Ventura County Star (Ventura, CA) articles from May 2001

Ventura County Star (Ventura, CA) archives from May 2001

Teamsters May Try to Nullify Vote at Simi Valley, Calif., Rubbish Company.
May 31, 2001... May 31--A Teamsters union official said Wednesday his group may ask the National Labor Relations Board to nullify a unionization election the union apparently lost last week at a Simi Valley rubbish company. Jim Smith, an organizer for...

Computer Surge Protectors A Must for California Power-Outage Season.
May 30, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 30--The virtual certainty of multiple blackouts this summer is aggravation enough for electronic equipment owners, but it's when the power comes back on that could cause the most problems for sensitive computers,...

Agoura, Calif.-Based Bank Will Be Acquired in $21.4 Million Deal.
May 25, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain May 25--Charter Pacific Bank of Agoura Hills will be acquired later this year by San Francisco-based First Banks America Inc., officials announced this week. The $21.4 million all-cash transaction was agreed to and...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Development Roundup Column.
May 25, 2001... May 25--The city of Moorpark gets an updated grocery store, while officials in Simi Valley debate a new road and Ventura residents get to vote on hillside development. These were some of the economic development stories reported this week in...

California Power Conversion Equipment Maker Jumps in Industry Sales Ranking.
May 25, 2001... May 25--Triple digit sales growth in 2000 pushed Power-One Inc. (Nasdaq: PWER) in Camarillo to sixth place in the rankings of the world's largest power conversion equipment manufacturers, according to Micro-Tech Consultants, an industry...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Real Estate Briefs Column.
May 25, 2001... May 25--CHEESECAKE DECIDES TO SERVE UP SHARES: Shares of The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (Nasdaq: CAKE) in Calabasas were down $1.28 to $34.50 Thursday after the company announced it had declared a three-for-two stock split to be effective at the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 24, 2001... May 24--SEMTECH SHARES FALLS ON EARNINGS: Shares of Semtech (Nasdaq: SMTC) in Newbury Park fell by $5.58, or more than 15 percent, to close at $30.63 Wednesday, the biggest dollar loser in the region. The share drop came a day after the...

Boy Scouts Honor Ventura County, Calif., Firms and Executives.
May 24, 2001... May 24--Three companies and two local executives have been named winners of the 2001 Ventura County Business and Technology Awards presented by the Ventura County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Winner of the Executive of the Year...

California Mall Lets Shoppers Sign Up for E-Mails from Its Stores.
May 24, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain May 24--Matching its regional mall competitors in Ventura and Santa Barbara, The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks launched a redesigned Web site this week that lets customers sign up for e-mails from stores they...

Ventura County, Calif.-Area Tech Firms to Promote Products at Atlanta Show.
May 24, 2001... May 24--Fourteen Ventura County area technology businesses will be among hundreds of companies from around the world looking for new customers and promoting their product lines at Supercomm 2001 next month in Atlanta. The annual...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 23, 2001... May 23--DIGITAL COVERED: Shares of Digital Insight (Nasdaq: DGIN) in Calabasas rose by 2 cents to $14.46 Tuesday after coverage was initiated by CIBC World Markets with a buy rating. POWER-ONE STOCK SURGES: Shares of Power-One Inc....

Two Troubled Ventura County, Calif., Firms File Financial Reports.
May 23, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 23--A pair of troubled Ventura County technology companies filed new financial reports Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission in an effort to get trading of their stocks back on track. For...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Who's New in Business Column.
May 23, 2001... May 23--NIGHT SKY CEILINGS Company: Night Sky Ceilings Owner: Damon Morales Type of product or service: StarScapes -- stargazing-themed environments Where: 1745 Los Feliz Drive, No. 12, Thousand Oaks Date established:...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business People Column.
May 22, 2001... May 22--SOOSMAN BECOMES STRATEGIC OFFICER: Barry Soosman has been named chief strategic officer at Guitar Center Inc. (Nasdaq: GTRC), the Agoura Hills-based musical instrument retailer reported Thursday. Soosman, 41, will also remain...

Ventura County, Calif., Home Prices Fall Slightly in April.
May 22, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 22--Home prices in April were down ever so slightly in Ventura County, the only Southern California market to post a decline in the median sales price when compared to the same month last year, a real estate...

