White farmers claim bias in loan program
A group of Midwestern farmers sued the federal government Thursday alleging they can’t participate in a COVID-19 loan forgiveness program because they’re white.
The group of plaintiffs includes farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota and Ohio. According to the lawsuit, the Biden administration’s COVID-19 stimulus plan provides $4 billion to forgive loans for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers who are Black, American Indian, Hispanic, Alaskan native, Asian American or Pacific Islander.
White farmers aren’t eligible, amounting to a violation of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, the lawsuit contends.
“Because plaintiffs are ineligible to even apply for the program solely due to their race, they have been denied the equal protection of the law and therefore suffered harm.,” the lawsuit said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a statement saying it was reviewing the lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice, but that the USDA plans to continue to offer loan forgiveness to “socially disadvantaged” farmers.
Mortgage rates up but still under 3%
Mortgage rates rose slightly this week after three weeks of declines as new economic data underscores the recovering economy’s strength. The benchmark 30-year home loan, however, remains below 3%.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average 30-year rate ticked up to 2.98% from 2.97% last week. At this time last year, the long-term rate was 3.23%.
The rate for a 15-year loan, popular among those seeking to refinance, rose to 2.31% from 2.29% last week.
Experts are expecting mortgage rates to increase modestly in the short term, while remaining at low levels in light of the Federal Reserve’s goal of keeping its key interest rate near zero until the economy recovers from the pandemic.
Twitter profits rise but shares decline
Like its bigger tech peers, Twitter posted stronger-than-expected results for the first quarter on Thursday.
But its lukewarm revenue outlook sent shares tumbling after hours.
The San Francisco-based company earned $68 million, or 8 cents per share, in the January-March period. Twitter had 199 million daily users, on average, in the third quarter, up 20% year-over-year and slightly below the 200 million that analysts were expecting.
Twitter said it expects revenue between $980 million and $1.08 billion for the second quarter. The midpoint of that is below analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion.
– Compiled by Dave Flessner