Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks unsteady: The Dow is down a bit in early trading. It's been bouncing at near the opening levels.

Housing plan announced: Obama wants to spend $75 billion to prevent up to 9 million Americans from losing their homes. The proposal aims to aid borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth, and borrowers who are on the verge of foreclosure. (NYT)

New snag in budget impasse: Republicans in the state Senate have ousted their leader, Dave Cogdill of Modesto. He's the one who agreed to the $41 billion plan that would close the deficit, the only Republican in the Senate to do so. The new leader, Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, is staunchly antitax. From the LAT:

Cogdill's ouster could be a major setback to budget negotiations. Cogdill was a lead negotiator on the budget package and had committed to voting for it. Hollingsworth will likely try to renegotiate the deal, which lawmakers spent three months forging. "It's a shame it ended this way," Cogdill said to reporters. "This budget needs to get out, and we need to put people to work again in this state." Hollingsworth said he does not want to see a tax increase passed, but he offered no plan for resolving the budget crisis.

EDC forecasts more pain: Jack Kyser's latest report says the recession will persist for the year before finally bottoming out. L.A. County is expected to lose 89,000 jobs this year, compared with 17,800 in 2008. He also sees unemployment nearing 12 percent. "This is the grimmest forecast I've issued since I've been at the LAEDC," said Kyser, who joined the Economic Development Corp. in 1991. (Daily News, LABJ)

Sign of the times: Applications for food stamps in Contra Costa County have risen 65 per cent over the past year, and there has been a similar jump in the number of applications for Medi-Cal. (FT)

Activist speaks up: Jane Usher, who recently stepped down from the Planning Commission, let's loose to Steve Lopez on what's wrong with city government. Some of her biggest gripes:

* The way the mayor rushed the solar panel measure onto the ballot despite questions about cost and feasibility, and against a backdrop of support from a labor union whose support Villaraigosa might find helpful in a future run for governor.

* The mayor's stony silence and City Council's towering ineptitude on the scandalous proliferation of digital billboards and supergraphics, those tacky vinyl coverings that are draped across buildings and, in some cases, make exits unusable.

* And the routine granting of land-use exceptions to well-connected developers over the objections of exasperated homeowners concerned that, yet again, the city had no plan for traffic relief.

Overcharging for COBRA?: Blue Shield and Anthem Blue Cross have been selling the so-called last-resort health coverage at rates that far exceed state-issued levels. The rates affect more than 19,000 people. From the LAT:

When the higher rates were pointed out to Anthem, the company said it had erred and moved swiftly to make amends. In contrast, Blue Shield defended its rates. It said it was not required to follow the state-issued rate structure because the company did not believe it was legally binding. It also said it reports its rates annually to the state.