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Senate Democrats are demanding that the U.S. Treasury force banks participating in the government's $700 billion financial rescue plan to show they are using the funds to increase lending.

Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey wrote a letter yesterday urging Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to issue rules requiring banks accepting public funding to lend to companies and consumers rather than using the money to finance takeovers.

“Loans must not be used to acquire healthy banks, hoard in their coffers, or pay shareholder dividends,'' the two Senate Banking Committee members wrote to Paulson. “We are also troubled by the fact that the Treasury Department appears to be taking a `hands off' approach to this issue, preferring instead to leave decisions solely up to the discretion of senior bank executives.''

The letter, the second the two Democrats have sent to Paulson in the last two weeks, came as the head of the Treasury's program rebuffed any suggestions to “micromanage'' financial firms' lending decisions.

“We want this capital to be put to work, to stabilize the system, to increase lending for our businesses and our communities,'' Neel Kashkari, the interim assistant secretary who heads the program, said yesterday in New York. At the same time, he said, it's “not appropriate'' to set targets for bank loans.

Obama Reviewing Plan

Kashkari acknowledged that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama might “go in a different direction'' than Paulson. Obama yesterday said he would review the plan.

Speaking at his first press conference since winning the presidential election, Obama said in Chicago that the program must stabilize financial markets, protect taxpayers and help homeowners “while not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.''

Lawmakers are faulting Paulson for letting financial institutions finance acquisitions using some of the $250 billion the banks are receiving in capital infusions from the government cash advance lenders. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. last month agreed to buy Cleveland-based National City Corp. after getting $7.7 billion from the government.

Clash to Continue

“Treasury needs to put together guidelines both on how the capital is allocated and how it's used,'' said Joseph Mason, a professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge who previously worked at the Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “I expect this clash with Congress to continue.''

Schumer's and Menendez's letter echoes earlier comments from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, who said he may move to block further bailout funding if institutions that have already received cash don't prove they are boosting lending. Lawmakers have the option of blocking the second half of the bailout funding because the legislation requires President George W. Bush to request the money from Congress.

“There had better be a showing of increased lending roughly in the amount of the capital infusions,'' Frank said in a Nov. 6 interview in his office in Newton, Massachusetts.

Year-end bonus payments at nine banks that received $125 billion from are being investigated by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who are demanding details on compensation plans.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch & Co. have set aside $20 billion to pay bonuses this year.

The Treasury should “issue guidelines or best practices'' to ensure Americans “know that their money is being used to provide maximum benefit for our economy as a whole and not to create banking empires or reward players on Wall Street,'' Schumer and Menendez wrote.

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Frontier Airlines said Thursday its passenger count in October dropped from a year earlier.

The Denver-based low-cost carrier carried 829,770 passengers, a 5.7 percent decline from last October.

But for the first 10 months of the year, Frontier’s passenger count is 3.4 percent higher than it was a year ago, rising to 9 million payday advance loan.

Frontier’s subsidiary, Lynx Aviation, carried 85,978 passengers during October and 826,275 during the first 10 months. Lynx wasn’t flying a year ago, so comparable figures aren’t available.

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A former employee of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed a $5 million lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to open a class action against the failed investment bank.

Miron Berenshteyn, a computer programmer, filed the lawsuit on behalf of more than 100 other former employees who were fired in a round of layoffs on Sept. 9. Most of the employees worked at or reported to a Lehman data center in Jersey City, N.J. or at the company’s Manhattan headquarters.

Lehman filed for Chapter 11 in the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. It has since sold off major units and started the long process of winding down the rest of its operations and distributing the proceeds among creditors. Lehman, which was once the nation’s fourth-largest investment bank, is also the subject of three grand jury investigations.

Lawyers for Berenshteyn argued that Lehman had violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, which they say requires 60 days advance notice in writing of a layoff. They were notified Sept quick pay day loan. 9 that they would be paid for 60 more days but would not have to report to work. After the bankruptcy filing but before the 60 days were up, Lehman stopped paying them, said a lawyer representing Berenshteyn, Jack Raisner of Outten & Golden LLP.

The size of the class, if it is certified, could include about 1,000 former workers.

The lawsuit seeks 60 days of wages and benefits as well as severance pay of one week’s wages for every year worked. Lawyers said in the filing the total amount could exceed $5 million.

"We’re very confident about the case," Raisner said. "The company will have to make a defense, if it has any."

A call to the office of Harvey Miller, Lehman’s bankruptcy lawyer, was not immediately returned. 

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Some 5,000 attorneys are fanning out across Florida, guarding against any Election Day surprises.

Members of the Democratic Party’s Voter Protection Program will be recognizable by their blue hats and placards.

In a battleground state, where the election could go either way and tensions could rise, members of the program will help answer questions and have an on-site legal expert who can challenge mistaken suppositions about voter identification and other difficult matters. They also will report any questionable activities back to other lawyers who can file legal challenges, if needed.

