April 14 - April 20, 2013
Friday, Apr. 19
Boston bombings, an explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, poisoned letters sent to President Obama and a Mississippi senator, the arrest of a couple in connection with the murder of a prosecutor - this has been a very strange week.
Service was suspended in January after several incidents involving the plane's lithium-ion batteries, one of which resulted in fire. Service is expected to resume in a few weeks.
The state's unemployment rate fell to 9.4 percent in March, down from 9.6 percent the previous month and the lowest level since late 2008. Also, 25,500 jobs were added. If only the rest of the country were growing that well...
Thursday, Apr. 18
The basic explanation is that U.S. demand is weak and oil supply seems plentiful. Assuming that refinery operations remain online, state and local prices should be stable to lower in the weeks leading up to the Memorial Day weekend.
That's when the FAA begins to implement furloughs involving its air traffic controllers. Arrivals at LAX will drop to 48 an hour from 80, a 40 percent cut.
That would be the media's hand-wringing over how a few news outlets screwed up by reporting that an arrest had been made in the Boston bombing. Man, I must say that journalists can be a constipated lot - so full of themselves and their high-and-mighty attitudes about news gathering.
This tells you a lot about the imbalance in housing these days: L.A. County had only a 2.7-month supply of homes in March. The normal level is six months.
The big exhibitors seem to be holding their own financially, but they're living on borrowed time, what with movie-goers finding alternatives to a night at the multiplex.
Wednesday, Apr. 17
So call me nutty, but I've always been a little suspicious when "the human condition," "pushing boundaries," "unconventional structure," and references to "My Dinner With André" all wind up in the same press release.
The ball being the future of the franchise, which is basically entering a transitional, post-Kobe stage - and that's regardless of who wins tonight's pivotal game against Houston.
March's median price was up 23.4 percent, to $345,000, the highest level in more than four-and-a-half years, according to Dataquick (prices were a bit higher in L.A. County).
British parent Tesco is finally calling it quits on its neither-here-nor-there U.S. chain that never gained much traction. It'll take a few months to finalize an exit plan.
Tuesday, Apr. 16
Molly Bloom, who organized high-stakes poker games in the L.A. area that allegedly involved the likes of Leonard Dicaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Macaulay Culkin, and Alex Rodriguez, was charged with operating an illegal gambling business.
What a mess - the reservations system, otherwise known as Sabre, has been shut down this morning and now comes word that the FAA has grounded all flights until 2 p.m. L.A. time.
They're rare, often spectacular, and come out of nowhere. But security expert Bruce Schneier reminds everybody that there are other things in this world far more dangerous and which get little notice.
We're talking about a revolution in the way people are consuming content. That's the real story behind Dish Network's unsolicited bid for Sprint Nextel.
Lots of luck figuring out how she would handle the city's budget shortfall. With Wendy, it's all talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk - and say as little as possible.
Monday, Apr. 15
Stocks were down sharply all day (big drops in the price of gold and other commodities, propelled by worse-than-expected data from China), but the decline worsened in the last hour on news of the bomb blasts in Boston.
All the usual precautions -- LAX is increasing patrols and using more bomb-sniffing dogs, while an increased police presence is planned for tonight's Dodger-Padre game at the Stadium.
Turns out that there's a shortage of younger health care workers willing to care for the elderly and disabled.
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The funeral for Mark Lacter will be held Sunday, Nov. 24 at 12 noon at Hillside Memorial Park, 6001 W. Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles 90045. Reception to follow.
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