Manhattan Democrat Charlie Rangel says he’s sorry for the comments he made recently that Harlem is so unsafe these days that even the highly protected president of the United States would run into trouble with New York’s finest if he didn’t have his ID with him. He made the statement following the fatal shooting of a Black police officer by a White fellow officer last week. Read more.

The family of Sean Bell, the New York man killed in a barrage of police bullets in 2006, is pushing to get the Queens street where he died named after him, reports the New York Daily News. Relatives met with the local Community Board 12 about renaming the street in Jamaica, Queens after Bell, and they sent out flyers urging people to come out to the board meeting where the issue was to be discussed. However, a representative for the board called Bell’s family days before the meeting was to take place and informed them that the topic wasn’t on the calendar, reports the paper.  Click for more.

Mortgage Brokers Jerked Minority Borrowers Two major mortgage brokerage companies, which consistently zapped Black and Hispanic borrowers with substantially higher interest rates than Whites, must pay $665,000 in restitution. Under the terms of the agreement between HCI Mortgage, Consumer One Mortgage and the New York Attorney General’s Office, the companies must compensate 445 minority clients. New York filed suit following an investigation of GreenPoint Mortgage Funding, a division of Capital One Financial, found discriminatory lending practices.  HCI, Consumer One and U.S. Capital Funding did “substantial business” with GreenPoint, said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. In March 2007, Capital One agreed to pay $1 million in compensation. The U.S. Capital Funding suit has yet to be resolved. The settlements will “ensure mortgage brokers comply with the law and offer fair and legitimate rates to all New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. The Black and Hispanic borrowers who used HCI Mortgage paid about 50 percent, or about $2,500, more than White clients.
Car-jacking Suspects Arrested in Atlanta. Police arrested two men Tuesday who allegedly jacked a Jaguar in downtown Atlanta after their car slammed into other vehicles, injuring two other people, including a 12-year-old boy. Both suspects were also injured and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.