule to save Americans $10 billion a year in late fees faces possible last-minute freeze

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    Epoxydude | Fstop | Getty Images

    A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulation that promised to save Americans billions of dollars in late fees on credit cards faces a last-ditch effort to stave off its implementation.

    Led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the card industry in March sued the CFPB in federal court to prevent the new rule from taking effect.

    That effort, which bounced between venues in Texas and Washington, D.C., for weeks, is now about to reach a milestone: a judge in the Northern District of Texas is expected to announce by Friday evening whether the court will grant the industry’s request for a freeze.

    That could hold up the regulation, which would slash what most banks can charge in late fees to $8 per incident, just days before it was to take effect on Tuesday.

    “We should get some clarity soon about whether the rule is going to be allowed to go into effect,” said Tobin Marcus, lead policy analyst at Wolfe Research.

    The credit card regulation is part of President Joe Biden’s broader election-year war against what he deems junk fees.

    Big card issuers have steadily raised the cost of late fees since 2010, profiting off users with low credit scores who rack up $138 in fees annually per card on average, according to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.

    New fees, higher rates

    As expected, the industry has mounted a campaign to derail the regulations, deeming them a misguided effort that redistributes costs to those who pay their bills on time, and ultimately harms those it purports to benefit by making it more likely for users to fall behind.

    Up for grabs is the $10 billion in fees per year that the CFPB estimates the rule would save American families by pushing down late penalties to $8 from a typical $32 per incident.

    Card issuers including Capital One and Synchrony have already talked about efforts to offset the revenue hit they would face if the rule takes effect. They could do so by raising interest rates, adding new fees for things like paper statements, or changing who they choose to lend to.

    Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank said last month that, if implemented, the CFPB rule would impact his bank’s revenue for a “couple of years” as the company takes “mitigating actions” to raise revenue elsewhere.

    “Some of these mitigating actions have already been implemented and are underway,” Fairbank told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “We are planning on additional actions once we learn more about where the litigation settles out.”

    Trial ahead?

    Like some other observers, Wolfe Research’s Marcus believes the Chamber of Commerce is likely to prevail in its efforts to hold off the rule, either via the Northern District of Texas or through the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. If granted, a preliminary injunction could hold up the rule until the dispute is settled, possibly through a lengthy trial.

    The industry group, which includes Washington, D.C.-based trade associations like the American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association, filed its lawsuit in Texas because it is widely viewed as a friendlier venue for corporations, Marcus said.

    “I would be very surprised if [Texas Judge Mark T.] Pittman denies that injunction on the merits,” he said. “One way or another, I think implementation is going to be blocked before the rule is supposed to go into effect.”

    The CFPB declined to comment, and the Chamber of Commerce didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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  • Marine moved from the U.S. to Brussels with her family—our mortgage is under $3,000/month: Take a look inside

    Marine moved from the U.S. to Brussels with her family—our mortgage is under $3,000/month: Take a look inside

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    My husband Martin and I met in Brussels in 2012, when I literally stepped on his toes at my neighborhood farmer’s market. At the time, I was working as a security manager at NATO headquarters, and he was on a business trip from his home in the Netherlands. 

    Three days later, we went on our first date. Five weeks later, I moved to Washington, D.C., to take a post at the Pentagon. Almost a year and a half later, we decided we’d get married and he’d join me in D.C. 

    As a Marine Corps reserve officer, I took advantage of my VA loan benefits, and we bought a small home in 2014. We brought our newborn daughter home there in 2016.

    But we always knew we wanted to move back to Europe eventually. 

    Finding ‘the one’ in Brussels

    When the pandemic hit, it gave us time to pause and plan our long-awaited return to Europe. 

    We wanted to be a short drive away from my in-laws in my husband’s hometown of Rotterdam as they aged. We ultimately chose Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the administrative center of the European Union. We calculated that we could live there for less than D.C. or the Netherlands, and it’s only 90 minutes from Rotterdam.

    It helped that I already had a solid network of friends in Brussels, too.

    Jessica calls Martin her “90-day fiancé.”

    Courtesy of Jessica van Dop DeJesus

    We sold our D.C. home for $899,000 in 2021 — a 67.7% increase compared to what we’d paid for it. And after a year renting in Brussels, we started looking for a place to buy. Our two main requirements: It had to be walking distance to our daughter’s school and have an outdoor space big enough to eat outside. 

    Six months and 20 apartments into our search, we finally found “the one” in Saint Gilles, the neighborhood south of the city center where I’d lived before.

    I fell in love with the 14-foot ceilings, the Art Nouveau buildings, and the great parks nearby.

    One of Jessica’s favorite things to do in Brussels is go to the markets. There are cafés nearby where she likes to order a coffee or, “if I’m feeling a bit festive,” a glass of wine.

    Federico Campanale

    We offered 547,500 euro, or $586,767, for the apartment in Brussels, leveraging the cash we had from the sale of our D.C. home to put down a 10% down payment of $58,677 and securing a 20-year mortgage with a 3.59% interest rate.

    Take a look inside our apartment

    We live in a street-level duplex in a building with only three apartments. It’s slightly smaller than our D.C. home, but it’s been worth it. Our neighborhood is equivalent to Logan Circle in Washington, D.C., where a place like ours could easily cost double or more. We’ve been able to add our own touches. 

