LOS ANGELES - State officials say four people are under arrest for their alleged roles in a scheme that bilked hundreds of California homeowners scrambling to avoid foreclosure.

The plan gains support as pressure mounts on both political parties. The House on Thursday passed the most sweeping government plan yet to shore up the troubled housing market and help people struggling to pay their mortgages, adopting legislation that would underwrite $300 billion in new loans and keep an estimated 500,000 homeowners out of foreclosure.

There are all sorts of polls, rankings, experts' picks and predictions. No, I'm not talking about SEC football, or any other sport for that matter. I'm speaking of the latest foreclosure numbers out as of Friday.

LOS ANGELES - Bank of America will expand efforts to help Countrywide Financial borrowers avoid foreclosure on trouble mortgages, a top bank executive said today.

There's still plenty of pain ahead for Silicon Valley's housing market as more homeowners faced the threat of foreclosure in the first three months of this year than during any quarter on record.

• More: Real estate news and local transactions

The number of houses entering foreclosure in Fresno County soared to record levels last quarter as the mortgage crisis continued to play out in California.

More homeowners in Santa Clara County faced the threat of foreclosure in the first three months of this year than at any time on record, a trend being played out across California.

San Francisco - As the foreclosure crisis worsens, the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) is proposing rules to restrict abusive mortgage lending practices.

Desperate to avoid foreclosure, Maria Carmona and her husband, Victor, put their San Jose home up for sale in November.

In addition to the complex tax issues facing homeowners who have experienced a foreclosure, there's another wild card that could be played against them.