In February, 38,840 US properties faced foreclosure filings of all kinds, including default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions – a 20% jump compared with the same month last year, according to a report released Thursday by data provider ATTOM.

“Foreclosure activity in February marked the 12th consecutive month of annual increases, extending a gradual upward trend that began early last year,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in a statement. 

The number of Americans facing repossession in February jumped for the twelfth month in a row.

“While filings dipped slightly from January, both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures remain higher than a year ago.”

The cost of homeownership has increasingly soared out of reach for many Americans, with the average family needing to earn $110,00 a year to own a typical home, according to real estate broker Redfin – about 29% higher than what the median household actually makes.

President Trump has unveiled several initiatives aimed at addressing the housing affordability crisis, including a $200 billion mortgage bond-buying spree and a homebuying ban on large investors. Critics have questioned whether these plans will have a wide-reaching impact. 

Despite the troubling trend in foreclosures, overall foreclosure rates “remain well below historic norms,” Barber added.

Still, economic pressures could multiply amid the war on Iran, which has sent oil prices soaring to $100 a barrel – the kind of shock that tends to ripple across consumer prices and reheat inflation, according to experts.

Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Delaware and Illinois were the states with the highest foreclosure rates last month, according to ATTOM.

Among metro areas with populations of at least 200,000, Lakeland, Fla.; Punta Gorda, Fla.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Evansville, Ind.; and Columbia, SC, were the cities with the worst foreclosure rates, the report said.

Nearly 40,000 homes faced foreclosure filings last month, according to ATTOM. Konstantin L – stock.adobe.com

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 25,928 US properties in February – a 14% jump from the same period a year ago. 

Texas, Florida, California, Georgia and Indiana saw the highest numbers of foreclosure starts.

Some 4,077 US properties were repossessed through completed foreclosures, a whopping 35% yearly increase, according to the report.

The states with the most repossessed homes in February included Texas, Michigan, Florida, California and Pennsylvania.

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Igor Hadzismajlovic, who opened the late-night industry fave in 2004, has chosen his wife, Helen Zhang, and Edo Ademovic to be his partners in the new venture.

Ziggy’s Roman Cafe, at 15 Main Street in Dumbo, is slated to open next month, Zhang told Side Dish. 

The co-founder of trendy Manhattan cocktail lounge Employees Only is branching out with a new family-friendly restaurant in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

“We were searching for normal places where families can eat in Dumbo and there was nothing accessible for people who live in the neighborhood, just exorbitantly priced restaurants since it is a huge tourist magnet —  but not a dining destination,”  said Zhang, a former publicist and brand marketer.

The restaurant, named for their youngest child, will have around 65 seats inside and a mezzanine “for kids to play while parents eat and have a good time,” Zhang said. 

“We looked at the space and loved it. It’s right in the middle of Dumbo. It’s a special space,” she added. 

The couple have two kids: Rio, 7, and Ziggy, 5. 

The menu — from Chef John Poiarkoff, the former executive chef of Marta — will include “easy, no fuss Italian Roman style food” such as artichokes alla Romana, fried gnocchi and hasselback eggplant parmagiana.

Pizzamaker Federico Crociani, known for his thin, Roman-style pizzas, will consult on the pizza program.

“Eating out was such a big part of our lives and it can be painful with kids — we wanted to create something to mitigate the pain that parents feel,” Zhang said.  

“We are paranoid about not alienating non-parents and will have a super-fun vibe like Employees Only.” 

Ademovic, formerly the bar manager at Sunset Beach on Shelter Island, who will be Ziggy’s general manager. 

Ziggy’s Roman, named for their youngest child, will have around 65 seats inside and a mezzanine “for kids to play while parents eat and have a good time,” Zhang said.  Courtesy of Ziggy’s Roman Cafe

Cocktails will be a key part of the plan. They are being developed by Employees Only co-founder Jason Kosmas. 

The cocktails will range from an Employees Only classic, West Side (Charbay Meyer Lemon Vodka and fresh lemon juice shaken with fresh mint and topped with soda) as well as Ziggy’s originals, including a Vesuvian Margarita, which is “Italian-imagined” with reposado tequila, Italicus, orange agave, lemon and black lava salt, as well as a Capuccino Assassino, a new take on the classic espresso martini with CarpanoAntica (vermouth) “to add depth.” 

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We hear… that Miriam, a popular Park Slope, Brooklyn, spot that opened 20 years ago, and now has an Upper West Side outpost near the Beacon Theater, is in expansion mode. 

It’s opening Miriam West Village, at 140 Seventh Ave. South, and Miriam Upper East side at 973 Lexington Ave –  where  popular neighborhood hotspot Rafael, once stood. 

