In Los Angeles, the big 6 photo agency/media companies (LA Times, Reuters, AP, Getty, AFP and EPA) regularly pool images from celebrity trials and other high profile news events where it is not possible for all to cover. We have developed a friendly system that works for all. Half expecting this event to be business as usual, the official pooling plan became a web of complexity we as a group hadn’t dealt with before.

I am an obsessive planner. If I can’t get all the details in order way before the event, I get edgy. In the weeks before the event, information was scarce, the credentialing process difficult, and the unknown loomed larger by the day. Questions like, how many feet from riser to stage? How will we deliver the pool? What are our responsibilities to the UK WPA pool? All went unanswered. In the end I had to learn to relax and not sweat the details and let things play out on their own, because that’s the way this event will operate. Acceptance of what I can’t control became my mantra.

That’s not to say we couldn’t be as prepared as possible. You just have to plan for the unknown. Which included coordinating pool distribution from ourselves and new contributors that were not part of our regular rotation. When the pooling assignments came out the day the royal couple landed, we got together on a conference call to figure out how to produce the event. Reuters senior photographer Mike Blake came up with the idea of using Dropbox.com as a quick way to deliver the images with equality. It worked perfectly.

The call ended and just like that, the Canadian Air Force plane was rolling up on the tarmac at LAX. Reuters photographer Danny Moloshok was on the riser, and made a nice telephoto pic of the royals with the Canadian CG, Gov Jerry Brown. One pool down and 7 more to go. Reuters was not shooting pool on any of the Day One adventures, but plenty of unilateral and pool pictures arrived. Our remote editing software Paneikon allows us to get to the wire faster than the competition. By 7pm, I was waiting for pool pictures from the reception, where David Beckham was schmoozing with the Prince. He and his wife Victoria would have their fourth child days later. Mike Blake, who helped edit the Canadian leg of the trip, jumped on board to help Friday through the weekend. Los Angeles photographer Fred Prouser also helped crank out the images to our Singapore desk for the trip when he wasn’t shooting.

Day two began with a short helicopter ride for the royals to Santa Barbara. Our photographers had to make the long drive from Los Angeles to Carpinteria, about 84 miles from downtown LA. As so much was decided at last minute, our team of Alex Gallardo, Phil McCarten and Gus Ruelas were on site extra early to be ready. Having never covered polo before, my main concern was our team was on the prince in case he took a spill.

How would I explain missing the picture if the presumed future king of England broke his neck in sunny California? Not sure I want to think about it. But it all went well, William survived his dangerous mission and in the end was the only member of the winning team to receive a kiss from the Duchess of Cambridge.

Meanwhile, the BAFTA event that evening was heating up. As the Royals boarded their helicopter for the ride back into town, our photographers Mario Anzuoni and Fred Prouser were stationed on the red carpet, snapping the early arrival of the celebrities. I encouraged Fred to drop his flash and just use available light, and the setting sun allowed him to produce some interesting images of shadows and golden light. Mario was staked out at the head of the carpet and brought his own eye to the event. Finally, near 8pm, the royals appeared from a black SUV and walked the carpet.

It took less than 15 second for them to pass by the hoard of photographers, and it was over. Now to wait for the pool pictures, again.

Sunday the couple toured the Inner City Arts campus near Los Angeles Skid Row. It is a very rough area, but royal fans gathered across the street to welcome the royals. I found the contrast of the brightly colored flags against the dilapidated building striking. Alex Gallardo was inside shooting two pool positions. In the first opportunity, the royals went to a painting class and sat down with the children to paint. The Duchess painted what looked like the Logo for Target stores, but eventually it became a large snail. The Prince’s painting was much more constrained, as he focused on a small area of geometric shapes and contrasting color. I am sure psychologists will be analyzing these images for years.

The royals also took part in a ceramics class, and watched a dance performance. I must say this visit was the one they truly seemed to enjoy, and their ability to connect to the children showed in the images. They looked like any other couple enjoying the creativity and wonder of the children around them.

The last stop before leaving Los Angeles was at Sony Studios where the Prince spoke to the Mission Serve veterans group, a charitable group that supports veterans. Photographers Danny Moloshok, David McNew Phil McCarten were in position, along with Mario again in a pool position. William made a crack about his brother, got a laugh, everyone applauded, and the couple moved to fill care packages, stuffing teddy bears and other items into boxes for families of military personnel. They stopped to chat with volunteers, seemed at ease, and after saying their goodbyes, headed to the airport for home.

Like that, they were gone.

All that was left was to go through the hundreds of pool images, which continued into the evening. It was time for another cup of coffee.

The move brought the total number of failed banks in 2009 to 115 — their highest annual level since 1992 — with analysts expecting more to come. Among the lenders seized Friday was Los Angeles-based California National Bank, in what was the fourth-largest U.S. bank failure this year.

The largest institution to fail in the current financial crisis was Washington Mutual, which boasted $307 billion in assets when it was shuttered in September 2008.

