Actual finance blog

Floodwaters poured into the empty downtown of Australia’s third-largest city Wednesday after tearing a deadly path across the northeast, swamping neighborhoods in what could be Brisbane’s most devastating floods in a century.

The surging, muddy waters reached the tops of traffic lights in some parts of Brisbane, and the city’s mayor said at least 20,000 homes were in danger of being inundated.

At least 22 people have died and more than 40 are missing across Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland since drenching rains that began in November sent swollen rivers spilling over their banks, flooding an area larger than France and Germany combined. Brisbane, the state capital with a population of 2 million, is the latest city to face down the waters, and officials expect the death toll to rise.

On Wednesday, Brisbane residents who had spent two days preparing took cover on higher ground while others scrambled to move their prized possessions to the top floors of their homes. Some stacked furniture on their roofs.

The Brisbane River is expected to reach its highest point on Thursday. After days of bad news in which figures were constantly being revised, the Bureau of Meteorology late Wednesday delivered a small and rare positive forecast _ the floodwaters would crest about a foot (30 centimeters) lower than earlier thought.

If correct, the new forecast meant the waters would not reach the depth of 1974 floods that swept the city. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the news was welcome, but of little comfort.

“This is still a major event, the city is much bigger, much more populated and has many parts under flood that didn’t even exist in 1974,” she said. “We are still looking at an event which will cripple parts of our city.”

The dragged-out crisis escalated when a violent storm sent a 26-foot (eight meter), fast-moving torrent _ described as an “inland instant tsunami” _ crashing through the city of Toowoomba and smaller towns to the west of Brisbane on Monday. Twelve people were killed in that flash flood. Late Wednesday, Bligh said the number of missing had been revised down to 43.

“This is a truly dire set of circumstances,” Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.

The Brisbane River broke its banks on Tuesday and was continuing its rise Wednesday _ partly controlled by a huge dam upstream that has had its floodgates opened because it is brimming after weeks of rain across the state.

Water levels were expected to stay at peak levels until at least Saturday, but many people won’t be able to access their homes for several days beyond that, Bligh said.

The flooding has transfixed Australia and is shaping up to become the nation’s most expensive disaster, with an estimated price tag of at least $5 billion. The relentless waters have shut down Queensland state’s crucial coal industry and ruined crops across vast swaths of farmland.

Brisbane’s office buildings stood empty Wednesday with the normally bustling central business district transformed into a watery ghost town. Most roads around the city were closed, and people moved about in kayaks, rowboats and even on surfboards. One of the city’s sports stadiums, which hosts international rugby games, was flooded with muddy, chest-deep water.

Boats torn from their moorings floated down the rising river along with massive amounts of debris. A popular waterside restaurant’s pontoon was swept away by the current and floated downstream installment payday loans. Officials said they would probably have to sink a barge that serves as an entertainment venue, to stop it from breaking free and becoming a floating torpedo.

Officials opened three more evacuation centers on Wednesday, and Newman said there was now room for 16,000 people to take shelter. Officials have urged people to get to higher ground and keep off the streets unless absolutely necessary.

Energex, the city’s main power company, said it would switch off electricity to some parts of the city starting Wednesday as a precaution against electrocution. Almost 70,000 homes were without power across Queensland by Wednesday afternoon, Bligh said.

“I know that this is going to be very difficult for people,” Bligh said. “Can I just stress: Electricity and water do not mix. We would have catastrophic situations if we didn’t shut down power.”

Darren Marchant spent all day moving furniture and other household goods to the top floor of his home, near the river in the low-lying Brisbane suburb of Yeronga, which is expected to be inundated. He and two neighbors watched in awe as dozens of expensive boats and pontoons drifted past.

“We were watching all kinds of debris floating down the river _ one of the (neighbor’s) pontoons just floated off,” he said Wednesday. “It was amazing.”

For weeks, the flooding had been a slow-motion disaster, devastating wide swaths of farmland and small towns. On Monday, the crisis took a sudden, violent turn, with a cloudburst sending a raging torrent down the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane. Houses were washed from their foundations and cars tossed about like bath toys in what Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson described as “an inland instant tsunami.”

