Thursday morning headlines

Stocks taking off: Forget about yesterday's drubbing. Today, the Dow is up more than 200 points after a number of strong earnings reports.

House gets jobless bill: Passage is expected later today and then Obama signs the benefits extension into law. (AP)

Bankruptcies keep climbing: L.A. County business and individual filings were up 51.2 percent in June compared with a year earlier. OC and Riverside/San Bernardino were also up last month, but by lower percentages. (OC Register)

Leading indicators point downward: Slower growth is expected through the fall, according to the Conference Board, because businesses are finished building up their inventories. (Business Insider)

Why didn't BP act sooner?: Some experts are questioning the decision to hold off capping the well for three months. From the WSJ:

That decision puzzled many technical experts trying to help BP, according to one subsea engineer who was advising the U.K. oil company in its Houston crisis center. "The whole industry was dumbfounded," the engineer said. To be sure, other experts said BP did the best it could under the circumstances. Considering the industry's lack of experience dealing with blowouts at such water depths, it's not surprising it took the company nearly 90 days to come up with a way of halting the leak, they said.

Bell officials are set for life: If City Manager Robert Rizzo is forced to step down, he would still be entitled an annual pension of at least $600,000. From the LAT:

"It's outrageous and unsustainable," said pension-reform advocate Marcia Fritz, noting that Rizzo, 55, could receive $26 million in pension income if he lives a normal life span. "High salaries last just a few years -- high pensions last for a lifetime."

Cost of minimum wage battle: The state controller has spent more than $1 million over the last two years to challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to pay state workers the minimum wage until the budget impasse is resolved. From the Sacramento Bee:

He also paid a consultant $240,000 for a recent report that says it would take up to four years and more than $11 million to get the current payroll system up to minimum-wage speed. The money for all that came from California's general fund, the core of the state's ongoing budget angst.

TV audiences getting older: Median age at ABC is over 50, NBC is right at 50, and CBS is in the low 50s. From The Wrap:

A network can still have a predominant number of older viewers but win the younger demo race against the other networks -- or at least be competitive. Case in point, CBS -- the oldest network, remember -- came in second in the advertiser-friendly 18-49 demo this season.

Pasadena banks merge: Professional Business Bank and California General will form a network of six branches in Los Angeles and Orange counties with more than $365 million in assets. (LABJ)