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The Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop in Washington, DC, on June 21, 2016, to examine competition and consumer protection issues raised by consumers’ growing use of rooftop solar panels to generate their own electric power.

Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) highlighted advanced manufacturing work in the state of Washington, demonstrating how the nation can lead worldwide in advanced manufacturing

The Justice Department, along with federal and state partners, announced today a $5.06 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs related to Goldman’s conduct in the packaging, securitization, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) between 2005 and 2007. The resolution announced today requires Goldman to pay $2.385 billion in a civil penalty under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) and also requires the bank to provide $1.8 billion in other relief, including relief to underwater homeowners, distressed borrowers and affected communities, in the form of loan forgiveness and financing for affordable housing.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro today named Donna Batch to serve as HUD’s Northwest Regional Administrator for a four-state region that includes Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.  Batch currently serves as HUD’s Acting Regional Administrator in that region.

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that documents the dramatic growth of nonbank mortgage servicers and details the need for stronger regulatory oversight of the industry. GAO produced the report in response to a request from Cummings and Warren

In an effort to recognize foundations that work to improve neighborhoods and the lives of the people who live in them, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Council on Foundations announced the 2016 winners of the HUD Secretary's Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships.

Wells Fargo Bank Admits That It Certified that Loans Were Eligible for FHA Mortgage Insurance When They Were Not, and That It Did Not Disclose Thousands of Faulty Mortgage Loans to HUD

Defendants Allegedly Participated in and Ordered the Illegal Discharge of Bilge Wastes Over the Course of Several Years. The owner and captain of the commercial F/V Native Sun, were indicted Thursday for conspiracy, as well as violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).

The office Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the most recent statistics, February 2016, on the number of District of Columbia residents employed and D.C. small businesses contracted at federal construction projects in the city resulting from Norton’s legislative work, which show some improvement.  In addition, as part of her oversight efforts to ensure her congressional economic development bills and committee work yield opportunities for D.C. residents and small businesses, Norton will host a roundtable on federal construction projects on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at 6:00 p.m., in 2253 Rayburn House Office Building.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) today announced they are co-hosting an annual educational conference from June 13-16, 2016 in San Antonio to address today's pressing environmental health issues.The State of Big Ideas: Moving Environmental Health Outside the Box will include sessions on emerging issues such as Zika virus, preserving affordable housing through healthy home repairs, marijuana, climate change, the Flint, Michigan water crisis and more.

Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) called for strengthening programs at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) critical to informing decisions, ensuring public safety and monitoring natural hazards such as volcanoes, landslides and earthquakes that cause tsunamis. The state of Washington is especially prone to many of these natural disasters.

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 474 checks totaling more than $33,000 to consumers who lost money to a scheme that charged homeowners an up-front fee for mortgage relief services they promised but never provided.

A compliance officer with the Union City Community Development Agency (UCCDA) today admitted that he manipulated the contractor selection process for federally funded residential rehabilitation and sidewalk replacement projects, causing losses of $40,000 to $95,000, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Northwest Region completed 22 environmental compliance and enforcement actions in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington from October 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed adding the Dorado Groundwater Contamination Site in the municipality of Dorado, Puerto Rico to its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. Sampling at the site has found chemical contamination that is impacting wells used to supply drinking water to the local communities. Exposure to the solvents, which include tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene, can have serious health impacts including, damage to the liver and increase the risk of cancer

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that two Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees illegally interfered with a Congressional investigation and has recommended sanctions

The House of Representatives has filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Texas opposing the Obama administration's executive overreach. The brief, authorized by a vote of the full House, sets forth why only Congress—not the executive branch—is empowered to write the nation’s immigration laws.

A finely tuned carbon nanotube thin film has the potential to act as a thermoelectric power generator that captures and uses waste heat, according to researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

The Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, and the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz, this morning signed an amendment to an existing agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure that will further enhance cooperation between the two countries.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced that nearly $174 million will soon be made available through first-ever allocations of the National Housing Trust Fund. HUD Secretary Julián Castro made announcement to a gathering of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition meeting in Washington. Read more about the National Housing Trust Fund.