Friday morning headlines

Market sell-off continues: Wall Street is still hung over from yesterday's bleak session - and for the same obvious reasons. Dow is down about 70 points.

July jobless rate unchanged: California remained stuck at 12.3 percent, third highest in the country. The payroll survey shows a loss of 9,400 jobs in the state. (press release)

Happy furlough day: Many state agencies will be closed today and 150,000 workers will take an unpaid day off, part of the governor's plan to save money. He has ordered state workers to take three unpaid days off per month until a new budget is in place.

More 401(k) withdrawals: Fidelity reports a record number of workers who are pulling out their retirement money because of financial troubles. Also, the number of workers borrowing from their accounts reached a 10-year high. From AP:

Fidelity administers 17,000 plans, which represents 11 million participants. In the second quarter, some 62,000 workers initiated a hardship withdrawal. That's compared with 45,000 in the same period a year ago.

Salmonella sick count keeps rising: Many of the 2,000 or so cases reported from May 1 to July 31 are being tied to contaminated eggs. So far, 380 million eggs have been recalled. (CNN)

Big bucks in Vernon: Move over Bell - Eric Fresch was paid $1.6 million in 2008 when he was both city administrator and deputy city attorney. Vernon has fewer than 100 residents. Others are receiving compensation well into the six figures. From the LAT:

Municipal government experts said they were taken aback Thursday by word of Vernon's big paychecks. "They are beyond anything that I could imagine for a local government manager," Dave Mora, west regional director of the International City-County Management Assn., said of the sums paid to Fresch and O'Callaghan.

State to investigate Calpers: Ethics officials are looking into the luxury trips that were taken by the pension fund's investment staff - and paid for by the financial firms with whom they were doing business. The travel was never reported publicly. (LAT)