    The front door leads into our dining room — one of my favorite parts of the apartment because of its high ceilings and large space for our long dining table, where we host many dinner parties. 

    Jessica is a food and travel content creator, and cooks pretty much every day. She loves that she and her family can host dinner parties in the dining room.

    Federico Campanale

    Next to the dining room is our living room, where I made a “fitness nook” with my stationary bike and weights so I can work out while watching TV. 

    We added an American-style stove and oven that fits my Thanksgiving turkey, as well as a wine fridge to our galley kitchen. We put in terrazzo floors as an homage to my childhood home in Puerto Rico. 

    “In Europe usually ovens are very tiny, but not the case with me because I love a big Thanksgiving turkey,” Jessica says.

    Federico Campanale

    Toward the back of the first floor, a small room doubles as an office and a sitting room. Large sliding doors lead to our two-level terrace, one with a large table we use in the warmer months.

    Jessica and her family like to eat outside on the terrace in the warmer months. Above and beyond the patio, she says, “we have a beautiful view of the city hall.”

    Federico Campanale

    The bedrooms, laundry room, storage, and bathroom are on the bottom floor.

    Lack of closets and storage space is common in European apartments. Fortunately, the former owners made a storage system under the stairs, which we use for extra clothes, household items, wines, and photography equipment. 

    “My daughter’s room still has the home’s original tile, which we love,” Jessica says.

    Federico Campanale

    We have an average-sized bedroom with a walk-in closet and a small guest bedroom with a full-sized bed. 

    Our bathroom is big for European standards with a shower and tub, and we plan to renovate it in 2025.  

    The bedroom is “very basic,” Jessica says.

    Federico Campanale

    Currently, our monthly housing costs in Brussels include our mortgage ($2,931) and condo fee ($65) as well as utilities such as electricity ($73), gas ($70), water (about $50), and internet and cable ($68). 

    Our life in Brussels

    I miss being within driving distance of my family in Western New York. The main sacrifice of this move is being so far from people I’m close to. But we’re happy to be in Brussels. 

    Our neighborhood, Saint Gilles, has always been one of my favorite parts of the city, filled with Portuguese, Brazilian, Eastern European, Italian, Latin American, and North African restaurants and shops. We even had a Latino-themed Christmas market with Colombian food stands and live salsa music sponsored by the town hall last year! 

    Our daughter, now seven, is a half-Dutch, half-Puerto Rican, third-culture kid, so we wanted her to grow up in a diverse community.

    Jessica’s seven-year-old daughter already speaks English, Dutch, and Spanish, and will start learning French at school next year, too.

    Federico Campanale

    Belgium shares borders with four countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and France. This close proximity makes it easy to take a quick weekend trip to explore even more places and cultures.

    I can’t say leaving the U.S. for Europe meant the end of all our problems. But I feel more content and at ease here. I don’t worry as much about school shootings, for example, or the potential loss of employer-sponsored healthcare. We can afford to live, get childcare for our daughter, eat and cook like the foodie I am, and travel regularly. 

    And we can embrace a slower pace of life and a culture that prizes friends and vacations at least as much as work. 

    Jessica van Dop DeJesus is a freelance journalist, a digital media strategist, and the founder of The Dining Traveler, a multimedia digital platform covering food and travel. Jessica was raised in Puerto Rico and began traveling as a young Marine over 25 years ago. She currently serves as the Latinx facilitator for the Breaking Barriers in Entrepreneurship program for Bunker Labs, providing mentorship to aspiring veteran entrepreneurs. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

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    Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

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  • Biden proposes new student debt relief plan for millions of borrowers

    Biden proposes new student debt relief plan for millions of borrowers

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday announced the rollout of a student debt forgiveness proposal that the White House believes is narrowly targeted enough to survive legal challenges.

    The plan, if finalized, would include a one-time cancellation of all accrued interest for 23 million borrowers. It would also cancel the full amount of student loan debt for 4 million borrowers and provide more than 10 million borrowers with at least $5,000 in student debt relief.

    The president will unveil the Department of Education proposed regulations during a speech in Madison, Wisconsin, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on a call Sunday.

    The announcement comes seven months ahead of the November elections, in which student debt forgiveness remains a key issue for voters, especially younger ones. Some of those younger voters who back a ceasefire have been turned off by the administration’s support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

    The proposed rule will be released in the coming months, and the Biden administration expects some provisions, such as the interest cancellation, could be implemented as early as this fall, Jean-Pierre said.

    “President Biden will use every tool available to cancel student loan debt for as many borrowers as possible, no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stand in his way,” she said.

    A fresh legal fight likely

    The proposal is likely to face legal challenges, similar to the battle that engulfed Biden’s original student debt forgiveness plan. The Supreme Court struck it down last year when it was challenged in lawsuits backed by six Republican-led states — Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina.

    Senior administration officials told reporters that the Biden administration carefully studied the Supreme Court’s opinion last year, which turned aside the administration’s argument that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona had the legal authority under the HEROES Act to enact a one-time student debt relief plan of up to $20,000 for some borrowers.

