Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Fixing for a Slowdown

  Published: October 6, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Fixing, For, Slowdown, Bethesda, Frank Dertzbaugh, Gopal Ahluwalia, Steve Martin, Israel, Kermit Baker, Virginia, Washington Dc, Carpenter Construction Co, Arlington, Kensington, Larry Pratt, Mark Richardson, Mclean Virginia, Purcellville, Sal Alfano, Sherry Frazier, Stephen

  It wasn't long ago that Stephen Israel dreaded the thought of renovating his home. Just finding contractors, electricians and carpenters was an ordeal.

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• N.Va. Trash Regulators Struggle With Repeat Offenders

  Published: October 6, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: N Va, Trash, Regulators, Struggle, Repeat, Offenders, Fairfax, Ishmael Wright, Charles D Forbes, Prince William County, Loudoun County, Ashburn Virginia, Tom Smith, Belmont, Mclean Virginia, Monica Gorman, Northern Virginia, Washington Dulles International Airport, Fairfax

  Over the past year, a trash company with more than 40,000 Northern Virginia customers has been cited for dozens of safety, environmental and licensing violations and has refused, at times, to respond to regulators' complaints.

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• Building Blackwater

  Published: October 13, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Building, Blackwater, Blackwater Manufacturing, Iraq, United States, U S Department Of State, Afghanistan, Michigan, Baghdad, George H W Bush, Central Intelligence Agency, North Carolina, Dyncorp International Llc, Capitol Hill, Fallujah, Kenneth Starr, Mclean Virginia

  MOYOCK, N.C. Erik Prince bounded up the stairs of a sand-colored building and paused on the flat roof, a high point of the 7,000-acre facility in North Carolina known as Blackwater Lodge and Training Center.

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• Building Blackwater

  Published: October 13, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Building, Blackwater, Blackwater Manufacturing, Iraq, United States, U S Department Of State, Afghanistan, Michigan, Baghdad, George H W Bush, Central Intelligence Agency, North Carolina, Dyncorp International Llc, Capitol Hill, Fallujah, Kenneth Starr, Mclean Virginia

  MOYOCK, N.C. Erik Prince bounded up the stairs of a sand-colored building and paused on the flat roof, a high point of the 7,000-acre facility in North Carolina known as Blackwater Lodge and Training Center.

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• Sunrise Chief Names Directors Leading Inquiry

  Published: October 17, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Sunrise, Chief, Names, Directors, Leading, Inquiry, Paul Klaassen, Service Employees International Union, Con Hitchcock, Delaware, Amalgamated Bank, Aaron Brenner, Ontario, Sunrise Senior Living Inc, Europe, Mclean Virginia, North America, Stephen D Harlan, Unionville, Walt

  After weeks of prodding by some shareholders, Sunrise Senior Living founder and chief executive Paul Klaassen yesterday let slip just how many of the company's nine directors are on a committee looking into allegations of financial misconduct.

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• Capital One Reports Loss From Closing Mortgage Unit

  Published: October 19, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Capital, One, Reports, Loss, From, Closing, Mortgage, Unit, Capital One Financial Corporation, Richard Fairbank, Economy Com Inc, Stifel Nicolaus Amp Co Inc, The Thomson Corporation, Christopher Brender, Mclean Virginia, Scott Hoyt

  Capital One Financial of McLean posted its first quarterly loss ever, from the expense of shutting down its mortgage lender, and warned of additional challenges in the credit card and auto finance businesses.

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• Custom Design, Off-the-Shelf Budget

  Published: October 20, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Custom, Design, Off The Shelf, Budget, Johannes Zutt, American Institute Of Architects, Barbara Bent, Catherine K Henry, David Keene, Mclean Virginia, Peter Grina, Suzane Reatig, Vienna, Montgomery County Maryland, Architectural Digest, Chesapeake Bay, Chevy Chase, Franci

  Unique angles. Tall ceilings. Half walls. Open space.