Ventura County, Calif., Fair Offers One Way for Would-Be Workers to Find Jobs.
May 22, 2001... May 22--A year ago, employers had trouble trying to fill all their vacant job positions as many workers were still gainfully employed in the dot-com sector. This year, would-be employees will have to be more proactive and hit the...

Employment Survey: Ventura County, Calif.-Area Likely to See Hiring Slowdown.
May 22, 2001... May 22--Hiring in Ventura/Santa Barbara counties later this summer is expected to be even more sluggish than the national average, a temporary employment service reported Monday. The number of employers expected to hire workers during the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 21, 2001... May 21--CHATSWORTH, Calif.--OCP expands to Woodland Hills Optical Communication Products Inc. said Friday it has purchased a 145,720-square-foot building in Woodland Hills for $18.7 million. The purchase is expected to close in June. The...

Ventura County, Calif., Economic Development Group Gets New Leader.
May 21, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga May 21--The Economic Development Collaborative -- Ventura County, which is used to helping relocate businesses, is relocating its next president from Los Angeles County. Janel L. Huff, an economic business...

Gas Prices in Los Angeles Hit Record High as Costs Fall in Other Areas.
May 21, 2001... May 21--While a weekend trip to Los Angeles County will be an expensive proposition, other areas are starting to post lower prices, according to a report released Friday by the Automobile Club of Southern California. The price for...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
May 21, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 21--IF YOU'VE GOT 10 BUCKS, THIS PHONE IS FOR YOU: If you thought cell phones were pretty much everywhere these days, just wait. In a few months everyone with 10 bucks in their pocket may be walking around...

Camarillo, Calif.-Based Web Shopping Service Changes Hands.
May 21, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 21--Web-based grocery delivery service PDQuick apparently has been sold to a competitor. Rumors about the fate of the Camarillo company have swirled for weeks on various Internet message boards. An...

Many California Internet Users Oppose Cyberjunk, But It Also Has Its Defenders.
May 21, 2001... Byline: Tom Kisken May 21--It happens two or three times a week. Harriet Reisser, a 79-year-old retired office manager who enjoys crossword puzzles and bridge, receives an e-mail promising sex, girls and a hot time. She has no idea...

Gas Prices Could Be Good for Ventura County, Calif., Tourism.
May 21, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga May 21--With gas prices shooting up, electrical power being turned off, and the economy in a general state of malaise, at first glance it just doesn't look good for the summer tourism industry in the Golden State....

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 18, 2001... May 18--CAMARILLO, Calif.--Juels Corporate Images, a distributor of promotional products, has recently signed a three-year lease on a 5,119-square-foot industrial space at 3883 Via Pescador, Unit B, Camarillo. Grant Harris and John...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Focus Column.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga May 18--Opposition groups gather to fight a Home Depot plan in Agoura Hills, while an affordable housing report is released in Simi Valley. Meanwhile, city officials in Ventura agree to prohibit city services to a...

Gas Prices Rise to $2.05 Per Gallon in Ventura County, Calif.
May 18, 2001... May 18--The average price of unleaded gasoline in Ventura County shot up by 22 cents to $2.05 per gallon for the five-day period that ended Monday compared with the same April period, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California...

Ventura County, Calif., Real Estate Market Unable to Emerge from Slump.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 18--Despite an increase in the number of homes for sale in the Conejo Valley, the countywide real estate market couldn't shake a year-long sales slump last month. A total of 159 single-family homes in east...

California Holding Company Hopes to Acquire More Community Retail Centers.
May 18, 2001... May 18--Caruso Affiliated Holdings, the developer of The Promenade at Westlake and The Commons at Calabasas, announced this week it has signed a deal with Invesco Realty Advisors for a $300 million partnership to acquire community retail...

Camarillo, Calif.-Based Technicolor Plans Expansion, Signs Contracts.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 18--Technicolor is planning a major expansion of its DVD production capacity with the addition of 21 new manufacturing lines at its plants worldwide and the addition of 350 new jobs, the Camarillo-based company...

Alternate-Energy Firms Find Bright Side to California Blackout Crisis.
May 17, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 17--With a summer of electricity blackouts looming, the phones at companies such as Pacific Energy Solutions, a provider of emergency backup power systems; and Siemens Solar Industries, a maker of solar panels,...

