The April numbers are higher from a year earlier and it's across the board - both bus and rail. Gas prices are an obvious explanation, although it's not exactly an avalanche of new riders (mass transit still makes up a small part of L.A.’s daily commuting population). Also, don’t assume that the switchover will last – a drop in gas prices could get folks behind the wheel again. But for all the caveats, there’s no getting around the increase in passengers. Here's the latest report from the MTA. Below are the highlights.

BUS (Systemwide)
April, 2008 - 33.27 million
April, 2007 - 33.15 million

ORANGE LINE
April, 2008 - 622,699
April, 2007 - 602,970

RED LINE
April, 2008 - 3.67 million
April, 2007 - 3.56 million

BLUE LINE
April, 2008 - 2.07 million
April, 2007 - 2.03 million

GREEN LINE
April, 2008 - 1.01 million
April, 2007 - 945,000

GOLD LINE
April, 2008 - 594,108
April, 2007 - 497,419

The Hollywood gumshoe was found guilty on 76 of the 77 charges he faced. Those charges included racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft, conspiracy to intercept or use wire communications and manufacture or possession of wiretapping device. All four of his co-defendants were also found guilty. They are former LAPD Sgt. Mark Arneson, former phone company technician Ray Turner, computer expert Kevin Kachikian and businessman Abner Nicherie. Kevin is also following the verdicts over at LAO. Lots of coverage, as you might expect.

The early LAT story said that when Pellicano realized the jury had found him guilty, he crossed his arms, took his glasses off and looked around the courtroom without expression. Pellicano had been accused of using wiretaps to obtain all kinds of nasty information about some of L.A.'s biggest players in business and entertainment. Several celebrities got brought into the case, among them Chris Rock, but the Hollywood tabloid trial that the press jackels had been hoping for never materialized. Of course, it's not quite over: L.A. attorney Terry Christensen has been charged with conspiring with Pellicano to tap the telephone of Kirk Kerkorian’s former wife. Christensen, who has pleaded not guilty, awaits his trial.

Here's a writethru from the LAT, most of it background on the case. It doesn't appear as if many reporters were actually in the courtroom when the verdict was announced - understandable considering that jurors have been deliberating for almost two weeks.

Much of the evidence for the prosecution came from the 2002 FBI raid on Pellicano's offices high above Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Explosives found in a safe sent Pellicano to federal prison in November 2003 for a 30-month term for illegal possession. Agents stumbled on something even more unexpected: a recording of a wiretapped conversation. They found only one. By the time the FBI returned a few months later, Pellicano had cleaned house, prosecutors alleged. But, on computers seized during the first raid, authorities also discovered tapes of phone conversations between Pellicano and his clients. The tapes, many of which were played in court, caught Pellicano talking about wiretapping, prosecutors contended. And that was just as damning, prosecutors contended. "I can't even listen to it all. It's too much," Pellicano whined to one client, action movie director John McTiernan, in a phone call that prosecutors said was a discussion of the private eye's wiretaps on producer Charles Roven.

McTiernan was one of seven people who pleaded guilty before Pellicano's trial to charges connected to the case.

Updated post

Disney CFO Thomas Skaggs was telling analysts last week during a conference call that the Mouse House had turned in "another strong quarter with substantial growth in revenue, operating income, and earnings per share." He was especially pleased that the numbers looked good across all the company's various divisions. Then, several days later, Skaggs sold a bunch of his stock. So did Disney General Counsel Alan Braverman. Of course, these guys are perfectly entitled to sell their shares. Skaggs made the transaction through a pre-determined trading plan known as a 10b5-1. This is the same way that Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo sold so many shares of the mortgage company (the same year Countrywide stock took a tumble). But Disney is not Countrywide. So you have to wonder why these two guys would pick this particular time to sell. "The sales are somewhat troubling in the sense that you don't have a lot of sell history here," Ben Silverman, director of research, at InsiderScore.com, told Barron's.

In particular, Silverman notes that Braverman sold a large portion of his holdings while Staggs achieved only a slim profit by exercising options that still had a year and a half of shelf life. "He was only booking a 29% gain," Silverman says of the spread between the CFO's strike price and sale price. "That's not a lot of upside for an options-related transaction." Taken together, the sales make Silverman somewhat cautious about Disney, especially as the company's resort and media businesses navigate a challenging economy.

Braverman's transaction is the largest non-options-related sale by a Disney insider in the last five years - and just the third such sale of any size during that period. Disney isn't talking. Surely these guys know that the transactions would be noticed - and that they would lead to all kinds of speculation, especially with Wall Street trying to get a handle on what kind of summer it will be for theme parks, resorts, box office performance. You know, all the stuff that makes up Disney’s business.

This is one of those end-of-an-era stories. Warren Cowan represented a Hollywood that barely exists anymore, a time when newspapers ruled the roost and celebrities somehow managed to avoid discussing their latest addiction. Nikki Finke says "he actually believed that journalists were important," and in my very limited contact with him I would have to agree. Unlike many of today's publicists, Cowan never made it seem as if he were doing you a favor by just doing his job. And he was courteous. Here's a snippet from an interview he did with the Business Journal in 1999.

