Layoffs

Home Depot Inc. announced Monday that it was closing its 34 upscale Expo and other home specialty centers and laying off 7,000 people as a result of the crumbling U.S. housing market and worldwide economic downturn. The company said it would close its 34 sprawling Expo Design Center stores by April, including eight in Southern California, and 14 smaller stores. Some employees were stunned. "Shock. It was shock.

Two decades ago, real estate mogul Randy Black turned this blip on the Arizona border into a boomtown when he opened the first of four casinos. Nearly 1 million visitors a year followed, and hotels, restaurants and stucco homes seemed to sprout from sand. "It seemed to be one of those things that 'Geez, it's just going great. It's never going to end,' " said Victor Kotalion, who left Las Vegas in 1990 for this arid patch off Interstate 15.

You might have seen the promo. "So Thrilling. So Explosive. So Brash. So Bold. So Fresh. So Fox." And now it must be said of the Fox News affiliate in Los Angeles: So diminished. So wretched. So . . . so. Executives at Channel 11 announced the layoff of roughly one-quarter of the news staff a couple of weeks ago, a "Black Friday" bloodletting that had veteran reporter John Schwada regretting the loss of "a lot of good young people, with energy and dreams."

MySpace is looking to do an about-face. The once-red-hot social networking site acquired three years ago by septuagenarian mogul Rupert Murdoch, which landed him on the cover of Wired magazine and won News Corp. praise for embracing the Internet ahead of its old-media rivals, has cooled considerably. New statistics released this week show MySpace has been surpassed by rival Facebook in the U.S. market, where it once dominated, and ad revenue for the site is projected to decline.

Two bright-red phones at the Verdugo Jobs Center in Glendale are direct lines to the state offices that manage unemployment insurance, the benefit that can be a lifesaver after a layoff. But because of record unemployment levels in the state, picking one up doesn't mean you'll get through any time soon. "Sometimes people call all day," said Carolyn Anderson, manager of the center.

Richard Rivera joined the Algebra Project at exactly the wrong time. After three years at charter schools, Rivera returned to the Los Angeles Unified School District last year as a math coach -- a kind of roving instructor and supervisor -- at Luther Burbank Middle School in Highland Park. He also agreed to work on the Algebra Project, a new program designed to keep low-achieving students involved in math.

Thousands of teachers and other union members rallied Thursday at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles to oppose state and local cuts to education that are widely expected to result in larger classes for students as well as layoffs and more expensive healthcare. Most of the rhetoric blistered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his proposed budget, but speakers also took aim at the Los Angeles Unified School District and schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines. "Mr.

Bankrupt Circuit City Stores Inc. said Friday it was closing its 567 U.S. electronics stores and leaving its 34,000 employees jobless as the nation's employment picture grew bleaker. It was the worst day this year for news of layoffs, bank losses and store closings, and employers signaled more bad news ahead. Car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings Inc., oil producer ConocoPhillips, chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and health insurer WellPoint Inc.

The Hotel Bel-Air, a storied Mission-style landmark frequented by Hollywood's elite, will close for nearly two years for a multimillion-dollar face lift that will put hundreds of staffers out of work. The massive renovation, beginning Oct. 1, will include upgrades for all 91 rooms and suites, the hotel's Champagne Bar, its restaurant and private dining rooms. When it is finished in mid-2011, the hotel will boast 12 new villas and a spa with seven treatment rooms.

Jeanne Eslinger Branthover leans in and listens intently as a laid-off Wall Street executive describes how she's coping in a miserable job market. The woman, blindsided by her layoff from a big investment bank, tells how she puts on a business suit every day and diligently commutes into Manhattan to look for work. "Good girl, good girl," Branthover says. "At the end of the day, things are going to get better. You're going to get employed. It's just when, and don't give up on it."