Hearst Castle, a trophy property, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Here are a few of the stories we have been following this week.
- Trophy properties had a great year last year. More properties valued over $100 million were listed in 2014 than in any previous year. You can learn more about trophy properties by reading our previous posts on the topic.
- A Pennsylvania legislator is pushing to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and index it to inflation.
- Fracking chemicals were found in the drinking water of three Pennsylvania homes. The chemicals traveled more than a mile to get into the drinking wells.
- The SEC issued proposed rules to require companies to disclose the relationship between executive pay and financial performance. The proposed rules would offer greater transparency to shareholders as required by Section 953(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
- Faulty valves were to blame for an oil train that leaked about 25 gallons during a trip from North Dakota to a refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
- In a 9-0 vote, the Supreme Court ruled this week that debtors can’t appeal a bankruptcy judge’s rejection of a proposed repayment plan. Both the U.S. government and Bank of America had supported the homeowner, and some analysts are concerned that the ruling will cause both individual and corporate debtors to be more cautious in how they structure their bankruptcy plans.
- Mortgage rates increased this week, with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 3.80%. That’s still well below the 4.21% from a year ago.
- A Duke University professor believes he has a better way to measure coal ash in well water. The “forensic tracer” test is supposed to be more accurate than the tests that regulatory agencies are currently using, but it would require extensive review and approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before being adopted for official use.
- The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Lehman Brothers Inc. over $4 billion of disputed assets awarded to Barclays PLC in 2008. The fight was based on a “clarification letter” that both companies agreed on during a rushed sale in September 2008 but Lehman’s bankruptcy judge never reviewed.
- Fannie Mae reported a $600 million increase in net income from the last quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of this year, but weak year-over-year performance.
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