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• In Tarrant County, change was all around in 2008
  

  From the economy to politics to natural gas, these topics made the biggest headlines in 2008:Homeland insecurityMaria Zamora sat down at her computer and began a frantic Internet search in English and Spanish for someone or something out there willing to help her save her home of 14 years.The 39-year-old shipping clerk was fighting to avoid becoming yet another foreclosure statistic. Foreclosure postings climbed sharply in 2008, with the latest figures showing postings for the upcoming January auction up 11 percent from a year ago and up nearly 50 percent from three years ago.Job losses and higher payments fueled by adjustable-rate mortgages are expected to keep foreclosures climbing into 2009.Zamora set to work in September, after Wells Fargo had notified Zamora and her husband, Miguel, who does custom crown molding work, that it had set a Dec. 2 sale date for their 1,500-square-foot home because they were five months behind. The housing downturn had put Miguel Zamora out of work for months, and the couple couldn’t cover the payments. A Wells Fargo collections agent told them, "Pay up $4,000 in 16 days or the house will be sold," she said.The couple were in better shape than many others facing foreclosure. Both were working again, and their home was worth $72,000, more than twice the 1994 purchase price of $34,000. They owed $15,000.Zamora contacted the nonprofit Housing Opportunities of Fort Worth and got Maria Santamaria, who gave Zamora a crash course on dealing with lenders. Then Santamaria called the bank’s 800 number to speak to the loss mitigation department. "I was able to get a deal done in one day," said Santamaria, who negotiated a $1,023 upfront payment.Wells Fargo also changed terms, reducing the interest rate on their 30-year note by half a point, to 9 percent, but added a year to the mortgage’s life. With taxes and insurance, the Zamoras’ monthly payment dropped to a $367 from $509. The next payment isn’t due until March."This gave them an opportunity to breathe," Santamaria said. — Barry Shlachter A new political eraFor Democrat Jason Smith, his trip Washington, D.C., for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration will be a fitting end to what has been an exciting, roller-coaster-ride political year.A Fort Worth attorney, Smith was an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter, campaigning hard in Tarrant County before the March primary.He even stuck by Clinton before going to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, filing a protest against how delegates were distributed because of Texas’ hybrid primary-caucus system.But once Obama became the party’s presidential candidate, Smith and the rest of Clinton’s supporters "heeded her call" to get behind Obama in his race against Republican John McCain.

• JPS making changes, shifting focus
  By ANTHONY SPANGLER

  FORT WORTH — A shake-up of leadership at the JPS Health Network, the firing of the company that failed to keep its clinics and hospitals clean, and the elimination of lucrative executive bonuses have sent a message that it’s no longer business as usual at the taxpayer-supported public health system.The speed of those changes, along with others on a variety of fronts, has drawn the praise of some of JPS’ harshest critics. And JPS leaders say more changes are coming.But they also say it will take much longer to change a bureaucratic culture once focused more on stockpiling surpluses than reducing waits in the emergency department, getting patients quickly into beds and scheduling new patients to see primary care doctors before they land in the emergency room."This is not a quick approach to an organization of its size and complexity," JPS interim Chief Executive Robert Earley said. "There is an immense amount of diligence to rededicate ourselves to the mission, which is caring for our patients and also our employees."We don’t get a break. We can’t just shut down and see everyone later. Every day we still get the same amount of patients. It’s like we’re fixing a rivet on the plane while the plane is flying."Acknowledging that JPS had been overly focused on financial success, hospital board Chairman Steve Montgomery says the realigned board and interim leadership are rededicated to serving the poor and improving patient care. As JPS hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars in surpluses over the past several years, patient satisfaction scores dropped to among the worst nationally. A premium was placed on attracting commercially insured patients, while some JPS physicians say the poorest and neediest of patients suffered. "Were we too focused on the numbers and not enough on the patients? Absolutely," Montgomery said.JPS board members said they were stunned to learn of equipment shortages, squalor in patient rooms and surgical suites, lost medical records and treatment delays. The Star-Telegram exposed many of those shortcomings in a six-part series in May.Board members also said they were unaware of a scathing 2007 consultant’s report, commissioned by former Chief Financial Officer Gale Pileggi and former Chief Operating Officer Ron Stutes. The $800,000 study, which was paid for in increments small enough that board approval wasn’t needed, was made public in the Star-Telegram series.While some changes were in the works at the time, Montgomery said the articles were a "wake-up call.""It has gone a long way toward changing the culture, not only on the part of the board in asking more questions and taking a more active role in its responsibilities, but it has also led to the administration being more transparent," Montgomery said. "I think now we are being more proactive, asking tougher questions and expecting more details from the administration rather than just allowing them to tell us everything is all right."The interim leadership and JPS board members have focused their attention almost solely on patient care. The addition of physicians as voting members on JPS board committees has brought an unfiltered perspective to improvements and practical insights to solutions. "All of the changes have clearly shown that the public hospital has finally started fulfilling its primary mission to provide healthcare to the patients it was designed to help," said Dr. Sealy Massingill, president of the JPS medical staff. "From the most highly specialized physician at the hospital to the person who cleans the rooms, everyone has a renewed sense of purpose. It feels like the fog has lifted."Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the new leadership on the board and the interim executives are moving JPS in the right direction."They have done a tremendous job of refocusing on patient access on working collaboratively with the rest of the community," he said.Changes at JPS in 2008Leadership shake-upChief Executive David Cecero announced his retirement in late April after seven years in the position. The executive staff was surprised when he showed up to work the next week, prompting the board to name Robert Earley as interim CEO three weeks later. Weeks later, Chief Financial Officer Gale Pileggi resigned. Hired by Cecero, Pileggi is credited by many for financial policies that led to JPS’s hefty annual surpluses.

• Area mortgage lenders getting crushed by refi applications
  By BARRY SHLACHTER

  Some mortgage lenders, having laid off support staff during the past year’s meltdown, are finding themselves deluged with refinancing requests as rates fall below 5 percent. And the lenders have fewer back-office workers to handle all the paperwork.At Bank of America’s Countrywide unit, 300 employees who had been dedicated to home-equity lines of credit have been shifted to handle the surge in mortgage applications, spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said. The Calabasas, Calif.-based lender, with a large processing facility in Fort Worth, has seen applications double in December over November, Bauwens said. Paul Peebles, a mortgage broker with Grapevine-based Old Capital Lending, said the crush has gotten so fierce that some major banks have "tapped the brakes" on new requests by raising their interest rates on conventional, 30-year mortgages a point or two above competitors’."With all this [work force] contraction at banks in the past year, the support staff is not there," Peebles said. Some lenders are having their employees work over weekends to complete loan documentations within 30 days. Others have responded by lengthening the lock-in period."We have seen refinance applications increase threefold since early November," said Gregg Hassell, a Houston-based spokesman for Chase Bank. "To make sure customers get the rate they apply for, Chase is using 60-day rate locks while we process the loan." Previously, it guaranteed quoted rates for 45 days.Rates began dropping sharply after the Federal Reserve said it would purchase mortgage bonds to provide liquidity to the market.Fort Worth-based Colonial National Mortgage says that it has added staff because of all the new business but hasn’t seen processi