Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks keep wavering: Lots of earnings and mixed economic news to sort through. Dow is up about 20 points.

Homebuilding jumps 15 percent: Most of the gains came from apartment construction. Single-family home construction, which represents nearly 70 percent of homes built, rose only slightly. (AP)

Higher prices for L.A.: September saw a 0.5 percent jump in the Consumer Price Index compared with a month earlier and a 3.1 percent increase over the last year. That's lower than the national level, which was up 3.9 percent in the last 12 months. (OC Register)

Social Security recipients get boost: A bump in inflation means a 3.6 percent increase in benefits next year, the first raise since 2009. The increase starts in January. (AP)

Protests in Greece: That's after Prime Minister George Papandreou vowed to push through a new round of austerity measures. From Bloomberg:

Riot police in white helmets used tear gas to hold back demonstrators from the parliament building in the Greek capital today as lawmakers debated the extra austerity measures demanded by Greece's international creditors to keep aid flowing. Police said about 70,000 people gathered in Athens at the start of a 48-hour strike in one of the biggest protests yet against Papandreou's latest program of cost-cutting and tax rises.

NBA talks keep going: Both sides met for 16 hours yesterday and they'll be back at it again under the auspices of a federal mediator. (Boston Globe)

Unkind words for Jamie McCourt: LAT columnist Bill Plaschke says good riddance to Frank's estranged wife and the Dodger executive many, many folks in baseball grew to hate.

Together they didn't know anything about owning or running a baseball team, but they had too much ego to ask, so they walked into Chavez Ravine blindly pounding the team's infrastructure as if one of baseball's most revered franchises was a blue-and-white piñata. While both took their whacks, the furious tone was set by Jamie, who fired some good people, forced some other good people to quit, and generally created a bullying atmosphere that did not encourage good people to join. She tried to rebuild the organization in her image because, as it turns out, she was only concerned with that image. She preached community but only practiced Jamie. She talked about teamwork but only huddled with Jamie.

Rift between father-and-son Murdoch?: That's what the NYT is reporting, and it raises obvious questions about Rupert's heir apparent at News Corp.

Their disagreements, which were described in detail by more than half a dozen former and current company officials and others close to the Murdochs, stemmed in large part from the clashing visions of a young technocratic student of modern management and a traditionalist who rules by instinct and conviction. The tension grew worse as the gap between the New York headquarters and James's London operations, where he oversees the company's European and Asian holdings, proved difficult to bridge. The elder Mr. Murdoch reached his boiling point last winter, said one of the former officials, and delivered a blunt ultimatum to his son.

Real estate firm awarded $50 million: Newport Capital Advisors accused money manager Commonfund of reneging on an agreement involving several projects in Hollywood. (LAT)

Railroads being sued: An environmental group is accusing Union Pacific and Burlington Northern of producing harmful amounts of diesel pollution at rail yards in Carson, Commerce and downtown. (LABJ)