Bear Stearns Cuts 310 Mortgage Jobs, to Merge Units (Update4) (Bloomberg.com)
Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bear Stearns Cos., the second-biggest underwriter of U.S. mortgage-backed securities, is cutting 310 jobs from units that originate mortgages after the firm reported the biggest profit decline in more than a decade.

Report says more minorities have subprime loans (Small Business Times)
Nearly four out of every 10 mortgages extended to "all minorities" in 2006 in America were subprime loans - more than double the rate for white borrowers, and the problem was particularly acute in Wisconsin, according to a new report.

Nearly Four in 10 Mortgages to Minorities Were Subprime in 2006 (PR Newswire via Yahoo! News)
Mortgage lending to minorities was down seven percent in 2006, according to a new analysis released today at the 3rd Annual Mortgage Lending Industry Emerging Markets and Diversity Conference outside Washington, D.C. The only exception was among African Americans, which showed an increase of 0.6 percent over the prior year.

National business briefs (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)
Growth in service sector slowed last month The shriveled housing market may be a drag on U.S. business activity, but it hasn't stopped it. The nation's service economy, like its manufacturing sector, slowed in September but still grew. The Institute for Supply Management's index gauging the health of non-manufacturing industries was 54.8 in September. That's down from 55.8 in August and below ...

Surprised duck hunter shoots 25-pound alligator in Wisconsin river (Detroit Free Press)
Ed Long thought he was shooting at a snapping turtle, but got a surprise when he pulled his trophy from the Milwaukee River: a 4-foot-long alligator.