Blogs

Ernest Edgar Black, 57, stole his son’s Social Security benefits was sentenced today by United States District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. to 15 months confinement which included in a combination of prison, halfway house placement, and home confinement.

Florida Governor Rick Scott spent a week in Europe, though he wasn’t taking a vacation.  The purpose of his trip to Europe was to bring jobs to Florida.

For once critics were excited a governor was using taxpayer’s money to take a trip out of the country.  Even though taxpayers will foot the bill, if Governor Scott can bring jobs to Florida, the trip will be well worth the expense.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle, Warren Sapp filed a 59 page bankruptcy document last month.  Sapp helped propel the Bucs from a team with no hope of winning to a team of champions.  After thirteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL), nine of them with the Buccaneers and seven of them taking him to the Pro-Bowl, and earning one Super Bowl Championship, he retired from  playing the game in 2007.

The number of Chattanoogans  defaulting on their mortgages or going broke fell below the year-ago level as the economy improved early in 2012.  Although these are good signs, foreclosure notices in the first quarter were still up from the fourth quarter of 2011, according to data released by online services, Realty Trac.

Tennessee led the nation in the rate of personal bankruptcy filings in the first quarter of this year, too.

A new filing by HealthSouth Corp., according to Jefferson County officials, threatens to cost the county more than $11 million in instant revenues and millions more in expenses, both of which the bankrupt county can’t afford.

A West Virginia Woman, Diana Mey, won the largest judgment ever against an abusive debt collection – more than $10 million.

From her small-town home base in Wheeling, Mey went after a debt collection empire that hounds people nationwide and won.  “I don’t know that I’ll ever collect a dime, but if I can get their operation shut down, that would make me very happy.”  She still hasn’t received any money.

Bankrupt Jefferson County in Alabama is laying off more government workers.  Lay-off letters have been sent to 75 employees of Jefferson County, the home of Birmingham. The county filed America's biggest municipal bankruptcy last year.  The county already employs 700 fewer people than it did a year ago.

Unfortunately for county employees, according to County Manager Tony Petelos,   eighty more lay-offs are planned at the end of May.

In April, Representative Hansen Clarke discussed his plan to ease student loan debt with students from a Detroit classroom. 

H.R. 4170 would forgive student loan debt for those who have paid 10 percent of their discretionary income toward their loans for 10 years and would cap interest on federal student loans at the current rate of 3.4 percent.  Also, individuals who go into teaching, public service or practice medicine in  under served areas would have their debt forgiven after only five years.

The nation’s bankruptcy courts are facing a substantial decrease in the number of judges available even as personal and corporate filings remain high, according to The Wall Street Journal. In order to combat the judicial shortage, lawmakers established a temporary judgeship program to provide bankruptcy courts with additional judges. However, the program will end soon unless Congress votes to extend its lifespan, at an estimated cost of $16 million.

Pinnacle, a regional airline serving northwest Alabama, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of increasingly high debt. The company has been forced to admit that its business model, in which it provided regional and commuter service to the newly-merged United and Continental airlines, plus US Airways and Delta, had become “unsustainable.” In its bankruptcy filing, Pinnacle listed $1.42 billion in debt, compared to $1.54 billion in assets.

The airline will end its agreements with United/Continental and US Airways, but retain its relationship with Delta.