Hundreds had to be rescued by helicopter Tuesday and emergency vehicles were moving into the worst-hit parts of the valley on Wednesday. Bligh warned that the death toll would likely rise as rescue officials gained access to the devastated areas.

In the Lockyer Valley town of Grantham, entire houses that had been swept off their foundations sat in sodden heaps of jumbled debris. Waters that had submerged a railway bridge receded, exposing an avalanche of twisted wreckage caught in its foundation: furniture, a “for sale” sign, a child’s swing set, even a dead cow.

The city of Ipswich, home to about 15,000 people, was swamped Wednesday by the water heading Brisbane’s way. By the afternoon, 3,000 properties had been inundated, and 1,100 people had fled to evacuation centers, Mayor Paul Pisasale said. Video from the scene showed horses swimming through the brown waters, pausing to rest their heads on the roof of a house _ the only dry spot they could reach.

Steph Stewardson, a graphic designer, said there was an exodus from Brisbane’s downtown around lunchtime Tuesday with people streaming out of skyscrapers as the river broke its banks. Stewardson, 40, hopped in her car and crossed the swollen river to collect her dog, Boo, from daycare while waters started covering the boardwalk stretching along its banks.

Stewardson took shelter in her house and plans to stay there _ for now.

“I’m about 800 meters (half a mile) from the river on a hill, so I think it’s going to be OK,” she told The Associated Press.

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Stocks finished higher Wednesday as the market continued on pace for its best December in nearly twenty years.

The Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index - the market measure used by most professional investors - has gained 6.7 percent this month. If it closes Friday at this level or higher, it will be the best December return for the index since 1991.

Trading continued to be thin ahead of the New Year’s holiday. In the absence of any fresh economic data or major corporate news, investors were attracted to the government’s latest bond auction. Treasurys rallied and stocks also drew strength from the successful sale. Traders’ moods also appear to be buoyed by the mostly positive economic news of recent weeks.

Strong corporate profits have helped push stocks higher for much of 2010.

“The primary theme of 2010 was that corporate profits were much better than expected,” said Philip Dow, director of equity strategy at RBC Wealth Management in Minneapolis. “As we enter into 2011, my hope and belief is that we move from recovery to expansion and a self-sustaining economy.”

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed 9.84 points higher, or 0.1 percent, to 11,585.38. The S&P 500 rose 1.27, or 0.1 percent, to 1,259.78. The technology-focused Nasdaq gained 4.05, or nearly 0.2 percent, to 2,666.93.

Stocks rose across the market, with eight of the 10 industry groups in the S&P index posting gains.

Stock trading volumes on Wall Street are expected to be light throughout this week between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Many investors have already closed their books for the year and are on vacation until January. Trading volume totaled just 2.3 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange, where seven shares rose for every three that fell low fee cash advance.

Traders have been encouraged that Americans took out their wallets to shop during the holiday season, after two years of holding back. However, RBC’s Dow warns that America cannot depend on consumers alone to pull it out of the trough this time.

“People probably got bored of not spending and it was time to celebrate a little, but we shouldn’t be surprised if the consumer retrenches again,” said Dow.

A disappointing report on consumer confidence released Tuesday showed that while holiday spending surged, consumers are still fretting about the economy and high unemployment.

In corporate news Wednesday, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. rose 7 percent to finish at $47.62 after reports that a private-equity firm might be interested in acquiring the discount club. The firm, Leonard Green & Partners, recently reached deals to buy other retailers including fabric and crafts chain Jo-Ann Stores Inc., and is partnering with TPG Capital to buy preppy clothier J. Crew Group Inc.

The dollar fell 0.7 percent against an index of six heavily traded currencies.

Looking ahead to Thursday, investors will check for signs of how the housing market is performing when November data on pending home sales will be released. In October, there was a 10 percent increase in new contracts signed on falling home prices and low mortgage rates.

Also on Thursday, the Labor Department’s report on weekly unemployment claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

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The country’s biggest newspaper publishers say advertising trends continue to improve in the fourth quarter _ even if they are still not ready to predict when or if traditional print revenue will start growing again.

