March 27 - April 2, 2011

Friday, Apr. 1
The city has considerable leverage in working out a decent deal, perhaps even a lucrative one. But it's not likely to happen.
L.A.'s mayor admitted that he failed to report free tickets to 34 events during his first five years in office.
Just 64.2 percent of American workers are either in the work force or looking for a job, the lowest labor participation rate in a quarter-century.
The state saw a 54.2 percent increase in the number of women-owned firms from 1997 to 2011.
Company told workers they would be getting more weeks in severance than was owed.
Oil and gas prices back up, Californians can take the blame for budget mess, food truck vendors sue city of Monrovia, and Billy Joel kills memoir.
Much of the good news does not reflect the current bout of bad news.
Thursday, Mar. 31
The governor listed seven specific ideas for ending abuses or tightening pension funding rules.
You're looking at the 5th worst metro area out of 99 in terms of increased joblessness.
One immediate, and sobering, lesson: Japanese are a lot more prepared than Californians.
Yes, it does make a difference, at least according to a study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Another dip in jobless claims, blame everyone for budget impasse, community colleges slash enrollments, and Russian billionaire buys mansion for $100 million.
Wednesday, Mar. 30
Living near rich people can be a real pain - as folks north of Beverly and west of La Cienega are discovering.
Socal was heavily over-stored with these pricey retailers, and the recession has served to weed out the less successful ones.
Well, lots of reasons, from possible debt implosions around the world to volatility in the Middle East.
Worse - and that's without Sarah Palin in the race so far. Joe Klein minces no words.
Take away transfer payments like Social Security, Medicare, and health insurance and actual taxable income per capita fell 3.4 percent since 2000.
Charles Cohen had Hollywood in mind when working with architect Cesar Pelli on the 400,000-square-foot Red Building.
The Starbucks CEO will be at the Drucker Business Forum on Tuesday, April 5.
Job gains in March, cabs from LAX to cost more, stadium proposal lacks guarantee, and regime change in sight at News Corp.
Tuesday, Mar. 29
So you can forget about getting a two-thirds vote for a June ballot measure.
That's the conclusion of studio executives and theater operators who are staring at a 20 percent drop in attendance so far this year compared with 2010.
The only critical voice came from Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who wondered why the city couldn't negotiate a piece of the pie from the electronic billboards revenues.
This week's chat with Steve Julian looks at the deal cut between L.A. and the city unions on health care contributions.
Dispute centers on tax shelters that are supposed to save the Broadcom co-founder from paying millions of dollars to the government.
Very funny - and Moore manages to make a compelling case for the unions - even if his claim that states aren't really out of money is ludicrous.
L.A. home prices take a dip, Council takes up lighting plan for Wilshire Grand project, lots of jobs for construction work at the ports, and it's women vs. Walmart.
Monday, Mar. 28
That means factories will operate at reduced levels, and that means limited productivity of cars, electronic components - lots of stuff.
Yaroslavsky sounds an awful lot like Jerry Brown when he was campaigning for governor last year. Except there are key differences in the two races.
The flattening out began last week - for how long who knows.
Guess which state added the largest number of construction jobs last month? Uh-huh.
Simple - just let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2012, which is when they're supposed to.
A minimum of 13 games will come from the newly expanded conference (Colorado and Utah are being added to the lineup.)
A movie executive's job is to produce hits, right? And in the last 12 years, Horn has certainly delivered.
The Lakers and Clippers have appealed to owners around the league to block the Kings' move but aren't hopeful that they will be successful.
Checking for radiation at the ports, state Republican ranks keep dwindling, budget talks about over, and Harry & David files Chapter 11.
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