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14 hours ago
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PG County Has Long Been a Bastion of Black Wealth. Now It Faces an Uncertain Economic Future.
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — As a special education teacher, Ivan Johnson can't stop worrying about what might lie in store for his students. President Donald Trump has long vowed to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Though he says that his administration won't slash funds for students with disabilities, teachers and advocates worry that moving special education to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — which Trump wants to do — might interrupt the resources schools provide to these students to ensure their success in the classroom. 'One of my biggest concerns is: Will my students actually get their needs met?' Johnson, 38, told Capital B, referring to tools such as the individual education program for special education students. 'The Department of Education is on fire,' added Johnson, who moved from Atlanta to Maryland's majority-Black Prince George's County in 2009 and has been a teacher in the Washington, D.C., region for more than 15 years. 'The kids are going to be left behind.' This is just one of many concerns that Prince George's residents say that they'll be thinking about on Election Day on June 3, when they vote for the next county executive after U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland vacated the seat following her Senate victory last November. Early voting began last week. The race comes at a chaotic time for the county. Until around 2022, Prince George's was the wealthiest majority-Black county in the U.S., its affluence propelled by federal employment. But that prosperity is now in doubt, as the community where the median household income is around $100,000 reels from federal cuts. Residents told Capital B that they want a county executive who will fuel stability and also pay attention to other matters, including business development and public safety. These concerns aren't unique to Prince George's and its 947,000 residents, as other wealthy Black counties in the region, including Maryland's Charles County, face similar challenges. But the Prince George's race between Democratic nominee Aisha Braveboy and Republican nominee Jonathan White provides a snapshot of how Black political leaders across the U.S. are trying to address the needs of their communities at a moment rife with uncertainty. The highest-ranking official in Prince George's, the county executive manages the everyday operations of the county government, including delivering important services to residents and businesses and enforcing laws. Whoever wins this role could work alongside other leaders in the state to confront the fierce political headwinds from the Trump administration, as it takes a hammer to everything from education to health care. This volatile environment is gnawing at Talia Cadet in the run-up to the election. She moved to Prince George's in 2017, pulled by the possibility of living in an area where people who look like her are thriving and forging community. A lifestyle content creator who focuses on Black-owned businesses, she worries about the county's economic future. (She was one of the TikTok stars who joined a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the effort to ban the platform.) 'Given the news about [Prince George's losing] Northwest Stadium and Six Flags, my concern is: What will our next county executive do to bring opportunities here for residents? Not having those things will be significant,' Cadet, 35, told Capital B. 'Lots of Black Americans chose to make Prince George's their home because they saw how they could prosper here.' Officials estimate that these losses could cost Prince George's approximately $12 million in annual tax revenue, a small but not inconsequential portion of the county's $5 billion budget. Also being eliminated are the positions of 70 full-time employees and 700 seasonal employees at Six Flags, where young people often work during the summer. Prince George's 2024 unemployment rate was 3.3%, below the national rate of 4.2%. 'Even in a wealthy county like Prince George's, we experience disparities when it comes to opportunities and businesses,' Cadet said, adding that whenever a major retailer shows up in the county, they tend to settle near College Park, where the University of Maryland's main campus is located. 'No shade to UMD, because it's one of the things that makes Prince George's great, but other areas in the county want access to these things.' Residents believe that boosting economic and business opportunities for youth and adults would not only help Prince George's to maintain its status as a preferred destination for Black Americans during a critical period, but it could also address public safety worries. 'Many kids don't have anything to do, and for some of them, that can get them into trouble — crime, carjacking. The whole time I'm just wondering whether there are enough resources in the community for kids,' Johnson said. 'If we had more things — more attractions, more activities, more restaurants, because when I was in high school, I had a job at a restaurant — then I think that we'd have less crime.' While Cadet generally feels safe in Prince George's, she understands the concerns about public safety, specifically as they relate to investment in youth. The amount of crime, she explained, correlates with the level of investment in schools, recreational activities, housing, employment, social services, and more — all the things that people need to live comfortably. According to police, there's been an overall drop in crime in Prince George's over the past several years: Carjackings, for instance, are down by 33%, and robberies have dropped by 13%. But assaults have increased by 8%. 