Restoring RLUIPAs Equal Terms Provision

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act\u27s (RLUIPA) equal terms provision prohibits government from implementing a land-use regulation in a manner that treats religious assemblies and institutions less favorably than secular assemblies and institutions. Lower courts have only begun to interpret and apply RLUIPA\u27s equal terms provision, but already they have significantly weakened its protections of religious liberty by giving the provision unnecessarily restrictive interpretations. Not surprisingly, in light of the Supreme Court\u27s invalidation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), the lower courts\u27 restrictive readings seen? driven by concerns that a broader interpretation would exceed Congress\u27s Fourteenth Amendment enforcement power. Yet the lower courts\u27 concerns about the constitutionality of a broader interpretation are misplaced, and their restrictive readings of the equal terms provision severely weaken RLUIPA\u27s protections of religious liberty. This Note argues that a textual interpretation of the provision, which would strictly prohibit unequal treatment of religious assemblies and institutions as compared to secular assemblies and institutions, falls within Congress\u27s prophylactic power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Moreover, a textual interpretation is more consistent with Congress\u27s intent to broadly protect religious liberty

The role of community banks in the U.S. economy

The U.S. banking system is unusual in consisting not only of some very large banks but also a large number of relatively small community banks. This bifurcated banking system in the United States has served the economy well. Over time, with regulatory change and financial innovation, large banks have become complex organizations engaged in a wide range of activities. They provide a variety of services to their customers, but often rely on hard financial information, computer models, and centralized decision-making as the basis for conducting business. In contrast, small banks have focused more on "relationship banking," basing decisions on personal knowledge of customers’ creditworthiness and a keen understanding of business conditions in the communities they serve.> The bifurcated banking system has served the needs of a diverse U.S. economy composed of businesses of all shapes and sizes and consumers with diverse needs and preferences. But despite the clear role that community banks play in the U.S. banking system, some analysts have questioned whether they play a sufficiently important role in the overall economy to warrant public interest and oversight.> This article examines the role of community banks in the U.S. economy and concludes that the Federal Reserve has a strong interest in understanding issues facing community banks. While community banks hold only a small share of the nation’s banking assets, they provide important financial services—for which there are few, if any, substitutes—to some key sectors of the economy. Moreover, community banks will continue to play an important role in the banking industry, even as technology and market conditions change.Community banks ; Economic conditions

Statistical and systematic uncertainties in pixel-based source reconstruction algorithms for gravitational lensing

Gravitational lens modeling of spatially resolved sources is a challenging inverse problem with many observational constraints and model parameters. We examine established pixel-based source reconstruction algorithms for de-lensing the source and constraining lens model parameters. Using test data for four canonical lens configurations, we explore statistical and systematic uncertainties associated with gridding, source regularisation, interpolation errors, noise, and telescope pointing. Specifically, we compare two gridding schemes in the source plane: a fully adaptive grid that follows the lens mapping but is irregular, and an adaptive Cartesian grid. We also consider regularisation schemes that minimise derivatives of the source (using two finite difference methods) and introduce a scheme that minimises deviations from an analytic source profile. Careful choice of gridding and regularisation can reduce "discreteness noise" in the $\chi^2$ surface that is inherent in the pixel-based methodology. With a gridded source, some degree of interpolation is unavoidable, and errors due to interpolation need to be taken into account (especially for high signal-to-noise data). Different realisations of the noise and telescope pointing lead to slightly different values for lens model parameters, and the scatter between different "observations" can be comparable to or larger than the model uncertainties themselves. The same effects create scatter in the lensing magnification at the level of a few percent for a peak signal-to-noise ratio of 10, which decreases as the data quality improves.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, accepted to MNRAS, see http://physics.rutgers.edu/~tagoreas/papers/ for high resolution image

Fold Lens Flux Anomalies: A Geometric Approach

We develop a new approach for studying flux anomalies in quadruply-imaged fold lens systems. We show that in the absence of substructure, microlensing, or differential absorption, the expected flux ratios of a fold pair can be tightly constrained using only geometric arguments. We apply this technique to 11 known quadruple lens systems in the radio and infrared, and compare our estimates to the Monte Carlo based results of Keeton, Gaudi, and Petters. We show that a robust estimate for a flux ratio from a smoothly varying potential can be found, and at long wavelengths those lenses deviating from from this ratio almost certainly contain significant substructure.Comment: 16 pages, including 8 figure

