Mitt Romney: "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt"

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Housing Department Introduces Sweeping LGBT Protections

Speaking today at the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change in Baltimore, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan introduced a broad and sweeping set of new nondiscrimination protections the department will be implementing. Under the new guidelines, any program that receives funding or insurance through HUD will be prohibited from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, including Section 8 housing, emergency shelters, and other social services, as well as lending for FHA-insured mortgage financing. In addition, all such programs will now be required to recognize same-sex and otherwise LGBT families — regardless of their marital status or the adoption status of their children — to ensure they can stay together as a family unit when accessing HUD resources.

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CBO: Stimulus continues to deliver

The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package continues to have a significant effect.


The bill raised fourth-quarter 2011 gross domestic product by as much as 1.5 percent, it states, and lowered the unemployment rate by as much as 1.1 percentage points. The package reduced the rolls of the jobless by up to 2 million people in the last three months of 2011.

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New York City could open up 1,200 acres of rooftops for farming

Given how valuable space is in New York City, the city’s rooftops are strangely empty. But a proposal from the city’s planning department could change that by making 1,200 acres of commercial rooftops available for urban farmers to open greenhouses across the city.

City law imposes restrictions on how tall buildings are allowed to be in different areas, which is one reasons why rooftops stay empty — developers often build to the maximum height possible. The planning department’s proposal would allow buildings to add rooftop greenhouses above regular height restrictions. And according to a study from the Urban Design Lab, that would mean 1,200 acres of empty, flat rooftops would be eligible for green penthouses.

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Whistle-blowers key in health care fraud fight

WASHINGTON – About 36% of the almost $16 billion recovered by the Justice Department in health care whistle-blower fraud cases has come since 2009, records show, which reflects an increased focus on fighting fraud. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said her department's budget included an additional $300 million to take on health care fraud.

In the past 20 years, whistle-blower cases have increased so they average about three times as much money back to the government as non-whistle-blower cases.

In 2011, the federal government broke all records, bringing in nearly $2.3 billion in whistle-blower settlements and judgments. Since 1987, whistle-blower qui tam cases have earned about $16 billion; non-whistle-blower cases have collected about $5 billion.

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