    A senior administration official said the new proposals “address specific situations and specific populations in ways that we feel very confident are covered by what the secretary’s long-standing authority under (the Higher Education Act) allows him to do, and we’re confident that we’re acting within the scope of the law, as set forth by the Supreme Court.”

    After the Supreme Court ruling, Biden directed the Department of Education to take a more targeted route to provide student debt relief through the Higher Education Act in anticipation of legal challenges.

    “The negotiated rulemaking process is how we change and improve our higher education policies,” Cardona said to reporters Sunday, adding that the Department of Education is moving to quickly finalize the proposals.

    While the rulemaking process can take months or years, Cardona has the ability to designate provisions for early implementation, a senior administration official said.

    About 43.5 million people have student loan debt, totaling $1.73 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.

    Building on previous student debt relief plans

    The new plan builds on several student debt relief programs the Biden administration already has rolled out, such as the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan, known as the SAVE plan, or any other income-driven repayment plans. For the SAVE plan, borrowers who make monthly payments are not charged accrued interest; payments are based on a borrower’s income and family size; and the plan forgives balances after a set number of years.

    Under the proposed regulations, there would be a one-time cancellation of up to $20,000 of unpaid interest regardless of a borrower’s income level. Low-and-middle-income borrowers enrolled in any Department of Education income-driven repayment plan would be eligible to have the entire amount of their interest accrued balance canceled. Eligibility would apply to single borrowers who earn $120,000 or less and married borrowers who earn $240,000 or less.

    The Biden administration estimates that 25 million borrowers would benefit from some type of interest cancellation.

    “The interest forgiveness is currently crafted as a one-time benefit for example, but going forward, borrowers will benefit from substantially more favorable treatment through the SAVE program,” a senior administration official said.

    The plan would also automatically cancel debt for borrowers eligible for that forgiveness under the SAVE, Public Service Loan Forgiveness or other programs like the closed school loan discharge who have not yet applied for those programs.

    The Department of Education would also be able to use its own data to identify those borrowers who would be eligible for student loan debt forgiveness, but have yet to apply. The Biden administration estimates that this would cancel debt for about 2 million borrowers.

    20 years of loan repayments

    Under the proposed plan, borrowers who began repayment of their undergraduate student loans 20 years ago, and borrowers who began repayment of their graduate loans 25 years ago, would have their student loan debt canceled. Those borrowers would need to be on an income-driven repayment plan in order to qualify for that relief.

    The plan also aims to cancel debt for borrowers who enrolled in low-financial-value-programs, which means the total cost of attending exceeded the financial benefits.

    Borrowers who attended institutions or programs that lost eligibility to participate in the federal student aid program or were denied recertification would be eligible to have their student loans canceled. And borrowers who attended those institutions that either closed or failed to provide “sufficient value” would be eligible for relief.

    Cardona added that this could include some career training programs that have “taken advantage” of borrowers, or institutions that have an unusually high student loan debt default rate.

    The plan would also provide relief for borrowers who are experiencing some sort of hardship in their daily lives that creates a barrier to paying back loans. Some of those financial hardships would include medical debt or child care.

    While the administration is aiming for this debt relief to be immediate, a senior administration official said that some additional information would be required for the borrowers who qualify under the hardship relief.

    “Our goal is for the overwhelming majority of things like interest, loans that are older, borrowers (who) attended programs that didn’t deliver financial value, to do that all automatically,” the senior administration official said.

    Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.

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    Ariana Figueroa, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

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  • Colonie students home from Italy after plane ignites

    Colonie students home from Italy after plane ignites

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    COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -On the way back from a school trip to Italy, Colonie High students saw flames coming from the engine of a United Airlines plane. NEWS10’s Anthony Krolikowski met with six of the passengers at The Crossings Park of Colonie after returning home the night before.

    Flying United Airlines, students and teachers landed in Milan at the end of March for a non-school sponsored trip. “I love the idea of traveling the world and experiencing new things. So, as soon as I heard there was an Italy trip, and I’ve never gotten the opportunity to leave the country, fly, or really even leave the state much, I really just wanted to have the experience,” said Miranda Winchell.

    On their way back to Washington D.C., some passengers were waking up from naps and reading books when they noticed something was wrong with the plane.

    “We took off and then like five minutes later, all the sudden, the plane started shaking and it wasn’t like, I thought it was turbulence. But for turbulence, the plane shakes side-to-side. This felt like an up-and-down shake,” explained Winchell.

    “When it happened, you can see like halos of lights coming out from the cracks in the window and we could hear pops. The plane was shaking,” described Seamus McWatters.

    The students describe the next minutes as terrifying. They texted loved ones and held onto each other while sobbing and unsure if they would get home safely.

    “Maybe like five minutes before the pilot finally went on the intercom,” said Mari Zhao. “The pilot said that the left engine had lost airflow and that we were going to make a landing,” added McWatters.”

    According to the airlines, the pilots noticed a technical issue with one of the engines and declared an emergency. The plane safely landed back in Rome nearly 30 minutes after takeoff. Both students and teachers still had two more flights to go before they returned home to Colonie.

    “I was just thinking it better not happen again. That’s really all that went through my head,” stated Elizabeth Tran.

