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By Alison Vekshin and Ari Levy
Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Columbian Bank and Trust Co. of Topeka, Kansas, was closed by U.S. regulators, the nation's ninth bank to collapse this year amid bad real-estate loans and writedowns stemming from a drop in home prices.
The bank, with $752 million in assets and $622 million in total deposits, was shuttered by the Kansas state bank commissioner's office and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the FDIC said yesterday in a statement.
Citizens Bank and Trust will assume the failed bank's insured deposits. Columbian Bank's nine branches will open Aug. 25 as Citizens Bank and Trust offices, the FDIC said. Customers can access their accounts over the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.
``There is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage,'' the FDIC said.
The pace of bank closings is accelerating as financial firms have reported more than $500 billion in writedowns and credit losses since 2007. The FDIC's ``problem'' bank list grew by 18 percent in the first quarter from the fourth, to 90 banks with combined assets of $26.3 billion.
Prior to yesterday, the FDIC had closed 36 banks since October 2000, according to a list at fdic.gov. The U.S. shut 12 banks in 2002, the highest in the period, and 2005 and 2006 had no closures.
U.S. bank regulators closed Florida's First Priority Bank on Aug. 1; Reno-based First National Bank of Nevada, Newport Beach, California-based First Heritage Bank, and Pasadena-based IndyMac Bancorp Inc. in July; Staples, Minnesota-based First Integrity Bank and ANB Financial in Bentonville, Arkansas, in May; Hume Bank in Hume, Missouri, in March; and Douglass National Bank in Kansas City, Missouri, in January.
Salisbury City County President Louise Smith may be switching her voter registration. Smith, personification of the "tell me I'm pretty" attitude, gets to take center stage tonight thanks to First District Democrats.
Because Mayor Barrie Tilghman will be out of town for the Obama Love Fest in Denver, Louise gets to stand before the cameras this evening and make presentations and award certificates. Fortunately, there isn't much on tonight's agenda. Smith will probably be spending today in the day spa.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Washington, DC – Once again the federal government is expanding its collection of data on innocent travelers, the American Civil Liberties Union said today, with the Department of Homeland Security creating dossiers of travelers who pass through U.S. border checkpoints, maintain these files for 15 years, and share this data broadly – including providing access to courts and attorneys in civil litigation like divorce proceedings.
“Our government is not supposed to collect information on the innocent activities and movements of its citizens just in case they later commit a crime,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program. “This program illustrates why America needs more robust and across-the-board privacy laws.”
The DHS policy, which was reported by the Washington Post today, requires travelers at the border to present either a passport or both a drivers license and a birth certificate. The Customs and Border Protection agents scan information from travelers and store it on a database.
“The Customs and Border Protection Agency function is taking the approach that the border is a constitution-free zone,” said Tim Sparapani, ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel. “Congress needs to step in and reassert the American values of limited intrusion on Americans’ private lives.”
Sparapani continued, “This is just the latest in a long list of misguided DHS security policies, from trying to waive all laws at the border to building a wall at the U.S. border, to redirecting the Automated Tracking System from assessing the risk of cargo to assessing the risk of travelers, to the most recent controversy over detaining laptops at airports. It is clear the next administration will need to drastically rethink all of these wrongheaded policies.”
"The question will not appear on the 2008 ballot because the Wicomico County Council voted 5-1 against asking the Maryland General Assembly for permission to do so."This simply isn't true. The possibility of placing the measure on the 2008 ballot ended when the county council postponed action at their first August meeting. The deadline for placing a measure on the ballot passed prior to the August 19th meeting. Some will also point to an AG's opinion that claimed that the legislature must approve a referendum. If this is the same opinion prepared for Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus, the opinion only states that a binding referendum would need legislative approval.
