Monday morning headlines

Stocks turn upward: Wall Street is waiting for the March employment numbers that come out later in the week. For now, the Dow is up 30 points.

Gas prices edge lower: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $4.335, about three cents lower than last week, according to the Auto Club. Prices have been gradually falling for the last several days.

Best airline performance: The low-cost carrier AirTran gets the top grade in 2011, followed by Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue. From AP:

Overall, the report shows flying is getting better even through passengers grappling with fare increases, canceled routes and a seemingly endless parade of new fees may not feel that way, said Dean Headley, a business professor at Wichita State University who has co-written the annual report for 22 years. Airlines are slowly, steadily recovering from their meltdown five years ago, when, under the strain of near-record consumer travel demand, their performance tanked, he said. Industry performance for all four measurements was slightly better in 2011 compared with 2010.

"Hunger Games" still tops: The teen adventure made another $61 million at the domestic box office in its second weekend. That brings its worldwide total to $365 million. (Reuters)

No Tribune stations on DirecTV: The two companies failed to reach a retransmission deal over the weekend, leaving local satellite customers without KTLA, which is owned by Tribune. DirecTV said Tribune had reneged on a "handshake deal" and was behaving in "bad faith." (LAT)

True Religion wins suit: A NY federal judge ruled in favor of the Vernon-based jeans maker in a lawsuit against online Chinese counterfeiters. But good luck getting any of the $864 million that was awarded. From the LAT:

The defendants were a no-show in court, so the New York federal judge handed down a default judgment this month. The websites were shut down. Each defendant was also ordered to pay $8.15 million and any similar websites they created in the future will also be closed.

AEG caving on NFL demands?: Billionaire Phil Anschutz is prepared to buy a majority stake in a pro football team, his chief lieutenant Tim Leiweke tells LAT columnist T.J. Simers. Perhaps it's an effort to move along the downtown stadium plans, but here's the thing: There is no team for sale.

Oprah's woes: She's on CBS this morning taking softballs from pals Gayle King and Charlie Rose about her struggling network. "It's just press," she kept saying about the spate of negative stories. From the LAT:

Interviews with numerous executives who have been associated with the network paint a portrait of a channel that was dysfunctional from Day 1. Consumed with ending her long-running daytime talk show in Chicago with a bang, Winfrey was disengaged during crucial planning stages. Across the country, her staff in L.A. struggled to figure out how to translate Winfrey's personality or essence, what they called the "Oprah DNA," into compelling programming.