'If we pour money and resources into our communities — commit to helping parents and guardians and educators and administrators and counselors and all those folks who have a big impact on young people — I think that we'll naturally see a decrease in restlessness and certain kinds of behavior,' Cadet said. Both Braveboy and White have been zeroing in on these concerns on the campaign trail. Braveboy, who was born in Washington, D.C., said that the federal cuts are 'real' and 'serious' and that they'll have a deep impact on the county. There are some 65,000 federal workers in Prince George's, accounting for 17.4% of the county's total workforce and making the federal government Maryland's largest employer, according to a study by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Braveboy said that she's determined to create and sustain wealth in the county. 'One of the ways I can do that is to ensure that our local businesses are actually able to do business with the Prince George's County government,' she told Capital B. 'What I hear too often from residents who do business with the federal government is that when they try to offer similar services to the county government, they can't get a call back — they're shut out. We have to focus on growing our own businesses.' Braveboy has received the enthusiastic backing of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a fellow Democrat, who gained attention in recent months for signing legislation designed to connect fired federal employees with jobs across the state government. Given her work as the state's attorney since 2019, Braveboy also has highlighted how she wants to increase public safety. 'We've charged and prosecuted a number of gang leaders, people involved in organized crime, and people who commit violent crime and domestic abuse. We have very strong conviction rates in all those categories,' she said. 'But the reality is that the circumstances under which people live sometimes, unfortunately, inform their behavior.' In light of this reality, Braveboy noted that she's incorporated restorative programs in her office that encourage people to make better choices. If she wins the June 3 race, she said she hopes to expand on these kinds of programs. White is in alignment with his opponent on these issues. Born in Kentucky, he moved to Prince George's in 1993, and as a U.S. Air Force Veteran, he takes the gutting of the federal workforce personally. 'To be honest, I'm scared,' he told Capital B. 'If we suddenly lose those federal jobs, people's house payments are still due. We have to figure out how to bring additional businesses here to offset that, especially if we're losing the stadium and Six Flags.' One reason White, who volunteers as a football coach, is running is because a couple of kids he used to train were robbed when they got off the bus one day; their shoes and coats were stolen. He also pointed out where there used to be an Ace Hardware that was held up so many times that the owner, a Black man, closed it. This type of stuff shouldn't be happening, White said, echoing some of Braveboy's comments about how residents ought to feel safe in their own neighborhoods. Prince George's has dozens of community centers, he added, but he doesn't see enough emphasis from political leaders on using these centers to offer services and outreach to kids to keep them out of trouble. Compared with others who run under the Republican Party banner, White shows little loyalty to the GOP. According to local news sources, he was listed as a Republican candidate for the same race in 2022, but that same year, he ran as a Democratic candidate for Prince George's County Council, At-Large. He isn't deterred by the fact that, by his own admission, he hasn't got a 'chance in hell' of winning in the deep-blue county. 'It's about community — about putting people first,' White said. 'I'm not here for the Republican Party. I'm not here for the Democratic Party. I'm here for Prince George's County. I just want it better. We deserve better.' The post PG County Has Long Been a Bastion of Black Wealth. Now It Faces an Uncertain Economic Future. appeared first on Capital B News.
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2 days ago
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Yes, immigration is a flash point in Boston's mayoral race. A debate confirmed it
Good Monday morning, everyone. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu made nationwide headlines earlier this year with a defiant appearance before a U.S. House committee probing the city's immigration policies, which bar local cops from cooperating with the feds in civil matters. Wu's main challenger in this year's race for City Hall, philanthropist Josh Kraft, in a rare instance of agreement in what's become an increasingly thorny campaign, said he was onside with that approach. So far, so good, right? Maybe not. Kraft, the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, got some serious pushback during a debate in Dorchester last week after he told a packed house at Prince Hall that he's 'completely against President Trump's mass deportation plans,' and 'will stand with our immigrant community wholeheartedly, no matter who is in the White House.' 