“We know there was close to 40 percent [turnout] in the early voting, but we’re still expecting a huge turnout on Election Day,” said Larry Davis, a Hollywood attorney coordinating efforts in Broward County.

The program is a volunteer program that began in 2004. And, although it’s a Democratic Party effort, there are some Republican attorneys involved.

The effort has targeted areas with large minority and low-income registrations, because of fears that such voters could be misled or intimidated.

Charles Lichtman, an attorney with Berger Singerman in Miami, is coordinating the effort statewide. He also is statewide lead counsel for the Florida Democratic Party on election law and voter protection rights for all elections advance cash loan month paid.

Lichtman said he saw no real problems during early voting.

“The biggest problem we saw was long lines, and we don’t view that as a problem,” he said. “We view that as a terrific situation, where voters patiently wait to vote and exercise their rights.”

Alec Domb, an attorney from Wellington, will be monitoring a poll in southern Broward County.

“I could stand at a precinct handing out candidate literature, but I think this is more important: to make sure people who want to vote are able to vote,” he said.

Leading up the election, the accuracy of voting machines in Palm Beach County has been questioned. After four weeks of recounting in a judicial election between Circuit Judge Richard Wennet and attorney William Abramson, Abramson eventually was declared the winner by 61 votes. Voting machine tests indicated some failed to count the same ballots the same way twice, and didn’t recognize some ballots that had no apparent flaws.

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Want to gripe about the Internal Revenue Service?

Then Bruce Zgoda wants to hear from you.

The self-employed CPA in Clarence is a volunteer member of the national Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, an independent advisory group established by the U.S. Treasury Department to identify taxpayer issues and make suggestions to improve IRS services and customer satisfaction. As a panel member, Zgoda’s job is to listen to non-legislative complaints about the IRS and come up with recommendations for improvements.

“I’m an ear for the average taxpayer and I’m a taxpayer myself. You can come to someone like me and I’ll take that voice back” to the IRS, he said.

Taxpayers who want to vent about the IRS can meet Zgoda at 8:30 a.m., Nov. 6 at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

He is one of about 100 volunteers appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury Department to serve three-year terms on the panel.

Since his appointment, Zgoda said he has listened to an array of grumbles about the IRS – poor service with the toll-free IRS telephone number, for instance. Other complaints focus on IRS forms and instructions, correspendence letters and the IRS Web site.

Such complaints are heard from taxpayers around the country, said Ben Chapman, a panel member who lives in New Jersey freecreditreports.

“The IRS is committed to writing these things at a level the average person can understand, and yet, because there are so many forms and so many notices, some of them could be written better,” said Chapman, a retired CPA. “We hear that from people, that they just don’t understand what this is about.”

The panel, which is funded by the National Taxpayer Advocate, got its start in 2002 as part of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Since then, several of the suggestions made to the IRS have been implemented by the agency.

The IRS has approved a recommendation to grant a six-month extension to taxpayers rather than the four-month extension that had been in place, Chapman said.

The panel currently is working with the IRS to better safeguard taxpayers’ personal information, such as Social Security numbers, he said.

“We literally go out and do outreach and work on issues people might give us,” he said.

“We gather ideas about better customer service and we listen to the issues.”

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Tellabs, a provider of telecommunications equipment for service providers, plans to cut 141 job cuts at the company’s location on North Dallas Parkway in Dallas.

In a letter filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, Dallas-based Tellabs says it’s restructuring the company with the intent of realigning its financial plan with consumer needs and demands. During the evaluation of this realignment, the company says it realized product development and support functions need to be on the same level as current market conditions. To streamline the company, Tellabs has decided to reduce its staff one hour cash loan.

The jobs impacted include engineers, buyers, management-level professionals, project managers and technical support positions.

Tellabs told TWC the official layoffs will begin Dec. 22. About 136 employees will be laid off within the 14-day period beginning Dec. 22. Remaining employees will be terminated within the three-month period stretching to March 31.

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The International Monetary Fund cleared its chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, of any wrongdoing in connection with his relationship with a female employee while faulting him for a “serious error of judgment.''

An investigation by the fund's board “concluded that there was no harassment, favoritism, or any other abuse of authority,'' a statement by the Washington-based agency said yesterday. “Nevertheless, the Executive Board noted that the incident was regrettable and reflected a serious error of judgment on the part of the managing director.''

Strauss-Kahn, in a separate statement, said: “I very much regret the incident and I accept responsibility for it.'' The 59-year-old former French finance minister, who took the helm of the lending agency in November 2007, said he accepted the board's findings and repeated an apology to his staff and his family.

The report said “this matter is now closed,'' lifting a cloud that threatened to distract Strauss-Kahn just as the IMF steps up lending to countries swamped by the global financial crisis. The fund today agreed to lend Ukraine $16.5 billion, and it's in talks for as much as $10 billion in support for Pakistan. Iceland got $2.1 billion last week.

“Our conclusion was that this will in no way effect the effectiveness of the managing director in the very challenging period ahead,'' Shakour Shaalan, senior member of the 24-person board, told reporters in a conference call yesterday. He described Strauss-Kahn as “very competent'' and said that the board had “accepted his apology.''

