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Laura E. Durso, Senior Director for the Center for American Progress LGBT Research and Communications Project, released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new rule ensuring equal access to shelters for transgender Americans based on their gender identity

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for August 2016: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,139,000. This is 0.4 percent (±1.2%) below the revised July rate of 1,144,000, but is 2.3 percent (±1.5%) below the August 2015 estimate of 1,166,000.  Single-family authorizations in August were at a rate of 737,000; this is 3.7 percent (±3.0%) below the revised July figure of 711,000.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 370,000 in August

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today released the following statement on the Senate passage of the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2016 (H.R.5985)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today published a final rule to ensure that all individuals have equal access to many of the Department’s core shelter programs in accordance with their gender identity. Read HUD's new 'Gender Identity Rule'.

Data Distribution Technologies, LLC (“DDT”) and the National Association of Realtors® (“NAR”) have settled several proceedings relating to U.S. Patent No. 6,529,908, titled Web-updated database with record distribution by email, including an Inter Partes Review of the patent requested by NAR. The terms of the settlement agreement include a covenant not to sue by DDT as to all NAR members, local and state associations, MLSs, affiliates, and certain other NAR-related entities.

With oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan scheduled for next week in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Center for American Progress released a short analysis of the benefits of the Clean Power Plan for the climate and human health.

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOHN SANDELLA, 54, of Orange, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to receiving unlawful compensation while serving as an employee of the West Haven Housing Authority

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro named Jon Gresley to serve as HUD’s Regional Administrator in Region 9, which includes the western states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the U.S. territories in the Outer Pacific.

Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) joined leading scientists who provided new data showing that the majority of ponderosa pine forests in the country are at grave risk of being killed by the new, more severe fires we are now seeing. New data shows that, without a new plan, increasing warm temperatures will result in 67 million acres of our country’s forests being lost to unnaturally severe wildfires—10 percent of U.S. forests

The average amount of potentially harmful lead in the blood of children in low-income families living in federally assisted housing is significantly lower than comparable children not living in federally assisted housing. That's the principle conclusion of a study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published today in the American Journal of Public Health

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will form a new consortium intended to accelerate the development of module materials for photovoltaics (PV) and lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) today announced the committee’s schedule for the week of Sept. 19:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today issued “Limited English Proficiency” (LEP) guidance that addresses how the Fair Housing Act would apply to claims of housing discrimination brought by people because they do not speak, read, or write English proficiently.  More than 25 million people in the United States do not communicate proficiently in English.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is partnering with Chrysler Liquidating Trust to provide funds to support VA efforts to end Veteran homelessness. The partnership is part of the MyVA Strategic Partnership Initiative, which works with external organizations to improve the delivery and access of care for Veterans

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has introduced a bill to amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CMZA) in order to include the District of Columbia in the definition of a coastal state, which would make D.C. eligible for federal coastal zone management funding. Norton’s bill would also give the District oversight for federally issued permits/facilities/actions that affect the coastal waters of the District. Norton said she believes the District’s omission from the CMZA was an unintentional oversight, as the CMZA was passed in 1972—before the District achieved home rule—and the territories were included.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has been awarded more than $4 million by the Department of Energy (DOE) to undertake three projects aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which account for more than 40 percent of the country’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientists at the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will lead an effort to model the complex and turbulent flow of wind through large wind plants as part of DOE's Exascale Computing Project (ECP), which is gearing up U.S. computational capabilities to prepare for the next generation of supercomputers. NREL will also provide support to three projects related to combustion science, urban systems, and power grid dynamics

Regions Bank (Regions) has agreed to pay $52.4 million to the United States to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Department of Justice announced today. Regions is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it is publishing a final rule formalizing legal standards under the Fair Housing Act for sexual and other forms of harassment in housing. In addition, HUD is issuing Fair Housing Act guidance on local ‘nuisance ordinances’ that may lead to housing discrimination against survivors of domestic violence and other persons in need of emergency services.