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usatoday.com — Cities and municipalities across the country are pioneering an emerging civic strategy to sue lenders and banks to recoup lost revenue and reclaim neighborhoods devastated by the mortgage crisis. Around the country, the loss of tens of thousands of homes to foreclosure is shrinking cities' tax base, straining city services such as policing, and ruining neighborhoods.

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mcclatchydc.com — In April 1986, Vice President George H.W. Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia with a stern warning to rise oil prices. More than 22 years later, his son George W. Bush is on a similar mission, but with the opposite goal — meeting with Saudi King Abdullah and lobbying for help in bringing down world oil prices. But the world oil market has changed, and Saudi Arabia is far from the only producer holding the fate of U.S. consumers in its hands.

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marketwatch.com — About 360,000 fewer Americans will travel 50 miles or more this Memorial Day weekend as gasoline spikes near $4 a gallon and airlines' fares rise due to higher oil prices, according to AAA. The ranks of U.S. travelers will be dented by about 1 percent, to just under 37.9 million.

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hosted.ap.org — President Bush's Iraq war funding request collapsed in the House as anti-war Democrats and Republicans unhappy about added domestic funding combined to kill — for now — $163 billion to support U.S. troops overseas. The unlikely coalition formed when Republicans expected to provide the winning margin for the Iraq and Afghanistan funding instead sat out the vote in protest. The GOP revolt was a response to Democratic tactics in advancing the must-pass measure, as well as their efforts to add money for the unemployed and an expansion of GI education benefits.

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hosted.ap.org — A key senator postponed action on a homeowner rescue package that could help half a million strapped borrowers get government-backed mortgages, as negotiators inched toward a bipartisan deal. The delay on the action until next week clouded the prospects of an emerging compromise between Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee Chairman, and Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the panel's senior Republican.

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guardian.co.uk — The wave of misery caused by America' sub-prime mortgage crisis engulfed more homeowners in April as foreclosures rose by 65% year-on-year, adding to pressure on the White House to provide relief for stricken borrowers. Banks filed foreclosure papers on 243,353 US properties last month according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for repossessed homes. The figure was up 4% on March and experts suggested that the rate of increase would be higher were it not for a logjam at courtrooms, with over-burdened clerks taking several months to process paperwork.

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money.cnn.com — A federal judge has ruled that a shareholder lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. executives and directors should go to trial, rejecting several arguments by the troubled mortgage lender to dismiss the case. In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer in Los Angeles sided with several public pension funds, finding that their witnesses' accounts of Countrywide's business practices were compelling. Several witnesses gave persuasive accounts of Countrywide's business, including allegations that the company rewarded employees for boosting loan volume rather than for generating quality loans.

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bloomberg.com — The number of Americans filing applications for the first time increased to 371,000, in line with estimates, from 365,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. Companies are stepping up the pace of firings as the worst housing slump in more than a generation undermines home values, consumer spending and overall growth. Economists forecast consumer spending would increase this quarter at the slowest pace in 17 years.

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ap.google.com — The economic downturn is hitting roughly one in 10 middle-aged and older Americans especially hard, compelling them to borrow money for everyday living expenses and to seek help from family, friends or charities, according to a recently released survey. Nearly four in 10 said they had helped a child pay bills or expenses. Among retirees, one-third said they'd helped their children pay bills. Eight percent said they'd helped a parent pay bills or expenses.

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money.cnn.com — FBI officials disclosed complaints of mortgage fraud are piling up at record levels this year, and appear certain to shatter last year's record. Financial institutions received 33,359 "suspicious activity reports" through the first six months of the current fiscal year — compared with 46,717 for the entire previous year — and could hit 70,000 this year. The new volume of formal complaints buttresses FBI Director Robert Mueller's public warning that "as housing prices continue to fall, more financial misdeeds will no doubt come to light."

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