Headlines From Friday’s Papers

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Auto Insurers File Suit Over New Risk-Assessment Rules

The auto insurance industry fought back Thursday against Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, challenging in court new state regulations outlawing auto insurance rates based primarily on where a driver lives, the Los Angeles Times reports. The three major trade groups representing companies that write 90% of the state’s auto insurance policies announced Thursday that they sued the commissioner to overturn the rules that took effect a week ago.


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Home Price at Record High


he median price of a San Fernando Valley house hit a record $625,000 in June, but softening sales and ballooning inventory continued to drive the market in favor of buyers, the Los Angeles Daily news reports, citing a trade association report released Thursday. Last month’s sales of previously owned homes plunged 25.9 percent to 919 transactions, or 321 fewer than May 2005, said the Van Nuys-based Southland Regional Association of Realtors.


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Edison Ups Rates for Heavy Users


Tired of high electric bills? If you’re a residential customer of Southern California Edison – and a heavy user of electricity – you’d better brace yourself, the Pasadena Star-News reports. Things are about to get worse. On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission made the third in a series of decisions that will trigger another rate hike for SCE customers, effective Aug. 1.


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Watch Out! 3-D Is Back; Studios Say It’s Improved


Summer blockbusters have never been known for their depth, the Los Angeles Times reports. But a slate of big-budget movies is trying to change that as Hollywood turns to 50-year-old technology to keep theaters packed. Columbia Pictures’ animated film “Monster House” opens today in 3-D, the latest film to use a technology once dismissed as cinematic gimmickry to heighten the realism , and add just a touch of the thrill ride , to theatrical releases.


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Carson Council Cracks Down on Filming in City


For David Wilson, the dominatrix was bad enough, the Daily Breeze reports. But when his quiet street was startled by a thunderclap of profanity, he’d had it with “Reno 911!” The TV show — which pokes fun at inept, mustachioed cops — often shoots in Carson. Last summer, Wilson, a Baptist minister, said it exposed children to a lewd scenario and kept the block awake half the night.


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Hollywood, Land of Creative Pink Slips


Hollywood loves uplifting tales of romance, redemption and courage, the Los Angeles Times reports. But when it comes to axing its own people, the industry serves up horror stories. This week Disney production chief Nina Jacobson found out she was losing her job while her partner was in labor with the couple’s third child. Jacobson wasn’t even the first studio executive to get fired in a maternity ward , the late studio executive Dawn Steel was about to give birth in 1987 when she learned that Paramount Pictures was booting her out.


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Albertson’s Wins Trademark Case


In a reversal of fortune, the Lucky trademark is gone — for now — from a Rocklin grocery store, the Sacramento Bee reports. A federal judge, ruling for Albertson’s Inc. in the fight over the Lucky brand, has ordered Grocery Outlet Inc. to cover up the Lucky name on its Rocklin store. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White of San Francisco granted Albertson’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking Berkeley-based Grocery Outlet from using the name. Bob Tiernan, Grocery Outlet’s president, said Thursday his company is asking White to put his order on hold while it files an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.


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