Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks open lower: More modest crosscurrents, including yesterday's disappointing earnings news at Disney. Dow is down about 70 points.

Uncertainty over oil: Prices are hovering at around $103 a barrel. Now the focus is on short-term headaches like the flooding in the South. (MarketWatch)

Bad news for Toyota: The Japanese automaker reported a 77 percent drop in first-quarter earnings, citing a disruption in operations since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. But the company expects production to begin recovering earlier than expected. (NYT)

Cal State considers tuition hikes: Plus cuts in enrollment. The campuses face a potential $1-billion reduction in state funding for the coming school year, and something has to give. From the LAT:

Under the contingency plan presented Tuesday, Cal State could be forced to raise tuition for full-time undergraduates by 32% next year, in addition to a 10% increase already approved for fall 2011. The contingency increase would mean an additional $1,566 and bring total annual tuition for undergraduates to $6,450. The total does not include annual campus fees that average $950.

Baseball honchos meet: It's the quarterly gathering of owners, and while the Dodgers and Frank McCourt are not on the formal agenda, they're sure to come up. From the LAT:

The owners are astonished that McCourt needed a loan to make his first payroll of the season, even more surprised by the plummeting attendance at Dodger Stadium, all those empty seats meaning millions more dollars disappearing from the revenue-sharing pool. One major league owner referred to it as a "fan boycott." McCourt has asked the fans for a second chance. He might well ask the owners for a second chance. Not much chance either way.

More money for City Attorney: Not sure where it's coming from, but the Council's Budget and Finance Committee will cough up another $2.7 million for the office. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich made a rare personal appeal to the committee. From the Daily News:

"We don't create the cases," Trutanich said. "We defend the city. My lawyers save the city millions of dollars each year and I'm not sure we can guarantee that in the future. "And somebody has to do the work. If we don't handle it we have to hire an outside attorney and that is a lot more expensive." Trutanich said he has cut his spending by some $30 million in the past three years, more than any other city agency.

Eli Broad gets reimbursed: The billionaire philanthropist will build a $52-million, 370-space garage for his downtown museum, and then get paid by community redevelopment money. The effort by Gov. Jerry Brown to eliminate this kind of redevelopment flimflam has been fading. (Daily News)