Ventura County Star - "Assessor lowers assessed values of 8,622 homes" (6-16-07)

"Property owners who think their tax assessments should be reduced amid falling real estate prices should wait before hiring a company to help them win a reduction, Ventura County Assessor Dan Goodwin said Friday. That's because their homes may be among 8,622 whose assessed value has been cut under a program that Goodwin's staff launched this year in response to the real estate downturn."

Bloomberg - "Treasury Yields Reach Five-Year High as Rate Cut Bets Diminish" (6-16-07)

"U.S. 10-year Treasury yields reached a five-year high as traders stepped up bets the economy is strong enough to keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates this year. The price of the benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to the yield, dropped a sixth straight week, the longest slide since 2005. A government report on June 13 showed retail sales rose by the most in more than a year in May, easing concern that falling home values will crimp consumer spending."

Los Angeles Times - "Online Cheating Lessons -- Mortgage Fraud 2.0" (6-16-07)

"The New York Times reports new websites are fueling the rampant mortgage fraud that has caused a huge spike in loan defaults. Aside: Items like this make us feel old. We remember the good old days, about two years ago, when you had to actually know some real criminals to engage in a fraud scheme."

Los Angeles Times - "The Problem With Section 8: A Crackdown in The Antelope Valley" (6-16-07)

"Good piece of reporting today on LATimes.com about a crackdown on Section 8 tenants in The Antelope Valley, and the various issues it raises. Chief among those issues, as Jessica Garrison and Ted Rohrlich report, is whether it's fair, or even legal, to have armed deputies piling into an apartment without a warrant to investigate a neighbor's complaint about the people who live there."