Wachovia to Buy Golden West S & L;
Golden West Financial Corp., one of the last major savings and loans in California, agreed Sunday to be acquired by North Carolina-based Wachovia Corp., the nation’s fourth-largest bank, for $25.5 billion in cash and stock, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The acquisition of Oakland-based Golden West, the country’s second-largest S & L;, would add more than 280 branches in 10 states and give Wachovia a much larger presence in the West. If approved by shareholders and regulators, the deal would bring an end to a legendary California business, founded and still run by Marion O. Sandler and husband Herbert M. Sandler.
Bill Would Halt Meat Secrecy
County health officials want Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to untie the gag that prevents them from telling consumers which stores and restaurants sold meat and poultry that was recalled by distributors, the Sacramento Bee reported. Federal law prohibits the release of such information without permission from businesses. It would require distributors to provide the state with spreadsheets detailing deliveries of meat tainted by E. coli or other contaminants. Local public health officials could then decide whether to publicize the information. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill in September 2004, calling for the state Department of Health Services to work with the federal government to give more recall information to local officials.
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Warner to Let TV Stations Offer Sitcom Reruns Online
As television networks and producers scramble to catch the wave of video-on-demand programming, local TV stations have been left stranded on the beach. But today, Warner Bros. Television Group is throwing a line to stations eager to test the waters. Warner plans to offer broadcasters the right to stream on their own websites older episodes of its popular sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” the Los Angeles Times reported. The deal is significant because it represents the first major syndication package that bundles a program’s over-the-air broadcast rights with its broadband rights. It also shows how Hollywood is aggressively exploring how best to exploit technology to wring as much money as possible from its shows. Until now, most of the network video-on-demand deals have bypassed stations, and only recently have started to include advertising.
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Benefits Also Seen for Valley in NFL Franchise
As the National Football League weighs returning to Los Angeles, one lure being touted is what might be one of the most heavily invested three-mile strips in the nation: the Figueroa Corridor, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. On this downtown stretch between 1st Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a development boom not seen in decades is under way as funds invested and pledged along the corridor in the past 10 years near the $11 billion mark. But with the spiraling investments, officials are left to explain how the billions of dollars being spent to revitalize one narrow portion of the city will benefit the rest of the region – including San Fernando Valley taxpayers. “What does the Valley get out of it? That is the big issue,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.
