AGs Defend Newspaper Notices
December 10, 2008
The Treasury’s celebrated TARP program to rescue troubled mortgages still hasn’t really kicked in. Treasury is being beaten up by Congress for not starting it. But the law still requires guidelines for the asset acquisition, and the acquisitions are going to put the nature of newspaper notice into play.
Some Attorneys General are protecting states’ rights, which include the notices. To see them see www.pnrc.net/foreclosures.htm.
Water, Water everywhere and no one watching
November 25, 2008
These Texas residents are upset about the water use in the recovery of an old mine. But the notice was in the paper, 4 times no less.
These folks are treading water. They would have been informed if they had been reading.
http://www.cameronherald.com/articles/2008/11/23/news/news03.txt
Newspaper may lose notices, but notices gained a friend
November 12, 2008
The Wisconsin Attorney General came down foursquare on the importance of newspaper notices in this dispute about a newspaper’s screw-up of a notice. Too bad it happened. The industry has to pay attention to accuracy in these. The importance of that fixed, accurate record is one of the reasons to use print.
The opinion: http://www.doj.state.wi.us/ag/opinions/opinions.asp#informal
The story:
http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=9&ArticleID=8674
Why didn’t the state just do the right thing?
November 6, 2008
This long running battle about a Duke Energy dam removal has centered on the choices of newspapers for notice. It is hard to understand why the state Division of Water Quality didn’t put notices in the newspapers in the area. It is great that the notices ran in a student paper (although a little puzzling), but why not do the maximum amount of notice and quell this part of the dispute? How much more did the legal fees cost the state than the simple cost of the right notices?
http://www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/11_08/11_05_08/fr_jackson_loses.html
When it really matters, they want it in print
November 6, 2008
Lines in major cities were stretching around miles of city blocks to try to grab up these historic headlines.
Foreclosure notices are a piece of political accountability, too
November 4, 2008
Candidates for office are more than occasionally found to hold property for which taxes, liens or mortgages have not been paid. The candidates themselves, of course, usually feel their privacy has been invaded. But their financial lives are a piece of their suitability for office. Publishing foreclosure notices, as well as writing about them in news stories, protects a piece of accountability.
Shoulda Subscribed
October 21, 2008
This landowner missed the notice because he lived out of town.
It would be great to think someone in the circulation department at this newspaper would have contacted this guy about subscribing, but somehow one suspects it won’t happen.
TMI Strikes City Website
October 20, 2008
TMI (Too Much Information) shows that the web can both overreport and underreport, but in any event the ease of the single keystroke puts the whole information stream in peril. Here, a lot of personal information accidentally wound up on the web.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081016/LOCAL18/810160473/1195/LOCAL18#
Now you see it. Now you don’t
October 18, 2008
Take a look at this notice on Al Cross’s Ruralblog
Friday, October 03, 2008
But What If the Notice is on a Party-Line and the Line is Busy?
October 3, 2008
It can be expected that the Secretary of the Treasury will argue for posting foreclosure notices to the Treasury website. But a taste of the treats to come is already found at www.house.gov where many have gone to find the bailout bill. The landing page posts this notice:
“Due to an unusually high amount of emails currently being submitted through the Write Your Representative feature (above), you may experience a slow response or error message when attempting to send emails through this system during hours of peak demand. We apologize for this inconvenience. Our technicians are working to fix the problem. Thank you”
It doesn’t bother to note that at times this week, www.house.gov wouldn’t even load because of high traffic.







