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Bernanke urges caution on foreclosures

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Tuesday praised the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s approach to heading off home foreclosures.

During a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Bernanke said ,though he would like to see the government do more to keep people in their homes, several issues need to be addressed.

"I feel we need to do a lot more on foreclosure prevention," Bernanke said, adding, however, efforts should be made to mitigate future loses.

The FDIC has been encouraging banks to work with homeowners by reworking mortgage terms to reduce payments to 31 percent of income, in some cases lowering interest rates or extending the length of the loan. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, on the other hand, had been considering principle write-downs.

Bernanke said the best way to handle the situation is to induce lending institutions to "undertake these modifications." The FDIC approach involves insuring part of any loss should one be incurred after modification. Expanding that approach, however, could be costly, Bernanke said.

"There are other ways of subsidizing," he said.

Senate races still undecided after 2 weeks

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Two of three states with undetermined U.S. Senate races are moving closer to resolution on some issues if not the races themselves, election officials say.

Election officials in Alaska said they hope to determine soon the winner in Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' bid to overcome a felony conviction and Democratic challenger Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. Officials said about 24,000 ballots remained to be counted Tuesday, CNN reported.

Stevens, the Senate's longest-serving Republican, was convicted in October failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts on his Senate financial disclosure. He led Begich in early returns, but since Begich has taken a narrow lead.

In Minnesota, state election officials said they expect to rule Tuesday on whether some rejected absentee ballots should be considered in the recount of the race between Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken. The recount is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

Coleman held a slim 206-vote lead over Franken, an author and former "Saturday Night Live" writer and performer.

Georgia is the third state with a Senate race yet to be decided. Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss will face Democrat Jim Martin in a Dec. 2 runoff.

Lieberman likely to keep chairmanship

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Democrats indicated they'll let Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., keep his committee chairmanship despite his support of Republican John McCain.

That doesn't mean Lieberman -- who not only backed his friend but was critical of Barack Obama during the campaign -- will get a pass. When Democrats meet Tuesday, they could decide to strip him of subcommittee seats on the Armed Services and Environment and Public Works Committee, Politco reported.

But the consensus Monday was to let Lieberman keep the Homeland Security chairmanship, the Washington publication reported.

"My sense is that he will remain in the caucus, and probably -- I'm guessing -- remain chairman of the Homeland Security committee," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

After Obama said he didn't hold a grudge against Lieberman, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada noted Lieberman votes with the party most of the time. Reid initially took a tougher stand on Lieberman's fate in the Senate Democratic leadership.

"Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators," Reid told Politico. "He didn't support us on military stuff, and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. But you look at his record, it's pretty good."

Still other caucus members said they were unhappy with Lieberman's actions and the party's apparent response. Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., issued statements last week calling for Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Lieberman's behavior was "unacceptable."

Justice Stevens, 88, not ready to retire

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, at 88, isn't showing any signs he's considering retiring from the bench, observers say.

Stevens, who leads the high court's aging liberal wing, remains vigorous, still plays tennis, swims in the ocean and says he doesn't consider the Supreme Court's workload to be overly taxing, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

A prime motivation for some voters in backing the campaign of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama was to ensure a Democratic president would be in a position to replace Stevens and fellow Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, and David Souter, 69, with other liberals. But none of them, especially Stevens, has indicated any plans to retire soon, the newspaper said.

Stevens told questioners at a Monday event held by the University of Florida's Fredric G. Levin College of Law that he still enjoys his work and has no imminent plans to retire, the Post reported.

Stevens is now the second-oldest justice in the court's history, trailing only Oliver Wendell Holmes, who retired at 90. If he serves four more years, Stevens would become the Supreme Court's longest-serving justice.

More snow for eastern United States

ELKINS, W.Va., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- The National Weather Service posted a winter storm watch Tuesday for parts of West Virginia as a cold snap continued in much of the eastern United States.

Up to 6 inches of snow was possible in the mountains around Elkins, W.Va., as a mass of cold air covered the eastern Great Lakes and encroached on the Carolinas.

"It may be a shock to some, when compared with the above-average temperatures of last year in the East," said Accu-Weather forecaster Joe Bastardi said.

AccuWeather predicted more snow for Erie, Pa., and warned Canada's Atlantic region to expect the weather system to move in on Wednesday.

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch said the winter weather made roads and bridges in southern Ohio treacherous, causing a spate of overnight traffic accidents. One incident on Interstate 270 involved about 20 vehicles.

A motorist was killed in a weather-related crash in Pittsburgh early Tuesday while a Blairsville, Pa., police officer was injured when his car hit a pickup truck that had crashed on a slippery bridge, WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh reported.

"Right now, the conditions are very good for salt applications," Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Shawn Hauk told WTAE. "We are putting down the salt and making sure that ice does not form on the bridges."

North Carolina police reported plenty of fender-benders as well but ski resort operators in the state's western mountains informed The Charlotte (N.C) Observer that they planned to open as early as this weekend.