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With strong demand for residential design in every region across the country, homeowners investment in their kitchens and bathrooms remains a primary focus. Kitchens specifically have reinforced their position as the center of the home with design considerations that accommodate multiple activities. These are among the major findings from the AIA’s Home Design Trends Survey for the fourth quarter of 2015, which focused on kitchen and bath design trends.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse applauded the House’s passage today of the Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act, which extends key foreclosure protection to those who serve. Whitehouse authored the legislation, which was unanimously approved by the Senate in December. The bill now awaits the President’s signature to become law.

Scores of individuals, businesses, organizations, think tanks, and government entities, including 29 states, are siding with Pacific Legal Foundation as “friends of the court” in PLF’s high-profile Supreme Court case for property owners’ rights, United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc. As of today — a week after the deadline for filing as amicus curiae in PLF’s support — the count of briefs filed is 16. All of them urge the court to rule for PLF’s clients and establish the nationwide access-to-justice rule that PLF seeks

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released her letter to President Obama asking that he “make a historic contribution to home rule by delegating to the [District of Columbia] mayor authority to grant clemency for criminal offenses against D.C.” This January, Norton introduced a bill that would give D.C. exclusive authority, like that of states, to grant clemency for criminal convictions under its laws. However, to hasten home-rule clemency, she is using the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opinion that the President has authority to grant clemency in all D.C. criminal cases and exclusive authority for D.C. felonies

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will play key roles in a variety of projects recently funded by the Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). NREL's innovative approaches have received five awards across three different ARPA-E programs for advancing transformational technologies to generate, store, and use energy more efficiently, at lower costs and with reduced emissions.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it is making more than $100 million in grants available to help eliminate dangerous lead-based paint hazards from the homes of lower income families. These grants are intended to protect young children from lead poisoning and provide an opportunity for states and local communities to establish programs to control health and safety hazards by assessing and remediating lead-based paint and other housing related health hazards

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced nearly $14 million in grants to 32 states, commonwealths and territories for projects to suppo

United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that the former director of the Morgan City Housing Authority and two former employees were arraigned today on charges related to theft of half a million dollars

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today at the third Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) hearing examining the Flint lead-in-water crisis got Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to admit that the Flint Water Task Force, which he created last October, has already settled the question of who was responsible for the Flint water crisis: the state of Michigan, through its Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). Norton has paid special attention to Flint, given the District of Columbia’s own lead-in-water crisis during the early 2000s

Omron Automotive Electronics Co. Ltd has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $4.55 million criminal fine for conspiring to rig bids on power window switches installed in Honda Civics sold to U.S. consumers, the Department of Justice today announced

Hybrid materials developed at Berkeley Lab could lead to cheaper ways to reduce power plant greenhouse gas emissions WASHINGTON, DC – (RealEstateRama) — A new,...

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy will recognize organizations from around the country at the Climate Leadership Awards for their leadership and innovation in helping fight climate change. Winners are honored for managing and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in internal operations and throughout the supply chain, as well as integrating climate resilience into their operating strategies. This is the fifth year of the annual Climate Leadership Awards, a partnership between the EPA’s Center for Corporate Climate Leadership, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2Es) and The Climate Registry (TCR)

the President issued an executive order imposing robust new sanctions on North Korea. This E.O. is part of our response to North Korea’s January 6 nuclear test and February 7 launch using ballistic missile technology, and it enables U.S. implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2270 and the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016.

Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, David A. Montoya, Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Frederick W. Gibson, Acting Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced the settlement of claims against Continental Mortgage Bankers d/b/a Financial Equities and its president, Walter Stashin, in United States v. Rainy Day Holdings, LLC. et al., Civil Action No. CV-15-5576. The case is pending in federal court in Central Islip before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced a settlement agreement with Baltimore County, Maryland to expand affordable housing in higher opportunity areas throughout the County. The settlement will serve as a catalyst to promote housing mobility and to assist the County and its surrounding areas in developing comprehensive affordable housing planning and strategies that address residential segregation

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for February 2016

Protecting the federal taxpayers from those who submit false or fraudulent claims on the federal fisc is a crucial function of the Department of Justice and that function includes working to protect the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  This work is just one aspect of the department’s broader efforts to combat the type of financial fraud that recently drove the American economy to the brink.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) made the following statement regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s recent transfer of over $180 million to the Housing Trust Fund

The Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, to halt a telemarketing campaign that allegedly resulted in over a million illegal phone calls to consumers who had placed their phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry, the Department of Justice announced today.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today at the second Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) hearing examining the Flint lead-in-water crisis said that local, state, and federal officials failed to act on early warning signs, not unlike what happened with the District of Columbia’s lead-in-water crisis during the early 2000s.