Gannett Co., publisher of USA Today and other dailies, and McClatchy Co., which owns The Sacramento Bee and The Miami Herald, said Wednesday that smaller print declines and cost cutting will help results in the last three months of 2010.

Newspapers are struggling to arrest a nearly four-year slide in ad revenue as more advertisers turn to online destinations like Google and Facebook. Print circulation is dropping as well as readers turn to the Web for news.

With the recession behind them, publishers are reporting smaller declines in print revenue. But they haven’t seen the kind of rebound that would make up for steep declines last year.

Gannett’s TV stations have benefited as auto makers and other advertisers ramp up commercial spending coming out of the recession. Political campaigns also spent big money on TV time during the midterm elections. And the company’s newspapers have seen print advertising declines ease.

Gannett Chief Operating Officer Gracia Martore said the company is “comfortable” that its fourth-quarter profit will be at the high end of expectations.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters estimate earnings for the final three months of the year at between 72 cents and 80 cents per share.

Gannett shares rose 60 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $15.92 in midday trading Wednesday.

McClatchy, which does not own broadcast stations, said ad revenue in the first two months of the quarter slipped 5.8 percent compared with the same two months of last year. That’s an improvement over the previous quarter, when McClatchy’s ad revenue was down 6.4 percent from the previous year.

Though McClatchy did not provide a specific earnings or revenue forecast for the full quarter, advertising trends from the first couple of months were enough to push the company’s stock up 35 cents, or 9.9 percent, to $3.90 in midday trading.

The latest updates from Gannett and McClatchy were roughly in line with new figures from The New York Times Co.

The owner of the Boston Globe, the International Herald-Tribune and a group of smaller dailies along with its namesake newspaper said Tuesday that a drop in expenses should boost its fourth-quarter profit. Like its fellow publishers, the Times Co. expects print advertising revenue will show a smaller decline than the previous quarter.

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California, Texas, Florida and New York, the four biggest states, all added jobs last month for the first time since May as the U.S. economic recovery stoked demand for labor.

California, the largest state, said yesterday that non-farm jobs rose by 39,000, the most since May 2006; Texas, the second- biggest, added 47,900 and Florida, with the fourth-largest population, gained 6,900. New York, the third-biggest state, said Nov. 18 it added 40,500 private-sector jobs, the most since April 2005.

The gains could help states shrink budget deficits that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says will likely total $140 billion in fiscal 2012, as new jobholders boost income- and sales-tax collections. States’ tax revenue grew about 6 percent in the three months that ended Sept. 30, the third consecutive increase, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.

“The outlook for the state and local sector has improved over the last several months, as revenues have picked up or at least stabilized in most states,” Goldman’s Alec Phillips said in a note to clients yesterday.

National employment rose in October for the first time in five months, the Labor Department said Nov. 5. Payrolls climbed 151,000, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Gross domestic product expanded 2 percent in the third quarter, topping the 1.7 percent growth of the second period. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict 2.4 percent expansion for the fourth quarter.

National Pick-Up

“It is mildly encouraging that we are seeing some kinds of labor-market improvements in certain parts of the country,” said Paul Dales, U.S. economist for Capital Economics Ltd. in Toronto. “We have seen that kind of pick-up in the national economy as well.”

The U.S. jobless rate was unchanged at 9.6 percent in October even with the expansion of payrolls. That was the case for the four biggest states: California’s held at 12.4 percent, Texas’s at 8.1 percent, Florida’s at 11.9 percent and New York’s at 8.3 percent.

That may indicate that improving economic conditions prompted more people to look for jobs, said Julia Thornton Snider, an economist at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California Los Angeles.

“It might mean young people are looking for their first jobs or people who had been discouraged are now hearing things are getting better and they are starting to look again,” she said in a telephone interview.

Reversal of Declines

The October job gains in New York, California and Florida came after declines in September, a month when Texas gained 3,700 jobs.

The jobless rate in California, with the world’s eighth- largest economy, has been 12 percent or more for the past 15 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The state, home to Silicon Valley computer makers Apple Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., had the nation’s third-highest unemployment rate in September, trailing only Nevada’s 14.4 percent, and Michigan, at 13 percent, according to U.S. Labor Department figures.

