NPR 2012-06-20

 J.P. Morgan Chase maintains the bank was upfront with investors 1 about its two billion dollar plus trading loss, though it’s under investigation 2 by federal regulators. For the second time in less than a week, CEO Jamie Dimon has testified before a congressional panel. Today he told the House Banking 3 Committee that the bank trusted its risk assessment 5 models, which provided the best information at the time.

 
“We have hundreds, maybe thousands of models. They’re periodically changed, updated. We intend to usually make them better. They’re costly 6, being tried to be improved.”
 
Earlier, lawmakers heard from SEC Chairman Mary Shapiro, who said the agency was looking at whether J.P. Morgan Chase misled investors in its April earnings 7 statements.
 
President Obama’s trying to get assurances from his European counterparts, said they will not allow the eurozone’s debt contagion 8 to spread overseas to other fragile economies in recovery. On the final day of the G20 summit in Mexico, the president and others repeated their pledge to exhaust all means to keep the global economy growing, but Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti also echoed some frustration 9, saying the eurozone is “certainly not the only imbalance in the world’s economy.” He said the US’s own problems were mentioned in G20 talks, which can wrap up today.
 
No new Greek government is yet formed, and some top politicians are demanding a renegotiation of European Union bailout terms as a condition for joining a coalition 10. Teri Schultz reports from Brussels, where officials continue to say the deal remains 11 in force.
 
Though the leader of the party that won Sunday’s elections, Antonio Gramsci, has not gone as far as his chief rival to say that tough bailout conditions must be rejected, he does say they must be relaxed. Some EU leaders are urging flexibility 12 for Athens. Others insist on the original terms and timetable. EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio says it’s too early to talk about changes.
 
“We’re talking about ensuring that Greece gets a government and this government takes full ownership of the program and implements 13 it to put the country back on track.”
 
Time is tight for Samos under current rules governing the rescue funds. Almost 15 billion euros in budget cuts must be identified by the end of this month to receive the next payment. For NPR News, I’m Teri Schultz in Brussels.
 
One of the country’s most politically prominent labor 14 unions is expected to focus on about half the number of states targeted for campaigning in 2008 in the US. The Service Employees International Union says it wants to concentrate on a few key states this year to help reelect President Obama, also plans to recruit twice as many of its members to volunteer for campaigns this election year.
 
Mitt 4 Romney’s rallying voters’ support in Michigan, where his father once served as governor. At a rally today, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee 15 took more swipes at the president’s policies and their impact on energy and the economy, but he made no mention of the controversial federal bailouts that rescued General Motors and Chrysler.
 
Dow was up 115. 
 
This is NPR.
 
US builders appear to be a little more confident about the housing sector’s prospects 16, so much so that in May they requested more permits to build than any other time in the last 3.5 years. The Commerce Department also reports a more than 3% increase in the construction of single-family homes in May. It was the third straight monthly increase. But overall, the housing market’s recovery is still dragging.
 
Despite a busy start to the western wildfire season, the US Forest Service says it’s confident it has enough air tankers 18 to effectively fight fires. But as Scott Graf of Boise State Public Radio reports, there’s been a significant decline in the number of planes available to help fire fighters.
 
Twelve years ago, the Forest Service had 43 large air tankers under exclusive contract[s] with private vendors 20. Now that number is nine. Accidents, structural 21 issues and the firing of the vendor 19 have led to the decline. Jennifer Jones is a spokesperson with the Forest Service.
 
“This is something that we are working very hard to rectify 22. We’re deeply committed to modernizing 23 and improving our large air tanker 17 fleet, and we've been taking a number of steps toward that goal.”
 
The government awarded contracts to four vendors last week to help bring newer air tankers online. Meanwhile, Alaska and California, as well as the Canadian government, have agreed to share their planes. Military planes could also be used if necessary. For NPR News, I’m Scott Graf in Boise, Idaho.
 
Firefighters are making some headway against the northern Colorado blaze that has caused an unprecedented 24 level of destruction in that state. At least 189 homes have been damaged or destroyed.
 
I’m Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, Washington.