Newsletter: California Inc.: Hackers are the latest road hazard
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
Consumer spending: August retail sales will be released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday. Analysts keep a close eye on merchant activity for clues on how freely consumers are spending and whether they’ll remain inclined to keep shopping. Many business leaders were cheered to see July’s spending rise 0.6%.
Interest rates: One of the most anticipated meetings of Federal Reserve policymakers occurs this Wednesday and Thursday. The financial world wants to know if the Fed will raise its key interest rate for the first time in nearly 10 years. Once likely, the increase now may be stalled by recent market turbulence and global economic concerns.
GOP debate: Wednesday’s gathering of Republican presidential candidates at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library in Simi Valley is expected to be the most-watched event ever on CNN. The reason: Donald Trump. CNN is charging advertisers about $150,000 for a 30-second spot.
Clifton’s returns: Clifton’s cafeteria, a downtown Los Angeles institution dating to 1935, will reopen on Thursday after an extensive four-year renovation. Patrons will encounter something unusual on every floor, including 19th century machinery, wildlife habitat displays and a 250-pound meteorite.
Marijuana confab: Entrepreneurs, investors and growers in the marijuana industry will gather Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the three-day Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition, which features singer Melissa Etheridge and George Zimmer, founder of Men’s Wearhouse.
The Agenda
Today’s Business section delves into the transformation of cars from industrial-era machinery into digitally controlled devices with cool new features — and cars more vulnerable to hacking. Earlier this year, two cybersecurity researchers remotely put a Jeep Cherokee into a ditch after seizing control through the vehicle's radio.
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:
Hitting the brakes: In a radical move for the auto industry, 10 of the world's largest automakers said they will begin making automatic emergency braking a standard feature in future car models sold in the U.S. The aim is to reduce rear-end collisions, which account for a third of all car crashes.
Refinery return: Exxon Mobil's plan to increase production at its Torrance refinery appears on track for approval, which could help lower gasoline prices in the Los Angeles region within weeks. The plant, damaged in an explosion in February, provides 10% of the state’s capacity and 20% in Southern California.
Star Wars: Walt Disney Co. will break ground next year on "Star Wars"-themed lands at Disneyland and at one of its Florida theme parks. The 14-acre “Star Wars” area at each park represents the largest expansions in the Burbank company’s history for a single-themed area at its parks.
Apple's core: After years as the main attraction at Apple's annual September event, the iPhone is no longer front and center. CEO Tim Cook opened the event saying: "We are about to make some monster announcements across several of our product lines." His long rollout of new devices and updates ended with the iPhone.
Hollywood hiring: A new study looking at the TV hiring underbelly has some not-so-shocking results: Women and minority television directors are at a disadvantage in getting their foot in the door. The Directors Guild of America found that over a six-year period, 82% of all first-time directors during that span were male, and 18% were female.
Publisher fired: Los Angeles Times Publisher Austin Beutner was abruptly fired after leading a yearlong drive to reshape the media company. Beutner’s successor, Timothy E. Ryan, is the 15th publisher in the 134-year history of The Times.
What We’re Reading
And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:
Visa program: The Wall Street Journal scrutinizes a visa program known as EB-5, which enables foreign nationals to obtain U.S. permanent-resident status by putting up money for new business ventures. Most of the money was going to projects in wealthy neighborhoods.
A liked job: The New York Times serves up a profile of Los Angeles resident Matt Jacobson, who was 44 and looking for a new job after leaving Quiksilver, the surf brand. He ended up as employee No. 8 at a Palo Alto start-up called Facebook.
H is for HBO: Slate visits Sesame Street, now that the popular kids’ show has financial backing from HBO. “In practical terms, this is good news all around,” the site says. “In symbolic and historical terms, however, it’s terribly sad.”
Hiss: Why does it cost as much as $14,000 to treat a snakebite? The Washington Post discovered that more than 70% of the cost comes from hospital markups. The actual expense of making anti-venom is just a fraction of that amount.
Popular podcasts: Medium.com crunches the numbers to see which podcasts are most popular. It finds that Christianity tops the 20 iTunes categories with the most streaming shows. At the bottom of the list, not surprisingly for an audio medium, is visual arts.
For the latest money news, go to www.latimes.com/business. Until next time, I'll see you in the Business section.
