The state of Florida has filed a challenge to the federal requirement that changes in voting procedures in counties with a history of discrimination must first be approved by federal officials. Secretary of State Kurt Browning has been seeking preclearance for Florida’s restrictive new voting law. He criticized the Voting Rights Act’s “arbitrary and irrational coverage formula based on data from 40 years ago that takes no account of current conditions.”
Former top executives of United Commercial Bank Holdings, which took $300 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program money only to fail the following year, face criminal and civil fraud charges. Federal authorities in San Francisco on Oct. 11 accused the bankers of concealing losses on loans and other assets; misleading investors, customers and auditors; and scheming to hide the bank’s true condition from the U.S. Treasury Department.
