Bank of America’s chairman and CEO, Kenneth Lewis, has been issued a subpoena by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. According to a CNN:http://www.cnn.com/CRIME/ report, Cuomo is investigating whether Bank of America, which completed its acquisition of Merrill Lynch on January 1st, violated state law by withholding information from investors.

One of the biggest complaints in the workplace today is: There is never enough time to get my work done! PRISM Title & Closing Services, an REO title resolution and closing company based in Northern Kentucky, says there is a solution to this problem and in response, has launched the WORK SMART, Not Hard! time management program.

James B. Lockhart III, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) overseeing GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, recently spoke with members of the American Securitization Forum (ASF) about the role the secondary mortgage market must play in the nation’s housing recovery.

Amicus Professional Legal Services, Inc. recently announced the appointment of Tony Hayden as director of the company’s Florida operations. Amicus, headquartered in Mokena, Illinois, is a national, full-service legal support provider specializing in service of process, skip tracing, default services, and loss mitigation.

Field Asset Services (FAS), a property preservation, REO maintenance, and repair services company based in Austin, Texas, recently announced the promotion of Richard Rice to SVP of client operations. In his new position, Rice will lead and direct two established client teams and will be responsible for bringing in new client contracts.

Livonia, Michigan-based ELK Software LLC, a short sale and loan modification software and services provider for the industry, has released version 1.5 of its Web-based Short Sale Commander technology. Among the system’s enhancements are upgrades that simplify data entry and allow users to run a completely paperless short sale business.

According to a report released today by Boston-based The Warren Group, foreclosure deeds in Massachusetts climbed during the month of January. Foreclosure petitions were also up from December, but actually declined 39 percent from a year earlier, the research company said.

Bensalem, Pennsylvania-based ISGN Corporation, a global provider of mortgage solutions and technology products, has announced several new enhancements to its LenStar technology, a web-based attorney and referral communication system for the default management market.

Freddie Mac has released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending February 19, 2009, showing that mortgage rates fell for all loan products this week. The GSE reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) this week averaged 5.

On Wednesday, the same day President Obama announced the government’s most aggressive effort yet to ignite a housing recovery, the Federal Reserve diminished its economic outlook for 2009 and warned that the U.