Patt Morrison Tues, 12/9

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

1-3 p.m.

 

1:00 – 1:20

OPEN

 

 

 

1:20 – 2:00

Home Mortgage Modifications Are No Panacea: Default Rates Remain High

Modifying home loans, which is designed to keep owners in their homes while keeping payments flowing into the bank—an innovative solution to curtailing foreclosures and a potential win-win—appear to be no more effective at staving off defaults than the original loan terms.  Data from the Office of the Comptroller Currency, which oversees regulations of all U.S. banks, shows that more than half of loans modified in the first quarter of 2008 fell delinquent within six months.  Considering that loan modification was seen as a possible savior for both banks and homeowners this is devastating news.  Are troubled mortgages beyond help?

 

Guests:

John C. Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency

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• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency charters, regulates and supervises all U.S. banks.  It also supervises the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks.  As Comptroller, John Dugan also serves as a director of the FDIC and a director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.

 

Other guests TBD

 

 

[NPR NEWS]

 

 

2:00 – 2:30

OPEN

 

 

 

2:30 – 3:00

Where’s the Penicillin Puppet? Scary Bacteria Found at Chuck E. Cheese

It’s something every parent has suspected, as they watch their kids play skeet ball and climb through the suspiciously sticky jungle gym: as if enduring painful birthday parties at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant weren’t bad enough, you get the feeling that these kid havens double as germ factories. According to a parenting group that commissioned a microbiologist to test three Chuck E. Cheese locations across L.A., the restaurants are indeed breeding grounds for all kinds of exotic germs and bacteria. From common stomach viruses to germs that cause blood infections, Chuck E. Cheese is a verifiable Petri dish—is your child in danger?

 

Guests:

Charles Gerba, professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona. He is the microbiologist commissioned to do the study.

Call him @