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...National Association of Realtors (NAR) is lobbying for the U.S. government to artificially lower mortgage rates by purchasing loan points for home buyers. They say the program would cost $100 billion, and could raise home prices as much as 4% nationwide. Anyone buying a house for primary residence would be eligible for the mortgage-rate buydown, which would lower a purchaser's loan rate 1% for the life of the loan. They say the incentive should be made available for the next 12 months. "The sentiment in Washington is that we need to get the housing market moving...
...Home buyers have long been able to purchase so-called loan points, which can lower the interest rate they have to pay on their mortgage. Generally, it costs 1% of the total amount of the loan to lower a mortgage rate by a quarter of a percent. That means on a $200,000 loan, a home buyer would pay $8,000 to lower their mortgage rate to 5.5% from the current rate on a 30-year mortgage of about...
...bull riding looks insanely painful. What's the worst injury you've ever had? None of mine have ever been that serious. I broke some ribs and punctured a lung one time and needed to be back riding in about two weeks. I broke both bones in my lower leg one time and was back to competition in two and a half weeks. I had 11 screws and a plate put in my leg. But never anything that's been real life-threatening...
...Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams - which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests - as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. "We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education," says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire...
...worry that proposals such as New Hampshire's could exacerbate existing socioeconomic gaps. One key concern is whether test results, at age 16, are really valid enough to indicate if a child should go to university or instead head to a technical school - with the latter almost certainly guaranteeing lower future earning potential. "You know that the kids sent in that direction are going to be from low-income, less-educated families while wealthy parents won't permit it," says Iris Rotberg, a George Washington University education policy professor, who notes similar results in Europe and Asia. She predicts...