Texas city repeals voters' fracking ban
DENTON, Texas -- Leaders of a North Texas city have repealed a voter-approved ban on hydraulic fracturing by energy companies.
The Denton City Council early Wednesday voted 6-1 to drop the fracking ban. The Denton Record-Chronicle said council member Keely Briggs dissented.
Fracking involves blasting a mix of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations to release trapped oil and gas.
Voters in Denton approved the ban last November amid concerns that the process could damage the environment and causes earthquakes. The Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association sued to block the ban.
Gov. Greg Abbott last month signed a law barring local ordinances that prevent fracking and other oil and natural gas activities potentially harmful to the environment.
Denton is 40 miles north of Dallas.
-- The Associated Press
Soggy Louisiana's bean, rice crops wilt
LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Rain across Southwest Louisiana is threatening the survival of soybean and rice crops.
"Overall it's a horrible season, and I don't see much hope," LSU AgCenter extension agent Barrett Courville said. "It is going to be tough even if we dry up, but it is Mother Nature and we can't control it. We just do the best we can."
Weeks of thunderstorms and heavy rains have saturated fields, increasing the presence of disease and mildew on many of the crops, he said.
Many soybean plants are already showing the stress of too much water, he said.
"It has not been a good thing with soybeans," he said. "Things had just finally dried up for planting, then the frequent rains came and have reduced the stands."
Older soybeans crops are also being affected by the rain because farmers cannot get herbicides onto the fields to help control weeds and insects.
Many soybean fields should have been replanted, but mud kept many of the farmers out of the fields, he said.
Relentless rain is also threatening to take its toll on rice crops, he said. "Rice is not as critical, but it is bad because of the moist, humid conditions," he said.
The wet, warm conditions are favorable for development of leaf blast and other disease in many of the crops, Courville said.
-- The Associated Press
U.S. limits 6 big banks' mortgage roles
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and four other big banks are facing new restrictions on their mortgage operations after a federal regulator determined that the banks did not do enough to fix problems in their foreclosure practices in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
The banks had promised in 2011 to change the way they handled foreclosures in a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top bank regulator.
The agency said Wednesday that three large banks -- Bank of America, Citigroup and PNC Financial -- had complied with the 2011 order and an amended version in 2013 and no longer faced restrictions.
But JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Santander, HSBC, US Bank and EverBank will face new limitations on their ability to acquire mortgage-servicing rights from other banks. However, they will not face restrictions on the servicing of mortgages that the banks issue themselves.
In the announcement Wednesday, the agency also said that it was returning $280 million that it had received from the banks in a 2011 settlement related to the financial crisis.
The regulatory agency said it couldn't distribute the money to affected homeowners and was giving the money back to the banks in the hope that they would have more success in finding eligible homeowners to receive the money.
The banks could not all be immediately reached for comment.
-- The New York Times
Season shorter, but maple-syrup haul up
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Colder-than-normal temperatures shortened the maple-sugaring season in the Northeast this year, but overall syrup production in the U.S. still managed to stay strong.
The United States Department of Agriculture says maple syrup production was up 6.3 percent this season from a year ago, with a number of states reporting an increase in tree taps.
The country produced 3.4 million gallons in 2015, with Vermont -- the country's largest maple producer -- yielding about 40 percent of the total, or 1.3 million gallons. New York produced 601,000 gallons, followed by Maine at 553,000 gallons.
The yields per tap and the number of taps were up in most states in the Northeast.
Colder temperatures in February and March -- which is when sap is collected -- shortened the season by three days.
-- The Associated Press
Starbucks to close all La Boulange cafes
Starbucks Corp. will close all 23 of its La Boulange bakery cafes by the end of September, even as the company keeps using the brand to sell food at its coffee shops.
"Starbucks has determined La Boulange stores are not sustainable for the company's long-term growth," the Seattle- based chain said in a statement on Tuesday. "The La Boulange brand will continue to play a significant role in the future of Starbucks food in stores."
Starbucks bought the San Francisco-based Bay Bread and its La Boulange brand in 2012 for $100 million in an attempt to make the company's food offerings more upscale. The French-themed bakery sold homemade granola, flank steak sandwiches and organic bread.
Though Starbucks' food sales rose 16 percent in the most recent quarter, helping fuel growth, the company determined it didn't make sense to operate a separate bakery chain. Starbucks also is closing two manufacturing plants that support La Boulange.
La Boulange's locations were concentrated in San Francisco, though there were branches in Marin County and other parts of the Bay Area. Pascal Rigo, who founded the bakery chain, will now be leaving Starbucks, the company said.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 06/18/2015