Thursday morning headlines

Business protests raids on workers: The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce comes out today against the federal government's crackdown on immigrants and calls for immigration reform that includes more worker visas. A new study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. finds that tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue could be lost if continued raids forced businesses to flee the state. (LAT)

Hispanic growth slowing: California continues to add Hispanics, but population growth in Texas has outstripped California's by more than 40,000. A stronger economy and lower home prices are two reasons cited. California still has the nation's largest Hispanic population, at 13.2 million. (Mercury News)

Will TV Guide close? With Macrovision's purchase of Gemstar-TV Guide formally approved by shareholders, there's talk of a major revamping of the venerable publication. Macrovision wants to focus on digital services - not the print product. Nikki Finke reports that a big downsizing is in the works, and that the new owner might put the place on the block. If there are no takers, Macrovision may just shut the place down - or so say the rumors.

Civil war at the WSJ: Gawker's Nick Denton has been told of infighting in the face of Marcus Brauchli's ouster as ME. Publisher Robert Thomson berated reporters for being too arrogant and not competitive enough, while some in the newsroom are going after former ME Paul Steiger for advocating the sale of Dow Jones to Rupert Murdoch. (By the way, Denton used to work for Thomson and is well-connected with Journal folks.)

Thomson, Australian and 30 years to the day Murdoch's junior, is the product of the more robust newsroom cultures of Sydney and London; Journal reporters are unaccustomed to such frank talk from their bosses. And all that Thomson meant to say—we understand—was that the Journal was now in an ultra-competitive world in which it had to be conscious of the challengers, old and new. Uncontroversial enough. But his sensitive audience took his remarks the wrong way. The newspaper had just that morning published an exclusive on the gigantic $23bn bid by Mars and Warren Buffett for Wrigley, the chewing gum makers.

New bid for Newsday: Sam Zell could have discovered a new way of generating revenue: Put Tribune assets up for sale and have a bunch of rich guys try to outbid each other. After News Corp's Rupert Murdoch and NY Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman each offered $580 million for the Long Island newspaper, Cablevision founder Charles Dolan is preparing a $650-million bid. From Newsday:

The size of Cablevision's offer got the attention of Zell, said the sources familiar with the Zell-Murdoch negotiations. "You cannot ignore a $70-million gain, but my guess is Rupert will top this," one of the sources said. "He has wanted Newsday for a while because some type of union would stop the hemorrhaging at the [New York] Post."

SAG gets slammed: The studios and networks are calling demands by the Screen Actors Guild unreasonable and pretty much wrote off any chance of a deal by the end of the week. The next step will be for the media companies to quickly work out a separate contract with AFTRA and put the squeeze on SAG as the June 30 deadline approaches. AFTRA might use the opportunity to expand its representation to include many primetime shows that are now under SAG jurisdiction. SAG disputes that it has overreached. (Variety, DHD)

Disney picks up stores: The Mouse House has taken over the 220-unit Disney Store chain from Children's Place and will close about 98 stores in the U.S. and two in Canada. Children's Place took control of the stores in 2004, but the arrangement never worked out. (AP)

Big changes for NBC property: New owners of the Burbank site plan $750 million worth of upgrades. Developer M. David Paul, which acquired the studio in two separate purchases, has started work on the first of its four towers. Other additions will include underground parking, two outdoor plazas and a health club. The complex will be operated as an independent studio, with industry tenants making movies and television shows. (LAT)

New twist for Maguire: Brookfield Properties is offering to purchase Maguire Properties' downtown L.A. portfolio for nearly $750 million, the WSJ is reporting. That offer might be used by large shareholders to force the company's board to reconsider Robert Maguire's earlier offer to buy 75 percent of company. What all this means is that some of downtown’s largest and most famous office towers are effectively on the market.

A number of hedge funds have taken a sizable position in the real estate investment trust and have been threatening to put a new slate of officers up for election if the company is not sold or if the board does not take dramatic steps to forge a turnaround. However, the company has been unable to find buyers during this credit crunch when few transactions are getting done. About a month ago, the independent committee announced that it was scrapping plans to sell.

Internet and flowers: ISP United Online has bought FTD - yes, the flower people - for about $456 million in cash, stock and notes. The Woodland Hills-based company says it has the marketing expertise to attract consumers to FTD's Web sites, while cross-selling FTD products to United Online's member base. (LABJ, Daily News)