Washington, DC -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), has filed lawsuits against 17 financial institutions, certain of their officers and various unaffiliated lead underwriters. The suits allege violations of…

OUTER BANKS, N.C. A series of before and after aerial photos coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/irene/photo-comparisons/ of the Outer Banks show the impact of Hurricane Irene on the coastline, highlighting several breaches that severed a state highway and moved large volumes of sand inland.…

Rivers and streams are reaching record levels as a result of Hurricane Irenes rainfall, with more than 80 U.S. Geological Survey streamgages measuring record peaks. The northeast is seeing the bulk of the records, as higher than average precipitation the…

The GOES-13 satellite saw Hurricane Irene on August 27, 2011 at 10:10 a.m. EDT after it made landfall at 8 a.m. in Cape Lookout, North Carolina. Irene's outer bands had already extended into New England. (Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project) From…

This visible image of Hurricane Irene from the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite was taken at August 26 at 12:30 p.m. EDT, when Hurricane Irene was off the Carolinas. (Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team) Hurricane Irene was…

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Satellite known as TRMM has the ability to measure rainfall from space, and can also provide scientists with cloud heights, eyewall and lightning information. These images and captions of Hurricane Irene were provided by NASA…

Infrared satellite imagery provides forecasters with the location of the highest, strongest thunderstorms that make up Hurricane Irene, and there is a large area of them. This infrared image from the AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite shows Hurricane Irene…

Hurricane Irene is a major hurricane, and NASA satellite data shows its diameter is now about one-third the length of the U.S. Atlantic coastline. Meanwhile, far in the eastern Atlantic Ocean a tenth tropical depression formed. One satellite image captured…

High above the Earth from aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Ron Garan snapped this image of Hurricane Irene as it passed over the Caribbean on Aug. 22, 2011. The National Hurricane Center noted on Aug. 22 that Irene is…

Operation Shadowbox targets Mexican and Iraqi drug trafficking organizations SAN DIEGO Operation Shadowbox has resulted in the arrests of 60 defendants as part of a takedown targeting Mexican and Iraqi drug trafficking organizations. In January of 2011, El Cajon PD…

WASHINGTON The owner of a Baton Rouge, La., durable medical equipment (DME) company, a medical doctor and two patient recruiters were each convicted late yesterday for their roles in a $4.7 million Medicare fraud scheme. After a two-week trial, Nnanta…

Two Southern California men were charged today in a federal narcotics case stemming from their involvement in a conspiracy to transport 70 kilograms of cocaine from California to North Carolina. Bobby Ray Palacios, 40, of Buena Park, and Jose Carlos…