In 2013, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act introduced the qualified mortgage concept, which was designed to eliminate the market abuses that had led to the financial crisis a few years earlier. Like most crisis-induced legislation, Dodd/Frank is replete with flaws, and the qualified mortgage concept (henceforth QM) is...Read more

Q: I live in a two-story condo on the second floor. I have access through a trap door in the ceiling of my unit to the attic. I placed a small deck of plywood and use the space in the attic to store holiday decorations. The fire marshal said it was OK to use the area for noncombustible items. Our board members now say we cannot store anything ...Read more

It's my experience that the more fuss businesses kick up about consumer-related legislation, the more likely it is such a bill is needed and would be an effective deterrent to bad practices.

That seems to be the case with a bill scheduled to be heard this week in the California Senate, SB 1121, which would make it potentially very costly for ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday afternoon that his "big news" for U.S. autoworkers could have to do with plans to rewrite -- or withdraw from -- the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Wednesday morning, Trump posted a cryptic message on Twitter, saying there would be "big news coming soon for our great American ...Read more

Snap Inc. will dole out $150,000 investments to various media start-ups this fall as part of an accelerator program it announced Wednesday called Yellow.

For the first cohort of the program, which starts in September and goes for three months, the company is seeking start-ups that "have a vision for what mobile storytelling can be."

In ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Beekeepers in the U.S. reported an increase in honeybee deaths over the last year, possibly the result of erratic weather patterns brought on by a changing climate, according to the scientist leading an annual survey on the insects.

U.S. beekeepers said 40 percent of their hives, also called colonies, died unexpectedly during the ...Read more

Starbucks has confirmed a rumor that has been spreading faster than offers on its app.

The chain is discontinuing its Breakfast Blend coffee. Baristas at South Florida Starbucks outlets and nationwide have been quietly telling customers for a month that Breakfast Blend was soon to be discontinued.

A representative from the corporate office in ...Read more

LAS VEGAS -- A labor union representing thousands of culinary workers in Las Vegas has voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike next month if casinos don't agree to a proposed five-year contract.

The vote among the 25,000-member Culinary Union was 99 percent in favor of allowing a strike the day after the current contract expires on May 31, ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff, a billionaire who started his cloud-based business-software company in a San Francisco apartment nearly 20 years ago, used Tuesday's grand opening of the new 1,070-foot-tall Salesforce Tower as a clarion call for the city to recommit itself to ending family homelessness on San Francisco's...Read more

Just who is buying the much ballyhooed Tesla Model 3 sedan?

According the California New Car Dealers Association, 3,723 people in the state during the first quarter of the year, that's who.

The CNCDA, which released its latest data on new car registrations late Tuesday, said those Model 3 numbers were enough to put the car on top of the "Near ...Read more

Earlier this year, I brought home something both completely life-changing and terrifying. Sure, I could be talking about Makena, my now 3-month old baby girl. But really I'm referring to Snoo, the smart bassinet that my husband and I purchased after a month or so of sleep deprivation.

The invention of Dr. Harvey Karp, the pediatrician and ...Read more