Yearly Archives: 2016

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied the request of the American Farm Bureau Federation and its allies to take up their case challenging the legality of the Chesapeake Bay clean-up plan known as the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. That decision means that the ruling of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will stand. That unanimous ruling found that EPA did not exceed its authority and that the efforts to restore local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay are entirely legal.

The National Association of Real Estate Editors has extended the deadline to enter NAREE's 66th Annual Journalism Competition to March 7, 2016. Enter on www.NAREE.org by the new, extended deadline of 11:59 pm, March 7 for work published or aired in 2015.

John T. Mechem, spokesman for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), issued the following statement today in response to letters sent today by the National Legal and Policy Center

Life Reimagined, a non-profit subsidiary of AARP, today announced a new collaboration with Dr. Phil McGraw, marking the first time Dr. Phil’s approach to helping people reflect, evaluate priorities and take action to live their best lives, is available in a customized, interactive digital platform

Retail prescription prices have increased six times faster than the general inflation rate of 1.5%, according to a new AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) report out today. The average annual cost of prescriptions reached new heights of more than $11,000 which comes out to about 75% of the average annual Social Security benefit.

Following the highest average year for the index in nearly a decade1, pending home sales declined to begin 2016 but remained slightly higher than a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Only the South saw an uptick in contract activity in January.

Google and IEEE announced today that Belgium's Red Electrical Devils, a team from CE+T Power, has won the Little Box Challenge, a competition to invent a much smaller inverter for interconnecting solar power systems to the power grid. The success earned the team a $1 million prize while proving that inverters can be the size of a tablet or smaller rather than the size of a picnic cooler, more than a factor of 10 reduction in size

The Boulder Group, a net leased investment brokerage firm, has completed the sale of a single tenant net leased Walgreens property located at 3019 W Peterson Avenue in Chicago, IL for $9,250,000.

A critical milestone has been reached in cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology, helping pave the way for solar energy to directly compete with electricity generated by conventional energy sources.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced funding for 11 new projects through the Knight Prototype Fund, which helps people explore early-stage media and information ideas with $35,000 in funding. The awards total $385,000.

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International’s annual conference, the BOMA International Conference & Expo, has been named one of the fastest growing trade shows by the magazine Trade Show Executive. Bringing together thousands of commercial real estate professionals each year, BOMA’s annual conference offers world-class education sessions, unrivaled networking opportunities and the solutions necessary to meet every market challenge and opportunity. This year’s conference will take place June 25-28 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

It has been said that the real estate market has “recovered” and buy/sell activity has been strong in just about every category of property in 2015 with expectations that prosperity continue into 2016. This was confirmed by industry experts at our Annual Forecast Conference this past January.

International award-winning firm KTGY Architecture + Planning has named Jill D. Williams, AIA, to the position of chairman of the board, it was announced today by CEO Tricia Esser. Stan Braden, AIA, NCARB, steps down as chairman while continuing his responsibilities to the firm’s studios and client relationships

A group of nationally renowned land use and urban planning experts has been convened by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to make recommendations to the City of Dallas regarding strategies for increasing the supply of affordable, workforce, and mixed-income housing in the city. ULI is a global, multidisciplinary research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use and creating thriving and sustainable communities.

Social justice organizations in Detroit are calling for the immediate removal of Governor Rick Snyder from office in light of emails that reveal that his inner circle, including top lawyers, knew Flint’s water supply was contaminated. One report has the Governor’s Former Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore saying, “concerns” about the water “were shared” with the Governor. Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management and the People’s Water Board Coalition both spoke out on the email revelations

A recent study conducted by National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA) shows that Exclusive Buyer Agents on average are more experienced than traditional real estate agents as presented in surveys conducted by the National Association of REALTORS®. In this study in which both NAEBA member and nonmember agents responded, nearly 60% of the respondents had over 20 years of real estate experience while less than 1% had less than two years of experience. The median respondent had 21-25 years of experience.

The Multifamily Production Index (MPI), released today by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), showed a slight weakening as the index declined four points to 52 in the fourth quarter of 2015. And while the index declined, it is still the 16th consecutive reading of 50 or above.

Defect and fraud risk in loan applications is an impediment to sustainable credit expansion and potentially limits access to the American Dream for those who could benefit most, says Chief Economist Mark Fleming

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a coalition of more than 160 business groups today sent a letter to House and Senate leaders commending them for championing bipartisan legislation that would reinstate the use of Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and calling on Congress to act promptly to pass this measure.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations to improve chemical process safety, assist local emergency authorities in planning for and responding to accidents, and improve public awareness of chemical hazards at regulated sources.