Full coverage: Financial crisis
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November 26, 2009
L.A. analysts project $1-billion budget gap by 2013
Los Angeles could face a $1-billion deficit by the time Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wraps up his second term in 2013, a dire forecast driven primarily by escalating employee pension costs and stagnant tax revenues, the city's top budget analyst said Wednesday.
November 23, 2009
'New Moon' sends box office soaring
Recession be damned, Hollywood is on its way to what could be its merriest holiday season ever, thanks to a group of undead teenagers.
November 23, 2009
Pricing an Afghanistan troop buildup is no simple calculation
As President Obama measures the potential burden of a new war strategy in Afghanistan, his administration is struggling to come up with even the most dispassionate of predictions: the actual price tag for the anticipated buildup of troops.
November 20, 2009
COMPANY TOWN
'New Moon' may shine bright at box office
Edward and Bella are set to take the second-biggest bite of the year out of the box office.
November 19, 2009
UC expected to raise student fees 32%
Caught between state funding cuts and rowdy student protests, a key committee of the University of California's Board of Regents on Wednesday reluctantly approved a two-step student fee increase that would raise undergraduate education costs more than $2,500, or 32%, by next fall.
November 19, 2009
Many libraries go quiet as local budget cuts deepen
As tax revenues plummet and desperate local governments struggle to close widening deficits, some are looking for cuts in quieter places long considered off limits, like public libraries.
November 16, 2009
COMPANY TOWN
'2012' spells doom for its competition at the box office
Even the Maya would have struggled to forecast an opening weekend this big.
November 16, 2009
State cuts give private colleges an edge
Thousands of other students might have jumped at the chance to attend UCLA, but not Michael Rodriguez. He passed up his UC acceptance last year in order to attend California Lutheran University, a less well-known but more intimate private campus in Thousand Oaks.
November 15, 2009
Medicare cuts in healthcare bill may burden doctors, report says
A plan to slash more than $500 billion from future Medicare spending -- one of the biggest sources of funding for President Obama's proposed overhaul of the nation's healthcare system -- would sharply reduce benefits for some senior citizens and could jeopardize access to care for millions of others, according to a government evaluation released Saturday.
7:13 PM PST, November 13, 2009
L.A. Unified asks union to OK four furlough days this year
Los Angeles school district officials asked union members Friday to agree to four furlough days this year and a future 12% pay cut to help offset a nearly $500-million budget shortfall next year.
November 14, 2009
Metrolink board chooses to delay decision on proposed 6% fare hike
Faced with strong opposition from riders and questions about agency finances, the board of Southern California's commuter rail service on Friday chose to delay a decision on a proposed 6% fare increase -- just three months after the last rate hike.
9:03 PM PST, November 10, 2009
Michael Jackson's funeral cost more than $1 million, court documents show
The cost of Michael Jackson's private funeral topped $1 million, with more than half that amount going to buy a crypt in a celebrity-studded Glendale mausoleum and $35,000 spent on clothes for the singer, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
November 11, 2009
Top L.A. County judge warns of consequences of budget constraints
Los Angeles County Superior Court Presiding Judge Charles "Tim" McCoy is warning of dire things to come should the state's budget crunch continue to take a toll on the nation's largest trial court system.
November 11, 2009
CSU applications up 53% from last year
More students are applying to California State University campuses so far this year, even as university officials are preparing to slash enrollment and tighten admission standards in response to the most severe budget crisis in the system's history.
November 9, 2009
Metrolink officials consider rate hike to counter revenue shortfall
Faced with falling ridership, deepening budget woes and increased expenses for safety reforms, officials at Southern California's commuter rail service are considering raising fares for the second time in less than six months.
November 6, 2009
New York's Bloomberg spent big, for small return
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may have narrowly won a third term this week but he also earned -- or, rather, very handsomely paid for -- a less-welcome distinction: becoming the latest in a long line of politicians to prove that money can't buy everything.
November 5, 2009
Warner Bros.' earnings produce upbeat mood at parent company
When it comes to talking smack about the movie business, just leave Warner Bros. out of it.
