Calif. dropping out of foreclosure talks
SACRAMENTO, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- California is dropping out of the 50-state coalition negotiating a settlement on behalf of foreclosed homeowners, the state's attorney general said Friday.
Kamala Harris said the settlement currently on the table is not adequate, the Los Angeles Times reported.
She promised a tougher investigation in California of alleged financial wrongdoing and said she objected to the banks' demands they be shielded from further investigation as part of a settlement.
"I have decided that we have to go our own course and take an independent path, and that decision is because we need to bring relief to Californians that is equal to the pain California experienced," Harris told the Times. "What is being negotiated now is insufficient."
Harris had been playing a leading role in the 11-month effort to negotiate a settlement with mortgage holders, including giants like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Some experts told the Times California's departure could doom the negotiations, but a source the newspaper did not identify said the other states plan to continue.
Citibank hits checking accounts with fee
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. said this week it would charge $15 per month for checking account holders who kept a balance below $6,000.
The firm's move comes on the heels of Bank of America's announcement this week that it would charge $5 for most debit card holders and sparked at least one desertion, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Cheryl Holt of Burbank, Calif., said she was "on my way out the door right now … off to start a new account at my nearest credit union."
"Should have done it years before," she added.
Holt said she received a letter with an "absurd salutation," that said, "Customers like you have told us that what they want from their banks are simple options and great rewards. We heard you and are writing to let you know that we are making some changes to your EZ Checking Package."
That said, the bank dropped the $180 per year bomb.
Industry analysts have said for months that banks would be forced to create revenue to make up for the Federal Reserve Board's policy capping fees financial firms can charge customers when they use their cards at stores.
The cap on the so-called "swipe fee" started Saturday.
Heat wave tested warehouse workers in Pa.
ALLENTOWN, Pa., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A heat wave this summer tested workers and management at an Amazon.com warehouse in Pennsylvania, witnesses said.
Some workers lost their jobs in the heat wave that pushed temperatures in the warehouse above 100 degrees, the Allentown, Pa., Morning Call reported Saturday.
"I never felt like passing out in a warehouse and I never felt treated (as badly) in any other warehouse but this one," said Elmer Goris, 34, who quit his job in July over conditions and management's behavior, the newspaper said.
Robert Rivas, 38, said he also quit his job when "the heat index got to really outrageous numbers."
During one shift, Rivas said, the heat index inside the facility reached 114 degrees.
Amazon said it was installing air conditioning at the warehouse that opened in 2010 and provides 900 to 2,000 jobs, depending on the season.
Amazon also provided "free water, snacks, extra fans and cooled air during the summer," said warehouse general manager Vickie Mortimer.
Another extra during heat waves: Paramedics were parked outside in ambulances during especially brutal heat, the newspaper said.
Was that a sign the company went the extra mile to ensure the safety of their workers or a sign that the company knew it was pushing workers too far?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, after an investigation, made several recommendations in August and the company complied, the Morning Call reported.
Co-director of the National Employment Law Project Catherine Ruckelshaus warned that hot weather and a stumbling economy are a bad mix.
"They (Amazon) can get away with it because most workers will take whatever they can get with jobs few and far between," she said.
Kodak: Bankruptcy not an option
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- New York company Eastman Kodak confirmed it has hired a heavyweight restructuring adviser but said filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is not an option.
Kodak has been struggling with the industry's transition from film to digital technology and has posted only one year in the black since 2005, when the current chief executive officer Antonio Perez took over, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Kodak's fortunes in the stock market suffered a blow with the confirmation that it hired the law firm Jones Day and with the recent news that it had drawn $160 million from a line of credit.
Kodak's cash on hand was listed at $957 million June 30, but it also spent $847 million from its cash reserves in the first half of the year. It has also said it would sell more than 1,000 patents in an effort to remain solvent.
Investors this week have been dumping Kodak bonds, with one medium-term bond selling for 26 cents on the dollar this week, the Journal said.
Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings this week lowered the company's CCC rating to CC, a junk status that "signifies that default of some kind appears probably," Fitch said.
