Monday morning headlines

Handicapping the Globes: "Babel" and "The Departed" are given the best odds by the LAT's Envelope for best drama at tonight's Golden Globe awards, while "Dreamgirls," "Borat" and "Little Miss Sunshine" are the favorites in the best comedy or musical category. The Globes have become an early indicator of what the Oscar nominations might bring later this month - Hollywood's version of the Iowa caucuses in terms of its exaggerated influence. It's at the Beverly Hilton, per usual.

Citrus freeze: Oranges, lemons and tangerines are considered expecially vulnerable after yet another night of temperatures in the 20s and 30s. Damage has been described as "widespread" and "significant" (Ventura County is expected to take it on the chin), although it's too early to get a handle on what it will mean for prices at the supermarkets. Growers were trying to pick as much fruit as possible in the days leading up to the freeze, so supplies should be all right for the next week or so. Temperatures are expected to moderate tonight. AP

Tribune deadline: Most all the advancers leading up to Wednesday's bidding deadline suggest very limited interest for the Chicago-based media company (and parent of the LAT). The LAT is pushing a scenario that would have the Chandlers make a last-minute bid for the company if no one else comes forward with a reasonable offer. Actually, there are lots of possibilities - including a bid by Eli Broad and Ron Burkle or a purchase of the LAT by David Geffen, should Tribune start selling off individual assets. A management buyout financed by private equity money still seems like the most likely outcome.

Refinery fire: It started early this morning at Chevron's Richmond Refinery. No reports yet on damage, but refinery disruptions in California are always a potential cause for price runups. Speaking of prices, the government will come out with its latest gasoline survey tomorrow and we'll see whether the sharp dropoff in oil prices has any impact on what we pay at the pump.

Santa Barbara's wicked witch: Turns out that Wendy McCaw has it in for more than just lowly reporters and editors at the News-Press. Hairdresser Eric Zahm had the audacity of hanging up a sign in his window that read "McCaw Obey the Law," a reference to the paper's owner not recognizing a vote to unionize the news staff. So within days, Zahm gets a cease-and-desist letter from McCaw's lawyer. He wound up hanging the sign inside his store and placing the lawyer's letter in his window. C&D letters have been sent to at least a half dozen merchants, according to the NYT.

Cutbacks at Time: Still no official word, but NYT reports that about 150 people, half of them in editorial, are expected to lose their jobs - among them, staffers for People and Sports Illustrated (the NY Post reported as much a week or two back). That means you won't be seeing five-paragraph articles reported and written by seven people. Advertising numbers for much of the empire are bleak, even scary (Internet compeititon is a big reason). Here are the 2006 percentage changes in ad pages from a year earlier:

Fortune -54%
SI -30%
Time -23%
People -12%
InStyle +8%
Real Simple +235%

Tensions at Ralphs: Kroger CEO David Dillon gets a mostly positive AP profile that winds up on the Daily News business page, and when the topic turns to Socal, he acknowledges "tensions" from the labor dispute three years ago (you know, the one in which Ralphs, a Kroger unit, agreed to pay $70 million in fines and restitution to settle charges it illegally hired hundreds of workers under fake names during the lockout). Rick Icaza, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, said that 92 percent of Ralphs employees hired since the lockout still don't have employer-provided health insurance. "That's not a tension, that's a fact," Icaza said.

"Today" gets 4th hour: NBC had been putting out the word that it wanted to extend the top-rated morning show. An announcement is expected later this week, according to the HR. The 9-10 hour has done pretty well - despite competition from "Regis & Kelly" - but some stations might grouse at losing local advertising.

Just a reminder: The financial markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.