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Newspaper Loses Appeal Over Merit Pay: A federal appeals court ruled against the Woodland Hills-based Daily News in a dispute over merit pay raises for the its editorial staff, upholding a previous decision that the company owes at least $600,000 in back pay and interest. The decision, issued last week, upholds a 1991 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that said merit pay is part of the condition of employment at the newspaper. The case involved merit pay raises during 1989 and ‘90, when the Newspaper Guild had 184 Daily News members, said union representative Matt Berkelhammer, who praised the ruling. But Thomas Burke, the paper’s attorney, said the Daily News plans to seek a rehearing. The Daily News is owned by financier Jack Kent Cooke.