Bank critics. California’s largest banks are failing to live up to the promises they made under last year’s landmark $26 billion national mortgage settlement, according to a new report. The California Reinvestment Coalition, which lobbies for low-income Californians, says the banks are still trying to foreclose on homeowners who are seeking loan modifications. And the group says the banks are not providing well-qualified employees to help distressed borrowers one-on-one, as they had pledged to do. L.A. Times
Hiker found. Search crews are back on the job this morning in Orange County’s Cleveland National Forest. They’re looking for a missing teenage hiker after finding her male companion. Nicholas Cendoya was in rough shape when he was discovered last night about a half-mile from where he and Kyndall Jack left their car on Easter Day. Word of the search has attracted hundreds of people offering to help out. Officials are discouraging volunteers, however, saying they could get in the way of the investigation, or end up getting lost themselves. KNBC
Prison problems. A new report details salacious misconduct by hundreds of California Prison Guards and parole agents. The prison system’s independent inspector general cites 278 cases of alleged employee misconduct. In one case, a parole agent was accused of soliciting one his parolees to commit murder. In other cases, prison guards are accused of partying with inmates and having sex with them, including underage inmates. The report singles out the correction department’s Southern California internal affairs office for doing an especially poor job of investigating misconduct allegations. AP
Arsenic emissions. The L.A. City Council is considering legal action to shut down a Vernon battery-recycling plant accused of spewing toxic arsenic emissions across East L.A. The South Coast Air Quality Management said last month that the Exide Technologies plant posed a higher cancer risk to more people than any of the facilities it has regulated in the region over the past quarter century. The company says it has been working to reduce emissions at the plant since being made aware of the problems. L.A. Times
Cash call. President Obama is on the second and final day of a California fundraising swing. The president attended a pair of fundraisers for House Democrats last night in San Francisco. He has two more events scheduled today in the Bay Area that will raise money for the Democratic National Committee. Obama does not have any public events scheduled in California. CNN