'I think it's absolutely abhorrent that federal agents could walk into your place of work, your house of worship or your children's schools and remove you, even if you have zero connection to violent crime,' Kraft said, according to The Boston Herald. The response prompted some in the crowd to stand up and hurl jeers in Kraft's direction, the Herald reported. In turn, an organizer had to take the stage to settle things down. The pump got primed by a question from the debate's moderator, Yawu Miller of Flipside News, the newspaper reported. 'In today's political climate, immigrant communities are increasingly under threat. How would you defend these communities and push back against harmful actions by ICE or a hostile federal administration,' Miller asked, according to the Herald. He had to stop to say 'excuse me' as the majority-Black crowd reacted to his question, the newspaper reported. 'What concrete strategies would you implement to ensure the safety and protection of all residents in Boston, regardless of immigration status?' he continued. Domingos DaRosa, another mayoral aspirant, offered a more conciliatory answer, saying the city had to look after the interests of immigrants and native-born Bostonians alike. Wu, meanwhile, defended the city's immigration policies. 'In Boston, 29% of our residents are immigrants who were born in a different country,' Wu said, according to the Herald. 'We, as a city, have a responsibility to make sure that everyone is getting what they need. I just want to say in this room and in every room, that part of the strategy of those who are trying to make us turn against each other and point fingers is to say there's not enough.' Robert Cappucci, who's also seeking the city's top spot, said he'd work with the Trump administration. 'There are a lot of people very upset in terms of who got here legitimately, who got to live here illegitimately, and again, you go back to love God and love thy neighbor,' Cappucci said, according to The Herald. 'My job would be to try to settle this argument.' The relative comity between Kraft and Wu on the flashpoint issue was a rare oasis of calm in a week in which the two candidates warred over Kraft's Boston bona fides and a flood of dark money into the race. Wu accused Kraft of trying to buy the race after reports surfaced that he planned to inject $2 million of his own money into the campaign, a move that effectively would erase the incumbent mayor's cash advantage. It also was revealed that a pro-Kraft super PAC had dropped more than $1.4 million on attack ads bolstering his candidacy. 'Most Bostonians don't have a billionaire father to buy them a condo so they can move in to run for an office they've never voted for, live in a ward they don't know and spend millions from their family wealth and connections to try to buy the election,' the Democratic incumbent said in a statement released through her campaign. Kraft's campaign fired back. 'Josh Kraft purchased his home with his own money. He has voted in multiple elections as a Boston resident. And he has worked in and around the neighborhoods of Boston for 35 years ― long before Michelle Wu came to Harvard by way of one of the wealthiest suburbs of Chicago,' the campaign said in a statement to MassLive. 'She would rather resort to personal attacks ... than address her record of failures as mayor of Boston - from housing to the Boston Public Schools, from managing the budget to managing her own personnel problems inside City Hall.' One veteran observer put the current tensions at 5 out of a possible 10. But it's still only June, and there's nowhere to go but up. U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-8th District, is officially in the running to become the next top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee. That's the one that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appeared before earlier this year in a headline-grabbing appearance over the city's immigration policies. Lynch, of South Boston, had been unofficially minding the store after U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, of Virginia, who had been the panel's ranking Democrat, announced in late April that he was stepping aside to deal with a recurrence of cancer. Connolly, 75, lost that fight earlier this month, succumbing to the esophageal cancer he had been diagnosed with last November. Connolly's passing opens up what is essentially a generational fight for the top spot on the Oversight Committee, with Lynch, 70, and U.S. Rep. Kwesi Mfume, 76, of Maryland, at the older end of the leadership contest. U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, 47, of California, and Jasmine Crockett, 44, of Texas, and a frequent inquisitor of President Donald Trump, are leading the youth brigade, according to Axios. Lynch made his pitch in a three-page 'Dear Colleague' letter his office shared last week. It stressed his hardscrabble roots in Southie, his background in labor and his involvement in every big committee probe of the last quarter-century. 