So here’s one lagging mystery about the foreclosure fraud settlement: what becomes of Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley’s lawsuit against five banks over deceptive practices and illegal foreclosures? Now we know.

The deadline for state Attorneys General to sign on to the foreclosure fraud settlement came and went yesterday, and the major holdouts – the Justice Democrats, the AGs from the five states who have objected to the settlement all along (Nevada, New York, California, Delaware, and Massachusetts), still aren’t signed on. And they’re still objecting, or at least bargaining.

Last week it seemed Eric Schneiderman’s suit against MERS and three banks using MERS represented a carve-out on the final foreclosure fraud settlement. There was speculation that other states might have carve-outs or grandfathered suits, so they would be able to pursue those investigations and prosecutions and still join the settlement. But Bloomberg reports today that some states with active lawsuits would have to settle them as part of the deal.

The New York Times describes the foreclosure fraud settlement in terms of inches. They say that a deal is “closer,” but they give little evidence to back that up. In fact, there’s more evidence here that the key AGs involved, who did not personally attend Monday’s session in Chicago with Shaun Donovan and other Administration officials, aren’t too keen on the terms.

It was inevitable that some apologist would claim that Martha Coakley actually holding banks accountable for following the law would stunt the nation’s recovery and cause us all to queue up on soup lines. That ignominious honor goes to Liz Peek of the Fiscal Times (a Fox News contributor). I apologize in advance for the fifth-grade writing level of this excerpt.

Simply put, Coakley seeks penalties for “unfair and deceptive practices” in violation of state consumer protection laws, in particular the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

Elizabeth Warren’s success and the enthusiasm around her campaign has knocked every potential challenger in the Democratic primary out of the race. She has the ability to stay competitive with the Wall Street-backed Brown in fundraising, and the attacks put forward by the likes of Karl Rove have been laughable. Warren is still a neophyte candidate and a lot can go wrong; she probably needs to improve among independents, and you could see some gaffes and distortions of her record coming into play. But at the moment, she is well-positioned to enter the Senate.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley plans to sue the five biggest banks in the mortgage business over “unlawful and deceptive conduct” in their foreclosure operations. A news conference is scheduled at 1pm ET to detail the charges, which were filed in Suffolk Superior Court.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a homeowner who bought a foreclosure that hadn’t been properly conducted by the foreclosing bank in 2006 didn’t have legal ownership of the property. That ruling means the banks have clouded the title to homes sales all over the country and may have destroyed much of the legal foundation for the housing market.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has released a new report that indicates Gov. Deval Patrick’s goal of controlling health care cost by moving the state towards a global payment method is unlikely to product real savings