May's unemployment rate of 8.6 percent is down from 9 percent the previous month, one more indicator that the state's economy is improving at an accelerated level.

When you're trying to promote Hollywood, about the last thing you need is a headline on the Daily Mail website that reads, "Panhandlers stab woman to death on Hollywood's Walk of Fame."

The concern is that this isn't a pause, but an inflection point for further losses. There's no reason to believe we're on that road, though inflection points are never predictive events.

Here's a proposal that's hugely important for local businesses and developers, and yet it's barely gotten noticed.

Final approval is expected next week, but today's 13-1 vote pretty much assures that L.A. will be the nation's largest city to prohibit stores from using plastic bags.