Several hundred protesters gathered outside Covel Commons as the UC Regents met this morning to discuss the budget situation and possible student fee increases. Some of the demonstrators got inside the hall and the LAT reports eight arrests. It's not known how many of these folks were actually students.

*A regents committee has approved a 32 percent boost in student fees. It'll be sent to the full board for review. Also, the arrest count is up to 14, according to AP.

Stocks take dip: An unexpected decline in home construction and building permits puts a damper on consumer companies. Dow is down about 50 points in early trading.

New budget woes: Lots more red ink from Sacramento - another $6.3 billion projected in the current fiscal year and a $14.4 billion deficit expected for the year beginning next summer. Look for more budget cutting and borrowing. From the LAT:

The task in 2010 could be even harder than it was this year, when record deficits and cash shortfalls drove California to issue IOUs for only the second time since the Great Depression. Lawmakers have already cut billions from education, healthcare and social services while temporarily hiking income, sales and vehicle taxes. "I can't think of any good solutions," said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), who chairs the lower house budget committee.

Disney shuts down "Nemo": The planned $150 million project was just a few months from shooting. Newly named studio chief Rich Ross pulled the plug. From the LAT:

According to people familiar with the situation, who were not authorized to speak publicly about it, Disney executives made the choice not to proceed based on concerns that parts of the movie were too dark, among other creative issues. One person with knowledge of the project said the studio intends later to restart development on the Jules Verne classic. Disney first brought "Leagues," about adventurers aboard a submarine as it encounters a giant squid, to the big screen in 1954 with actors Kirk Douglas and James Mason (as Captain Nemo). Disney had previously made overtures to Will Smith to play Nemo but no deal was struck and no actors had been cast.

Pumpkin shortage?: Supplies are tight because of heavy rains in the Midwest. Nestle, which pretty much controls the canned market, has issued an apology for the limited supplies, though there appears to be enough to last through Thanksgiving. (LAT)

Toys and lead: CA Attorney General Jerry Brown says that seven products tested by the Center for Environmental Health contained leads levels far above the legal limit. The list includes Disney Fairies Silvermist's Water Lily Necklace (73 times over the limit) and the Barbie Bike Flair Accessory Kit (20 times over). From the LAT:

Brown said in a news release that he sent a letter last week to six major retailers warning them that products on their shelves contain illegal levels of lead. He asked them to pull the products from their stores immediately. "Lead is a toxic metal that damages the nervous system and other organs," Brown wrote in the letter. "Even at low levels of exposure, lead can impact brain development in children."

New Silicon Valley fund: Norwest Venture Partners has raised $1.2 billion, in part to finance large investments in mature companies (typically not what VCs do). From the NYT:

Two of those came from Norwest's portfolio: the $405 million sale of the videoconferencing start-up LifeSize Communications to Logitech this month and the public offering of Rackspace Hosting, a Web hosting company, last year. "I know there's a lot of doom and gloom out there, but I believe it's a little bit more exaggerated than it really is," said Promod Haque, a managing partner at Norwest, which has long been a presence in Silicon Valley. "There are still good companies that are getting created."

Vivendi-GE talks: The two companies are still working out terms that would have the French company sell its stake in NBC Universal and set the stage for Comcast becoming majority owner of the media giant. They're haggling over money, of course, though it's unclear how serious the price gap is. (WSJ)

Insurer raises rates: The State Compensation Insurance Fund, CA's largest workers compensation insurer, will hike premiums an average 5 percent. Way higher medical costs are behind the rate increase. (OC Register)

Here's weirdly reassuring news for those of a certain age. Hardening of the arteries goes back a ways - like 3,500 years. From the WSJ:

A team of heart-imaging experts and Egyptologists examined 22 mummies from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo in a CT scanning machine, looking for evidence of calcium buildup that could indicate vascular disease. They were able to identify the hearts, arteries or both in 16 of the mummies, nine of which had deposits of calcification. An analysis determined the deposits were either definite or probable evidence of atherosclerosis, the condition leads to heart attacks and strokes.

So what exactly caused all that buildup?

Researchers don't know for sure. But they noted that the mummies were all members of upper-class Egyptian society, and their diets included meat from cattle, ducks and geese. In addition, because there wasn't refrigeration, salt was commonly used to preserve meat and fish, raising the possibility that some of the mummies had had high blood pressure. Whether anyone was obese couldn't be determined by the scans, but tobacco wasn't part of the pharaohs' lifestyle.