“October’s gain of 39,000 jobs marks the first solid month of recovery,” said Stephen Levy, director and senior economist at the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto. “If these gains are confirmed in the following months, California will have finally turned the corner.”

Texas Low for the Year

Texas gained 172,800 non-farm jobs in the last year, the state’s labor department said yesterday. The 8.1 percent October unemployment rate was the lowest of 2010, it said.

“Every major industry added jobs in October, with notable increases in construction employment,” Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken said in a news release.

Florida added 35,700 jobs in the last 12 months, the state said, the largest year-over-year growth since May 2007.

“We continue to see positive signs of stabilization and growth,” Cynthia R. Lorenzo, director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, said in a statement. “Florida posted the largest decrease in the country last week in the number of people who filed for first-time unemployment benefits.”

New York state said Nov. 18 that its largest job gains over the past year were in professional and business services, with an increase of 31,700 positions, and educational and health services with 25,300.

City Gains

The gains were helped by an increase in private employment in New York City, the nation’s most-populous, which added 41,900 jobs in October, more than twice the 10-year average monthly gain. Jobs in professional and business services, such as legal, accounting and advertising, increased by 14,600.

“An important aspect of these jobs is that they tend to be well paying,” Kevin Jack, an economist at the state’s labor department, said in an interview.

States won’t return to full fiscal health anytime soon at the current rate of employment growth, said Nicholas Johnson, director of the State Fiscal Project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington.

“It’s great that it’s growing, but it’s growing slowly,” Johnson said. “We need rapid jobs growth to make up for all the lost jobs and the lost time.”

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Stocks are ending mixed after four days of declines brought on by talks over bailing out Ireland.

Retail stocks are among the day’s biggest gainers. Shares of Target Corp. are up 3.8 percent after the Minneapolis-retailer reported earnings that beat analysts’ expectations. Macy’s, JC Penny Co. and Costco all rose by 2 percent or more.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 16, or 0.1 percent, to close at 11,008.

The S&P 500 is up less than 1 point to 1,179. The Nasdaq composite is up 6, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,476.

Two shares rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where floor volume came to 954 million shares.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Stock markets steadied themselves Wednesday after four days of declines as Ireland discussed a bailout with the European Union and Britain pledged support to help the struggling country.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1 point in afternoon trading, a day after the index posted its biggest loss since Aug. 11. Broader indexes rose slightly as energy and materials stocks rebounded and commodity prices edged higher.

A tame inflation report and another weak reading on the housing market did little to draw attention back to the U.S. economy. Shares of homebuilders including D.R. Horton Inc. and PulteGroup Inc. fell about 1 percent after the disappointing housing report came out.

Stock markets have been rattled around the world over the past week out of fear that Ireland will become the latest European country to need a bailout. Greece was bailed out in May after it became unable to contain runaway spending and lost the confidence of investors. Ireland is now struggling after a collapse in its housing market forced the country to take over three large banks payday loans.

“They’re going to backstop (Ireland) one way or another,” said Larry Rosenthal, president of Financial Planning Services in Manassas, Va.

Britain, which is not part of the 16-nation bloc that uses the euro, on Wednesday offered to provide additional support to Ireland beyond any help it gets from the European Union or the International Monetary Fund. That helped steady markets in Europe.

British banks would be among the hardest hit by an Irish default because they are among the largest holders of Irish bonds. Shares of HSBC and Barclay’s edged higher Wednesday.

Investors are concerned that a failure in Ireland could be just another step in a string of bailouts needed to help governments throughout Europe. Traders are also worried about big government debts in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

The euro rose slightly against the dollar Wednesday, but remains near its lowest level since late September.

The Dow fell 1.02, or less than 0.1 percent, to 11,022.48 in afternoon trading.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.72, or 0.2 percent, to 1,181.06. The Nasdaq composite index rose 13.62, or 0.6 percent, to 2,483.46.

Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent after falling earlier in the day. Germany’s DAX gained 0.6 percent, while France’s CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent.