    The students safely returned to their final destination at Albany International Airport late Friday night. They said United Airlines gave out food and drink vouchers along with an online delay feedback form for possible compensation.

    The six say they can now laugh about the serious situation and will be flying again. “Definitely not on United,” said McWatters. “Yeah, I agree. Not again,” added Tran. “I would take a plane again but not on United,” laughed Zhao.

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    Anthony Krolikowski

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  • Trump Campaign Says Nikki Haley’s Victory In DC Shows She’s ‘Queen Of The Swamp’

    Trump Campaign Says Nikki Haley’s Victory In DC Shows She’s ‘Queen Of The Swamp’

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    Life

    Screenshot: CBS Evening News

    Nikki Haley won her first Republican primary contest of the 2024 election on Sunday in Washington, D.C. The win earned her 19 delegates and the title of the first woman to win a Republican primary in history.

    Haley won 62 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 33 percent. A mere 2,035 voters participated in the primary contest which will likely represent the only win for the former South Carolina governor heading into Super Tuesday (North Dakota holds their GOP primary today).

    The former President had just come off a clean sweep of GOP primaries in Idaho, Michigan, and Missouri on Saturday. He is expected to sweep once again on Super Tuesday when 15 more states are up for grabs.

    “It’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos,” Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement.

    With Super Tuesday fast approaching, Trump sits at 244 delegates to Haley’s 43 with 1,215 needed for the GOP nomination. 854 delegates will be at stake on March 5th.

    RELATED: Man Jokingly Asks Nikki Haley To Marry Him – When She Asks For His Vote He Says ‘I’m Going To Vote For Trump’

    Trump Jabs At Nikki Haley

    Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, seemingly took the loss to Haley in stride. In fact, his campaign had a blast in responding to the news.

    “Tonight’s results in Washington D.C. reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign — he will drain the swamp and put America first,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s Campaign Press Secretary said in a statement.

    “While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders that want to protect the failed status quo,” Leavitt added. “The swamp has claimed their queen.”

    There aren’t too many political pundits who think Nikki Haley’s win in Washington, D.C. will change the momentum of the race. The fact that Trump’s campaign has already turned it into a liability for her is evidence of that.

    “President Trump will fight for every American who is being let down by these very DC insiders and devastated by Joe Biden’s failures,” added Leavitt.

    RELATED: Nikki Haley Blames Trump for Low Military Recruitment Numbers: ‘Very Sad State Of Affairs’

    Haley Celebrates The Swamp Victory

    Nikki Haley celebrated her GOP primary victory in Washington, D.C. in a post on the X social media platform.

    “Let’s do it. Thank you, DC!” she wrote. “We fight for every inch.”

    A moral victory in the cesspool of American politics is, most assuredly, little more than an inch in Haley’s flailing campaign.

    Trump, meanwhile, took to his own social media platform to also celebrate Haley’s win, using one of his nicknames for her in the process.

    “I purposely stayed away from the D.C. Vote because it is the ‘Swamp,’ with very few delegates, and no upside,” Trump maintains. “Birdbrain spent all of her time, money and effort there.”

    Trump, in a separate post, urged Republican voters to deliver a resounding victory over Nikki Haley on Super Tuesday and on March 12th.

    “Each of you is going to have the opportunity to help us bring this primary to a quick, victorious, and decisive end,” he said.

    Haley has vowed to stay in the race “as long as we are competitive.”

    Follow Rusty on X

    Popular Conservative ‘Catturd’ Predicts Mitch McConnell Will Try To Take Down Trump

    Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox… More about Rusty Weiss

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    Rusty Weiss

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  • Tlaib bill slams door on war cash for politicos and their families

    Tlaib bill slams door on war cash for politicos and their families

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    Rashida Tlaib/Courtesy photo

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at preventing politicians and their families from profiting from war.

    The Stop Politicians Profiting from War Act would bar members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children from having any financial stakes in companies that do work with the U.S. Department of Defense. The legislation would also ban congressional members and their families from trading defense stocks.

    Members of Congress are currently permitted to own and trade stocks, regardless of their committee assignments and access to insider information.

    U.S. lawmakers made 96 transactions in defense stocks in 2023, and eight of those purchases occurred since October, when the war between Hamas and Israel broke out, according to Capitol Trades.

    Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat, said the public’s faith in government has eroded because members of Congress have exploited their positions to line their pockets.

    “My colleagues continue to funnel billions of American tax dollars to the very same defense contractors that many of them are invested in and taking campaign donations from,” Tlaib said in a statement. “The American people deserve representatives who vote in the best interest of our country and our families, not their stock portfolios. It is shameful that some of my colleagues are profiting financially when they vote to support wars and weapons manufacturing. Members of Congress should not be able to use their positions of power to get rich from defense contractors while voting to pass more funding to bomb innocent civilians. The American people deserve better. We are sick of politicians profiting from endless wars.”

    Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been a fierce critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Since the war began, Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 27,000 people and wounded an additional 66,000.

    Numerous groups are endorsing Tlaib’s bill.