'I will also always welcome regular input from our caucus as we continue to prepare an investigative oversight record that will be primed and ready for a Democratic majority to hold President Trump fully accountable,' Lynch wrote. A vote on the post is set for June 24, according to Axios. The rent, in case you were wondering, is still too darn high. A single person needs to earn $127,000 to rent an apartment in Greater Boston, making it the third-most expensive metro area in the nation, according to an analysis by Zillow. The top two markets were San Jose, California ($137K) and New York City ($145K), according to the analysis. The three most affordable markets were Buffalo, New York ($55K), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ($56K) and Louisville, Kentucky ($57K). The analysis found that renters need to make six figures to 'comfortably' afford rent in eight major markets across the country. That's up from four markets just five years ago. Since April 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rent for a typical U.S. apartment soared by 28.7% to $1,858 − which would, like, get you a couch, in the Seaport. Rent for a single-family home nationwide increased by an eye-watering 42.9% to $2,256, or a garage in Wellesley, probably. The median household income, at the same time, has only risen by 22.5% to around $82,000, vividly reminding people, in case they needed it, that wages haven't kept up with skyrocketing housing costs. Another reminder from Zillow: Boston remains one of the handful of U.S. cities where renters are on the hook for broker fees ― usually the equivalent of a month's rent — that come on top of security deposits and advance payments. And that also drives up costs. Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are weighing competing plans to spike them. But success is, by no means, assured. 'The greatness of America, the greatness of Harvard is reflected in the fact that someone like me could be invited to speak to you.' — Abraham Verghese, Stanford University professor, infectious disease doctor, best-selling writer and immigrant, as he delivered Harvard University's 374th commencement address last week. Many foreign students already fleeing Harvard University due to Trump order Sen. Warren, Mass. pols demand answers from Trump on 'attacks on international students' 'Global order has been upset': World Affairs Council gauges tariff war impact on Western Mass Mass. AG sues Trump administration over cuts to scientific research Mass. Gov. Healey slams ICE over migrant arrests on Nantucket, Vineyard No more 'fricking barber poles': Gov. Healey says as Mass. looks to shred regs A 'historic battle': Mass pols protest Medicaid cuts in 'Big Beautiful Bill' | John L. Micek With the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill just a couple of weeks away on June 17, Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin holds a briefing this Tuesday morning on events celebrating the big day. He'll be joined at the 10 a.m. news conference at the battlefield site at 43 Monument Square in Charlestown by Simone Monteleone, who's the acting superintendent for the National Parks of Boston, his office said in a statement. Galvin, in case you were wondering, is the chair of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, in addition to serving as chief overseer of the state's elections. Singer Halsey brings her 2025 tour to the XFinity Center in scenic Mansfield at 7 p.m. Wednesday. (tickets and more info here). From the film 'Ballerina,' here's the latest single 'Hand That Feeds.' Amy Lee, of Evanescence, also guests. There's no doubt that every shooting death is a tragedy, and it leaves survivors with mental and physical scars that last a lifetime. But new research shows that, when it comes to the lasting mental trauma of these explosions of violence, not all shootings are created equal. In April, research published by the journal Nature Mental Health found that people who survive 'commonplace' gun violence, such as robberies or domestic violence, had reported longer-term mental health symptoms than people who had survived mass shootings, according to The Trace, a publication that tracks gun violence nationwide. Here's the germane bit: ''What surprised us a bit was that people who experienced non-mass shooting gun violence were more likely to have their symptoms last a year or longer,' said Jillian Peterson, executive director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University in Minnesota and the study's lead author.' 'A mass shooting — defined in the study as four or more people shot in a single incident — is a shared experience that prompts public attention and communal social support, said the study's coauthor, David Pyrooz, a sociology professor and criminologist at the University of Colorado's Institute for Behavioral Science. 'And that helps to resolve some of the distress that comes from it.'" ''When we had the King Soopers shooting, there was 'Boulder Strong,' donations, and an outpouring of support from the community,' he said, referring to the 2021 mass shooting. 'But when there is a robbery with a firearm, you don't get that same sort of outpouring.'' 'The largest discrepancy was in long-term post-traumatic stress symptoms. Among non-mass shooting survivors, 60% of those threatened with a gun, 65% of people who were shot at but not hit, and 44% of those who were hit reported long-term PTSD.' 'By comparison, long-term PTSD among people who experienced mass shootings ranged between 20 and 30%, depending on the type of exposure. The researchers surveyed a nationally representative sample of 10,000 adults.' 'Survivors of isolated incidents are often specifically targeted, which can hinder recovery. And the violation of safety and trust inherent in violence by someone you know can lead to more severe PTSD than mass shootings, said Mayer Bellehsen, a clinical psychologist at Northwell Health in New York.' That's it for today. As always, tips, comments and questions can be sent to jmicek@ Have a good week, friends. The piece of the Mass. budget that passes all understanding | John L. Micek A 'historic battle': Mass pols protest Medicaid cuts in 'Big Beautiful Bill' | John L. Micek Mass. Rep. Trahan's 'Les Miz' moment on Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' | Bay State Briefing Read the original article on MassLive.
