Finances

Hospitals across California and the country are reeling from the effects of the economic downturn and the troubled financial markets. Patients are putting off medical care because of job losses, job insecurity and high out-of-pocket expenses. As a result, the number of paying patients and profitable elective procedures is down. At the same time, the number of uninsured patients whom hospitals treat is rising. Like just about everybody else, hospitals are losing money on their investments.

Newly released documents in the divorce proceedings of Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III reveal harsh battles with his former wife, Stacey, over how to divide the couple's $1 billion in community property, his alleged drug use and her relationship with the family's former security chief. The documents show that Stacey Nicholas' recent efforts to force a trial to divide the estate have been complicated by the pending criminal prosecution of Henry Nicholas. Federal indictments have accused Nicholas of distributing illegal drugs to friends and business associates, and of manipulating Broadcom stock options to secretly provide $2.2 billion in benefits to employees of the Irvine microchip company.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed Wednesday to let California government come to a "grinding halt" rather than agree to a high-interest loan to keep the state afloat if he and the Legislature do not close the yawning budget gap in coming weeks. At the same time, the governor reversed himself on a proposal to end health insurance for families of police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty.

The contracts were flying out of AIG Financial Products. Hardly anyone outside Wall Street had ever heard of credit-default swaps, but by early 2005 investment banks were snapping them up to insure all kinds of deals in case of default, fueling one of the great financial booms in U.S. history. During twice-monthly conference calls that originated from the company's headquarters in Wilton, Conn.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers scrambled Wednesday to avert a financial meltdown, and public officials across California braced for annihilating cuts on the day after voters trounced their leaders' rescue plan for the state. Within two hours of returning from Washington, D.C., the governor huddled behind closed doors with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders to grapple with a projected $21.

For years it has been this government town's equivalent of a stone fortress, a bastion of public policy under the watchful eye of a potent political army. But this summer, Proposition 98, the law that guarantees public schools roughly 40% of general fund revenue, is being tested as it has been only a few times before. In the final stages of the weeks-long negotiations over the state's $26.3-billion budget gap, what to do about Proposition 98 has emerged among the last, and toughest, issues.

The California Milk Advisory Board continues to ply its "Happy Cows" advertising campaign, but there are few happy dairy farmers right now. Frustrated with low milk prices, dairy farmers are selling cows for hamburger meat and threatening to dump milk into sewers. Many are burning through their life savings hoping to survive the slump, and others are exiting the business. Two farmers have killed themselves. The pain is being felt throughout the U.S.

When insurance giant American International Group Inc. imploded last fall, the firm's problems were quickly blamed not on its core insurance business but on an obscure operation that traded exotic mortgage securities. But as the economic crisis deepens, it has become clear that AIG's problems extend across most of its business lines, including its massive life insurance and retirement services operations, which reported a staggering $18-billion quarterly loss this month.

Richard Rivera joined the Algebra Project at exactly the wrong time. After three years at charter schools, Rivera returned to the Los Angeles Unified School District last year as a math coach -- a kind of roving instructor and supervisor -- at Luther Burbank Middle School in Highland Park. He also agreed to work on the Algebra Project, a new program designed to keep low-achieving students involved in math.

As the recession drags on, national retailers are mass mailing requests for rent reductions to their landlords. Does a small-business tenant stand a chance of getting the same relief? It's not easy, industry experts say. "The landlord has no obligation to reduce the rent any more than he has the obligation to increase your rent because you are making too much money," said Rafael Padilla, a principal at Par Commercial Brokerage in Santa Monica.