AGs Defend Newspaper Notices

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

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

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?

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

Lines in major cities were stretching around miles of city blocks to try to grab up these historic headlines.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1108/567381.html

Foreclosure notices are a piece of political accountability, too

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.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20081103/ARTICLES/811030258/1015/NEWS0101?Title=Records_show_Boseman_owns_property_in_foreclosure

Shoulda Subscribed

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.

Click here: Man assails county on fairness of zoning map | delmarvanow.com | The Daily Times

TMI Strikes City Website

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

Take a look at this notice on Al Cross’s Ruralblog

 

Friday, October 03, 2008

Law requiring Conn. towns to post agendas and minutes prompts some to shut down Web sites

 

But What If the Notice is on a Party-Line and the Line is Busy?

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.