Multi-office bank lending to small businesses: some new evidence

In a long-awaited move, Congress enacted legislation last fall authorizing full interstate banking. While most states had already acted to allow some form of entry by outside holding companies, the new law was expected to hasten the spread of large multi-office banking organizations. Most analysts believe the change will benefit the public by increasing competition, improving services to depositors, and reducing banks' vulnerability to local downturns. Concern has been voiced, however, that the benefits of multi-office banking may be achieved at the expense of small businesses. Some analysts worry that large multi-office banks will be less able or less willing to lend to small businesses than the smaller banks they replace.> Keeton investigates the relationship between multi-office banking and small business lending using new information on small business loans in Tenth District states. Data for mid-1994 support the view that further growth in multi-office banking may impose short-run costs on some small businesses. He cautions, though, against concluding that multi-office banking should be curtailed. Instead, regulators should continue to ensure that local banking markets remain competitive, so other banks can step in and fill any gaps in the legitimate credit needs of small businesses.Bank loans ; Small business

Do bank mergers reduce lending to businesses and farmers? New evidence from Tenth District states

The banking industry has undergone substantial consolidation during the last 15 years, and that process has accelerated in the 1990s. One effect of this consolidation has been to greatly reduce the number of independent and locally owned banks. Some banks have been acquired by distant banking organizations, and some have been acquired by banking companies that were nearby but very large, causing the banks to become junior partners in the new organization.> Since independent and locally owned banks have been important sources of funds for local businesses and farmers, concern has arisen that such borrowers will now find it harder to obtain credit. In principle, the extra safety and liquidity that newly acquired banks enjoy from belonging to a larger, more diversified banking organization could enable the banks to lend more to local farms and businesses. But some analysts worry that banks acquired by large or distant organizations will lend less to local borrowers because the parent company cannot make credit decisions as efficiently or has other preferred uses for the banks' funds.> Is this concern warranted? Keeton finds that recent bank mergers in Tenth District states provide partial support for the claim that banks acquired by large or distant organizations reduce lending to local farms and businesses.Bank loans ; Bank mergers ; Federal Reserve District, 10th

Effects of magnets on pigeon homing

The function of magnets in the navigation system of homing pigeons is investigated. Only experienced pigeons with magnets or brass bars were studied. Data show that on sunny days, pigeons with the magnets had some difficulty in orientation while those with brass bars had no problems. The same experiment was repeated on cloudy days. These results show that the magnets did not interfere with orientation. This difference suggests that sun and magnetic cues are used interchangeably, but that both together seldom function

Are rural banks facing increased funding pressures? : evidence from Tenth District states

During the last several years, concern has increased that changes in the financial system have made it harder for rural banks to attract enough deposits to meet local credit demands. While urban banks may face some of the same problems, it is widely believed that funding pressures have increased more for rural banks than for urban banks. In response, bank trade groups and rural development officials have proposed new measures to expand rural banks' access to loanable funds.> Three factors have led to the increased concern about the ability of rural banks to fund their loans. Firs, loan-deposit ratios have risen sharply, reaching record highs in the last two years. Second, rural deposit growth has been sluggish. Third, increasing numbers of rural banks have been taken over by urban banks and converted to branches.> Keeton examines recent loan and deposit trends in Tenth District states to see what evidence exists for each of the three sources of concern about rural funding pressures and to see if the concerns are more justified for rural banks than urban banks. Overall, the evidence indicates that sluggish deposit growth has increased funding pressures at rural banks but not any more than at urban banks of the same size. In short, increased funding pressures appear to be a small-bank problem rather than just a rural problem. This finding is tempered, however, by two important caveats. First, funding pressures could become more severe at rural banks than urban banks if rural investors begin investing as much of their wealth in mutual funds as urban investors do. Second, small-bank funding pressures are likely to have a bigger impact on rural borrowers because small businesses in rural areas are more dependent on small banks for loans.Rural areas ; Banking market ; Banks and banking ; Federal Reserve District, 10th ; Banks and banking