Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks edge lower: Some weak earnings and continued concerns about the economy. At last check, the Dow is off 30 points in early trading.

Improving job reports: An estimated 22,000 payroll jobs were cut in January, the smallest drop in two years, according to ADP. Also, planned firings fell 70 percent last month, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The government report for January comes out Friday morning. (Bloomberg)

Fewer bankruptcies: American Bankruptcy Institute says January consumer filings were down 10 percent from the month before, but up 15 percent from a year earlier.

Council caving: Lots of resistance to taking the right (if painful) step of laying off city workers and consolidating departments. L.A.'s top budget official says that taking no action will only make the problem worse down the road. From the LAT:

Councilman Jose Huizar suggested that the city balance its books by borrowing more money. And Councilman Bill Rosendahl vowed to protect the city's calligraphers, the handful of artists who design ornate proclamations that elected officials hand out to constituents. "Whatever we need to do to preserve it, I want to do," he said. The resistance from at least a third of the council's 15 members throws into question a major component of the city's financial rescue strategy.

More trouble for Toyota: The latest problem involves complaints about brakes on the Prius hybrid. No recalls so far - Toyota says it's looking into it. From AP:

Toyota is facing growing criticism that it has not done enough to ensure the safety of its vehicles. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press Tuesday that federal officials had to alert Toyota to the seriousness of the safety issues that eventually led to the recalls. "They should have taken it seriously from the very beginning when we first started discussing it with them," he said. "Maybe they were a little safety deaf."

Home-ownership falls: It was down to 67.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the lowest percentage since the second quarter of 2000, Home-ownership reached a high of 69 percent in 2004. (WSJ)

Weinsteins looking at Miramax?: The Wrap's Sharon Waxman reports that two hedge funds have approached Harvey and Bob about teaming up to buy the studio from Disney.

The Weinstein brothers founded Miramax in 1979 and sold it to Disney in 1993. They parted ways in 2005 and have since formed the Weinstein Company, an independent studio that has struggled financially but garnered 13 Oscar nominations on Tuesday for movies including "Inglourious Basterds" and "Nine."

Commercial property shows uptick: Values were up 1 percent in January and are up more than 10 percent since the middle of last year, according to Green Street Advisors. (LAT)

Activision honcho leaves: Dan Rosensweig, head of the company's Guitar Hero unit, is becoming CEO of online textbook-rental company Chegg.com. The former Yahoo COO was hired by Activision less than a year ago. From the LAT:

Rosensweig leaves behind a company facing significant challenges. This fall was the busiest season ever for Guitar Hero with the release of four major sequels and spinoffs. All had modest or poor sales, NPD Group data showed. Guitar Hero 5, for instance, sold just under 1 million units in the U.S. from September through the end of the year. Its 2008 predecessor, Guitar Hero: World Tour, sold 3.4 million units in the same period.

Shock over legal fees: County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas wants to know why the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has spent more than $30 million in fighting a lawsuit filed by Tutor-Saliba Corp. in 1995 regarding the Red Line. From the Daily News:

"The question is how many cases are there, what are the controls, what is the management strategy and regrettably, there just doesn't seem to be any and this is just shocking," Ridley-Thomas said. "There has to be accountability for litigation and there seems to be significant gaps here that are just not acceptable."

Big cuts at CBS News: Dozens of employees, including staffers in L.A., D.C., SF, Miami, London, and Moscow, are being let go. No on-air reporters or anchors so far, but the NY Observer reports that a handful of veterans, including Sandra Hughes in L.A., are being relegated to a news service that provides coverage for local CBS stations. LAT first had news of the cuts last week.