Focus of Inquiry

The IMF investigation focused on Strauss-Kahn's relationship with Piroska Nagy, wife of former Argentine central bank President Mario Blejer, according to a fund director who spoke earlier on condition of anonymity internet payday loan.

The report said Strauss-Kahn made “initial contact'' with a female staff member, who wasn't identified, concerning “legitimate IMF business.'' There followed “a two-week-long exchange of consensual and very personal messages.'' In early January the two engaged in a “consensual physical relationship of short duration.''

Nagy, who worked in the IMF's Africa department, left the agency in August, according to her lawyer, Robert Litt. He said on Oct. 18 that Nagy hadn't alleged any misconduct by Strauss- Kahn, and that she resigned voluntarily in response to a severance offer available to all staff.

The IMF report said Strauss-Kahn “played no role in her subsequent employment'' at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.

Wolfowitz Resignation

The investigation follows last year's resignation of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz following an uproar over Wolfowitz's decision to secure a pay increase for his companion. Both Washington-based institutions were created in 1944 as the post-World War II economic order was being planned, and now have 185 member nations.

Strauss-Kahn has won praise for overhauling the fund's voting structure to give more say to emerging nations and for cutting costs. Last December, he announced plans to cut staff by as much as 15 percent, or almost 400 people, to stem losses as the fund's loan-book dried up.

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Lend Lease Communities LLC of Denver said Friday that it may quit as developer of the proposed Lowry Range mixed-use real estate development east of Aurora by the end of this year, if it can’t find a sustainable water source for the project at a “reasonable cost,” Lend Lease said on Friday.

The developer submitted a letter to the Colorado State Land Board on Friday, saying it intends to terminate its development agreement on Dec. 31 of this year.

“We have determined that various, essential pre-development conditions set forth in the development management services agreement dated June 22, 2007, are seemingly unlikely to be met by the end of the year,” the letter said.

Lend Lease contends that so far, it has been unable to get an adequate water supply or adequate wastewater treatment facilities at “a commercially reasonable cost” for the project from the Rangeview Metropolitan District and Pure Cycle Corp. (NASDAQ: PYCO) of Thornton. That circumstance has impeded the developer’s ability to look at alternative sources of sustainable water, Lend Lease said.

Pure Cycle owns water rights representing millions of gallons a year of surface and underground water.

But Lend Lease still hopes to find sources of sustainable water, according to the company.

“We have consistently and publicly maintained that our vision for the Lowry Range project includes a sustainable water supply that could consist of an appropriate balance between renewable and nonrenewable sources, and provides adequate wastewater treatment facilities,” the Lend Lease letter said freecreditreport.

Lowry Range, the former bombing range for the now-defunct Lowry Air Force Base, is located at Interstate 70 and E-470 in unincorporated Arapahoe County. Lend Lease hoped to break ground in 2009 on the project at the site, which would have taken roughly 20 years to complete. Lend Lease Communities, through its Lend Lease Lowry Range LLC subsidiary, planned to develop 3,870 acres of the total, 26,000-acre range for residential and commercial use. Its project was to include 13,000 homes as well as retail space, schools, parks and open space.

In preparation for its work at the Lowry Range development, Pure Cycle was to build a $400 million pipeline from the Arkansas River Valley to the Denver area to transport as much as 40,000 acre-feet of water a year. The company also planned to build as many as four reservoirs at the Lowry Range site.

Lend Lease Communities is part of one of Australia’s largest real estate companies, Lend Lease Corp. Ltd.

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Foreclosures in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., surged in the third quarter.

But foreclosures around Greater Baltimore, however, declined.

Foreclosures in D.C. more than quadrupled to 1,330 compared to the third quarter 2007. Virginia foreclosures nearly tripled to 16,023. Maryland had the smallest increase, up 22 percent to 7,974 foreclosures. That compares to a national increase of 71 percent to a record 765,558 foreclosures, according to Irvine, Calif cash advance today.-based RealtyTrac Inc.

The Baltimore area ranked 84 out of the top 100 cities for foreclosures in the third quarter with a total of 2,723, down nearly 6 percent from the year ago quarter.

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Lockheed Martin Corp. has announced that its third quarter profits increased 2 percent over last year, but its sales during the period declined 5 percent.

The Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor (NYSE: LMT) reported net earnings of $782 million or $1.92 per diluted share during the third quarter, compared to $766 million or $1.80 per share last year.

The latest quarter’s earnings were helped by a $44 million, one-time deferred gain from a 2006 sale of a stake in a company. For the year, earnings are up 7 percent to $2.4 billion.

However, the company also reported that net sales were down to $10 faxless payday advances.57 billion, a 5 percent drop from the nearly $11.1 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2007. Sales for the year are up 2 percent to $31.6 billion.

Nonetheless, the company is forecasting slower growth in profits next year because of anticipated weakness in U.S. military spending.

Lockheed Martin employs more than 5,000 people in Central Florida.

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