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4 days ago
- General
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Melvindale police corporal alleges racism, religious bias in suit targeting department
A Muslim police officer alleges in a new lawsuit that supervisors and colleagues at the Melvindale Police Department targeted him because of his religion and ethnicity, leaving crosses and a Christian Bible in his work mailbox and trying to get him to quit the force. Corporal Hassan Hammoud also alleges in the lawsuit, filed May 29 in Wayne County Circuit Court, that racism is widespread in the police department and officers talk about "going hunting" when policing parts of the city closest to Detroit, a majority-Black city. Hammoud, who was born in Lebanon and joined the department in 2021, alleges members of the department used racial slurs to refer to Black people and would informally use a code number — "04" — to reference harassment of Black residents. The city of Melvindale and the Melvindale Police Department are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Melvindale Police Chief Robert Kennaley and Melvindale Corporation Counsel Lawrence Coogan did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages left May 29. Hammoud is still employed at the department, according to the lawsuit, but says he has been on administrative leave since January "due to mental health issues caused by the working conditions that made the terms of his employment intolerable." The suit alleges that Hammoud was subjected to unspecified racial harassment from a colleague in 2021 and complained to Kennaley, who at that time was still a sergeant. Hammoud alleges that two corporals made unspecified racist comments in his presence, one of them over the course of several years. Hammoud says in the lawsuit he confronted one of the corporals about racist remarks but was afraid of losing his job if he complained to supervisors. The suit says he did make repeated complaints to Kennaley and a lieutenant about discriminatory treatment. More: Amid surveillance concerns, Dearborn approves $720K for police access to real-time videos Hammoud alleges he found in his police mailbox: A photograph of a nude girl in September 2024; A wooden Christian cross the day after he found the photograph; A job application for a pizza restaurant, with a note saying, "Go," in October 2024; and A Christian Bible and cross the day after he found the job application form. 'This lawsuit reveals a deeply disturbing culture of racism and religious bigotry that not only isolates and punished Corp. Hammoud because of his religion and race, but also directs that bias outward toward the communities the department is sworn to protect," Hammoud's Detroit attorney, Jonathan Marko, said in a news release. "The City of Melvindale has allowed a system of discrimination to flourish unchecked — and our client is stepping forward to ensure accountability." Melvindale man's planned terrorist attack at Warren military base is thwarted, feds say The suit alleges Kennaley failed to act on his complaints, told him to stop writing up fellow officers for alleged racist language and conduct, and retaliated against him for continuing to complain. The suit alleges racist conduct by at least two specific officers but neither those officers nor Kennaley are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The suit alleges violations of Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act through unequal treatment, a hostile work environment, and retaliation. It seeks unspecified monetary damages. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Melvindale officer alleges police racism, religious bias in lawsuit
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5 days ago
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BancFirst to buy Oklahoma lender hit with DOJ redlining order
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. Oklahoma City-based BancFirst has agreed to buy in-state peer American Bank of Oklahoma, a Collinsville-based privately held community lender. The acquisition will add roughly $385 million in total assets, $280 million in loans and $320 million in deposits to BancFirst's $14 billion in assets, the larger lender said last week. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, according to the press release. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. BancFirst aims to leverage ABOK's presence in the Tulsa metro area with its Collinsville and Skiatook branches, about 20 miles north of Tulsa. 'Collinsville and Skiatook are thriving communities that continue to experience dynamic growth in Northeastern Oklahoma,' BancFirst CEO David Harlow said in a statement. 'We are excited to welcome the American Bank of Oklahoma team and their customers to BancFirst. This acquisition aligns with our continued commitment to serving communities here in our home state.' BancFirst's last acquisition, The First National Bank and Trust Company of Vinita, was placed under a prompt corrective action directive by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January 2021, just before the acquisition was announced. The OCC deemed the bank to be engaging in unsafe and unsound practices and notified the lender it would be subjected to supervisory actions applicable to undercapitalized lenders. A month later, BancFirst announced the purchase and assumption of assets and liabilities of the troubled bank. ABOK has had its share of challenges as well. In February, ABOK was fined $7,500 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for violating FDIC rules related to flood insurance. The lender allegedly failed to obtain sufficient flood insurance coverage for properties in special flood hazard areas and ensure proper coverage before loan origination, increase, extension, or renewal. ABOK agreed to pay the civil money penalty without denying or admitting to