    “Elected officials owning defense contractor stocks while also controlling annual budget allocations is the opposite of a virtuous circle,” Savannah Wooten, who leads Public Citizen’s People Over Pentagon campaign, which is committed to reducing the Pentagon’s budget and spending more on domestic and human needs issues. “It’s an astonishing testament to the deep power of the military-industrial-Congressional complex that owning defense contractor stock while in office hasn’t yet been banned. Rep. Tlaib’s legislation is a long overdue and welcome proposal. The bill should be passed immediately.”

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    Steve Neavling

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  • How RealPage influences rent prices across the U.S.

    How RealPage influences rent prices across the U.S.

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    RealPage software is used to set rental prices on 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. A series of lawsuits allege that a group of landlords are sharing sensitive data with RealPage, which then artificially inflates rents. The complaints surface as housing supply in the U.S. lags demand. Some of the defendant landlords report high occupancy within their buildings, alongside strong jobs growth in their operating regions and slow home construction.

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    Sat, Feb 3 20248:27 AM EST

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  • Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court

    Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court

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    A group of renters in the U.S. say their landlords are using software to deliver inflated rent hikes.

    “We’ve been told as tenants by employees of Equity that the software takes empathy out of the equation. So they can charge whatever the software tells them to charge,” said Kevin Weller, a tenant at Portside Towers since 2021.

    Tenants say the management started to increase prices substantially after giving renters concessions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The 527-unit building is located roughly 20 minutes away from the World Trade Center, on the shoreline of Jersey City, New Jersey. A group of tenants at the tower is involved in a sprawling class-action lawsuit against RealPage and 34 co-defendant landlords. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the case in December 2023, arguing that the complaints adequately allege violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

    In November 2023, the attorney general of Washington, D.C., filed a similar but more narrow complaint against RealPage and 14 landlords that collectively manage more than 50,000 apartment units in the District.

    “Effectively, RealPage is facilitating a housing cartel,” said Attorney General of the District of Columbia Brian Schwalb in an interview with CNBC. His office filed the complaint on antitrust grounds. They allege that landlords share competitively sensitive data through RealPage, which then sets artificially high rents on a key slice of the local rental market.

    Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, November 2023

    “Rather than making independent decisions on what the market here in D.C. calls for in terms of filling vacant units, landlords are compelled, under the terms of their agreement with RealPage, to charge what RealPage tells them,” said Schwalb.

    RealPage says its revenue management products use anonymized, aggregated data to deliver pricing recommendations on roughly 4.5 million housing units in the U.S. The company says its tools can increase landlord revenues between 2% and 7%.

    “Just turning the system on will outperform your manual analyst. There’s almost no way it can’t,” said Jeffrey Roper, a former RealPage employee and inventor of YieldStar.

    YieldStar is one of three key revenue management tools offered by RealPage. The software balances prices, occupancy and lease lengths to help property managers optimize their portfolio’s yield. The company feeds data from its models into a newer tool dubbed “AIRM” that considers the effect of credit, marketing and leasing effectiveness.

    RealPage told CNBC that its landlord customers are under no obligation to take their price suggestions. The company also said it charges a fixed fee on each apartment unit managed with its software.

    RealPage was acquired by Miami-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.2 billion in 2021. In court filings, Thoma Bravo has claimed that it is not liable for the alleged acts of its subsidiary outlined by plaintiffs in the class-action complaints.

    Renters told CNBC they discovered how revenue management software is used in real estate after reading a 2022 ProPublica investigation. Equity Residential investor materials show that the company started to experiment with Lease Rent Options between 2005 and 2008. RealPage acquired the product in 2017.

    “How could we possibly know?” said Harry Gural, a tenant in an Equity Residential property located in the Van Ness neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Gural says he has been involved in legal matters against his landlord’s pricing practices for more than seven years.

    Affiliates of Equity Residential are contesting a separate decision made by a local housing authority in Jersey City regarding prices set on the Portside Towers property. The company has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the decision, stating that the decision could result in millions of dollars in refunds for tenants.

    Equity Residential and other defendant landlords declined to comment on ongoing RealPage litigation.

    Redfin reports that asking rents in the U.S. ticked down to $1,964 a month in December 2023, a decline from recent highs. Prices are coming down in markets such as Atlanta and Austin, Texas, where home construction is high. But analysts believe low rates of homebuilding on the U.S. East Coast could give well-located landlords more pricing power.

    “Guys like us that own 80,000 well-located apartments, we’re still in a pretty good spot,” said Equity Residential CEO Mark Parrell in a June 2023 interview with CNBC.

    Watch the     video above to learn about the rising tide of lawsuits against U.S. corporate landlords.

    CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated when Equity Residential purchased Portside Towers.

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  • Inside some of the most unique collections at the Library of Congress as it celebrates 224th anniversary

    Inside some of the most unique collections at the Library of Congress as it celebrates 224th anniversary

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    The nation’s capital is full of towering statues and monuments honoring American presidents and legends. But inside the Library of Congress, it’s possible to find more obscure and real-life mementos of those same icons. 

    The Library of Congress was founded in 1800, and will celebrate its 224th anniversary this year. It’s the largest library in the world and adds about 10,000 items to its collection each day. That collection plenty of unusual relics, like locks of hair. 

    For centuries, long before photography was affordable, it was common practice to send or gift locks of one’s hair as a sentimental keepsake, according to Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. 

