Month: December 2023

Federal authorities sued Houston-area developer Colony Ridge on Wednesday, with accusations of them luring Latino home buyers into seller-financed mortgages and setting them up to default and face foreclosure.  The lawsuit comes one week after the Houston Landing published an investigation about Colony Ridge’s lending practices.

Colony Ridge entities developed a collection of subdivisions that cover about 33,000 acres of land 30 miles north of Houston. Federal authorities allege that Colony Ridge used Spanish videos to target prospective Latino buyers, and once a person visited the property, the developer allegedly used high-pressure sales tactics, required minimal down payments and extended loans without assessing a buyer’s ability to repay or verifying their gross income.

Alamdar S. Hamdani, U.S. Attorney for area of Houston, said: “Colony Ridge set out to exploit something as old as America: An immigrant’s dream of owning a home. As alleged in the complaint, Colony Ridge’s exploitative practice began with misleading advertisements on platforms like TikTok and often ended with families facing economic ruin. No home – and shattered dreams.”

Federal authorities also said at a news conference on Wednesday that Colony Ridge also misrepresented facts — such as guarantees of water, electricity and sewer hook-ups — “causing borrowers to incur substantial unanticipated expenses after closing”, federal officials said. Once a buyer fell behind on payments, the company bought the land again and repeated the process — sometimes multiple times with the same piece of property.

Colony Ridge’s chief executive John Harris said Wednesday he was “blindsided” by the lawsuit, which he called “baseless and both outrageous and inflammatory. Our business thrives off customer referrals because landowners are happy and able to experience the American Dream of owning property. We loan to those who have no opportunity to get a loan from anyone else and we are proud of the relationship we have developed with customers. We look forward to telling the true story of Colony Ridge.”

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Xfinity has notified its customers that a hacker data breach obtained access to the personal information of 36 million customers — comprising nearly all of Xfinity’s customers. The data included passwords, user names and security-question answers.

An Xfinity notice to customers this week said that the hack was due to a vulnerability in Citrix software that was patched. Subsequently, Xfinity discovered that hackers had nonetheless gained access to customers’ personal data. The Xfinity notice said: “after additional review of the affected systems and data, Xfinity concluded on December 6, 2023, that the customer information in scope included usernames and hashed passwords; for some customers, other information may also have been included, such as names, contact information, last four digits of social security numbers, dates of birth and/or secret questions and answers.” 

According to Comcast, all Xfinity customers — even those whose accounts might not have been breached — must reset their usernames and passwords, and strongly recommended its customers enable two-factor authorization to secure accounts. It also warned customers to not re-use passwords across multiple platforms.

Comcast noted “while Xfinity advises customers not to re-use passwords across multiple accounts, the company is recommending that customers change passwords for other accounts for which they use the same username and password or security question.” 

Cloud computing company Citrix had announced a vulnerability in its software Oct. 10 and issued mitigation guidance Oct. 23; then on Oct. 25, Xfinity said, it discovered “suspicious activity and subsequently determined that between October 16 and October 19, 2023, there was unauthorized access to its internal systems that was concluded to be a result of this vulnerability.”

Customers with questions can contact Xfinity toll-free at (888) 799-2560 24 hours a day Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time. More information is available on Xfinity’s website at xfinity.com/dataincident.

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Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was the first woman to serve on the High Court, was honored by President Biden and other political figures at her funeral on Tuesday. O’Connor passed away in Phoenix on Dec. 1 at the age of 93.

O’Connor was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate unanimously, becoming the first woman justice in the court’s 191-year history (four women now sit on the Supreme Court).  At her funeral, O’Connor was described as a ‘trailblazing jurist who served as a role model for millions by breaking down gender barriers for women across the legal profession,’ who served on the Supreme Court for more than two decades. President Biden and Chief Justice John Roberts were among those who eulogized the late O’Connor, and all nine sitting justices, as well as retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, attended Tuesday’s services at the National Cathedral in Washington.

Said Biden: “One need not agree with all her decisions in order to recognize that her principles were deeply held and of the highest order, and that her desire for civility was genuine and her trust in the capacity of human institutions to make life better is what this world was abiding. And how she embodied such attributes under such pressure and scrutiny helped empower generations of women in every part of American life … It was a person for all seasons who we saw in that hearing, and the Americans and the world would see through her extraordinary service as a justice and, as I might add, as a citizen,” while adding that O’Connor “broke down the barriers in the legal and political world, and the nation’s consciousness. May God bless Sandra Day O’Connor, an American pioneer.”

