Tuesday morning headlines

Summer vacation logjam: We knew it was going to be bad, but L.A. airport officials are warning of the busiest summer since 2001. Almost 20 million passengers are expected at LAX from Memorial Day through Labor Day, up 2.8 percent from a year ago. Actually, it’ll be a lot worse than 2001 because there are many fewer flights (and airline workers) and many more security holdups. All it would take is a band of thunderstorms near Dallas and the whole system could go kablooey. From the LAT:

At LAX, major construction in the Tom Bradley International Terminal is likely to test travelers' patience. Renovation efforts at the 23-year-old facility have required officials to shut down several baggage carousels and parking spots for aircraft. Longer waits for luggage could result. Fewer gates means carriers will have to use remote parking spots more often, and passengers will have to be brought to customs facilities by bus. Lines in the customs halls at LAX are also expected to be long; the wait has exceeded several hours in recent weeks, airport officials said.

Regulating gas prices: Oy, here we go again - government putting its nose where it doesn't belong. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and several of his Democratic colleagues are sponsoring bills to broaden oversight of California refiners. Nuñez says he has found no evidence that oil companies are gaming the market, but his gut tells him that some kind of chicanery is goinhg on. "I can't prove it today," Nuñez told the LAT. "We just have to dig deeper." One area of the legislation worth pursuing: disclosure requirements on refinery production and inventory levels. At present, the refiners are not required to release that information - and they don't.

What's Kerkorian up to?: The L.A. billionaire who keeps wanting to buy companies - and keeps getting rebuffed - may have finally found the answer: buying properties that he already owns. His Tracinda Corp. investment group is talking to MGM Mirage about buying the Bellagio and the CityCenter complex in Vegas, but here's the thing: he's already the majority shareholder of MGM, so it's kind of like negotiating with yourself. There's undoubtedly more to it than that - perhaps an opening move to take MGM private. The FT said that Kerkorian was preparing to sell his stake” in MGM. NYT

Skechers stock dips: It's down almost as much as it gained yesterday after Woman's Wear Daily reported that the Manhattan Beach-based footwear company would be merged with Genesco Inc. by the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Skechers was started by Robert Greenberg, whose strategy has been to market the company's product line through celebrity endorsements. Genesco operates Johnson & Murphy, Dockers and Underground Station. Reuters

Fremont sells business: Is this a restructuring or a close-out sale? The Santa Monica-based company's commercial real estate lending business is being bought by iStar Financial Inc. for about $1.9 billion. As part of the deal, iStar will retain the majority of Fremont's commercial real estate employees. Fremont is also selling a minority stake in the entire company to an investor group led by Gerald Ford, not the former president (now that would be a story) but the former CEO of Golden State Bancorp Inc., for about $80 million. Fremont is still trying to extricate itself from its subprime problems earlier this year. Reuters

Be alert, CEOs: Maybe it's not such an old boys club after all. A Booz Allen Hamilton study finds that corporate boards were nearly three times as likely to fire failing chief executives than they were a decade ago. Some of that could be due to increased scrutiny in a post-Enron world and some of it could be the result of private equity's increased influence on the corporate climate. From the NYT:

At 2,500 of the world’s largest public companies, 357 chief executives, or 14.3 percent, left their jobs in 2006, a decline of 1.2 percent from the previous year. But performance-related turnover remained high. Some 4.6 percent of the 357 executives were forced out in 2006, slightly lower than in 2005 but well above the 1.7 percent a decade earlier. The average chief executive’s tenure is just short of eight years.

"Barbarella" comes back: The new version of 1968's silly sci-fi film starring Jane Fonda (she played a futuristic mercenary) will be produced by Dino De Laurentiis, who did the original. As De Laurentiis told Variety: "In our vision, the future is female, and I can't wait to introduce 'Barbarella' to a new generation of moviegoers," he said.

Lacter on radio: This morning's business chat with KPCC's Steve Julian covers home sales, unemployment and the WGA contract talks.