Tuesday morning headlines

Indy soap opera: Remember Wellpoint CFO David Colby, who was suddenly let go last week without any explanation from the health care company? Wellpoint still isn't talking, but as happens with this kind of story, some interesting nuggets are filtering out. Here's the deal: Colby has a divorce pending with his Socal wife, another woman is suing him for possession of his $4.4 million home in Lake Sherwood, and a third woman says she lives with him in Indianapolis, Wellpoint's home base, and plans to marry him. And this is a CFO we're talking about. The Indianapolis Star broke much of the story on Monday, with other pubs now catching up. Still unclear is why Wellpoint, parent of Blue Cross of California, chose to pull the trigger on Colby at this point. But just six days before Colby's firing, Rita DiCarlo (what a name!) sued Colby for ownership of his 7,500-square-foot, six-bedroom home in Lake Sherwood. The lawsuit claims that Colby agreed verbally and in writing to transfer the house to DiCarlo. Meanwhile, Angela Doan, the woman Colby lives with in Indianapolis, says DiCarlo is just causing trouble for the man Doan intends to marry. Oh, and the LAT reports that DiCarlo has sold the book and movie rights of her life story to a Hollywood producer.

The Murdoch record: So does he really exert editorial influence over his newspaper empire? The WSJ, which soon might be reporting to him, had four reporters examine the record and they found that... well, what do you think? Of course the guy meddles - and he implied as much in a WSJ interview (though the degree of meddling seems to vary a lot). "When a paper starts to go bad and go down the drain, the buck stops with me," he said. Shareholders "never ring the editor, they ring me," he said. If he buys the Journal, "I'd love to wander around....I think people quite like it if I show interest in their work."

Over the years, Mr. Murdoch and his lieutenants have raised hackles for their involvement in the company's news operations. Former top editors at two of his London papers, for example, say he ignored an independent board set up to protect them from his interference, and got involved directly in firings in the 1980s. In Australia, the former editor of one of his top papers complains that a News Corp. executive pushed him for critical coverage of pilots in a strike that was hurting a News Corp. airline investment. In China, former employees say Mr. Murdoch's representatives occasionally pushed reporters to do more upbeat stories, at a time when News Corp. was seeking government help to expand its reach there. The reporters there didn't listen and kept up their often critical coverage. Just last month, News Corp.'s Daily Telegraph, Sydney's largest newspaper, devoted more than half its front page to News Corp.'s own plan to lower carbon emissions. An accompanying editorial proclaimed that Mr. Murdoch "has never set a standard more worthy of following." David Penberthy, the paper's editor, says he was "proud" of its coverage. Shown a copy of the Daily Telegraph stories, Mr. Murdoch laughed, and said, "I don't know anything about that. And we sure didn't do that in the [New York] Post, which I'm closest to." Asked if the Sydney paper's coverage that day was in effect promoting News Corp., he replied, "Absolutely. Shouldn't be. That's bad."

DWP gears up: Thousands of transformers have been replaced and hundreds of problem circuits have been repaired - all in an effort to avoid last year's power outages that were exacerbated by an aging electrical system. Will it be enough? The DWP says it will be, but one union official told the Daily News that we can expect widespread outages in the West Valley, West Los Angeles and downtown. Even the DWP's Ron Deaton admits that "If there's a prolonged heat wave, there may be problems." And they're predicting a hot summer.

Amgen's new strategy: If you're in the drug business and your best-selling products start to tank because of safety concerns, maybe it's time to buy companies that will give you more drugs to market. That's behind Amgen’s purchase of Santa Clara-based Ilypsa Inc. for $420 million in cash. Ilypsa is working on a drug, not yet on the market, that has shown promise in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis. "They have no other choice but to buy new drugs right now, plain and simple," WBB Securities biotech analyst Steve Brozak told the LAT.

New slant to online music: Warner Music Group, has made a deal with Internet start-up Lala.com that will allow anyone to listen to its music for free as audio streams. Lala.com wants to make money by selling music both in CD format and as digital files that it will send to iPods (and without using Apple’s iTunes software). For Warner, the risk is minimal because as part of the deal the record company will receive streaming royalties. Lala.com, which has received $14 million from Bain Capital and Ignition Partners, is expected to spend $140 million in licensing fees over two years. NYT

The economic of porn: The Daily News continue its multi-part series - today reporting that the San Fernando Valley's adult-entertainment industry generates about $1 billion annually and involves more than 200 local companies that employ 6,000 people. But the professional porn business is struggling because the Internet affords so many opportunities for frisky amateurs. Sales and rentals of X-rated DVDs dipped about 15 percent last year.

The industry is dominated by small studios, each with several dozen employees, that crank out scores of movies and videos a year. And in contrast to the multimillion-dollar budgets needed for Hollywood blockbusters, most of the X-rated movies cost just $20,000 or less to make. "Very few people make over $150,000 in this industry," said David James, one of three partners at Vivid Entertainment Group, the Valley's largest pornography studio, with about $100 million in sales in 2005. In fact, the average production worker in the porn industry makes about $61,000 a year, state records show. Top female stars can earn upward of $200,000 annually for their performances, appearances and endorsements.

Are skinny jeans out?: That's the chatter among the fashion mavens, and it's a big deal for the L.A.-based denim industry. The new-old look appears to be wide-leg jeans, with Bloomingdale's reporting strong sales from James, Citizens of Humanity and Page. Denim sales have fallen slightly - perhaps due to the fact that you need to be a size zero to look good in skinnies. And for women it's even worse. From the NY Post:

Wide-leg jeans tend to be narrow through the waist and hips and then open up through the thigh and leg. They're not to be confused with boot cut styles, which are fitted through the thigh and then flare at the bottom. Hudson's wide-leg jean is about double the width through the thigh and leg of its boot cut styles.

SAG vs. AFTRA: The two showbiz unions are trying to sort out their jurisdictional disputes in advance of tough contract talks with producers. Leaders of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists met over the weekend in Los Angeles and plan to meet again soon. The two unions haven't done a very good job figuring out which union covers what, and according to Variety, some guild officials have been ticked off over AFTRA agreements for lower-cost provisions covering free reruns on cable shows.

Lacter on radio: This morning's business chat with KPCC's Steve Julian covers the financial troubles at the Times, sweatshops in L.A., and the Chapter 11 filing at Amp'd Mobile. By the way, KPCC is in the middle of a pledge drive, so this might be a good time to fork over a few bucks.