Bond prices traded in a tight range. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged at 2.85 percent compared with late Tuesday. Its yield is used as a benchmark for interest rates on mortgages and other consumer and corporate loans.

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Arch Coal Inc., the nation’s second-largest coal producer, has reportedly “expressed an interest” in rival Massey Energy Inc., the owner of the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia where 29 workers died in an April blast.

The New York Times reported Creve Coeur-based Arch as a potential suitor for Massey.

The newspaper, citing an unnamed source, said Massey has already received an offer from Alpha Natural Resources. Buyout rumors have been swirling around Massey for weeks, helping drive up the company’s stock price.

Massey CEO Don L. Blankenship on Wednesday said at an investor conference that any takover bids will be “fully vetted” by the company’s board.

Kim Link, an Arch Coal spokewoman, said the company “does not comment on M&A speculation.”

Beside Arch, steel giant ArcelorMittal is also said to have interest, according to the Times. Other reports indicate Coal India Ltd. is considering purchasing a mine from West Virginia-based Massey.

 

 

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Leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies converged on Japan on Saturday for an annual summit to push for free trade, hoping for a show of unity after rancor over currencies soured the Group of 20 meeting a day before.

President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum were expected to agree to take steps toward a Pacific-wide free trade zone.

Obama’s failure to conclude a free trade agreement this week with South Korea, and the G-20’s refusal to go along with the U.S. stance of formally criticizing China’s controls on its currency highlighted reduced U.S. influence in the region _ at least on economic issues.

But in broader issues of diplomacy, Japan and others in the region are looking to the U.S. for a counterweight to China’s increasingly aggressive stance on many issues.

Most notably, relations between Japan and China are strained by conflicting territorial claims over islands in the East China Sea. That dispute flared up as the two sides squabbled over an incident in which a Chinese trawler collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels near disputed islands east of Taiwan.

With the mood still frosty, it remained unclear if Hu would meet with host Prime Minister Naoto Kan during his visit.

“If you talk to people in this region, they would tell you they are making very, very strong requests from this part of the world asking the U.S. to be more deeply involved,” said Ding Xueliang, a China expert at Hong Kong’s University of Science and Technology.

Tokyo’s ties with Moscow also are strained after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited an island off the northern coast of Japan that both nations claim. Kan was expected to meet with Medvedev later Saturday.

Obama, on the last stop of a four-nation Asian tour, vowed to deepen U.S. engagement in the region.

“America is leading again in Asia,” he said at a business conference on APEC’s sidelines, reaffirming his government’s desire to double U.S. exports in the next five years. “In this region, the United States sees a huge opportunity to increase our exports in some of the fastest-growing markets in the world.”

Kan, meanwhile, vowed to open Japan’s sluggish economy further for the sake of future growth, despite protests from farmers who fear the loss of subsidies and protective tariffs.

“We have to grow with the fast developing economies of the Asia-Pacific,” Kan told the business conference.

As a precaution against protests from farmers and other disruptions, some 21,000 police were standing guard near the summit venue in Yokohama, which 150 years ago was one of the first Japanese ports opened to foreign trade _ under pressure from American warships cash advance no fax.

The fractious G-20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, ended with an agreement to refrain from “competitive devaluations” but no consensus on a U.S. push to get China to let its currency rise.

The ill-will from that meeting threatened to carry over to the APEC talks, though currencies are not on the official agenda. About half the leaders from the G-20 meeting are attending APEC, which represents more than half the world’s GDP.

Still, the weekend summit in Yokohama is likely to be less contentious thanks to APEC’s informal nature and the widespread consensus among all attending about the need for freer trade.

“There is no pressure to be aggressive because it’s nonbinding,” said Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Antonio Rodriguez. “That’s the beauty of APEC.”

Washington accuses Beijing of deliberately keeping its currency, the yuan, weak to gain a trade advantage. That stance has been undermined, however, by the U.S. policy of printing money to boost the sluggish American economy, which is weakening the dollar and provoking complaints from Brazil, Germany and China.

