Newsletter: California Inc.: Hollywood’s awards season goes into high gear

Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section.

I’m Business columnist David Lazarus, and here’s a rundown of upcoming stories this week and the highlights of last week.

LOOKING AHEAD

New boss: On Tuesday, a new chief executive will take over the Central City Assn., an influential downtown Los Angeles business advocacy group. The incoming CEO is Jessica Lall, formerly executive director of a business improvement district in the South Park neighborhood, an area surrounding Staples Center that is awash in construction. Lall, 32, previously served under former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as senior policy director in the Department of Economic and Business Policy.

Picking winners: Hollywood’s awards season shifts into a higher gear this week. Final Golden Globes voting closes Wednesday, while Academy Award nomination voting opens Thursday. The National Society of Film Critics award winners will be announced Saturday. And the 74th annual Golden Globes will be handed out Sunday and televised by NBC. In the competition among studios, Lionsgate is off to the best start — it has 13 Golden Globe nominations.

Building plans: On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments over Newport Banning Ranch, the controversial proposal to develop one of the largest open private parcels of land on the Southern California coast. The Banning Ranch Conservancy sued Newport Beach after the city approved a 1,375-home and hotel project on a site overlooking Pacific Coast Highway. The plan was later scaled back, then blocked by the California Coastal Commission.

New flight: On Thursday, Alaska Airlines will begin offering the only daily nonstop flights from Los Angeles to Havana. Alaska was among several major carriers that applied for limited slots to fly into Cuba, following an agreement by the U.S. and Cuba to relax travel restrictions that had been in place more than 50 years. Alaska plans to fly a Boeing 737-900ER, a jet that can carry as many as 180 passengers, departing each day at 8:50 a.m. with a return flight at 5:55 p.m.

Tech trade show: CES, the massive consumer technology show, will run Thursday through Sunday in Las Vegas. New this year will be sessions on printed electronics and data privacy, joining a lineup of events addressing wireless technologies, robotics, automobiles, smart home gadgets and handheld electronics. L.A.-based Faraday Future, the financially troubled electric car company, has said it will introduce its production car at CES.

THE AGENDA

In Monday’s Business section, auto writer Charles Fleming will shine a headlight on Highway 1’s favorite rides of 2016 — a great year for vehicles not produced by Volkswagen (emissions cheating scandal, expensive settlements, suffering sales). Spoiler alert: There’s a motorcycle on the list as well as cars powered by electricity and hydrogen fuel cell.

STORY LINES

Here are some of the other stories that ran in the Times Business section in recent days that we’re continuing to follow:

Dow 20K: The Dow Jones industrial average flirted with the 20,000 level for days, coming within 25 points of the milestone. Although the blue chip index ended 2016 with a losing day, down 0.3% Friday, the average was up 13.4% from a year earlier. Beyond the Dow, U.S. stocks posted strong gains for the year.

Channel blockers: This time the contract talk impasse was between cable giant Charter Communications and NBCUniversal, which threatened to bring a blackout of NBC channels for Charter customers. But such distribution battles, and channel outages, have become more common as pay-TV providers, including AT&T, Charter and Dish Network, get more aggressive on holding down programming costs.

Alexa’s listening skills: The seizure of an Amazon Echo as part of an Arkansas murder investigation raised questions about privacy in a “smart home” era. Echo is activated by a word, usually “Alexa” or “Amazon,” but the device’s microphones are always listening, hence the interest of Bentonville, Ark., police.

Nasty Gal sale: The Los Angeles retailer of edgy women’s clothing and accessories received a $20-million offer for its intellectual property from British online retailer Boohoo.com. Nasty Gal, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, said it is seeking Bankruptcy Court permission to hold an auction of its assets in early February.

IPO momentum: Fewer companies went public in 2016, with IPOs hitting a 7-year low because of uncertainty over the economy and the election. What’s more, the year’s deals raised a total of $18.8 billion — the least since 2003. But experts expect a rebound in 2017, with a packed pipeline of companies itching to sell stock to the public, including Snap and Spotify.

WHAT WE’RE READING

And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:

Hollywood scandals: Variety runs down the 10 biggest Hollywood scandals and controversies of the year. These are the most “thought-piece-provoking” show-biz moments of the last 12 months.

Digital danger: Wired presents its list of 2016’s most dangerous people on the Internet. Included are a certain Russian dictator, a terrorist organization and “a man who a year ago was a reality television star and Twitter troll [and] is now the leader of the free world.”

Business lessons: From Fast Company, the 10 best business lessons of 2016. “We’ve talked to CEOs of big companies, first-time entrepreneurs and those working hard every day to make something new.”

Science! Scientific American lays out the most popular science stories of the last year, “everything from particle physics and rage disorder to autism in girls and the polar vortex.”

Best books: Quartz has mined 36 different lists of “best books” to come up with what it says is “ the Ultimate Authoritative Unimpeachable Top 20 Books of 2016.”

SPARE CHANGE

In honor of all those “best of” lists, a few tunes with “best” in the title. One of my personal faves is by Gladys Knight and the Pips. Can’t overlook Queen, of course, or the great Harry Nilsson. I know Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Drake and the Foo Fighters also have offerings. But best of show goes to either Pat Benatar or the Eagles.

For the latest money news, go to www.latimes.com/business. Until next time, I’ll see you in the Business section.

David Lazarus’ column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.