Residential real estate brokers are an optimistic bunch, finding plenty of room for hope even when the outlook is grim.
But lately, many of them are downright giddy, and for good reason: Evidence is mounting that a new $7,500
government incentive for first-time homeowners is starting to push buyers off the sidelines.
Helped by a combination of plant closures and better emission controls, industrial air pollution in the nine-county region
has fallen 14 percent since the economic boom of the late 1990s, a federal database shows. But even with the reductions, the
metro area will struggle to comply with reduced ground-level ozone limits announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
March 12.
Interstate moving companies have operated for decades under industrywide price fixing blessed by the federal government. But
the system–one Tony Soprano and the boys in the back room of Bada Bing would love–will end Dec. 31, ushering in price cuts
and other changes that could affect the cost of a move.
Some local developers were left scratching their heads last month when the federal government chose an out-of-state company
to develop an FBI field office in Castleton. The U.S. General Services Administration awarded the $38 million project to Lake
Winnebago Mo.-based BC Development Co.
The Indiana National Guard wants to build a downtown monument to commemorate its centuries of history. But concerns over design
threaten to derail the $2.5 million proposal before it gets off the drawing board.
