Wednesday morning headlines

Market edges higher: Dow is up about 80 points in early trading, but it's still under 10,000.

Donations slip: Charitable giving fell 3.6 percent in 2009, the second straight year of declines, according to the Giving USA Foundation. From the WSJ:

Giving in the U.S. is still historically strong. Charitable gifts were equivalent to 2.1% of GDP last year, compared with 2.2% in 2008. Giving has historically hovered at around 2% of GDP. Still, giving fell across most sectors last year, notably to religious organizations, which account for more than a third of total donations, the largest share. Giving to such charities dropped by about 1% in current dollars, the first recorded decline in the sector since 1969, and as a percentage of contributions fell to 33% from 50% in 1970.

Wall Street salaries down: Sort of -- the average worker in NY's securities industry was paid $311,279 last year in salary, bonuses and exercised stock options, a drop of about $85,000 from a year earlier. (NYT)

No nurses strike: A Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order that prevents a one-day walkout by 11,000 nurses at five University of California medical centers. Another hearing is scheduled in two weeks. The dispute centers on nurse-to-patient staffing levels. (SF Chronicle)

Californians without benefits: More than 124,000 people in the state ran out of their jobless benefits as of June 7 - and Congress is unlikely to extend payments past the 99-week maximum. (OC Register)

Alaska Air tops with satisfaction: The Pacific coast carrier was tops in J.D. Power's survey of customer satisfaction. Among low-cost airlines, JetBlue ranked highest. (USA Today)

Commercial real estate turning around: Buy-low investors are looking at office buildings, warehouses, shopping centers and apartments. From the LAT:

If the commercial real estate market continues to gain strength it would represent a significant shift in economic risk because many experts had feared that mass defaults by landlords on their loans could cripple banks and drive the country deeper into recession. "It's true that thousands of commercial loans must be worked out and some of these properties will enter the market in 2010," investment banker David Rifkind said. But "federal policy has been accommodating to banks and they are not being forced to realize losses."

ESPN Zone restaurants to close: A family-friendly version of a sports bar apparently didn't work out. One of the locations is at the Downtown Disney shopping district in Anaheim. No word on L.A. Live's ESPN Zone, which is licensed by Disney. (LAT)

WSJ coming to town?: Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton says that the paper's next local edition might be in Los Angeles or Chicago. "We've done focus groups and see a growing antipathy among high-end readers, towards what's happened to their local newspapers," he told paidContent.