Hong Kong’s chief executive, Donald Tsang, said Friday he fears the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision last week to buy up $600 billion in U.S. debt last week, keeping interest rates low and the dollar weak, could flood emerging markets with cash seeking higher returns.

“International investors should tighten their seat belts and get prepared for unprecedented turbulence in currency markets, bond markets, stock markets and the property market,” Tsang told a business conference on APEC’s sidelines.

APEC, founded in 1989 to promote regional integration, aims to move toward creating a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, or FTAAP, including all its 21 economies and more than half of all world business.

Such a trading bloc might help harmonize various smaller trade, but it would not be forged by APEC itself, which is not a negotiating body.

Such a goal would likely be built from existing free trade agreements, such as the U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. It now includes only four small economies _ Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore _ but the U.S., Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Peru are in talks to join them.

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Robo-signing is just the tip of the iceberg.

The revelation that loan servicers were rapidly signing foreclosure documents without even reading them has uncovered a morass of serious paperwork problems.

These issues could potentially prevent some foreclosure cases from proceeding and allow delinquent borrowers to stay in their homes indefinitely or wrangle settlements from their servicers.

"The whole robo-signing scandal has caused many judges to mistrust what servicers are saying in foreclosure petitions," said Patricia McCoy, a law professor at the University of Connecticut, who co-authored "The Subprime Virus." "Many judges will scrutinize filings more closely."

Several major banks have halted their foreclosure proceedings while they review their process and paperwork. However, several, including Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), are ready to continue the cases, saying they are confident that their methods are sound.

But servicers could still hit some big paperwork potholes in answering what seems like the simplest of questions: Who owns the loan and who has the right to foreclose?

First, a quick primer.

The debt taken out to buy a house is called a note, which is similar to an IOU. The mortgage pledges the property as collateral to pay off that debt.

When mortgages are bundled together into securities that are sold to investors, the notes are then transferred to a trust. The investors in that trust become the owners of the note and the holders of the mortgage.

Now for the problems.

The note: One of the most important documents in this foreclosure fiasco is the note, which gives investors the right to take action against delinquent borrowers.

The problem is that many servicers don’t know where that piece of paper is. Or, they didn’t transfer it properly to the trust that holds the securitized mortgages.

This could prove to be a possibly fatal problem for financial institutions.

Until now, many courts were lax about requiring servicers and investors to produce the actual note. Judges allowed the financial institutions to simply provide affidavits saying the investors owned the note.

Now that the robo-signing scandal has surfaced, more judges want to see the note.

In those cases, "the banks will have a big problem," McCoy said. "I don’t see how the foreclosure can go forward."

The American Securitization Forum, an industry group, said that the standard industry methods of transferring ownership of mortgage loans to securitization trusts are sufficient and appropriate.

"These concerns are without merit and our membership is confident that these methods of transfer are sound and based on a well-established body of law governing a multi-trillion dollar secondary mortgage market," said Tom Deutsch, the forum’s executive director.

The mortgage: The mortgage industry is slamming into a digital wall.

State law requires that mortgages be recorded in county offices so homeowners and the general public can see that there is a debt on the property.

But as mortgage securitizations began to boom in the 1990s, servicers sought to digitize and centralize the paperwork surrounding the bundling and selling of the loans. So they created the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, known as MERS, to serve as a repository to show both the owner of the note and the home that serves as its collateral.

About 60% of the nation’s residential mortgages are now recorded in MERS’ name, according to Christopher Peterson, a law professor at the University of Utah who wrote a recent paper on the issue.

When a homeowner falls behind on payments, the company often brings the foreclosure suit to court on behalf of the servicer and the investors who own the debt.

This has become a problem because some judges are questioning MERS’ right to represent the owners of the note.

"An increasing number of courts have begun taking a dim view of MERS-recorded mortgages and deeds of trust," wrote Peterson in his recent paper.

If judges don’t recognize MERS’ right to bring the foreclosure suit, they could throw out the case.

But this problem can be rectified. The trustee can bring suit on behalf of the investors, McCoy said, though this involves more time, paperwork and filing fees.

MERS said it has prevailed in previous legal challenges to its authority.

