Southland

Plug in the Fax: Officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco were initially puzzled by the lack of response when they announced a schedule for public hearings on the takeover battle for First Interstate Bancorp. Then they discovered a glitch in their fax machine. When the problem was fixed, it was like a dam broke, a Fed spokeswoman said: The machine ran nonstop for two days, spilling out an unprecedented flood of requests to testify at the hearings, which begin at 9 a.m. today in the Kinsey Auditorium of the California Museum of Science and Industry complex in Exposition Park. Hearings are being conducted simultaneously in San Francisco. Testimony is expected from the top brass of the three contending banks: First Interstate; its chosen merger partner, Minneapolis-based First Bank System Inc.; and hostile suitor Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco. Politicians will also weigh in, but the majority of witnesses are expected to be community representatives who will address how the two contending deals might affect jobs and access to bank services for low-income and minority Californians. The Fed says the hearings, which will run for four straight days in Los Angeles and three days in San Francisco, are the most extensive ever for a U.S. banking merger.