Saturday, November 8, 2008

HOUSING CRISIS

After announcing an agreement yesterday with six mortgage servicing companies, Gov. Martin O'Malley strongly encouraged others doing business in Maryland to provide similar help to homeowners before they lose their properties.

If those companies do not join forces with the state in a couple of weeks, "I will share with you who the worst ones and the most intransigent and the most irresponsible ones have been," O'Malley (D) said at a news conference.

The six companies -- HSCB, Ocwen, GMAC ResCap, Litton Loan Servicing, AmeriNational Community Services and Citi -- service 23 percent of home loans in Maryland.

They have agreed to a "cooling-off period" with homeowners who face foreclosure. During that time, foreclosure actions and the accrual of fees and penalties will be halted for 60 days.

-- John Wagner

Maryland State Police have fired a medevac pilot for declining to cooperate with an internal safety investigation. Pete Peterson had said days before a fatal crash in September that Maryland's fleet was not operated safely.

State police spokesman Greg Shipley said Peterson was fired yesterday because he would not cooperate in the investigation and because of "other issues" he declined to specify. Shipley said Peterson declined to give officials the maintenance records he said could prove there were dangers across the 12-helicopter fleet.

-- Associated Press