    “Think about it. That was a tangible way of having something of the person after they’re gone,” Hayden said. 

    The Library of Congress’ collection includes a lock of President Ulysses S. Grant’s hair, which he sent his wife as a gift in 1864, and a piece of President Abraham Lincoln’s hair that was collected posthumously after his assassination in 1865. And it’s not just presidents: The library also has a coil of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven that a fan collected after the composer died in 1827. 

    1230-satmo-libraryofcongress-macfarlane-2563880-640x360.jpg
    The Library of Congress.

    CBS Saturday Morning


    Hair has multiple cultural significances, Hayden said. 

    “When you think about people who’ve had health challenges, especially going through let’s say chemotherapy, and just the trauma of losing hair, it it signifies so many things, and it signifies things in different ways in different cultures,” Hayden said. 

    However, the library didn’t exactly seek out these unusual relics. They tend to surface unexpectedly when the library receives other historical belongings, according to Michelle Krowl, a specialist at the library. James Madison’s hair was found inside a locket that he tucked into a love letter, as one example. 

    “The hair samples that we have come with larger collections,” Krowl said. “It’s usually diaries, letters, other things that have intellectual and research value.” 

    Hair is just one unique example of the enormous range of the Library of Congress’ collection of artifacts, books and more. The library has a total of more than 175 million items, filling 836 miles of shelves. That’s longer than the distance between Washington, D.C. and Daytona Beach, Florida.

    The repository also includes the world’s largest flute collection. Among the 1,700 flutes is James Madison’s crystal flute, which was featured in a viral performance by pop star and classically trained flautist Lizzo in 2022. The library also holds a collection of more than 2,000 baseball cards from the turn of the 20th century. 

    Some of the most distinctive items in the library are viewable online through an online repository. 

    “We want to make sure that when we look at a digital future and digitizing collections that we digitize first the things that are unique, not the best-sellers or different books like that, but also things that capture the imagination but are very, very unique,” Hayden said. 

    Scott MacFarlane


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    Scott MacFarlane is a congressional correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.

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  • Santa Clause Gets Lap Dance Onstage With Madonna – Falls On Dancer

    Santa Clause Gets Lap Dance Onstage With Madonna – Falls On Dancer

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    Source: MLVC: The Madonna Podcast YouTube

    Things got weird at a Madonna concert on Tuesday night when a man dressed as Santa Clause got a lap dance while onstage with the “Like A Virgin” singer. The Santa figure then fell off his chair and onto the backup dancer who had been performing the lap dance.

    Madonna’s Santa Debacle

    Daily Mail reported that video that has since gone viral shows Madonna performing onstage with a person dressed as Santa on Tuesday night during her Celebration tour stop in Washington D.C. Santa sat in a chair in the middle of the stage while the 65 year-old “Vogue” singer performed nearby.

    Santa was eventually approached by a female backup dance who claimed onto his lap and proceeded to give him a lap dance. Both Santa and the dancer soon fell out of the chair, with him ending up on top of her as Madonna looked on in shock. The dancer immediately returned to dancing while Santa tried to compose himself and get up.

    Madonna Reveals She Was In A Coma

    This came days after Madonna revealed that she was in a medically induced coma for 48 hours back in June when she was hospitalized with a bacterial infection. She dropped this bomb during another tour stop in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night, giving a personal shoutout to her friend Shavawn.

    “There are some very important people in the room tonight that were with me at the hospital,” Madonna said. “There’s one very important woman who dragged me to the hospital.”

    “I don’t even remember; I passed out on my bathroom floor and woke up in the ICU,” she added. “I was in an induced coma for 48 hours. She saved my life. Thank you Shavawn.”

    People Magazine went on to reveal the first things she thought about when she finally came out of the coma.

    “There were a couple of things I thought about when I first became conscious and I saw my six incredible children sitting around me — by the way, I had to almost die to get all my kids in one room,” she said, referring to Lourdes, 27, Rocco, 23, David Banda, 18, Mercy James, 17, and 11-year-old twins Estere and Stella.

    Related: Madonna, 64, Found Unresponsive And Rushed To Hospital – Family ‘Feared They May Lose Her’

    Madonna Thanks Fans – Continues Tour

    Two weeks after her hospitalization, Madonna took to social media to thank her fans for their support.

    “I have felt your love. I’m on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life,” she wrote on Instagram.

    “My first thought when I woke up in the hospital was my children,” she continued. “My second thought was that I did not want to disappointment anyone who bought tickets for my tour. I also didn’t want to let down the people who worked tirelessly with me over the last few months to create my show. I hate to disappoint anyone.”

    Related: Franklin Graham Blasts Madonna for Saying Jesus Would be OK with Abortion

    Madonna was able to resume her tour in October with a stop in London, and she’s now traveling the U.S. making stops in various city. Given the latest viral footage, it’s clear that her tour is wilder than ever. What do you think of Madonna’s Santa escapades? Let us know in the comments section.

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    An Ivy leaguer, proud conservative millennial, history lover, writer, and lifelong New Englander, James specializes in the intersection of culture and politics.