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• Shareholders At Sunrise Vote Down 2 Board Issues

  Published: October 23, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Shareholders, Sunrise, Vote, Down, Board, Issues, Delaware, Craig R Callen, Paul J Klaassen, Aetna Inc, Sunrise Senior Living Inc, Europe, Lisa Fairfax, Lynn Krominga, Mclean Virginia, North America, Stephen Abrecht, Thomas Lys, Kellogg School Of Management, Northweste

  Shareholders have rebuffed Sunrise Senior Living, the McLean assisted-living provider, on two issues of corporate governance.

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• Freddie Mac Woes Foreshadowed

  Published: October 23, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Freddie, Mac, Woes, Foreshadowed, Leland C Brendsel, Freddie Mac Holdings, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Stephen E Hart, The Washington Post Company, Mclean Virginia, William B Moran

  Years before Freddie Mac was rocked by an accounting scandal, billionaire investor Warren Buffett got on the phone with Freddie Mac chairman Leland C. Brendsel and explained why he was selling shares of the giant mortgage funding company.

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• Fannie, Freddie Portfolios Shrink

  Published: October 27, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Fannie, Freddie, Portfolios, Shrink, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Holdings, Office Of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Federal Financial Analytics Inc, Mclean Virginia, Michael Cosgrove, Washington Dc

  Though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been arguing that they should be granted authority to buy more mortgages to help ease a credit crunch, data released by the companies this week show that they haven't been using the authority they already possess.

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• Web's New Field of Dreams Emerges in D.C.

  Published: November 5, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Web S, New, Field, Dreams, Emerges, D C, Facebook Inc, Chris Mcgill, Aol Llc, Yahoo Inc, Youtube Inc, Mclean Virginia, Toby Murdock, Myspace Inc, Elias Shams, Phil Bronner, Silver Spring, Steve Case, Tim O Shaughnessy, Google Inc, Intersouth Partners, Novak Biddle Ventu

  The wave of social networking and interactive content companies that has washed over Silicon Valley, promising to upend Internet business models, has reached the Washington area.

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• Can Va.'s Davis Team Divorce Themselves From Politics?

  Published: November 10, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Can, Va S, Davis, Team, Divorce, Themselves, From, Politics, Tom Davis, Virginia, Fairfax County, Gary H Baise, U S Senate, David B Albo, Jim Gilmore, John Warner, Mclean Virginia, Michael Bloomberg, Michael W Thompson, Northern Virginia, Richmond, Girl Scouts Of The United S

  Theirs is a partnership of politics and ambition that formed a decade ago and grew into something more.

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• Sales of Children's Cold Remedies Drop

  Published: November 18, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Sales, Children S, Cold, Remedies, Drop, Laura R Moorer, Randy Tidd, Food And Drug Administration, Acnielsen Corporation, Elizabeth A Funderburk, Wal Mart Stores Inc, Charles Ganley, Edward M Kennedy, Henry Waxman, Jennifer C Frighetto, Joanna Sexter, Mclean Virginia

  Sales of over-the-counter cold remedies for children have fallen sharply since a federal panel concluded they should not be used for children younger than 6 because of a dearth of evidence that they work and concerns they can be dangerous.

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• Private Foundations For the Common Man

  Published: November 18, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: Private, Foundations, For, The, Common, Man, Constance Lane, South Dakota, David M Bradt Jr, Rapid City, Internal Revenue Service, Amanda Stanfield, Tim Walter, Montana, North Carolina, Fidelity Investments, Bill Gates, Fairfax, John Dedon, Mclean Virginia, Warren Buffett

  In the late 1980s, Constance Lane and her brother, Landon, faced a difficult decision. The furniture business founded by their grandfather had been sold. The deal had given them stock in the new owner, but an attempted hostile takeover of that company had driven up the value of their holdings, at...

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• News Gets Worse for Freddie As Shareholders File Lawsuit

  Published: November 22, 2007, 12:00 am

  Tags: News, Gets, Worse, For, Freddie, Shareholders, File, Lawsuit, Freddie Mac Holdings, Fannie Mae, David R Palombi, Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman Amp Robbins Llp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Lehman Brothers Inc, Manhattan, Mclean Virginia, Washington Dc

  One day after reporting a $2 billion quarterly loss, Freddie Mac found itself the target of a shareholder lawsuit accusing the mortgage-funding giant of misleading investors about its risk-management practices.

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