California Pot Growers Get Scammed

OREGON HOUSE, Calif.--Yuba County Sheriff Steve Durfor says two robbers impersonating police took marijuana valued at $30,000 from residents who were growing it legally.

The robbers dressed in police uniforms and carried rifles when they raided the home Sunday night in Oregon House, 60 miles north of Sacramento.

They identified themselves as police, then bound the homeowner and four roommates. A resident who tried to resist had minor scalp injuries but declined medical attention.

The thieves stole four pounds of marijuana and 15 mature plants from an outdoor garden.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Melanie Oakes isn't saying which police agency the robbers claimed to represent. She says that could bring the wrong response from skittish growers when real police officers come calling.


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Schwarzenegger: We Can Cover Cost of Wildfires

LOS ANGELES--Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he isn't worried about money needed to fight three major wildfires in Southern California that have charred more than 27 square miles of land.

At a news conference Tuesday, the governor said the state has $1.5 billion in reserve to battle fires.

Schwarzenegger was at the scene of one of the fires -- one of two in the San Fernando Valley that have destroyed nearly 15,000 acres and are blamed for at least two deaths.

One fire, near Lake View Terrace, is 70% contained and some mandatory evacuations there have been lifted. But another 10 miles away in Porter Ranch is being driven by erratic winds and it nearly doubled in size overnight.



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Forecast: Calif. Home Prices Will Continue to Slip in '09

LOS ANGELES--California will remain a buyer's market next year, with prices declining across most of the state and home sales climbing for the second year in a row, a trade association for real estate agents said Wednesday.

In its 2009 forecast, the California Association of Realtors calls for the median price of a home in the state to decline by 6 percent to $358,000 from the group's projection for this year of $381,000.

The forecast also anticipates sales of existing single-family homes will rise 12.5 percent to 445,000 units -- essentially the same as the increase in sales this year over 2007.

"The worst is over, but we're still not out of the woods," said Leslie Appleton-Young, the association's chief economist.
The association's outlook hinges on the health of the U.S. economy and the nation's credit markets, which have been strained, making it tougher for would-be homebuyers to get financing.

The forecast assumes that economic growth in the first half of next year will be in recession territory -- either flat or negative -- then improve in the second half of the year. And that the credit markets will stabilize sometime this year or early next year.

But all bets are off if the state's economy -- already considered by some economists to be in recession -- worsens should the U.S. experience a sharper-than-expected economic downturn.

"This forecast is not baking in a recession with huge job losses," Appleton-Young said.

California is in the third year of a housing slowdown that has been among the worst in the nation. Pricey coastal markets such as San Francisco have seen moderate price declines compared with inland regions, where foreclosures have helped drive down prices by double-digits.

Several of the state's metro areas, including Stockton, Merced and Modesto, have among the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

Home sales statewide bottomed in late 2007 at 265,000 units, but since then, have turned around, fueled largely by buyers seizing on foreclosure bargains.

The forecast calls for home sales to ebb statewide until the second quarter of next year due to seasonal slowdowns.

Foreclosure sales should continue to be the main factor in driving down the statewide median home price next year.

The forecast also calls for sales of distressed properties to peak early in the year, which should help slow price declines.

"I would think by 2010 we would be up by mid-single digit (percentages)," Appleton-Young said, referring to the state's median home price.
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Turbulent Times Ahead for Airlines

Court Rules Against LA County Judge Benefits

LOS ANGELES--A state appeals court has ruled that Los Angeles County can not give employment benefits to its judges beyond the compensation determined by the state Legislature.

In a decision issued Friday, a three-judge panel of the state's 4th District Court of Appeal said that programs allowing judges access to benefits given to other county employees was not allowed under the state's constitution.

"The duty to prescribe judicial compensation is not delegable," Associate Justice Patricia Benke wrote in a 37-page opinion.
The decision says that at some point in the late 1980s the county began providing judges with additional benefits available to county employees, including health benefit accounts, professional development funds and 401k programs above what they were given by the state. Last year each Superior Court judge in Los Angeles was eligible to receive $46,436 in benefits from the county, totaling $21 million a year in cost, the opinion said.

The lawsuit was brought by the public advocacy group Judicial Watch in April 2006.

The county argued that court-funding legislation from 1997 authorized the benefits, and that given the high cost of living in Los Angeles they were needed to attract and retain skilled judges.

A judge had sided with the county and issued a summary judgment in its favor, but Judicial Watch appealed.

"This appellate court ruling represents a tremendous victory (for) the taxpayers and citizens," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement.

A phone and e-mail message left Wednesday with an attorney representing the county was not immediately returned.