Has the business gotten any harder for you with tabloid television and the cult of celebrity in the United States?

Answer: Yeah, I kind of wish it weren't that way. It was more interesting when you didn't see your favorite movie star on every show talking about his or her problems. There was much more of a mystique. On the other hand, with the advent of television and the Internet, it has greatly expanded the playing field. We have so many more opportunities and outlets and possibilities. There are a lot of changes since my early days, but there are a couple of constants as well. For example, in the days when I began, the one common denominator - whether they admitted it or not - was that every client wanted to be on the cover of Time magazine. I believe that's true today as well.

[CUT]

Q: How did you create the first Oscar campaign?

A: I was handling Joan Crawford, who had been called box-office poison by the theater exhibitors. She got a movie at Warner Bros. called "Mildred Pierce." To try and help her, I wrote an item and gave it to a columnist, who to my amazement printed it word for word. The item said something like, "The top brass at Warner Bros. is jumping with glee at the performance of Joan Crawford in 'Mildred Pierce.' They say she's a sure contender for the Oscar." Now, they ran that, and I thought, if I say that over and over again and the performance is actually there when the picture comes out, people will think of her in terms of Oscars. We took out the first Oscar ad in the trade publications. That was the beginning of what now is a multimillion-dollar series of Oscar campaigns.

[CUT]

Q: How do you get a story out to the media?

A: I like to create news, make news happen that is logical. I am responsible for the first celebrity sports tournament. Many years ago I handled a director named Frank Borzage, who had been an Oscar-winning director. I remember saying to my partner that Frank doesn't have anything going now. I don't know what to write about him. What does he do? And Henry (Rogers) said that (Borzage) played golf every day. Soon I made the Frank Borzage Invitational Golf Tournament. I learned so much from that little tournament - how many stars are jerks.

Icahn battling Yahoo: The billionaire investor says that the board acted irrationally in rejecting the Microsoft offer, so he's putting up a slate of 10 new directors. Microsoft has given no indication that it would be willing to return to the bargaining table, and some analysts question Icahn's strategy. Here's the NYT story and below is a snippet from Icahn's letter to the Yahoo honchos:

I am perplexed by the board’s actions. It is irresponsible to hide behind management’s more than overly optimistic financial forecasts. It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72% premium over Yahoo’s closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer. I and many of your shareholders strongly believe that a combination between Yahoo and Microsoft would form a dynamic company and more importantly would be a force strong enough to compete with Google on the Internet.

CBS to buy CNET: Purchase price is $1.8-billion, and it comes as the technology news Web site has been trying to fend off a group of activist investors seeking control of the board. The purchase also runs counter to CEO Les Moonves' assurances that the company wouldn't go after expensive online properties. Oh well. From the press release (via DealBook):

“There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks,” he said in a press release Thursday. “Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest-growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives.”

Countrywide suit cleared: U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer in Los Angeles sided with several public pension funds in ruling that a shareholder lawsuit against the mortgage lender should go to trial. Countrywide had argued that the case should be dismissed. Pfaelzer noted that several witnesses gave persuasive accounts in alleging that the company rewarded employees for boosting loan volume rather than for generating good loans. (AP)

Samueli steps down: The chairman of the Irvine chip maker will also take a leave of absence as the company's chief technology officer. As reported yesterday, the SEC accuses co-founders Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III of fraudulently backdating stock options.(LAT)

Soundstages in Moorpark: They're part of a $125-million independent production facility being planned. The 37-acre Commonwealth Studios would have 14 soundstages (they're in short supply throughout Socal), plus offices, a commissary and other support services. Developers will start building within a year if the city approves. (LAT)

Ponzi scheme alleged: The FBI arrested the president of Accelerated Funding Group in Pasadena after a grand jury indicted her on fraud charges. Jeanetta Standefor is accused of targeting African American investors who allegedly were told that they were buying "virtually risk-free" securities that would generate returns of as much as 50 percent within 45 days. The money raised supposedly was being invested to help save homeowners from foreclosure, the complaint says, but none of the funds were actually used that way. (LAT)

Patient-dumping ordinance: The L.A. City Council gave preliminary approval to a measure that would fine hospitals up to $25,000 for dropping off homeless patients on the streets. The hospital industry was lobbying against the measure. (LAT)

Warren Cowan dies: He represented most every major star during the past 50 years: Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Danny Kaye, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis... well, it's a very long list. In 1946, he joined up with his mentor Henry Rogers to form a firm that pretty much pioneered show business publicity. Cowan was 87. Here's the Variety obit and below is Army Archerd's rememberance.

Farewell, ole flack. My best friend, Warren Cowan, left us this evening just after I said goodbye to him at Cedars Sinai hospital with his dear wife, Barbara. Warren and I started our friendship at Townsend Harris high school, at 23rd St. and Lexington Ave., when we were all of 12 years old. The friendship in the biz was unmatched by anyone else on either side of the press publicity fence. His honesty and perseverance helped make the profession an honored one. He gave birth to the multitude of publicity firms, which sprung from his offices. He leaves a legacy for his profession and for the business, and I will miss his cheery voice and his good stories.