"The MERS process of tracking mortgages and holding title provides clarity, transparency and efficiency to the housing finance system," said R.K. Arnold, the company’s chief executive. 

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Hillsborough Area Regional Transit has received the 2010 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award from the American Public Transportation Association. The award is based on ridership growth, customer service, safety, financial management and community involvement.

HART won among transit agencies with from 4 to 20 million annual passenger trips. HART is in middle of that pack, with nearly 12.3 million riders in fiscal 2010, which concluded Sept. 30. The ridership total is a 5.4 percent increase over fiscal 2009. HART also provided another 581,000 trips on streetcars and paratransit vans.

“This is a motivator as we lead the way in transportation improvements,” HART Chief Executive Officer David Armijo said at a morning ceremony outside the agency’s Ybor City offices and streetcar barn Oct. 15. Armijo, who joined HART in 2007, credited the agency’s 761 employees in helping win the award.

The APTA award couldn’t arrive at a better time for the 31-year-old transit agency. Early voting begins Monday for the Nov. 2 referendum that, if approved, would provide a dedicated sales tax to double the size of HART’s bus fleet and build a light-rail system.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe predicted “the referendum will pass,” which will bring even more attention to HART.

“We are going to have to be sure all the things that we do resonate with excellence,” Sharpe said. The naysayers are out there. We will show them how great HART is and can be.”

APTA President William Millar said he also expects the Hillsborough referendum will pass because 70 percent of transit referendums nationwide have been approved since 2000.

“After all these years Tampa will be catching up with the rest of the country and leading them very soon,” Millar said.

“If you want good things to happen, you have to pay for them,” Millar said. “Voters are willing to support things of quality, and you have quality here in HART.”

A total of 81 transit agencies nationwide are in the 4 to 20 million annual rider category. An APTA spokeswoman said the organization does not reveal how many applied for award.

Last year, Intercity Transit of Olympia, Wash., won the award for mid-sized transit agencies. Other previous winners in the category have included Richmond, Va., and Lansing, Mich.

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The Washington Business Journal is pleased to announce the following honorees in its 2010 Women Who Mean Business Awards:

• Mary Abbajay, Principal and co-founder, Careerstone Group, LLC
• Laurie Battaglia, Executive VP and Managing Director, CQ-Roll Call Group
• Cynthia Castillo, President & CEO, CSSI, Inc
• Linda Chatman Thomsen, Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
• Frances Crespo, Owner, The Full Cup
• Charlene Dukes, President, Prince George’s Community College
• Heather Burnett Gold, Senior VPof External Affairs, XO Communications
• Ellen Kassoff Gray, Co-owner, Equinox
• Ludy Green, President and Founder, Second Chance Employment Services
• Susan Haller, Vice President of Litigation, Sprint Nextel Corp.
• Lisa Hook , CEO, Neustar, Inc.
• Holly Jones, Senior VP, Corporate Solutions, Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
• Lisa Kazor, President, CEO and Acting COO, of Savantage Solutions
• Kathy Korman Frey, Founder of Hot Mommas Project and Vision Forward, LLC
• Debra Lacy, Founder, President and CEO of Lacy, Ltd.
• Mary Naylor, CEO of VIP Desk, Inc.
• Denise Pope, Mid-Atlantic market executive of Capital One Bank
• Elizabeth Price, President of the NoMa Business Improvement District.
• Sherry Rhodes, VP & Secretary; Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, Noblis, Inc.
• Michele A. Roberts, Partner, Akin Gump Strass Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
• Argelia Rodriguez, D.C. College Access Program, President & CEO
• Kimberly Russo, COO, George Washington University Hospital
• Danielle Saunders, President and founder, Accelligence LLC.
• Kitty Saylor, CEO, Rehau North America
• Rebecca Schulte, Senior VP & GM, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic

Honored individuals will be profiled in the Nov. 19-25 print edition of the Washington Business Journal.

Washington Business Journal, along with sponsors McGuire Woods, SAP, and SunTrust Bank, will recognize the honorees at an evening awards program to be held Nov. 18 at the Mandarin Oriental in D.C.

More information.

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