TOP STORIES
Gov. Gray Davis proposed a 15% cut in state spending next year, with law enforcement and fire agencies excepted An FAA report said that an airport at the former El Toro base could be operated safely but flights at El Toro and neighboring airports could be delayed to make room for the new airport Edison Mission Energy, Irvine, will sell two power plants in Britain to American Electric Power Co., Columbus, Ohio, for $960 million, less than half what it paid for the plants in 1999 Insight Health Services Corp., Newport Beach, secured $200 million in financing from Bank of America to complete a management-led move to take the firm private Sicor Inc., Irvine, and its major shareholder, Rakepoll Inc., each will offer 10 million shares at $18.50 John Mullins resigned as chief executive of St. John Knits, Irvine, and was replaced by chairman and co-founder Bob Gray; executive VP Bruce Fetter was promoted to co-president, sharing the title with Kelly Gray Jeannette Segerstrom died in her Newport Beach home of cancer at age 72.
ENERGY
Federal regulators ordered four power suppliers to refund unspecified amounts to California for exceeding price limits in July.
TECHNOLOGY
The FTC moved to undo two acquisitions completed two years ago by MSC.Software Corp., Santa Ana, alleging they gave MSC a monopoly on a type of engineering simulation software; company officials disputed the agency’s analysis Powerwave Technologies Inc., Santa Ana, reported a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter, but its shares were upgraded by Morgan Stanley from “neutral” to “outperform” and they rose 30% to 13.66 in late trading Friday Boeing Co. vice chairman Harry Stonecipher said the company’s revenue from its commercial aircraft operations will drop below 50% of total revenue in three to five years, with its Seal Beach-based Space and Communications Group and other operations accounting for a larger share MTI Technology Inc., Anaheim, said its third-quarter loss will be smaller than expected due to larger-than-expected revenue Access360, Irvine, named Paul Gigg president and chief executive EMachines Inc., Irvine, ended its relationship with AOL Time Warner Inc. that offered $400 discounts on eMachines computers to customers who signed up for AOL service About 100 people were evacuated from the Irvine building that houses QuickStart Technologies and another firm, after a QuickStart worker found an unknown powder under his chair that initially tested positive as a hazardous substance but later was determined to be harmless.
HEALTHCARE
ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., Costa Mesa, dropped a federal lawsuit against dissident shareholder Special Situations Partners Inc., whose slate was elected to ICN’s board in May ARV Assisted Living Inc., Costa Mesa, received a contract from Lone Star Funds to manage three assisted-living communities in Texas and New Mexico Edward L. Samek was named to the board of Alliance Imaging Inc., Anaheim Senior Care Industries Inc., Laguna Beach, named Craig H. Brown president and elected him to its board.
GOVERNMENT
The Orange County Transportation Authority board voted to seek $200 million in transportation tax funds for widening of the Garden Grove (22) Freeway A state agency is proposing to build a five-mile tunnel along Interstate 5 in San Clemente for a high-speed rail line linking L.A. and San Diego Gov. Gray Davis signed into law a bill to create a statewide “do not call” list of telephone customers who do not want to receive unsolicited sales calls Rancho Santiago Community College District and Mexico-based Nacional Financiera signed a deal to teach small business owners in that country how to operate in the U.S. market and to encourage deals between U.S. and Mexican firms.
REAL ESTATE
J.M. Peters Co. and its parent, Capital Pacific Holdings Inc., Newport Beach, agreed to pay $4 million to residents of the Huntington Place single-family home tract in Huntington Beach to settle a construction-defect lawsuit Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill prohibiting local agencies from approving housing projects of more than 500 units without verification from the affected water agency that it will have enough supplies for the new development for 20 years Mission Viejo-based Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage will acquire Dyson & Dyson, which has seven offices in San Diego and two in OC.
FINANCE
Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Newport Beach, filed for a secondary offering of 6 million shares, which were trading in the 7 range late last week New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, increased the number of shares in a secondary offering from 3.2 million to 3.5 million, at $11 per share EMB Corp., Huntington Beach, acquired Santa Ana-based First Guaranty Financial John Maney resigned as of month’s end as CFO of Costa Mesa-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc. to become CFO of Allianz Asset Management of America; Apria chief executive Philip Carter will assume Maney’s duties pending a search for a replacement.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
A bankruptcy trustee, unable to find a buyer for Brea-based Krause’s Furniture Inc., began the liquidation of the company’s inventory and equipment A jury ordered Santa Ana attorney Lee Durst to pay a former client $21 million in a legal malpractice case Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Anaheim, reported same-store sales fell 7.1% in September and warned it will post lower-than-expected earnings in its fiscal third and fourth quarters Walt Disney Co. and the Service Employees International Union agreed on a three-year contract for about 90 clerks and telephone operators at Disneyland Resort hotels Jeff Uttz moves from vice president, finance of CKE Restaurants Inc., Anaheim, to become chief financial officer of Yard House Restaurants LLC, Irvine.