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Oil, Gold, Dollar Decline Amid New Government Plans

The price of oil was trading a bit lower again Tuesday after suffering days of declines, as traders digested the ramifications of new bailout measures amid the continued weak economy.

Crude oil futures ended down $2.56 at $78.63 on the Nymex, but that wasn't as precipitous a fall as many of the daily declines have been lately.

“Confidence has been so awful,” said Douglas Smith, chief economist, for the Americas, at Standard Chartered Bank. “The markets are happy the government is finally coming out with a holistic approach to this whole problem instead of doing little pieces here and there.”

Earlier Tuesday Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke outlined plans to purchase equity in banks to persuade banks to begin lending at reasonable rates again by shoring up their balance sheets.

The moves by the government had a positive effect on oil initially, though the rally lost momentum as the session went on.

Other energy stocks ended lower as well. Nymex RBOB gasoline settled down 3.28 cents, or 1.7%, at $1.8848 a gallon. November heating oil settled down 3.5%, or 8.13 cents, at $2.2597 a gallon.

The dollar was down on the day, with the euro at $1.3687 from $1.3585 late Monday. One greenback was fetching 101.67 yen from 101.97 yen, according to EBS. The British pound was up to $1.7476 from $1.7356, and the dollar was valued at 1.1323 Swiss francs, from 1.1379 Swiss francs late Monday.

December gold futures on the Comex division of the Nymex declined $3 to $839.50 an ounce.


Global Markets Sink After Wall Street Shakeup

Cavuto: Free Markets Turning Against History

Missed tonight's Cavuto? Catch "The Deal" right here on FOXBusiness.com

Governments rule, markets drool.

Here’s the deal:

If you want to rev 'em up, back 'em up.

Because the more governments do for free markets, the more free markets seem to like it.

And wouldn't it be a kick if these great bastions of capitalism...turned the selling tide because government was the first to start buying.

Whether it was outright stakes in U.S. Banks, or outright guarantees on U.S. Bank loans, and deposits, and...you name it.

It propped 'em up. It wound 'em up. And now, gosh darn it, they are up. Bank stocks, lots of stocks. Stocks here...stocks pretty much everywhere.

That is not supposed to happen.

Markets generally climb when regulations are low, government interference is lower, and taxes are the lowest.

Remember Ronald Reagan, slashing all.

Remember too Bill Clinton, slashing most.

So, wouldn't it be remarkable if this rally gets going under precisely the "opposite" environment?

An era of more government, more regulation, and already, more taxes.

It would confound history, right?

And it would confound something else.

Logic.


Cavuto: When You Can’t Fail, You Can’t Succeed

Turbulent Times Ahead for Airlines

The airline industry is headed for tough times because of the global financial crisis and higher crude oil prices which could return to $120 a barrel over the next year, officials and experts said Monday.

Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Idris Jala told an international aviation forum here that speculation in the oil futures market drove prices to its peak of $147 a barrel in July. It fell to a 13-month low of $77.70 on Friday as the global financial meltdown dried up liquidity, but on Monday, crude rose again to $80 a barrel.

Idris predicted oil prices will continue to rise over the next 12 months and trading will range between $80 and $120 a barrel.

He said Malaysia Airline's financial position is "still very fragile" despite being profitable in the first half this year. It has indefinitely delayed its plan to purchase more than 50 wide-body aircraft, given the market turmoil.

"If we just continue to do business as usual, hard as we play the game, it is untenable in a world where oil prices are staying at $100 a barrel," he said.

Other experts also say $100-120 a barrel is too expensive for airlines to operate profitably. Aviation fuel, which accounts for about half the operating expenses of a flight, is more expensive than crude.

Vijay Poonosamy, Etihad Airways' vice president of international affairs, said there is still upward pressure on oil prices with OPEC likely to adjust supply to boost prices.

"An average price of $100 a barrel with spikes up to $125 would be my estimate," he told the forum.

Etihad, the state carrier of the United Arab Emirates, hasn't felt the brunt of high fuel prices, thanks to the efficiency of its fleet of new aircraft, cost management and hedging policies, he said.

The five-year-old airline, which in July ordered 100 new planes worth $20 billion at list prices, is still on track to break even by 2010, he said. It has only 43 planes now, but aims to grow its fleet to 150 by 2020, he added.

Justin Symonds, global head of transportation at ABN AMRO, said he expects crude oil prices to shoot up to $107 a barrel by the middle of next year.

Symonds and Idris said high oil prices will provide momentum for consolidation in the airline industry and help create better capitalized and stronger companies.

But the industry's biggest concern is the fall in travel because of the financial crisis, which is forcing companies as well as individuals to tighten belts and forgo unnecessary trips.

However, Andrew Herdman, director-general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, said he expects travel to improve over the next five to 10 years.


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