Monday morning headlines

Stocks open higher, than fall: July manufacturing activity was below expectations, another sign of a weak economy. After opening up over 100 points, the Dow is now down 50 points. Market is very volatile.

Will deal pass?: Reservations are starting to pile up this morning, though it's hard to believe that the leadership in both the House and Senate won't manage a way to get this thing through. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer tells Bloomberg that well over a majority of House Republicans will be needed for passage.

Krugman says Obama surrendered: The NYT columnist isn't happy:

For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America's long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status.

Questioning downtown stadium deal: LAT columnist Mike Hiltzik isn't so sure the proposed complex is such a sure-thing, citing the city's own financial consultant, Conventions, Sports & Leisure International:

The firm found that even with additional state-of-the-art space, the number of major conventions -- the mega-events that bring in out-of-towners to fill hotel rooms -- might increase from an average 24 a year now all the way to 29. That's a lot fewer than the 38 projected by consultants hired by AEG. As CSL observes, L.A.'s chief regional competitors (Anaheim, San Diego and San Francisco) are upgrading their own convention centers, so they're likely to maintain their competitive lead over L.A. Also, downtown Los Angeles offers only 1,685 hotel rooms within half a mile of the convention center. In Anaheim and San Diego, the figure is closer to 8,000. In San Francisco, it's 19,000. The marketing challenge for even a spiffy new L.A. convention center "should not be underestimated," the consultants wrote, understatedly.

Oakland A's owner takes shots at McCourt: Lew Wolff says that the Dodgers owner should sell the club, and he believes that the other owners are behind Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who McCourt has been challenging in Bankruptcy Court. "For anyone to seek to diminish Bud's accomplishments in order to rationalize their own actions is, in my opinion, ludicrous and hugely disingenuous," Wolff said. (LAT)

Pricing McCourts' divorce: Latest estimate approaches $35 million in legal fees and costs, which might be the costliest split in state history (and there's a lot of competition). From the LAT:

Jamie McCourt has incurred $11.2 million in legal fees and costs related to the divorce, her attorneys wrote in a court filing on Friday. Frank McCourt has incurred $9.4 million in legal bills, all unrelated to the Dodgers' bankruptcy case, according to his court filing on July 15. The parties have settled nothing in the 21 months since filing for divorce. According to Jamie McCourt's filing, her legal bills for the balance of the case could exceed $7 million. Frank McCourt's attorneys did not dispute that their client could spend a similar amount.

Box Office round-up: Disappointing weekend launch of "Cowboys & Aliens," which only pulled in $36.2 million. "The Smurfs" did surprisingly well, bringing in about as much. (THR)

Crystal Cathedral sale canceled: Congregants of the bankrupt OC church are being called upon to help erase a debt of more than $50 million. Potential buyers had included Chapman University. (LAT)

Plastic bag ban in Long Beach: Supermarkets, drugstore chains and big-box stores are prohibited from distributing the bags - and customers who request paper will be charged 10 cents per bag. (Press-Telegram)

Small drop in June bankruptcies: Business and individual filings were down 1.2 percent in L.A. County from a year earlier and 4.5 percent in OC. (OC Register)

Versus being renamed: Cable sports channel will be known as NBC Sports Network, effective Jan. 2. (USA Today)