Electronic Arts is shutting down Pandemic Studios, which the video game publisher bought along with another development studio two years ago for $860 million. Most of the 200 folks working at the Pandemic offices in Westwood will lose their jobs. EA, which also has a major operation in Playa Vista, had announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs, or 16 percent of its workforce, after reporting a big second-quarter loss. Among those let go at Pandemic were the studio's former CEO, Andrew Goldman. The gamer news site Kotaku broke the news.

"I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on," Nick Earl, EA Games Label Senior Vice President, wrote in the memo. "In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises. "This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That's how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios."

Normally, earnings conference calls are barely more interesting than watching paint dry, but Home Depot's session this morning was sort of instructive. As with the home sales numbers below, they show an economy stuck in neutral - no longer a disaster but far from recovered. The big picture is that the world's largest home improvement retailer reported an 8.9 percent drop in third-quarter earnings. Business did improve in California, but CEO Frank Blake, illustrating the hit-and-miss nature of things, pointed out that some areas of the state did better than others.

"You see different patterns within different cities. So, for example, in California we see relatively more stability in, say, the San Diego area than in the Los Angeles area."

Some markets have bottomed out, some markets have a few more quarters to go, and some markets they're just not sure. All told, 36 the top 40 markets performed better (the Atlantic and Mid-South regions fared best), though the average transaction fell 7.1 percent from last year, to $51.89. Also revealing are the types of items being purchased. From the NYT:

Indeed, the chain's weakest categories were goods typically used by professional builders -- plywood, lumber, concrete, gypsum, electrical and millwork. And transactions for goods of $900 and above, which represent a fifth of Home Depot's United States sales, fell about 10 percent, though that was less of a decline than in previous quarters. The most robust categories continued to be tied to do-it-yourself repair and small remodeling projects -- paint, plumbing, flooring, garden, building materials, and kitchen and bath. Sales of items used for décor updates, like vinyl flooring and special-order carpet, were also strong. So were sales of products related to energy efficiency, as consumers hunted for ways to save money.

October's median price of $325,000 in L.A. County was down $5,000 from the previous month and $30,000 (or 8.5 percent) from October 2008. It's hard to read too much into those numbers, given that OC posted a 3.9 percent increase in prices from a year earlier. Sales, too, are a mixed bag: Up in L.A. and down in OC, according to the new Dataquick numbers. Lots of cross-currents are mucking up the picture, especially the number of foreclosures that may or may not be around the corner. But note the big price drops in Riverside and San Bernardino - not a great sign. From the press release:

"The government is playing a huge role in stabilizing and, to some extent, reinvigorating the housing market," said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president. "Its actions have triggered ultra-low mortgage rates, plentiful low-down-payment financing, an extended and expanded tax credit for home buyers, and programs and political pressure aimed at reducing foreclosures. The real question now is how well can the market perform next year as some of the government stimulus disappears," he continued.

OCTOBER HOME SALES (% change from Oct. 2008)
Los Angeles 7,409 +8.6%
Orange 2,800 -1.2%
Riverside 4,197 -9.1%
San Bernardino 3,176 +11.2%
San Diego 3,671 +2.0%
Ventura 879 +9.6%

OCTOBER HOME PRICES (% change from Oct., 2008)
Los Angeles $325,000 -8.5%
Orange $436,500 +3.9%
Riverside $190,000 -17.4%
San Bernardino $150,000 -25.0%
San Diego $325,000 +0.5%
Ventura $365,000 -2.7%

Source: MDA DataQuick, DQNews.com

Gawker hears that NY staffers have been summoned to a meeting this afternoon. Layoffs are expected to be company-wide and could run into the hundreds before the end of the year. At least that's been the chatter. Today coiuld see 70 or 80.

City officials want to revise their on-location rules and regs in order to attract more productions, but industry honchos say it would have the opposite effect. The proposed ordinance would allow 25 percent more filming at most locations, but there's an earlier curfew and no filming on the weekends, The City Council votes on the revisions tonight. From the Daily Breeze:

I think it has the potential to diminish and decrease the amount of filming in El Segundo," said Melissa Patack, [Motion Picture Association of America's] vice president of state government affairs. If the groups' predictions are indeed true, the new ordinances would achieve the opposite of El Segundo's original intentions to revise its rules so its stately high school would see more lucrative production.