EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
The city of Irvine’s plan to annex the former El Toro Marine base was approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission. The commission nixed an appeal of the plan by the Airport Working Group. Annexing the land makes Irvine OC’s biggest city at 35,302 acres, bigger than Anaheim’s 32,192. The Navy is readying to sell parcels of the base under the Heritage Fields name for home, retail and park development … The Orange County Transportation Authority OK’d a 9.3-mile route for the proposed CenterLine light-rail train that would connect Santa Ana to Costa Mesa. The approval allows the transportation agency to move ahead with a final design of the project, though funding for the estimated $1 billion CenterLine still needs to been secured.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Aliso Viejo-based Fax.com Inc.’s claim that the federal ban on unsolicited faxes violates free speech laws. The Federal Communica-tions Commission fined Fax.com $5.4 million earlier this month for sending unwanted faxes to businesses … Irvine-based Rainbow Technologies Inc. said its RFiKey security device uses technology from Irvine-based HID Corp., which makes security cards and reader devices … Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. said its CombiMatrix unit and Pasadena-based Cyrano Sciences Inc. plan to make sensors that can detect chemical agents in air and water … Irvine-based Lantronix Inc. said it appealed a lawsuit it lost against Milford, Conn.-based Logical Solutions and some of its top executives. Lantronix accuses the company and executives of unfairly using trade secrets, violating contracts and unfair trade practices. The case stems from Lantronix’s 2001 buy of Lightwave Communications Inc. Several Lightwave workers left Lantronix and joined Logical Solutions after the acquisition.
Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. and Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter International Inc. settled a dispute dating to Edwards’ 2000 spinoff from Baxter. Edwards is set to receive a net payment of $1 million in the settlement … Tustin-based Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it earned a patent for its methods of treating cancer, arthritis, eye diseases and other conditions that are dependent on the growth of new blood vessels in a process called angiogenesis … Irvine-based Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. said its India-based drug making partner, J.B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd., was found in compliance with U.S. manufacturing standards by the Food and Drug Administration.
The California Coastal Commission approved developer Sanford Edward’s plans for 125 homes, a 90-room hotel and 40,000 square feet of retail space on the Dana Point Headlands. The development, which has been fought for 30 years by environmental groups, includes five public parks on the 121-acre parcel.
Orange County budget analysts said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to move $1.3 billion in property taxes to schools could cost the county $62 million in lost revenue … Aloha Airlines asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for permission to fly two daily nonstop flights from John Wayne Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport … Former Gov. Pete Wilson was among those eulogizing former OC state senator and prominent Sacramento lobbyist Dennis Carpenter at his memorial service in Irvine.
Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging Corp. said it plans to close its Garden Grove plant by the end of the second quarter. About 130 workers will lose their jobs in the closing, which the company said would save about $4 million a year … Boeing Co. said it plans to boost the number of workers at its Orbital Space Plane operations in Huntington Beach to about 300 from 180. Work on the orbital plane is based at Boeing’s Huntsville, Ala.-based operations … Chapman University’s said its plan to merge with Pomona’s Western University of Health Sciences is on hold until the state attorney general finishes its investigation of Western University. A former human resources executive at Western claims some of that school’s officials gave themselves improper salary advances and zero-interest loans … The city of Cypress OK’d construction plans for a 150,000-square-foot Costco store on Katella Avenue near Walker Street. The approval comes after years of contention between the land’s former owner, Cottonwood Christian Center, and Cypress, which rejected the church’s plan to build a complex on its land. Cottonwood eventually agreed to buy part of the Cypress Golf Course, where it plans to build its new church … Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. won a pact worth up to $10 million from General Motors Corp. to make natural gas-based fuel systems for some of the automaker’s 2005 pickup trucks … Laila Sultan and three friends settled a lawsuit with Portland, Ore.-based McCormick & Schmick Management Group for undisclosed terms. Sultan’s suit claimed she and her guests found a condom in clam chowder served to them at the chain’s Irvine restaurant … Anaheim Transportation Network officials said they plan on expanding trolley routes into Garden Grove. Passenger numbers on the trolley system, which connects Disneyland Resort to area hotels and the convention center, have been below expectations, with about 2 million riders between January and November, versus a projection of 7 million … A documentary on big-wave surfers partially funded by Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. was tapped to open the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. It’s the first time a documentary has opened the film festival.