U.S. Bancorp on Friday acquired the nine banks that had been held by FBOP Corp, picking up $18.4 billion in assets and $15.4 billion of deposits.

Visibly worried employees lined up to file into Cal National’s head offices in the heart of a deserted downtown Los Angeles on a chilly Friday evening, where they had their employers’ fate explained to them, regulators said.

“We’re getting ready to turn everything over to U.S. Bank,” said Roberta Valdez, a spokeswoman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, which helped supervise the transfer of FBOP’s assets. “They will continue to operate as normal in the interim,” she added, referring to lenders acquired from FBOP.

U.S. Bancorp — which has been buying up distressed assets this year — is picking up the lenders once owned by FBOP, a private Illinois group with over $18 billion in assets that owned banks in Texas, Illinois, Arizona and California.

Cal National is FBOP’s largest bank by branches. Others that will now go under the U.S. Bancorp umbrella included BankUSA, Citizens National Bank, Madisonville State Bank, North Houston Bank, Pacific National Bank, Park National Bank, San Diego National Bank, and the Community Bank of Lemont.

“This transaction is consistent with the growth strategy that we have outlined many times in the past, which includes enhancing our existing franchise through low-risk, in-market acquisitions,” said Rick Hartnack, vice chairman of consumer banking for U.S. Bancorp.

“This transaction adds scale to our current California, Illinois and Arizona footprints.”

NEXT BIG HEADACHE

In the “near future,” all nine lenders’ branches will be re-branded U.S. Bank, which is the California-focused unit of U.S. Bancorp’s that operates a network of more than 770 branches across Illinois, Arizona and California.

U.S. Bancorp did not specify what would happen to the new employees it inherits.

Cal National operates 68 branches across Southern California with more than $7 billion in assets. As of June 30, the lender maintained five times as much foreclosed property on its books and twice as many non-current loans as it had a year earlier, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported news of its evening takeover on Friday.

Cal National lost about $500 million on heavy investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares, the newspaper added, referring to securities rendered nearly worthless by the government takeover of the mortgage firms last year.

According to FDIC data, Cal National was the fourth biggest bank failure this year in terms of assets, just edging out Corus Bank, seized Sept 11 with a flat $7 billion of assets.

A bank official who answered the main number at Cal National’s headquarters said they could not talk at the time.

Banks are still cleaning up their balance sheets from the recent credit boom that fueled banks’ appetite to extend loans, many with poor underwriting and triggers that caused borrowers’ payments to spike to unaffordable levels.

More lenders are expected to go under this year as the industry tries to get a handle on commercial real estate loans that will continue to worsen, as more strip malls go vacant and residential developments stall.

Banks held about $1.7 trillion in commercial real estate loans at the end of September, according to Federal Reserve data, or about 15 percent of their total assets. But to the extent these loans weaken, small banks are likely to be hit the hardest because larger banks were better diversified.

Banks that analysts say could risk big losses include Salt Lake City’s Zions Bancorp, Columbus, Georgia’s Synovus Financial Corp and Dallas-based Comerica Inc.

Before FBOP, U.S. Bancorp bought Downey Savings of Newport Beach and PFF Bank & Trust of Pomona when those thrifts failed last November, the newspaper said. Just this month, U.S. Bancorp bought 20 Nevada branches from BB&T Corp, which had acquired them as part of its deal to buy Colonial BancGroup Inc, it added.

(Additional reporting by Mary Milliken; Editing by Bernard Orr and Dean Yates)

Listening to another news report that stated there are more medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles than Starbucks coffee shops, I thought it would be a good time to look at Oaksterdam University, a “school” that teaches students the finer points of marijuana law and cultivation techniques. The school sits on a busy street corner in downtown Oakland, California with several of its business entities found throughout the neighborhood. There is a book store to sell students books and supplies, as well as hats, t-shirts and smoking paraphernalia; a glass blowing shop across the street; and a medical marijuana dispensary around the corner.In the one-room school, students listen to lectures and grow marijuana for homework. Three type of students attend Oaksterdam — those with the intention of eventually working  in the medical marijuana industry; those wanting to grow for their personal use, and others interested in the politics of pot and those who want to make it legal. Most of the students in the evening class are middle-aged medical marijuana patients eager to learn the trade and how to grow their own medicine.Two blocks away, at Coffeehouse Blue Sky, customers come and go after picking up their medical marijuana in a neighborhood surrounded by a variety of other businesses. There is no cliché customer—younger and older, those dressed in shorts and t-shirts and others dressed in business attire coming in for an after-work prescription. Up front, customers enter and show their identification card from their doctor.  A small room in the back of the café serves as the distribution center. Those seeking medical marijuana line up at a small window, where they choose among a variety of cannabis strains and prices before handing over cash.While many patrons of the dispensary did not want to be photographed, few of the students in the classroom seemed to mind. It was both a fascinating and educational experience, and a glimpse at something we might see a lot more of in the future, with various forms of government looking to tap into a plentiful resource.