Wednesday morning headlines

Post-election blues: So you thought the markets had gotten past the mid-term elections weeks ago? Apparently, no one expected that the Dems might take over control of the Senate, as well as the House. That creates all kinds of corporate nervousness, even though Bush could always veto. The market is down this morning, in part because of those prospects, but largely because the Senate picture is uncertain. And we all know how much Wall Street hates uncertainty.

All about Dean: Tons of coverage this morning, much of it chronicled at LAO. WSJ reports that Baquet and Publisher David Hiller finally came to an impasse over Hiller wanting a 50-75 person staff reduction in the newsroom. Other reports are vague on specifics. NYT quotes Hiller as saying that no job cuts are expected at least through the end of the year - and that it was still possible further cuts could be reached through attrition. Best headline: From the NY Post, where else: "Baquet Takes Bullet."

True Religion nosedives: Shares of the L.A.-based jeans maker are down almost 23 percent this morning after the company reported worse-than-expected quarterly earnings. True Religion also cut its 2006 outlook. Exceptionally warm weather outside the United States and softer-than-expected sales in Japan were blamed for the weak numbers. Still lots of talk about selling the company.

Housing profits: Is it possible, just possible, that fears of a housing bubble are being overblown? LAT reports that the bulk of last month's sellers in Socal doubled their money (most sellers owned their homes at least three years). The data, compiled by Christopher Cagan, an economist at First American Corp., showed that L.A. County sellers raked in a median profit of $266,000.

Remember Reed Slatkin?: He's the Santa Barbara money manager who was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He's also an ordained Scientology minister and is supposed to have given some of the ill-gotten money - no one knows how much - to Scientology organizations. Well, groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology have agreed to pay back $3.5 million. Slatkin is serving a 14-year sentence.

Pushback on hotels: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants the City Council to delay a decision to extend a "living-wage" ordinance to LAX-area hotel operators. No word yet on what the council might do.

Breeze property: Some details on the news, first reported by LAO, that Copley is putting the Daily Breeze property in Torrance up for sale. The paper reports that the property would be sold separately from the Breeze's newspaper operations, which are already on the block. The parcel has a 90,000-square-foot building housing the newsroom and ad department and an adjacent 30,000-square-foot structure that was used for the circulation department. The paper only needs 40,000 square feet.

Marty to Paramount: Martin Scorsese has signed a four-year deal with Paramount Pictures to direct and produce films, TV, direct-to-DVD features and digital content. It's the first time in years that Scorsese has aligned himself with a studio. His current release, "The Departed," has grossed more than $150 million worldwide and was distributed by Warner Brothers.

More power woes: Don't be surprised if there are more outages in L.A. LAT reports that it could take decades to fully upgrade the DWP's electrical system. Since July, the department has repaired or replaced 1,300 to 1,500 transformers. That's out of 126,000. See the problem?