Big fire this morning at Tesoro oil refinery in Wilmington is already pushing up wholesale gasoline prices by almost 21...

Oaktree Capital, the huge L.A. investment firm that's led by billionaire Howard Marks, just picked up a cool $1 billion.

SF-based parent UnionBanCal gets a $2-billion infusion, which was called "voluntary and pre- emptive."

What's amazing is that one of the homeowners interviewed last year still hasn't heard from his lender.

The co-CEO of talent agency giant WME isn't thrilled with the firm's planned Bev Hills digs that are still under construction.

Consumers more upbeat, battle royal at MGM, SAG turns moderate in elections, and no more "Nudes, Nudes, Nudes."

The messaging Web site is clearly looking to play catch-up with Facebook - and in the process make the company more attractive to potential advertisers.

When you're stuck on an airplane for hours and hours and the cabin smells like a cesspool, don't count on the carrier for any help.

There are still some givens when it comes to the most expensive and least expensive homes.

Relief for home buyers, CA saves a few bucks on bond sale, Kerkorian revelation in Pellicano case, and Citi might beef up in L.A.

Ike Perlmutter was granted 1.27 million in stock options just a few weeks after his subordinate began informal talks with Disney.

Katie Couric's annual salary at CBS is more than the entire annual budgets of NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" combined.

Among the (yucky) judging criteria: Wear and tear, age, and stains. Winner takes home 100g's.

With Goldman trading today at about $186, Warren Buffet's warrants are now valued at more than $3 billion - a 62% return on his year-ago investment.

Growth is what it's all about, right? Well, no - not according to a provocative study by two Nobel prize-winning economists.

Holiday jobs scarce, skimpy yields on CA bonds, Obama carries Letterman, and paring down Alaska cruises.

California's Attorney General filed suit against investment adviser Stanley Chais, who directed hundreds of millions of dollars of investments to Bernie Madoff.

One of Sonny Astani's signature developments is in bankruptcy after the project's construction lender, Corus Bank, was seized by federal regulators.

ABC cuts back on ads, coalition pushes for transit improvements, drop in SFV foreclosures, and Erin Brockovich returns.

Good news is that occupancy rates are holding up pretty well. But more guests come at the cost of lower room rates.

About 100,000 fewer foreign-born people were living in the U.S. in 2008 compared with a year earlier, the first such decline since at least 1970.

Those are folks who abruptly and intentionally walk away from a mortgage, even at the risk of lousing up their credit scores.

At some point the credit market will improve and long-stalled developments will get going, but bankers are likely to be very stingy.

More on Dick Cook's exit, Nazarian slows down pace, new claims involving Marvel characters, and Whole Foods considers check ban.