the findings. In August 2023, ABOK agreed to pay more than $1.15 million to settle a Justice Department investigation into allegations that the lender engaged in inadequate mortgage lending practices in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Tulsa metropolitan area from 2017 to at least 2021. Under the consent order, the lender was required to open a branch in a majority-Black and Hispanic census tract within its four-county lending area around Tulsa. Additionally, ABOK was required to put at least $950,000 in a loan fund to subsidize mortgages and home improvement financing in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. ABOK, for its part, denied the DOJ's allegations that the bank failed to monitor and address fair lending risk appropriately. The community bank had a partial win when a magistrate judge removed two references to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre from the redlining consent order to which the bank had objected. ABOK noted that the DOJ's decision to reference the 'distressing historical event' in its complaint was concerning since the bank was established 77 years after the massacre. BancFirst did not respond to requests for comments by press time. ABOK will operate under its present name until the merger with BancFirst is completed, the company said. 'Joining forces with BancFirst represents a great opportunity for our customers and employees to join one of the strongest banks in the country,' Teresa Brown, CEO of American Bank of Oklahoma. 'We share common values and a commitment to local service, and we look forward to the partnership.' BancFirst also operates two subsidiary Texas state-chartered banks: Pegasus Bank, headquartered in Dallas, and Worthington Bank, headquartered in Arlington. BancFirst has 104 locations with over 2,000 employees serving 60 counties in Oklahoma. Recommended Reading Valley National Bank to buy Bank Leumi's US arm in $1.15B deal Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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5 days ago
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DOJ, CFPB seek to end Trustmark redlining consent order early
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. The Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a motion last week to terminate a consent order against Trustmark Bank over allegations the Jackson, Mississippi-based lender engaged in redlining between 2014 and 2018. The 2021 consent order marked the launch of a concerted effort by the DOJ, CFPB and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency during the Biden administration to root out racial discrimination in mortgage lending. Throughout three years, the agencies agreed to 15 settlements that brought $150 million in relief, the DOJ said last October. Trustmark has paid a $5 million penalty in connection with the order and disbursed $3.85 million into a loan subsidy program meant to increase the bank's lending presence in majority-Black and majority-Hispanic neighborhoods in the Memphis, Tennessee, area, and took steps to implement improved fair lending procedures, the DOJ and CFPB argued last week. Trustmark's consent order was to remain in effect for five years. Terminating the order now would free the bank 17 months early. The DOJ and CFPB seek to have it dismissed with prejudice, too, so future iterations of the agencies can't file claims later on the same allegations. 'Trustmark has demonstrated a commitment to remediation, and … [the bank] is substantially in compliance with the other monetary and injunctive terms of the Consent Order,' the agencies wrote in paperwork filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. The bank likewise referenced its 'commitment to remediation' and 'substantial compliance' with the consent order in a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the matter. The CFPB alleged in 2021 that Trustmark failed to adequately market, offer or originate home loans to consumers in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and around Memphis. Specifically, just four of the bank's 25 Memphis-area branches were in majority-nonwhite neighborhoods at the time, and none of the four had an assigned mortgage loan officer, the bureau said at the time. Further, Trustmark did not establish internal committees to oversee fair lending until August 2018, after the OCC launched an exam of the bank's fair-lending practices. 'The federal government will be working to rid the market of racist business practices, including those by discriminatory algorithms,' the CFPB's then-director, Rohit Chopra, said, noting the launch of the anti-redlining effort. Despite being used as a benchmark, the Trustmark settlement was hardly the first of the Biden era. The DOJ had reached an $8.5 million settlement with Cadence Bank just two months earlier over allegations the lender engaged in redlining in Houston from 2013 to 2017. But the Trustmark order signaled a lock-step among regulators. Observers might argue Trump administration regulators are aligning in a similar lock-step now, with different priorities. The CFPB, for example, dismissed 18 lawsuits and three civil investigative demands against various firms between February and early May, American Banker reported. So last week's Trustmark motion is in character. The DOJ and CFPB noted in their motion that 'modifications' to the 2021 consent order 'may be made upon approval of the Court, by motion by any Party, and that the Parties will work cooperatively to propose modifications if there are changes in material factual circumstances.' Trustmark's $5 million penalty was far from the highest from the cooperative anti-redlining effort. That distinction belongs to Royal Bank of Canada subsidiary City National Bank, which was ordered to pay $31 million in 2023. Recommended Reading Shared zeal for CRA reform leads OCC chief, entrepreneur to rare rapport
