SunTrust Mortgage, a subsidiary of the bank, misled borrowers about their foreclosure status and charged unauthorized fees while giving them false information about foreclosure alternatives and improperly denying them loan modifications. The company did not process applications correctly, lied to customers about what they were doing and used robo-signings to falsify documents.   read more

Lawmakers in recent years have balanced the state budget, in part, by slashing $1.1 billion from the court system since 2008. A plan offered by the judiciary calculated that it would need $1.2 billion over three years to restore justice to the system, including $612 million the first year. It would take $266 million just to “tread water.” Instead, the budget gives the courts $129 million in new revenue from the state’s General Fund.   read more

Magruder is a politically active architect who thinks it was illegal and immoral to spend $1 billion of bond money earmarked for long-term capital improvements on a technology project of questionable value while schools fall apart. He was reinstated when the school board chairman flipped his vote after the legality of the move was questioned by Magruder's architect association sponsors and board critics.   read more

A few weeks ago, the enthusiastically-nicknamed state Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz) announced that 396 applicants had sought $559 million in tax credits as an incentive for them to relocate to California―or just stay put. However, the first phase of the California Competes Tax Credit program only doled out $30 million to a few lucky winners in the first phase of its debut. A total of $150 million will be made available for the fiscal year beginning in July.   read more

SB 1132 would have imposed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until it was proven safe. The 15 counted Senators who voted against the moratorium received, on average, $25,227 from oil and gas interests between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012. Those who voted for the moratorium averaged $1,772 and abstainers, $7,930.   read more

Where would municipal finances in California be without $400+ fines for red-light violations captured by cameras? That’s a question that need not be answered after the California Supreme Court unanimously upheld use of the system Thursday and denied a plaintiff’s demand that a representative of the manufacturer testify in red-light camera cases about the technology’s reliability.   read more

Keck Hospital of USC sued Kaiser Permanente two weeks ago after getting stuck with a $544,000 bill for surgery on a patient with insufficient insurance. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that Kaiser sent a patient in its Los Angeles Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit to Keck for open heart surgery last year knowing that he had exhausted his $75,000 annual insurance benefit limit.   read more

The complaint says: “JPMorgan has induced foreclosures since 2009 by failing to extend branch support to minority neighborhoods, pulling existing Bank support from minority neighborhoods, declining to offer refinancings or loan modifications to minority customers on fair terms, and otherwise denying minority borrowers equal access to fair credit.”   read more

The “Mendocino Model,” created three years ago by District Attorney David Eyster, is an innovative program that lets felony marijuana charges be reduced to misdemeanors in exchange for a pile of money from the accused. “To put it bluntly, it looks like a criminal defendant charged with serious conduct can simply buy a misdemeanor disposition if he gets caught and has the money set aside to cover for that contingency,” Judge Clay Brennan said a year ago.   read more

The lawsuit representing 64,600 present and former employees argued they lost $3 billion from 2005 to 2009 and sought triple damages. The companies reportedly established “Do Not Call” lists of employees with instructions to recruiters not to “cold call” them. Instead, this deal would give them around $4,000 apiece. Lawyers want $81 million, or one-fourth of the money.   read more

The Human Services Agency noted in its report that it’s not just a case of the rich getting richer, although they are. Or the poor getting poorer. They are, too. Fifteen percent of San Franciscans lived in poverty in 2012, compared to 10.5% five years earlier. But it’s the evisceration of the middle class that is skewing the inequality statistics. The percentage of people earning between 50% and 150% of the city’s median income of $72,500 has declined from 45% in 1990 to 34% in 2012.   read more

The city has a minimum wage of $10.74 and the largest job-growth rate, around 4%, over the past 12 months among the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas, according to the Paychex/IHS Small Business Jobs Index. Republicans have generally considered supporters of raising the minimum wage to be Socialists. So it wasn't surprising to see Senator Elizabeth Warren asked on CBS's “Face the Nation” to explain why her critics were wrong to call her one. She just laughed and ignored the question.   read more

“The fraud was rampant, it was brazen and it permeated every part of the Medicaid system,” according to Acting Assistant Attorney General O’Neil. Eight people were charged in Los Angeles with scheming to falsely extract $32 million from the government, with $24 million of that attributed to a single doctor, Robert A. Glazer.   read more

The registry had 9,200 listings of foreclosed properties last year, bringing the four-year total to 32,000. But the city only takes a look at them if there is a complaint. “Our inspectors are really busy,” Luke Zamperini, spokesman for the city's Division of Building and Safety, told the L.A. Times. “We can't afford to be driving around the streets looking for work.”   read more

The move came in response to pressure from environmentalists and students who think it is inappropriate for the school to invest in an energy source known to contribute mightily to global warming. The private university does not divulge details of its investments, but National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich said it doesn't matter how much money is involved, or whether other schools are inspired to follow Stanford's lead.   read more

In a report released last week, the State Legislative Analyst's Office stopped short of recommending that the Legislature reject Assembly Bill 1839, which would extend and expand for five years tax credits annually totaling $100 million to film and TV productions. But it did point out that the benefits to the state are dubious and the credits probably bring a return of only 65 cents on the dollar.   read more