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  • Why U.S. ports are getting a $21 billion upgrade

    Why U.S. ports are getting a $21 billion upgrade

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    U.S. ports are receiving multimillion dollar grants to upgrade cargo handling infrastructure.

    The grants are part of the Biden administration’s $21 billion commitment to modernize port infrastructure in the U.S.

    Midsize port cities such as Baltimore are among the 2023 grant recipients. In November, the Port of Baltimore received a $47 million grant to kick-start an offshore wind manufacturing hub, among other improvements. For example, the funds will pay for a new berth, or dock, for rolling cargo. Baltimore is the top U.S. destination for rolling cargo imports, a category including farm machinery from John Deere and light-duty vehicles from BMW, according to the Maryland Port Administration.

    More than $653 million in Port Infrastructure Development Program grants were awarded to U.S. ports in 2023 by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Other projects receiving federal funds include the Port of Tacoma Husky Terminal Expansion in Washington state ($54.2 million), and the North Harbor Transportation System Improvement Project in Long Beach, California ($52.6 million).

    Port improvements are also coming from the Environmental Protection Agency, which offers funds to combat truck idling. The U.S. Department of Defense is deepening some waterways on the East Coast to welcome larger ships.

    Baltimore isn’t the only city with a growing port according to maritime economists. Experts say gateways along the U.S. southeast coast are moving more cargo as major points of entry clog up with truck traffic.

    “All of the ports on the East Coast are upgrading their infrastructure and capacity,” said Walter Kemmsies, managing partner at the Kemmsies Group, a maritime economics consulting firm currently working with the Port Authority of Georgia in Savannah. “What that does is it makes it more attractive to the ocean carriers. They like to be able to go in and out of a port very quickly, and they like to go to several ports.”

    Ports America formed a public-private partnership with the state of Maryland to manage equipment and operations in sections of the Port of Baltimore. The group told CNBC that $550 million in upgrades have gone into Seagirt Marine Terminal alone for densification of the container yard since the partnership began in 2010.

    These upgrades build on past plans to revive America’s declining industrial cities. In Baltimore, public officials are addressing bottlenecks along the supply chain beyond the Port. They believe that the Howard Street Tunnel expansion project will increase double-stack rail capacity out of Baltimore, which could help the companies working at the port move goods to and from points in the Midwest.

    Watch the video above to see more of the upgrades coming to the Port of Baltimore.

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  • Melania Trump Delivers Powerful Speech About Becoming An American Citizen

    Melania Trump Delivers Powerful Speech About Becoming An American Citizen

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    Celebrity

    Source: Screenshot Fox News YouTube

    The former First Lady Melania Trump made a rare public appearance on Friday, delivering a powerful speech about becoming an American citizen.

    Melania Gives Rare Speech

    While speaking to 25 newly naturalized citizens at the National Archives Naturalization Ceremony in Washington D.C. on Friday, Melania said that the path to becoming a U.S. citizen is “arduous.” Melania, who was born in Slovenia, recalled that she felt a “tremendous sense of pride and belonging” when she became an American citizen in 2006.

    “For me, reaching the milestone of American citizenship marked the sunrise of certainty,” she said, according to The Hill. “At that exact moment, I forever discarded the layer of burden connected with whether I would be able to live in the United States. I hope you’re blanketed with similar feelings of comfort right now.”

    After being born and raised in Slovenia, Melania moved to New York City to model back in 1996, and she immediately fell in love with this country and everything it has to offer. She started researching and visiting embassies “with a goal of securing a worker visa,” but she quickly found the immigration process to be challenging.

    “My personal experience of traversing the challenges of the immigration process opened my eyes to the harsh realities these people face, including you, who try to become U.S. citizens,” she said.

    Related: Trump and Melania Reportedly ‘Just Sick’ Over January 6 Defendants, Would Issue Pardons

    Melania Becomes A Citizen

    While Melania was “devoted” to the process, she admitted that she was “certainly was not an attorney,” so she considered herself “fortunate” to have the opportunity to receive legal counsel. In 2001, Melania was able to receive a green card through the elite EB-1 program, nicknamed the “Einstein visa,” which is for people with “extraordinary ability.”

    Melania concluded her speech by applauding the 25 new American citizens as she stood next to the Declaration of Independence.

    “Becoming an American citizen comes with responsibility, it means actively participating in the democratic process and guarding our freedom,” she told them. “It also means leading by example and contributing to our society. It is a life altering experience that takes time, determination and sometimes, even tremendous strength.”

    Related: WATCH: Melania Trump Tears Into Biden Presidency – ‘Sad to See People Struggling and Suffering’

    Melania Supporting Her Husband In 2024

    Melania previously told Fox News that she supports her husband Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, saying that she is looking forward to “restoring hope for the future and leading America with love and strength” if she makes it to the White House once again in 2024.

    If she does have the “the privilege” to be First Lady for a second time, Melania plans to once again focus on children in her quest to ensure that they have the “support and resources they need to reach their full potential.”

    Back in September, Donald told NBC News that Melania would be on the campaign trail with him “pretty soon.”

    “She’s a private person, a great person, a very confident person and she loves our country very much,” he said at the time. “And honestly, I like to keep her away from it. It’s so nasty and so mean.”