Not to pile on or anything, but in addition to today's SEC complaint Nicholas is in hot water with the IRS. As reported by our friend Janet Novack at Forbes, the dispute centers on whether his family can claim $290 million in tax losses from a $6 million investment in junk Asian debt and securities.

The ploy—which the IRS calls a “distressed asset/debt,” or DAD, shelter—was sold to Nicholas and other tech high rollers in 2001 by Chenery Associates and MyCFO, a financial advice firm backed by Netscape cofounder James H. Clark and venture capitalist John Doerr. Three years later Congress changed the tax code to bar partnerships from being used to transfer foreign losses to U.S. taxpayers. Even though that law doesn’t apply retroactively to Nicholas’ 2001 shelters, the IRS sent his family’s partnerships notices declaring them illegitimate economic shams. In March the partnerships filed five lawsuits challenging the IRS’ denial of their losses and its imposition of penalties.

Novack notes that in tax shelter circles DAD has now morphed into DAT, or the "distressed asset trust." That's a shelter in which partnerships are replaced by trusts.

The SEC accuses Henry T. Nicholas III and Henry Samueli of a scheme to backdate stock options. As a result of the backdating, the SEC alleges, Broadcom had to restate its financial results and reported more than $2 billion in additional compensation expenses. "This egregious misconduct resulted in the largest accounting restatement to date arising from stock option backdating and warrants the significant sanctions sought from these individuals," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the Division of Enforcement. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, also names former CFO William J. Ruehle and General Counsel David Dull. The U.S. attorney's office also has launched an investigation into backdating at Broadcom. Here are stories from the LAT and AP. Also, here are some reactions from Bloomberg:

A team of lawyers and accountants hired by Broadcom's board in 2006 issued a report that "fully exonerated" Samueli, Gordon Greenberg, his attorney, said today in an e-mailed statement. "The SEC disregarded our written request to refrain from trying their case in the media," said Greenberg, a lawyer at McDermott, Will & Emory in Los Angeles. ``We look forward to representing Dr. Samueli in the proper forum, the courtroom." "Ruehle denies the allegations in the SEC's complaint," said his attorney Richard Marmaro of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Los Angeles. Marmaro added that the "non- cash compensation charges at the heart of the SEC's allegations were not material to investors or analysts." Attorneys representing Nicholas and Dull didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Remember when LAT columnist Steve Lopez knocked on the gate leading to Sam Zell's Malibu estate, and Zell got all hot and bothered about "some guy named Lopez" harassing the staff? Well, the folks at Newsday ran into something similar a few days back – right before word came down that the Zell-led Tribune Co. was selling the Long Island paper. Instead of going with Rupert Murdoch's $580-million offer, Zell chose the $650-million offer by Cablevision - more specifically the Dolan family that controls Cablevision. Now understand, the Cablevision folks are not exactly press friendly (they own the NY Knicks and beat reporters have long griped about Kremlin-like restrictions). But hey, it's a huge business story on Long Island and it's your employer. Newsday business writer Ellen Yan went out to Oyster Bay Cove to search for the Dolans' house and try to get a comment. She even bought a flower as a little goodwill gift. As reported by the NY Observer's John Koblin, it didn't turn out very well.

Cablevision spokesman Charles Schueler spoke with reporter Mark Harrington, formerly the Cablevision beat reporter who was working this story, and business editor Eli Reyes and “screamed at them” and “was very pissed off” for sending a reporter to look for their house, and for dropping phone calls to the Dolans, according to several staffers (though Mr. Schueler disputes this account—he said he didn’t scream).

[CUT]

“I did call the reporter and reminded him as I would any press outlet that it is the company’s practice that if you would like to speak to the Dolans or any other executive, you call the communications department, and we will be happy to arrange it if it’s possible,” Mr. Schueler said. “From time to time, I have had to make that call to News 12, the Post, The Times and others. It has nothing to do with Newsday—it’s the practice of the company and the same rules apply to everyone.”

[CUT]

But when the time finally came for the officially sanctioned interview of Chairman James Dolan, it appeared not in Newsday but on the Cablevision-owned News 12 channel. “Dolan did a 10-, 15-minute interview with News 12, which is what we had to use in the story, and that’s a slap in the face,” said one reporter. “They could have made him available!”

The irony is that companies taking over other companies are often very receptive to media requests in the hours after a deal gets done. It's frequently the one time you can get a CEO on the line. It’s also the one time a company gets to spin its unfettered rationale for doing the deal. But a Zell or a Dolan do not want to be grilled - even if it's by one of their own reporters. Especially if it's by one of their own reporters. So does this mean that one of James Dolan's buddies can get a story spiked by just putting in a phone call? Maybe. But even if it doesn't, how many Newsday reporters will be willing to take a chance?