At this stage of the recovery the pace should be picking up, not slowing down, especially with an unemployment rate that's still running over 10 percent.

Congress has decided, forcefully and unequivocally, that air travelers are more important to them than poor kids and old folks.

While you do have to wonder how Brookfield Office Properties intends to handle all that space, the real estate company has assets of more than $20 billion - and downtown L.A. office towers don't often become available.

The little devil in me would almost like to see the Tribune guys do the deal with the Kochs and have all those self-anointed arbiters of journalistic propriety raise holy hell. Almost.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings seems to have a knack for identifying what viewers want (or don't want), and he's out with an 11-page essay on where he believes TV is headed. One of the big takeaways: Apps will replace channels.

It's axiomatic that this kind of construction (on the 405 freeway) is always a longer and pricier proposition than those smiling politicians promise at ground-breaking ceremonies.

The Anaheim-based automaker hasn't yet filed for bankruptcy, but they're already filings obits. Another DeLorean, they say, except worse because the federal government was knee-deep in Fisker's financing.

The early reviews on Politico's hit piece on Executive Editor Jill Abramson aren't great. Or maybe the reaction is less about the report itself, which relied heavily on unnamed sources, and more about the crybabies at the paper.

More recently it's been known as the Gibson Amphitheatre, but whatever the name it's being closed to make way for the new Harry Potter attraction at the Universal theme park.

Let there be no mistake: City government remains a mess. It's still bloated in some areas and virtually bankrupt in others. There's been no rhyme or reason to the many personnel and service cuts over the past five years, and zero willingness by elected officials to drill into the decayed and sometimes corrupt infrastructure.

No doubt there is some sort of connection, but flights get delayed for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with Washington's sequestration business.

Latest bit of bad news: Starter Chad Billingsley will undergo Tommy John elbow surgery and is out through the start of next season.

Credit higher home prices, an improving economy, and new foreclosure regulations.

What was Reese Witherspoon thinking when she put that condescending query to an Atlanta cop during a DUI stop involving her husband, the agent James Toth?

City officials are betting that the numbers will keep improving next year, and that will mean more tax revenue for the city. But are the projections realistic?

Sure she can - at least in theory. But making up such a large margin requires a charged, dynamic race, and the Greuel-Garcetti face-off has been anything but.

Most of the NY-bound flights are late this morning, not a great sign as the airlines cope with a reduced complement of air traffic controllers.

A central question is whether the Tribune Co. board will only accept offers for the entire newspaper group or consider selling off the properties in pieces.