Friday morning headlines

More heat: And with it, more strain on the state's power system, though demand will probably ease up as lots of businesses shut down for the long holiday weekend. On Thursday, the DWP registered the third-largest daily usage ever - and that was with all kinds of conservation efforts. They’re calling for continued hot and muggy weather through the long weekend, with some relief along the coast. (LAT)

Traffic nightmares: Think the drive to San Diego is impossible? Try going today, when a protest scheduled between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the Mexican side of the border will probably close down crossings for most of today at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Tecate. Even when the ports of entry reopen, it could take up to four hours to get through. The protest involves Mexican teachers demanding better wages and benefits. Well, at least gasoline is cheap - the latest Auto Club survey has the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area at $2.733, which is 40 cents below last year. (LAT)

Bush intervention: It's not exactly a bailout for all those homeowners stuck with mortgages they can't afford, but the president is announcing plans to guarantee loans for delinquent borrowers, allowing them to avoid foreclosure and refinance at more favorable rates. The change would affect borrowers who are at least 90 days behind in payments and let them stay in their homes. Bush still opposes Democratic calls to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac boost purchases of mortgages.(Bloomberg)

Bernanke sounds flexible: The Fed Chairman isn't quite saying that the central bank will lower rates, but he told an audience in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that the Federal Reserve must take into account all financial market hoo-ha (my word, not his) in setting monetary policy. The Fed "stands ready to take additional actions" to boost liquidity, he said, and "will act as needed to limit the adverse effects on the broader economy that may arise from the disruptions in financial markets." Stocks are up on the news from both Bush and Bernanke. (Bloomberg)

Speculators defaulting: All right, struggling homeowners may be getting a break, but it turns out that those rising delinquency rates are largely the result of people buying homes as investment properties. In Nevada, nearly one in three homes in default – and with a high-quality mortgage – is not occupied by the owner of the house. In Florida, it's 25 percent and in California 21 percent. Do these speculators get the same protections as folks who are actually living in their homes? Just wondering. From AP:

Defaulting on a mortgage will significantly hurt the investor's credit score, but walking away from the home will minimize the losses on the investment. Delinquency and default rates have been rising rapidly in recent months, with much speculation tying those problems to subprime mortgages - loans given to customers with poor credit history. But the new MBA research indicates investors and speculators, regardless of whether they have prime or subprime credit, are playing a prominent role in those growing problems as well.

So much for Beckham: Aren't you glad we paid so much attention to the guy who was supposed to turn pro soccer into the hipster sport? The English superstar is done for the season, having suffered a sprained right knee (don't forget the left ankle from a couple of months back). All told, Beckham has played 310 minutes in six games at a salary of $6.5 million, not including millions more from endorsements - pretty good money for an aging player who is prone to injury. (LAT)

Hsu backgrounder: So just who is this guy who made big contributions to the campaign of Hillary Clinton, while carrying on what appear to be unsavory business dealings? The LAT tries to dig into the world of Norman Hsu and comes up with a bit more stuff - much of it related to that outstanding warrant for a fraud case in California. Hsu could turn himself in as early as today in San Mateo County. Still unclear is how he came up with so much money. The most intriguing nugget involved his claims of being kidnapped by Chinese gang members in San Francisco in an apparent effort to collect a debt.

The debts that the alleged abductors appear to have been seeking could have stemmed from the business scheme in which Hsu convinced investors to help him raise money for a company that was to purchase latex gloves from a supplier and then sell them at a profit. Hsu never purchased the gloves and had no contract to sell them, authorities said. Court records associated with that case outline what authorities described as a classic Ponzi scheme. Early investors were repaid and encouraged to recruit others to contribute cash to subsequent investments. In the end, more than a dozen invested in the latex glove scheme, contributing more than $1 million.

NBC may drop iTunes: That would be quite a blow because NBC Universal is the No. 1 supplier of digital video to Apple’s online store, accounting for about 40 percent of downloads. But they couldn't come to an agreement on pricing and piracy controls. You might recall that last month Universal Music Group said it would not renew its long-term contract with iTunes. It's hard to know how much of this is posturing; the two companies could still reach an agreement on a new contract before their current deal expires. Meanwhile, a bunch of news outlets are reporting that Apple will announce yet another updated iPod next week. (NYT)

Pasadena Ritz-Carlton sued: Workers allege that they’re not paid overtime and are forced to work through their breaks. They've also filed complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the National Labor Relations Board. But here's the topper: the hotel is owned by the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, which manages the $38-billion pension fund of retired police officers, firefighters and other county workers (many are union members). And the hotel is up for sale, which ticks off the workers even more because the pension fund is likely to make a very nice profit from the investment. From the LAT:

In interviews, eight current and former employees of the hotel representing different departments complained about racial discrimination, hour and wage violations, staffing problems, unsafe work conditions and retaliation for engaging in union activities. Hotel employees -- and representatives from the Unite Here hotel workers' union -- have asked the county employees' retirement association to take a more active role in addressing the workers' complaints. The employees fear that the group will move forward with plans to sell the hotel without ensuring "labor peace" -- an agreement by management to allow workers to choose whether to unionize without intimidation or harassment -- and without resolving what they contend are longtime problems.