November 4, 2009
Meg Whitman's campaign spending is causing a stir
The radio ads have aired daily across the state since she declared her bid for governor in September.
November 2, 2009
O.C. shouldn't accept Irvine Co. land now, environmentalists say
The Irvine Co.'s plans to donate 20,000 acres of open space to the people of Orange County -- increasing parkland by more than half of its current size -- has encountered a seemingly unlikely opponent: environmentalists.
November 2, 2009
Slim pickings for racehorse owners
The price tag on racehorses -- starting at a few thousand and rising steeply from there -- is only a beginning. These finely tuned animals need to be housed, fed, trained and, much like children, kept in new shoes.
October 30, 2009
EU split over climate change goal
The European Union fought Thursday to live up to its self-proclaimed leadership on combating climate change, with the 27 EU leaders at odds over how much to offer poorer nations to join the global battle.
11:35 PM PDT, October 27, 2009
Ex-Assembly Speaker Nuñez did not misuse campaign funds, board rules
Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez broke no state laws when he spent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign funds on luxury travel around the world, gifts at high-end boutiques and meals at exclusive restaurants, the state's ethics watchdog has ruled.
October 22, 2009
AEG president says Trutanich tried to 'bully' company on Jackson costs
Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich tried to pressure the owner of Staples Center to pay $6 million for city services provided during the Michael Jackson memorial, saying he would "go after you guys" if the money was not paid, the company's top executive alleged Wednesday.
October 22, 2009
Senate blocks Medicare payment bill
With budget anxieties pervading the congressional healthcare debate, the Senate on Wednesday sidetracked popular legislation that would have increased Medicare payments to doctors by nearly $250 billion over the next decade.
October 9, 2009
Some state retirees rake in pensions and paychecks
As California's public retirement funds reel from losses of nearly $100 billion in recent years and lack enough cash to cover their long-term costs, thousands of state employees are collecting government pension checks along with their paychecks.
October 2, 2009
Before the Station fire, a cost-cutting memo
Three weeks before the deadly Station fire erupted, the U.S. Forest Service issued a cost-cutting order to reduce its use of state and local firefighters, documents and interviews show.
September 28, 2009
California recycling measure may mean higher deposits and better returns
Californians could soon be paying new deposits on half-gallon juice jugs, small juice boxes and soy drink containers -- and handing over twice as much as they already pay on some soda and water bottles -- because lawmakers have been raiding the state's recycling fund to help balance the budget.
September 26, 2009
VA to write emergency checks under GI Bill
The Veterans Affairs Department said Friday that it would begin issuing emergency checks of up to $3,000 to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans whose payments under the new GI Bill have been delayed.
August 31, 2009
Ban on interstate business may be relaxed
Which will it be: fewer places to stop on the highway to catch 40 winks, or fast food galore at rest areas? That's the choice facing Congress as it considers whether to relax a decades-old ban on businesses along the nation's interstates.
August 28, 2009
Nonprofit seeks control of Will Rogers State Historic Park
A private, nonprofit group wants to assume management of Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades, saying the California parks department has failed to fittingly honor Rogers' legacy.
July 6, 2009
Jackson's estate could be a thriller of a profit machine
Michael Jackson was one of the most famous people on Earth and also one of the most famously broke. Many who crossed paths with the performer in the final years of his life -- business advisors, lawyers, a Tennessee art dealer and even a Bahraini sheik -- accused him of skipping out on bills. Jackson came within days of losing Neverland Ranch to a foreclosure auction last year, and he died owing more than $400 million to various financial institutions.
June 8, 2009
CAPITOL JOURNAL
George Skelton: Nightmares come true for the neediest
Jean called the other day from her desert condo near Palm Springs. She'd been notified that the state was cutting back again on aid for the disabled and she was worried.
May 27, 2009
Schwarzenegger sends lawmakers $5 billion in proposed cuts
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday sent lawmakers his plan to trim more than $5 billion in spending by dismantling or drastically curtailing state programs that provide Californians with healthcare, higher education, welfare, parks, AIDS treatment and counseling, prisoner rehabilitation and other services.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
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