Headlines: Univision, Edison, Gap

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Univision Suitors Unveiled

Grupo Televisa, investment firms Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and KRR are said to be exploring a joint bid for U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, Variety reports. Televisa declined to comment on the news reports Thursday. The Mexican media giant is a major Univision shareholder and the U.S. group’s major programming supplier. A number of other firms have also been circling and multiple bids are expected later this month as the Spanish-language market is viewed as a hot space in the media world.



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Prop. 82 Backers Threaten Gap Boycott


Employing a new political tactic, two large labor unions are using the threat of a consumer boycott to try to curb corporate contributions to groups opposing the universal preschool initiative on the June ballot, the Sacramento Bee reports. The Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sent a letter last week threatening a national boycott of all of the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores. They said they would launch the boycott if the Gap, its affiliates or any members of the family that founded the Gap donated to groups opposing actor and director Rob Reiner’s preschool initiative, Proposition 82. They also cited a second organization opposing the initiative, the California Business Roundtable,

Don Fisher, who founded the Gap, serves on the Business Roundtable’s board.



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Edison Gets OK to Boost Rates


State regulators approved Thursday an 8 percent hike in electricity rates for customers of Southern California Edison , the third increase this year for California’s second-largest electricity provider, the Los Angeles Times reports. The action, which will help pay for upgrades to Edison’s power network and recoup increased operating costs, is another hit on consumers who already are reeling from soaring gasoline prices. The utility, a subsidiary of Rosemead-based Edison International, estimated that the latest rate hike would boost the monthly bill for a typical household using 550 kilowatt hours of electricity to $86.42, an increase of 2.5 percent, or $2.11. Taken together, this year’s rate hikes at Edison have added more than $11 to the typical monthly bill. The rate hike, which is retroactive to mid-January, will show up in bills mailed in August. About half of all customers will not be affected by Thursday’s action because they use relatively small amounts of electricity that are exempt from the rate increases.



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Commission Certifies Airport EIR


The Long Beach Planning Commission late Thursday unanimously certified an Environmental Impact Report on proposed terminal improvements at Long Beach Airport, the Long Beach Press Telegram reports. The commission vote faces almost certain appeal before the City Council based on comments from a majority of nearly 20 residents who testified before the EIR vote, and angry shouts from those in a crowd of more than 90 people who attended the meeting at City Hall. Ignoring the potential that a bigger terminal will cause the Federal Aviation Administration and commercial airlines to try to overturn a city noise ordinance to jam more flights into the airport would unleash noise and pollution onto neighborhoods, the residents argued.



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Waterfront Project Suffers Another Delay


In yet another delay for San Pedro’s much-anticipated $500 million waterfront makeover, port officials this week said they’ve halted the required environmental study that began late last year, putting it on indefinite hold, the Daily Breeze reports. It’s the latest stall in a four-year process that is already behind schedule and has been fraught with complications and generated its share of community bickering, but was finally proceeding on track through the environmental process. Disagreement has centered mostly on the mix of open space versus commercial development that should be included on the waterfront.



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