Free Republic

Governor Kathy Hochul announced that a $2.3 billion tax-funded grant in redevelopment contracts for JFK International Airport has been awarded exclusively to minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE). MWBE stands for Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise. It’s a certification issued by the state that gives developmental benefits to businesses that are primarily owned and operated by a woman or a person who is at least 25% African American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American. If the business is publicly traded, the stock must also be at least 51% minority-owned. The move, which marks the largest participation of MWBE firms in any public-private partnership...

Regulators on Friday shut down a big community bank based in Chicago that has been known for its social activism but racked by financial troubles in recent months. It was the 114th U.S. bank to fail this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over ShoreBank, with $2.16 billion in assets and $1.54 billion in deposits. Urban Partnership Bank, a new institution comprised of several big Wall Street banks and a private foundation, agreed to assume ShoreBank's deposits and nearly all its assets... In an unusual move, the FDIC allowed some of ShoreBank's executives to continue running the restructured bank......

Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring liberal politicians, has come under scrutiny because of bailout funds that went to a bank in which her husband had owned stock and served on the bank board. Waters was a senior member of the congressional committee dealing with the financial crisis at the time that OneUnited Bank, one of the nation’s largest minority-owned institutions, received $12 million in bailout funds. Her husband, Sidney Williams, served on the bank board until early last year and held at least $500,000 in investments in the bank in 2007, the most recent year for...

http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~2713534,00.html Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Article Published: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - 8:28:22 PM PST 'Save Our License' may face state probe By SARA A. CARTER, STAFF WRITER The Secretary of State's Political Reform Division has ordered Save Our License, a group opposed to driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, to refile all its committee documents and submit all its campaign finance data. Meanwhile, a group representing Latino and church groups across the nation this week filed a formal complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, saying Save Our License willfully violated campaign finance laws. The state order and FPPC...