Articles tagged with economy

MOCA moves. Washington D.C’s National Gallery of Art is the latest institution to make a pitch for a partnership with the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art. The National Gallery’s proposed five-year deal follows a bid by the L.A. County of Museum of Art to take over the critically acclaimed but financially strapped downtown museum. The talks with the National Gallery were initiated by L.A. …

Sequester impact. Barring a last-minute deal, the federal budget cuts known as sequestration are scheduled to go into effect today. That means billions of dollars in spending reductions in California affecting everything from defense contracts and university research to programs for disabled students. But economists and politicians are split on just how big the impact will be on the state’s economy. AP
Economic outlook. Californians …

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today said he believes Christopher Dorner is dead, but he says LAPD won’t stop special protection details — whatever the cost — for some 50 LAPD families until Dorner’s body has been positively identified.
Meanwhile, the mayor led the cheers for President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.  In an interview this morning with KCRW, the mayor said Obama …

President Barack Obama delivered an upbeat State of the Union speech to say the economy is showing clear signs of improvement. But Obama said a complete recovery is an “unfinished task.” He called on Congress to fund job creation and to hike the minimum wage.
Obama also challenged congressional leaders to allow votes on gun control proposals developed in the wake of the Connecticut school …

Next Monday, President Barack Obama will raise his right hand and take the oath of office for a second term in office. He’ll have another four years to accomplish his national policy agenda. But what exactly should that agenda be? What issues and problems must President Obama focus on? And how much work is left undone from his first term in office?
We’re asking a …

Back in business. The eight-day strike that brought work to a virtual standstill at the busiest port complex in the country is over. Few details have been released, but the tentative deal appears to give the clerical workers what they wanted most: a guarantee that no jobs will be outsourced to other countries or to states where shippers can pay lower salaries. The pact …

Last April, 56 Los Angeles County courtrooms were shut down, workers were laid off and judges were asked to double up in the use of remaining staff and facilities.  Presiding Judge Lee Smalley Edmon said, “We are rationing justice.” Now, it’s become even worse. Yesterday, Judge Edmon announced that all courtrooms will be closed down in Beverly Hills, West LA, Malibu, Huntington Park, Whittier, Pomona, San …

For a long time, people in Silicon Valley would fly to LA when they had to. Then it occurred to them that people who work in technology and content could actually live in the same place. Now, Google has come to Venice, greeted warmly by the Chamber of Commerce, but regarded by some long-time residents as an unwelcome invader. We look at the changing …

In poll after poll, the economy continues to be at the top of the list of issues Americans are most concerned about this election year.
And just four short years after an economic earthquake that nearly took the global financial system down, we’re still trying to wrap our brains around the mechanisms of the markets.
Paddy Hirsch, a Senior Producer at APM’s Marketplace, a nationally-syndicated business …

Facebook shares continue to slide, down nearly 2 percent in trading today. That’s after the social media giant offered up its stock in an Initial Public Offering last month at an opening price of $38 a share.
Facebook is a California company, with a good number of employees and investors here who own a bunch of stock. And that, in turn, could pay dividends to …

Walmart plans to start construction on its first grocery story in Los Angeles County this summer at a site on the edge of LA’s Chinatown. Local labor and advocacy groups plan to fight the development, saying the world’s biggest retailer isn’t too kind to new environments and its competition. Downtown boosters, however, say it’s yet another example of how the area has come into …

Mayor Villaraigosa visited China in December and opened a tourist office in Chongqing. Today, he welcomed the first visit of Chinese national leaders to LA in 13 years — including Vice President Xi Jinping, who’s expected to be China’s senior official for the next decade. China Daily says the event will bring what it calls “the US Pacific Gateway” closer to China. How important …

Last night on All Things Considered, I talked to reporter Alex Goldmark about a new, socially responsible classification for businesses.  It’s called the B-Corp, or Benefit Corporation.  It’s designed for companies who aren’t purely about profit–who take into consideration the impact of their work on the people and world around them.
When California started to allow businesses to file as B-Corps a few weeks back, …

The big box chain, Wal-Mart, has found a way to take advantage of California’s initiative process to build more stores. The store is paying signature gatherers to circulate petitions, according to a story by California Watch.
This process then forces city council members to approve the measure or hold a special election; and special elections cost money, which many cities don’t have.
This is not illegal. …