ENERGY
Duke Energy proposed in a letter to Gov. Gray Davis that the state end investigations and lawsuits over power pricing by the firm in return for possible monetary concessions by the firm and political help for Davis Davis approached the creditors committee of Pacific Gas & Electric about buying the bankrupt utility’s transmission grid Tulsa-based Williams Energy Marketing & Trading agreed without admitting wrongdoing agreed to refund $8 million to California utilities to settle a federal investigation of alleged manipulation of power prices.
TOP STORIES
LA-based People’s Bank of California canceled its acquisition of Orange-based BYL Bancorp, citing the failure by regulators to approve the deal by People’s May 1 deadline Shares of Broadcom Corp., Irvine, rose 15% to $48.36 on new product announcements and a statement by CEO Henry Nicholas that the firm expects to resume growth in the second half PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., Santa Ana, posted better-than-expected first-quarter profits that nevertheless were off 82% from the year prior and the firm’s shares fell 22% to $29.10 on the news Keith Cos. Inc., Costa Mesa, expects to raise $26.3 million in a secondary offering The state Supreme Court said Medicare patients can sue HMOs over denial of car.
TECHNOLOGY
Tickets.com Inc., Costa Mesa, received $15 million in a private placement of preferred shares GMC-Joint Venture, Irvine, won a $6.3 million contract,with options that could increase its value to $32 million,to provide technical and support services to the Navy Comarco Inc., Irvine, received a $6.6 million contract from Nortel Networks Corp. for network-upgrade support services Interplay Entertainment Corp., Irvine, received a $5 million loan from Microsoft Corp. to develop an online game based on the film “The Matrix” that will run only on Microsoft’s Xbox console FreeRealTime.com Inc., Aliso Viejo, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said five of its seven directors, including Roth Capital Partners CEO Byron Roth, had resigned EEye Digital Security Inc., Aliso Viejo, discovered a flaw in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 2000 Internet server software that could allow a hacker to gain control of Web sites, and Microsoft issued a patch A $16.7 million award by a NAFTA tribunal to Newport Beach-based Metalclad Corp. in its claim against Mexico was upheld by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, which heard Mexico’s appeal California Software Corp., Irvine, settled a lawsuit with Marietta, Ga.-based UniComp Inc. stemming from the OC firm’s acquisition of UniComp’s U.K. unit Shares of MindArrow Systems Inc., Aliso Viejo, resumed trading after a three-month hiatus following its announcement that 1.1 million fraudulent shares were in circulation, and its share price fell 59% to $1.85 The CFO, executive VP and CTO/COO of GPN Network Inc., Irvine, resigned and the firm said it is looking for a buyer.
HEALTHCARE
Imagyn Medical Technologies Inc., Irvine, acquired the brachytherapy and manufacturing business of International Isotopes Inc., Denton, Texas UCI officials have shelved plans for new schools of public health and pharmacy at the campus after faculty committees recommended adding some programs in those areas instead Sicor Inc., Irvine, received FDA approval to market a generic version of a treatment for testicular cancer Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Irvine, was approved for listing on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol COR; it had been traded over the counter Craig H. Petrik, former head of now-defunct Biosera Inc., Orange, was sentenced to five years’ probation and fined $30,000 for falsifying records at the firm.
GOVERNMENT
The Grand Jury said the county’s new $80 million police and fire radio system does not work properly and will cost millions of dollars to fix Supervisors OK’d a $3 million public education campaign on the county’s plan for an airport at the former El Toro base; meanwhile, opponents of the airport plan filed with the county Registrar of Voters to begin gathering signatures for an initiative that would zone the base for open space and educational uses; airport opponents said that with the filing of the initiative papers, no public money can be spent on ads or mailers on the El Toro issue (see editorial on page 82); a Chapman University survey found 64.5% of respondents in favor of the proposed initiative The city of Corona filed a legal claim against Caltrans seeking compensation for traffic congestion on city streets that Corona says is a result of the 91 Express Lanes State agents raided the home and offices of George “Nick” Jesson, owner of No Time Delay Electronics, Huntington Beach, who contends income taxes are illegal and refuses to pay his and does not withhold them from some employees’ paychecks.
REAL ESTATE
The board of Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. approved the repurchase of up to $35 million in common shares, which were trading around 20 last week The District Attorney’s Office asked the state attorney general to take its a consumer-protection investigation of Arnel Management Co.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Gigante USA Inc., Santa Ana, and the United Food and Commercial Workers reached agreement on a four-year contract (see related story on page 1) … Monarch Beach Golf Links, Dana Point, secured $20 million in financing to upgrade and redesign its course … The $232 million Soka University campus in Aliso Viejo was dedicated last week and will open in the fall Corinthian Colleges Inc., Santa Ana, will open schools in Houston and Hayward this year Disneyland permanently closed its 3-year-old Rocket Rods ride; meanwhile, two Sacramento residents sued Disneyland, alleging they were injured with the Space Mountain ride stopped abruptly in mid-run one day last year CalOSHA ended its investigation of a January accident that injured a worker on the Calico Railroad ride at Knott’s Berry Farm by ordering the park to improve hand signals used by ride operators, which the park said it already has done The Audit Bureau of Circulation said the OC Register’s paid circulation fell 4% to 353,334 daily and 3% to 410,207 on Sundays in the six months ended March 31, while figures for the OC edition of the LA Times were not available; meanwhile, a readership survey by New York-based Scarborough Research said that 37.5% of OC adults read the Register daily and 46.1% read it Sunday, and the figures for the Times were 19.0% and 28.4%, respectively Aloha Airlines began nonstop service from John Wayne Airport to Honolulu.
