Layoffs

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

The Los Angeles City Council passed a $7.2-billion budget Monday, voting to cut 400 unfilled city staff positions but putting off difficult decisions on layoffs, park funding and Fire Department resources. On a 15-0 vote, council members agreed to wait until January to determine whether layoffs are necessary, and which positions could be eliminated, saying that more study is needed. They took that step despite a warning from the city's top budget official that some of the revenue being used to balance spending isn't a sure thing.

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."

A Los Angeles City Council committee came up with a plan Tuesday to avoid laying off more than 200 city workers at least until Jan. 1, thanks in part to a last-minute discovery of new tax revenues. By realizing an additional $5.8 million in higher than expected property taxes and trimming money from city departments and contracts with outside consultants, the council's Budget and Finance Committee was able to put on hold a plan by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to eliminate 669 positions, 209 of which are currently filled.

Caterpillar Inc. announced 2,110 new job cuts on top of 20,000 announced earlier this week by the Peoria, Ill., maker of earth-moving equipment.

Swedish truck and bus maker Volvo said it would lay off 1,000 employees at its powertrain unit in Sweden and the United States as the global financial crisis continues to weigh on the demand for heavy vehicles. A Volvo spokesman said the layoffs would affect 100 workers in Hagerstown, Md., as well as 900 in Sweden. Volvo Powertrain makes engines, gearboxes and rear axles for trucks. The Volvo group had previously announced layoffs of 2,000 workers at truck plants in Belgium and Sweden and 1,350 at its construction unit.

Washington Mutual Inc., the country's largest thrift, plans to cut 1,200 jobs nationwide. The Seattle company, hit hard by turmoil in the mortgage and credit markets, said some layoffs would be in its home-loan business. Workers in that WaMu unit have been the target of recent layoffs as the company has stopped offering sub-prime mortgages and other risky loans. WaMu said eligible laid-off employees who didn't find other jobs inside the company would receive severance and job-placement assistance.

Bob Kahl slips in through a side door of the vast, abandoned hangar and looks at what's left of the assembly plant where he worked for nearly 40 years. He remembers the hum of power tools, the biting aroma of cutting oil, swarms of workers plugging away on a labyrinth of yellow scaffolding. All that's left is a few piles of broken concrete and a sea of colorless dust that coats a Palmdale factory floor the size of two football fields. "Welcome to the birthplace of America's space shuttle fleet," said Kahl, 60, smiling.

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.

The J. Paul Getty Trust announced Monday that it was cutting 34 jobs in its museum division, with the expected annual savings of $4.3 million to be redirected to art acquisitions. There will be no reductions in the exhibition schedule or public programs, the Getty said, and no cuts to curatorial and art-conservation staffs. "Everything the museum does cascades from its collection," James Cuno, the Getty's president and chief executive, said in an interview. "The stronger the collection one has, the better one can do everything else.

In a twist on a theme that has flared up on the national political stage, labor unions representing Los Angeles city workers are accusing Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of waging war against women, saying most of his proposed layoffs would hit jobs traditionally held by female workers. In his proposed budget now under review by the City Council, Villaraigosa calls for eliminating 231 filled positions. Individual employees who would lose jobs have not been identified, but roughly 90% of the positions targeted are clerk, secretarial and other jobs mostly held by women.

Bank of America Corp., which has been working to downsize its consumer operations by 30,000 employees, now is targeting highly compensated investment bankers and non-U.S. wealth managers - efforts expected to reduce the job rolls at the bank by 2,000 people. The cuts, first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, also will cost some commercial bankers their jobs at BofA, the second-largest U.S. bank as measured by assets. The actions include the planned sale of a division handling wealth management in Europe, Latin America and Asia, according to a person briefed on the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and requested anonymity.

The J. Paul Getty Trust announced Monday that it was cutting 34 jobs in its museum division, with the expected annual savings of $4.3 million to be redirected to art acquisitions. There will be no reductions in the exhibition schedule or public programs, the Getty said, and no cuts to curatorial and art-conservation staffs. "Everything the museum does cascades from its collection," James Cuno, the Getty's president and chief executive, said in an interview. "The stronger the collection one has, the better one can do everything else.

Since she won four medals at the 2008 Olympics, including a gold in the balance beam, Shawn Johnson has retired from her sport, written a book, won the mirror ball trophy on "Dancing With the Stars," torn up her knee while skiing and had reconstructive surgery. Oh, yeah, and she's doing gymnastics again. Johnson, 20, who came to the Beijing Games as defending world all-around champion and Olympic favorite, accepted her silver all-around medal, one rung below American teammate Nastia Liukin, with both a smile and tears.

Setting the stage for a battle with city employees and fellow elected officials, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Friday for the elimination of 669 city jobs - 231 through layoffs - even as he also sought to add police officers and restore some Fire Department services. The bulk of the job cuts proposed in the mayor's new $7.2-billion budget would affect civilian employees at the Los Angeles Police Department, where 159 clerks, secretaries and other administrators would be put out of work.

Even as city workers protested planned cuts outside, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa avoided talk of layoffs during his annual State of the City address Wednesday. He chose instead to cheerlead a proposed ballot measure that he said would allow the region to rapidly expand its transit system. The mayor devoted only five paragraphs in his seven-page speech to his proposed budget, which is due to be released Friday. He has previously said the budget will include "a large number" of layoffs.

The year was 1980, and Bonnie Busby, who had put in 17 years on a Continental Can assembly line in St. Louis, was just months away from vesting in a union-negotiated pension plan. Busby, 50, says that when the company laid her off in November that year, she was assured that the layoff was temporary. She said company officials for the next five years repeatedly told her that she was likely to be rehired soon.

Healthcare without insurance is like construction without power tools. It can be done, but it will take longer and require a lot more effort. And at times you'll feel like you're hammering your thumb. "Preventive care is one of the most difficult areas," said John Kim, head of the nonprofit Healthy City project, which has amassed data on medical and social resources in the Los Angeles area. "By the time you get care for the condition you're trying to prevent, you might already have it."

UCLA redshirt sophomore cornerback Anthony Jefferson has gone nearly two years without playing in a game. He played three games as a freshman in 2010 before breaking a foot and sat out in 2011 after back surgery. Jefferson's return this spring comes at a time when the Bruins are struggling to stay healthy in the secondary. "He has length, size and speed, all the traits you want to see in a cornerback," defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin said. Jefferson had those gifts at Los Angeles Cathedral High.