Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993 TAG: 9310280504
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve officials are resisting a congressional attempt to audit billions of dollars of monetary-policy and foreign-exchange transactions as an infringement on their independence.
"It would introduce the unmistakable potential for political influence; every movement and nuance of policy would then have to be examined in light of that potential," Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William J. McDonough said Wednesday.
Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, chairman of the House Banking Committee, is promoting legislation that would open the central bank to greater public scrutiny, including more extensive auditing by the General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency.
The GAO reviews the Fed's performance in many areas, but is prohibited by law from examining its conduct of monetary policy and its intervention in currency markets. - Associated Press
Buy any Miser bulbs? You can get a rebate
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Consumers who bought General Electric Co.'s Energy Choice and Miser light bulbs will be eligible for cash rebates under a $3.25 million settlement announced Wednesday.
The class-action lawsuit followed a February agreement with the Federal Trade Commission in which GE promised to tone down its claims that the bulbs save energy and are good for the environment. The bulbs had been labeled as "replacements" for 100-watt, 75-watt and 60-watt bulbs. But they are 90 watts, 67 watts and 52 watts, respectively.
The settlement, approved by a Federal District Court in San Francisco, provides for $1.50 cash rebates for consumers with proof they purchased Energy Choice or Miser bulbs. All consumers will be eligible for 50-cent discount coupons.
Consumer Reports magazine reported in August 1991 that the bulbs shed less light, last no longer and are no more energy-efficient than standard 100-watt bulbs. - Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Landlords sue HUD in housing dispute
WASHINGTON - Landlords in Virginia and six other states are accusing the Department of Housing and Urban Development in a lawsuit of failing to implement a 1990 law that would let them sell low-income apartments on the open market.
The 25 landlords say in the suit filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that they lost money because HUD hasn't implemented the rules under which they are allowed to sell and convert their buildings to private use.
The mortgages came with terms that allow them to be paid out after 20 years as long as the buildings were used as affordable housing for those 20 years. The 20-year periods began expiring in the late 1980s.
Roughly 900,000 low-income homes could be lost if the landlords who are eligible to pay early do so by the end of fiscal 1995, according to the General Accounting Office.
The landlords named in the suit are from California, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Virginia. - Associated Press
by CNB