The Mediterranean and Middle Eastern-inspired fare is from chef/restaurateur Rafael “Rafi” Hasid, who named the eatery after his mom. 

Miriam’s Lamb shawarma terracotta dish. Miriam

It boasts tableside lamb shawarma terracotta, chicken schnitzel and steak levant for dinner, as well as sharable dishes like Jerusalem sesame bread, lavash shatta-feta and spanakopita. 

The menu also features popular brunch items, like a burekas breakfast (a flaky pastry with hard boiled eggs, crushed tomato, shug, Syrian olives, pickles and tahini), Turkish eggs (poached over yogurt with harissa oil, roasted eggplant, tahini and pita), and malawach, (a flaky, savory Yemenite flatbread with melted fontina and cheddar cheese, hard boiled eggs, tahini, crushed tomatoes, shug, pickles and Syrian olives.).

Desserts feature burnt cheesecake with blueberry coulis, kadaif cannoli with whipped labneh, date molasses and pisachio creme and a rose babka werved warm with vanilla ice cream.

The restaurants are part of Hasid’s 6R Hospitality Group, which includes the New Orleans-inspired 1803 NYC in Tribeca and its Bon Courage speakeasy.

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Maple Hospitality Group, the owners behind Maple & Ash, was accused of “fraudulently” tapping  $7.6 million in Small Business Paycheck Protection Program funds, according to the civil suit brought by investors in Chicago’s Cook County Circuit Court.

“The MA restaurants never received a dollar of these funds,” according to the suit, which was obtained by The Post.

Maple & Ash, which opened its flagship steakhouse in Chicago in 2015, is the nation’s fourth-highest-grossing restaurant with more than $35 million in revenue a year. Google Maps

According to the complex case, the alleged misappropriation was part of a wider pattern of fiscal wrongdoing by Maple & Ash co-owner Jerald Lasky, his brother James Lasky and by companies controlled by them.

Although the lawsuit refers only to “private jet expenses,” the Chicago Sun-Times and radio station WBEZ traced the payment for the pricey Learjet in 2021 to “a company whose president is James Lasky.”

The owners have denied the charges in the complaint, which was first filed three years ago but received little media attention outside the Windy City.

As reported in The Post in February, Maple Hospitality Group signed a lease for 12,000 square feet at 1290 Sixth Ave., which is majority-owned by Vornado Realty Trust but where the Trump Organization has a 30% passive stake. Trump’s position reels in more than $60 million in annual rent revenue.

Maple & Ash co-owner James Lasky and his brother Jerald denied using federal funds meant to pay employees’ salaries during COVID for personal expenses. Maple Hospitality

Maple & Ash, which opened its flagship steakhouse in Chicago in 2015, is the nation’s fourth-highest-grossing restaurant with more than $35 million revenue a year.

But there seems to be as much sizzle in the Chicago court as on its fancy plates.

Investors who helped raise $3 million each to open Maple & Ash in Chicago and in Scottsdale, Ariz., also claim the company wrongfully used profits to fund the owners’ other restaurant brands in other cities, according to the complaint.

The Laskys allegedly retaliated against the investors for filing the suit by dissolving their interests in the company, according to an amended filing.

A Maple & Ash restaurant will be opening at 1290 Sixth Ave. later this year. J. Scott Wynn

James Lasky has been sanctioned by the judge in the case for failing to comply with court orders to turn over bank records and other information. He was ordered to cover plaintiffs’ $191,000 legal fees resulting from withholding information, court records show.

The lawyer for the investors, Michael Forde of Forde & O’Meara, said he hoped the case would finally go to trial early next year.

James Lasky’s lawyer, James Stamos of Stamos & Trucco, didn’t immediately respond to an email and phone call.

Maple & Ash’s newly opened restaurant in Miami. Google Maps

The hospitality group launched another steakhouse in Miami in March. Haut Living magazine said the restaurant “brings [the brand’s]  signature blend of refined dining, uninhibited energy, and indulgent luxury to the Magic City.”

The Big Apple opening is slated for later this year.

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Owners of electric cars in Vermont recently got a letter from the Department of Motor Vehicles with some bad news. Starting Jan. 1 they would have to pay $178 a year to register their cars, twice as much as owners of vehicles with internal combustion engines.

In imposing the higher fee, Vermont became the latest state to make people pay a premium for driving electric. At least 39 states charge such annual fees, including $50 in Hawaii and $200 in Texas, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That’s up from no states a few years ago.

Now, as President Trump rolls back Biden administration measures to promote electric vehicles, Republicans in Congress are considering imposing a national fee to bolster the fund used to finance roads and bridges, a fund that is in dire shape.

