2009 Year

A San Clemente man who operated nine marijuana stores in Orange and L.A. counties pleaded guilty Monday to federal drug trafficking and tax charges in a scheme that netted him $25 million. John Melvin Walker, also known as “Pops,” 56, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute well over a ton of marijuana and to maintain  drug-involved premises. He also pleaded guilty to a tax evasion count in a second case that was filed in February, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney's office.

In a scathing report, a former chief executive of the California public employee pension fund was accused of pressuring subordinates to invest billions of dollars of pension money with politically connected firms. A 17-month investigation also found that Federico Buenrostro Jr. ? along with former pension fund board members Charles Valdes and Kurato Shimada ? strong-armed a benefits firm to pay more than $4 million in fees to consultant Alfred J.R. Villalobos, who later hired Buenrostro.

The House Armed Services Committee approved a bill authorizing $601.4 billion in defense spending for next year, including a 3.9% pay raise for troops. The pay increase and other service benefits -- such as a prohibition on increased healthcare fees -- is more than President Bush wants. But it is in sync with a broader election-year effort by lawmakers to boost benefits for service members and veterans. The Senate Armed Services Committee has proposed a similar defense bill that includes the 3.9% pay increase -- all but guaranteeing the provision will be included in the final bill and sent to Bush for his signature this summer.

General Motors Corp. is recalling 48,944 Saturn Vue and Chevrolet Captiva sport utility vehicles to tighten a nut that may allow steering fluid to leak, which can lead to a fire. The voluntary recall affects 2008 and 2009 model-year Vues and Captivas, GM said in a letter posted on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. GM received reports of four fires related to the recalled Saturns. Vue and Captiva owners will be notified beginning Sept. 26 to take their SUVs to a dealership where the nut will be tightened and steering-fluid levels checked, Detroit-based GM said.

Neil Patrick Harris will once again be putting on a tuxedo to host the Tony Awards ceremony, which will take place June 12 at the Beacon Theatre in New York. The actor previously hosted the Tonys in 2009. Last year's host was Sean Hayes. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS, with a delay for the West Coast. This is the first year the ceremony will be held at the Beacon. The show's usual home, Radio City Music Hall, is unavailable due to the new Cirque du Soleil show, "Zarkana," that will debut there this summer.

Franz West, the Austrian artist known for his innovative sculptures and installations, has died at 65. West died in Vienna on Wednesday following a long illness, according to reports. West's sculptural creations were both playful and serious, accessible and yet intellectually challenging. During his career, West mounted shows at major museums around the world. A retrospective exhibition of his work organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art came to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2009.

Wells Fargo & Co.'s quarterly profit jumped 22%, beating expectations, despite a fall-off in the mortgage business, which generates a quarter of all revenue at the San Francisco banking giant. The quarter was marked by cost-cutting, fewer loan losses and growth in loans and deposits. Revenue declined slightly, reflecting pinched profit margins on lending at a time of record-low interest rates. Wells Fargo raised its quarterly dividend and, having passed its regulatory stress test, plans “to return even more capital to shareholders in the year ahead," John Stumpf, the bank's chairman and chief executive, said in announcing the results Friday morning.

After two recession years that brought a hiring freeze, canceled exhibitions and a badly dented endowment, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art expects to finish the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, with a $300,000 surplus and has adopted an operating budget for the coming 2010-11 year that boosts spending about 11%. The coming year's budget adopted by the museum's board last week comes to $59.1 million for regular operations, said LACMA...

Weekly survey of 20 Orange and L.A. County lenders as of 8/12/2009 Loans to $417,000 Week ended 8/12/2009 Week ended 8/5/2009 Week ended 2/11/2009 30-year fixed 5.52%+0.26pt 5.38%+0.28pt 5.35%+0.36pt 15-year fixed 4.96%+0.23pt 4.87%+0.33pt 5.08%+0.41pt $417,000 and up 30-year fixed 6.23%+0.47pt 6.25%+0.43pt 6.60%+0.35pt 15-year fixed 5.81%+0.44pt 5.88%+0.38pt 6.09%+0.39pt Home equity lines 5.31% 5.31% 4.82% Home equity loans 9.02% 9.02% 8.87% 6-month LIBOR 0.87% 0.91% 1.73% 1-year Treasury 0.49% 0.49% 0.54% 6-month Treasury 0.29% 0.26% 0.41% 6-month CD 0.45% 0.48% 1.76% Prime rate 3.25% 3.25% 3.25% 11th District cost of funds 6/2009 5/2009 12/2008 1.599% 1.832% 2.757% Compiled by HSH Associates, Financial Publishers; www.hsh.