Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks back up: The long-in-the-tooth rally continues, perhaps helped along with some deal-making. Dow is up about 50 points.

L.A. expected to add jobs in 2011: It would mark the first time since 2007 that the county showed an overall net gain, according to the Economic Development Corp.'s latest report. The EDC projects more than 24,000 jobs will be added this year and 70,000 in 2012. Last year alone, 63,500 jobs were lost. The unemployment rate, however, will remain above 12 percent. (Daily News, LAT)

Borders files for bankruptcy: The bookstore chain plans to close nearly one-third of its locations. GE Capital will provide Borders with $505 million in financing so it can continue operating, contingent on court approval. From Reuters:

Borders had liabilities of $1.29 billion and assets of $1.28 billion as of December 25, according to documents filed on Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The company's largest unsecured creditors include major publishers that provide the books it sells. Borders owes Pearson PLC's Penguin $41.2 million, Hachette Book Group USA $36.9 million, and CBS's Simon & Schuster $33.8 million, according to court documents.

Madoff talks: In his first jailhouse interview, the convicted scamster tells the NYT that family members knew nothing about his crimes, but that banks and hedge funds "had to know." Said Madoff: "The attitude was sort of, 'If you're doing something wrong, we don't want to know.' "

While he acknowledged his guilt in the interview and said nothing could excuse his crimes, he focused his comments laserlike on the big investors and giant institutions he dealt with, not on the financial pain he caused thousands of his more modest investors. In an e-mail written on Jan. 13, he observed that many long-term clients made more in legitimate profits from him in the years before the fraud than they could have elsewhere. "I would have loved for them to not lose anything, but that was a risk they were well aware of by investing in the market," he wrote.

LAUSD OKs doomsday budget: Still not known how deep the deficit will be, but the Board of Education approved a worst-case plan that would involve thousands of teachers losing their jobs and larger classes. Cuts totaling more than $400 million would be reduced by more than $180 million if Gov. Jerry Brown is able to extend tax increases. (LAT)

Caruso negotiating with hotel owner: The developer of Glendale's Americana and Brand has been trying to buy a small hotel next to the shopping complex as part of an expansion plan. The hotel owner previously rejected a $6 million offer for the land. (Daily News)

Will Lakers cost more to watch?: The team's alliance with Time Warner Cable could result in a new - and higher-priced - sports tier. From the LAT:

"Given the size and length of this deal and importance of it to Time Warner Cable, they are going to attempt to earn it back, and one of the ways to do that is to price aggressively on subscriber fees," said Lee H. Berke, chief executive of media and sports consulting firm LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media Inc. Another windfall will come if Time Warner Cable joins DirecTV's "League Pass" NBA package. DirecTV has an estimated 1 million customers in the greater Los Angeles region. Regional sports networks are some of the more costly programming for distributors. Fox Sports West was getting $2.37 per month for the Lakers, per subscriber, according to SNL Kagan, an industry consulting firm. The new channel could easily top $3.

Airlines boost premium fares: Tack on up to $120 per roundtrip for first-class, business-class, and seven-day advance-purchase tickets. In a way, it's good news: The airlines apparently believe that a pick-up in business travel is here to stay. (USA Today)