Breast-cancer awareness at Panera

Breast-cancer awareness at Panera

WARREN

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Panera Bread will host its annual Go Pink Day on Wednesday.

All six Mahoning Valley Panera bakery-caf s will donate 100 percent of proceeds from Pink Ribbon Bagel sales to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Valley locations include Boardman, Austintown, Canfield, Niles, Warren and Hermitage, Pa.

Last year, the event raised $10,000 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Representatives from Zeta Tau Alpha and Genesis Breast Center in Boardman will distribute information at various locations about the importance of mammography and breast-cancer awareness and research.

Throughout the rest of October, Panera will donate 10 percent of proceeds from each Pink Ribbon Bagel sold.

Calif. backs out of bank settlement

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris said Friday that she will not agree to a settlement over foreclosure abuses that federal officials and other state attorneys general are negotiating with major U.S. banks.

Her announcement is the latest to undermine a settlement that had been in the works between the banks and attorneys general in all 50 states. Other states including New York also have expressed reservations.

The agreement was supposed to settle claims of poor mortgage and foreclosure practices, including document fraud known as “robo-signing.”

However, Harris said the pending deal is “inadequate for California homeowners” and gives bank officials too much legal immunity.

Verizon sues over ‘net neutrality’ rules

WASHINGTON

Verizon Communications, the largest U.S. cellphone carrier, is suing to overturn new government regulations governing the flow of Internet traffic.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Washington’s U.S. Court of Appeals contends the Federal Communications Commission overstepped its authority in setting its so-called “net neutrality” rules last year. The regulations are scheduled to go into effect in two months. They prohibit Internet-service providers from discriminating against or giving special treatment to particular online services or content.

Mortgage rates are lowest on record

WASHINGTON

Mortgage rates have skated near record lows for weeks. But now it finally can be said: Long-term rates in the United States have never been lower.

This week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.01 percent, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said in its weekly report. That’s the lowest since it began keeping records in 1971.

For months, Freddie had pointed to data from the National Bureau of Economic Research showing that rates were lower in the early 1950s, when long-term mortgages typically lasted just 20 or 25 years.

But Freddie says that’s no longer true: Today’s average 30-year rate is even lower than the average 20- or 25-year rate was in the 1950s.

Vindicator staff/wire reports