    Melania was a truly incredible First Lady, and there are millions of Americanas who would love to see her back in the White House. What do you think about the speech that she gave today? Let us know in the comments section.

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  • Why Fed rate hikes take so long to affect the economy, and why that effect may last a decade or more

    Why Fed rate hikes take so long to affect the economy, and why that effect may last a decade or more

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    The U.S. economy continues to grow despite the 5.5% benchmark federal funds interest rate set by the Federal Reserve in 2023.

    The Fed’s leaders expect their interest rate decisions to eventually slow that growth.

    The increase in borrowing costs that stems from Fed decisions does not affect all consumers immediately. It typically affects people who need to take new loans — first-time homebuyers, for example. Other dynamics, such as the use of contracts in business, can slow the ripple of Fed decisions through an economy.

    “It might not all hit at once, but the longer rates stay elevated, the more you’re going to feel those effects,” said Sarah House, managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo.

    “Consumers did have additional savings that we wouldn’t have expected if they had continued to save at the same pre-Covid rate. And so that’s giving some more insulation in terms of their need to borrow,” said House. “That’s an example of why this cycle might be different in terms of when those lags hit, versus compared to prior cycles.”

    A 1% interest rate increase can reduce gross domestic product by 5% for 12 years after an unexpected hike, according to a research paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

    “It’s bad in the short term because we worry about unemployment, we worry about recessions,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, referring to the paper’s implications for central bank policymakers. “It’s bad in the long term because that’s where increases in your wages come from; we want to be more productive.”

    Some economists say that financial markets may be responding to Federal Reserve policy more quickly, if not instantaneously. “Policy tightening occurs with the announcement of policy tightening, not when the rate change actually happens,” said Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller in remarks July 13 at an event in New York.

    “We’ve seen this cycle where the stock market moved more quickly in some cases, more slowly in other cases,” said Roger Ferguson, former vice chair of the Federal Reserve. “So, you know, this question of variability comes into play, as in how long it’s going to take. We think it’s a long time, but sometimes it can be faster.”

    Watch the video above to see why the Fed’s interest rate hikes take time to affect the economy.

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  • Eye on America: NBA star Steph Curry gives back and an unlikely climate change activist

    Eye on America: NBA star Steph Curry gives back and an unlikely climate change activist

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    Eye on America: NBA star Steph Curry gives back and an unlikely climate change activist – CBS News


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    In California, we speak with NBA superstar Steph Curry and his wife Ayesha about their foundation, “Eat. Learn. Play.” which is giving millions of dollars to public schools. Then, in Washington, D.C., we meet a climate change activist who’s sharing her urgent message with her evangelical community. Watch these stories and more on “Eye on America” with host Michelle Miller.

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  • Hamas condemns US veto of UN Gaza ceasefire resolution

    Hamas condemns US veto of UN Gaza ceasefire resolution

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    Hamas denounced the United States for its decision on Friday to veto a resolution in the United Nations Security Council that would have called for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

    “We strongly condemn Washington’s use of veto against a draft resolution in the Security Council demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. We consider it an immoral and inhumane position,” Izzat al-Risheq, Hamas political bureau member, said in a statement.

    The resolution called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.” The U.S. was the sole country to veto the resolution, while 13 countries voted in favor of it and the United Kingdom abstained.

    With its veto, the U.S. effectively sided with Israel in its right to defend itself. Israel has also said that a ceasefire before Hamas is removed from power in the Gaza Strip would only lead to more conflict in the future. The current war began after Hamas and other factions attacked Israel on October 7, which resulted in an excursion into Gaza by Israel Defense Forces.

    “America’s obstruction of the issuance of a ceasefire resolution is a direct participation of the occupation in killing our people and committing more massacres and ethnic cleansing,” al-Risheq added in his statement.

    Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood on Friday speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Gaza, at UN headquarters in New York City. The U.S. vetoed a UN resolution that would have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
    Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images

    Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood explained his country’s stance before Friday’s vote.

    “Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution,” he said. “For that reason, while the United States strongly supports a durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire.”

    Newsweek contacted Israel’s Government Press Office on Friday night via email for comment.

    The international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch also condemned the U.S. veto.

    “The U.S. used its veto again to prevent the Security Council from making some of the calls the U.S. itself has been demanding of Israel & Palestinian armed groups, including compliance w/ int’l humanitarian law, protection of civilians & releasing all civilians held hostage,” Louis Charbonneau, the United Nations director at Human Rights Watch, wrote in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.

    Charbonneau added: “By continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover as it commits atrocities, including collectively punishing the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the U.S. risks complicity in war crimes.”

    The American Jewish Committee (AJC), however, praised the United States’ decision to not back the resolution. The advocacy group’s CEO, Ted Deutch, said in a statement that the AJC “is grateful to the U.S. administration for using its veto power to prevent the UN Security Council from adopting a harmful draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.”

    “We regret the suffering of Palestinian civilians and the loss of civilian Palestinian lives,” Deutch’s statement read in part. “But the responsibility for such suffering and loss lies with Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza who deliberately and callously hide and launch attacks among civilians, using them as human shields.”

    Update 12/08/23, 9:40 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include statements from Human Rights Watch and the American Jewish Committee.