Roberts served briefly on the court with O’Connor following his appointment in 2005; he was originally selected to replace O’Connor on the bench, but eventually succeeded Chief Justice William Rehnquist following his death in 2005. Said Roberts of O’Connor: “That distance is a measure of time, but it’s also a measure of Justice O’Connor’s life and work. In nearly a quarter century on the court, she was a strong, influential, and iconic jurist. Her leadership shaped the legal profession, making it obvious that judges are both women and men. The time when women were not on the bench seemed so far away because Justice O’Connor was so good when she was on the bench.”

O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court in 2006 at the age of 75 to take care of her husband following his Alzheimer’s diagnosis. She was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2009. O’Connor died of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness.

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Fresh Express bagged spinach is being recalled in seven states due to a potential health risk. The recall was initiated after the Florida Department of Agriculture tested a “randomly selected” package of spinach as part of its routine sampling activities and received a positive result for the bacteria. According to the FDA, Listeria is an organism which can cause serious or fatal infections in children, the elderly, and others with weakened immune systems.

The affected items include: 8-ounce prepackaged Fresh Express bags with th product code G332 and now expired use-by date of Dec. 15; and 9-ounce prepackaged bags under the Publix brand name with product code G332 and a now expired use-by date of Dec. 14.

The recalled spinach was sold to store in the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. People who have already purchased the spinach are urged to not consume it, and throw it away. As of press time, no illness have been reported in connection to the Fresh Express recall.

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Pope Francis has issued a historic decision allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples. According to a document released on Monday from the Vatican’s doctrine office, Pope Francis says allowing same-sex couples to be blessed is “as an expression of the Church’s maternal heart.”  The announcement comes months after the pope had responded to questions formally submitted by five cardinals about the matter. At that time, the 87-year-old pontiff indicated that he would be open to some Catholic priests blessing same-sex unions.

The document stated: “God never turns away anyone who approaches him! Ultimately, a blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. … It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.” The doctrine, however, stresses that any any “rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage…and what contradicts it are inadmissible.”

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández states that the new declaration that the new rule didn’t amend “the traditional doctrine of the church about marriage,” and that it didn’t allow for liturgical rites that resemble the sacrament of marriage. The document stated that the declaration is intended to allow those seeking the blessing “to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better, and live with greater faithfulness. The Church welcomes all who approach God with humble hearts, accompanying them with those spiritual aids that enable everyone to understand and realize God’s will fully in their existence.”

Pope Francis declared his support for the civil unions of same-sex couples in October 2020 during comments featured in the documentary Francesco.  In March 2021, the Vatican said that the Catholic community should welcome gay people with “respect and sensitivity,” and in July 2023, the pontiff said that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unfair….We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are.”

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The Quaker Oats Company is recalling a variety of granola bars and cereals due to a possible salmonella risk, which can be deadly. The recall affects dozens of Quaker products, including certain varieties of granola bars, boxes of granola cereal, and granola bars included in snack boxes.

Quaker shared a list of the affected products with the Food and Drug Administration, who on Friday announced that the company would be recalling a variety of granola bars and granola cereals due to the possibility that they are contaminated with the bacteria salmonella.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, salmonella is a bacteria that can cause diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and headache. However, a salmonella infection can be more severe for infants and children under 5 years old, people 65 and over, people with weakened immune systems, and people taking certain medications, such as stomach acid reducers.

Quaker said in a release that it “has received no confirmed reports of illness related to the products covered by this recall,” and that it had informed the FDA of the recall.  Affected products were sold in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory of Guam and Saipan, which is part of a U.S. commonwealth.

The list includes certain varieties of Quaker Big Chewy Bars of various flavors, Quaker Chewy Bars of various flavors, Quaker Puffed Granola Cereal of various flavors, Quaker Simply Granola Cereal of various flavors, and a variety of snack boxes with Quaker Chewy bars (Quaker Chocolatey Favorites Snack Mix, Quaker On The Go Snack Mix, and Frito-Lay Snacks Variety Pack With Quaker Chewy.)

The complete list of products affected by the Quaker recall, along with their specific UPCs, expiration dates and photos, are available on the Quaker website. The company said in its release that no other Quaker products are affected.

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