The fees are an attempt to make up for declining revenue from gasoline taxes that electric cars, for obvious reasons, don’t pay. They’re an example of how governments are struggling to adjust to technological upheaval in the auto industry.

Environmentalists and consumer groups agree that electric vehicle owners should help pay for road maintenance and construction. But they worry that Republicans, who control Congress, would set the fee at extremely high levels to punish electric vehicle owners, who tend to be liberals.

That has already happened in Texas and other states, said Chris Harto, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports who focuses on transportation and energy.

“E.V. owners should contribute to paying for the roads that they use,” he said. But, he added, “in some cases, states are implementing fees that are pretty punitive to E.V. drivers, significantly more than what the owner of a gas vehicle would pay.”

Flat fees are also unfair to low-income drivers or people who don’t drive very much, making it even harder for them to buy cars that pollute less, Mr. Harto and others said. Federal and state gasoline and diesel taxes are levied per gallon, so that people who drive more — or own gas guzzlers — automatically pay more.

The main reason that revenue from fuel taxes has declined is that internal combustion engines have become much more efficient, while political leaders have been reluctant to raise fuel taxes to keep up with inflation.

The federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon has not been increased since 1993. The Highway Trust Fund, which finances transportation projects from proceeds of that tax, could become insolvent by 2027 without new sources of funding, analysts say. A list of tax and spending policies that Republicans in Congress are considering includes imposing fees on electric vehicles to help replenish the Highway Trust Fund.

There are 5.4 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry group. But that is roughly 2 percent of the total and not the main cause of revenue gaps.

“Lawmakers are finding a convenient scapegoat, and penalizing the cleanest vehicles on the road while ignoring the real cause of the shortfall,” said Max Baumhefner, director for electric vehicle infrastructure at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Some of the highest electric vehicle fees are in states that usually elect Republicans, like Texas, Wyoming and Ohio, all of which charge $200 a year on top of the regular registration fee.

Robert Nichols, a Republican state senator in Texas who sponsored legislation in 2023 establishing a fee, said that the amount was determined by analyzing how much the average owner of a gasoline vehicle pays.

“It’s not an anti-E.V. thing. We’ve got Tesla right here in Texas and we’re very proud,” he said, referring to the electric car maker, which has its headquarters and a factory in Austin. “But everybody needs to pay for the road.”

Texas is among the states singled out by Consumer Reports for overcharging electric vehicle drivers. The organization cites Texas’ relatively low gas tax of 20 cents a gallon, well below the national average of about 50 cents.

Mr. Nichols acknowledged that lawmakers were reluctant to raise taxes on drivers of gasoline cars. “Nobody wants that on their tombstone: ‘Raised the gas tax,’” he said.

But increasingly electric vehicle fees are not just a red state phenomenon. Washington, which charges $150, is as progressive as any blue state. And in Vermont, lawmakers passed a fee law last year because they were concerned that growing numbers of electric vehicles posed a risk to state finances, said Patrick Murphy, state policy director at the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

“Legislators recognized that we are nearing the tipping point where E.V. adoption has become mainstream in Vermont,” he said.

Electric vehicles accounted for 12 percent of new car sales in Vermont last year, above the national average of 8 percent. Mr. Murphy noted that fees collected from electric vehicle owners are earmarked for infrastructure like chargers. At $89 a year above the standard registration fee, Vermont’s fee is also at the low end of what states charge.

People on both sides of the debate agree that a fairer system would charge electric vehicle owners per mile driven. But doing that is complicated. Some states are experimenting with technology that tracks mileage and bills owners accordingly. But the systems are expensive and raise privacy issues.

A flat fee is “not perfect,” Mr. Nichols, the Texas legislator, acknowledged. “But it makes a big step forward. It’s fair without setting up a huge bureaucracy.”

Some states, including Iowa, Georgia and Kentucky, tax electric vehicle chargers. But that system misses a lot of cars. Most people charge at home, using public chargers only occasionally.

States that don’t charge electric cars higher fees include Alaska, Arizona, New York and Massachusetts, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In 2026, Vermont plans to be among the first states to try to charge electric vehicle owners based on how much they drive.

That will be relatively easy in Vermont, Mr. Murphy said, because officials already collect odometer readings when owners bring their cars in for annual safety checks. That’s not the case in many states.

Even a system that tracks mileage has flaws. It taxes owners for trips in other states, and does not collect revenue from out-of-state visitors.

“The whole approach we have had is to keep things as simple as possible in the beginning, to get something in place where all vehicles are paying something for our infrastructure,” Mr. Murphy said, “and then to evolve over time to continually make it a fairer system.”

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