Survey Will Take Pulse of Ventura County, Calif., Jobs.
May 17, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain May 17--Questionnaires are going out to between 2,000 and 3,000 Ventura County employers in an effort to get a detailed look at how workers are faring in 25 diverse occupations. The survey is being conducted by the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Technology Briefs Column.
May 17, 2001... May 17--CALABASAS ANALYSTS DOWN RYLAND: Shares of The Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL) in Calabasas closed down $4.30 to $50.16 on Wednesday after the company was downgraded by Solomon Smith Barney from an outperform to a neutral rating. The...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 16, 2001... May 16--SMTEK HITS HIGH FOR THE YEAR: Shares of SMTEK International Inc. (Nasdaq: SMTI) rose by 80 cents to a 52-week high of $8.30 on Tuesday, a day after the company reported positive fiscal third-quarter earnings. The company's shares...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Who's New in Business Column.
May 16, 2001... May 16--Who's New in Business: Ali Baba restaurant Company: Ali Baba restaurant Owner: Khalil Salah Type of product or service: Mediterranean restaurant Where: 2405 Michael Drive, Suite A, Newbury Park Date established:...

Oxnard, Calif., Shopping Center Filling Up Quickly with Tenants.
May 16, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain May 16--With 23 signed leases in hand and 12 more in serious negotiations, Oxnard's soon-to-be-resurrected Esplanade shopping center is on the verge of putting out a "No Vacancy" sign. Stores in the rebuilding...

Camarillo, Calif.-Based Tech Manufacturer Cuts 45 Jobs.
May 16, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 16--The sluggish national economy has forced another high-tech manufacturer to cut jobs in Ventura County. Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) has slashed its Network Support Division work force by 20 percent, with most...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
May 14, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 14--The days of investors waiting in line to shovel buckets of money at any new business with dot-com in its name are over. But entrepreneurs with good ideas can still find savvy investors willing to risk serious...

Ventura County, Calif., Jobless Rate Drops.
May 14, 2001... May 14--Ventura County's unemployment rate continues to fall, dipping to 3.3 percent in April, the state government reported Friday. That was down from 3.6 percent in March and 3.9 percent in February, according to the California...

Ventura County, Calif.-Area Firms Rush to Turn Space Tourism Into Reality.
May 14, 2001... Byline: Brett Johnson May 14--Space tourism's $20 million poster boy is back to Earth, but grandiose designs for cosmic travel continue, promising wild adventures and other things that dull imaginations wouldn't dare conjure. ...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Technology Briefs Column.
May 14, 2001... May 14--ALESE ENTERS INTO PARTNERSHIP: Alese Technology Inc., an Internet consulting and software integration company in Agoura Hills, announced a partnership with TikiSoft Inc., a provider of enterprise-based software for the hand-held...

Ventura County, Calif., Home Prices Rise while Sales Slip.
May 11, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 11--It was an up-and-down real estate market in Ventura County in the first quarter -- as in prices were up and sales were down, slightly -- according to a real estate report released Thursday. The median...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 10, 2001... May 10--AGUILERA CONCERT VIDEO RELEASE DATE SET: Image Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: DISK) in Chatsworth this week announced the June 5 release of "Christina Aguilera: My Reflection" on DVD and VHS. The program is the first concert video...

Camarillo, Calif., Chamber of Commerce Fires Chief.
May 10, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain May 10--Barely one year after she was hired, Karen Krumme was fired this week as the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce's president and chief executive officer. The chamber's board of directors voted at a special...

Moorpark, Calif., Communications Equipment Maker Finishes Audit.
May 9, 2001... May 9--Accelerated Networks Inc. in Moorpark on Tuesday announced it has completed its audit of fiscal year 2000 and has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission its annual report and also amended quarterly reports for the six- and...

Ventura, Calif., Milk Distributor Survives in Changing Times.
May 9, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain May 9--Businessman Gerald S. "Jerry" Frye loves what he does, even though he starts doing it three or four hours before alarm clocks jar most other people awake. Clad in blue shorts, a blue vest, a white shirt,...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 8, 2001... May 8--SIMI VALLEY: Datron changes name Datron/Transco Inc. of Simi Valley has changed its name to Datron Advanced Technologies Inc. to better reflect the company's place in the advanced antenna systems sector. Datron Advanced Technologies is...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business People Column.
May 8, 2001... Byline: Jon Denton May 8--VENTURA COUNTY PIHRA ANNOUNCES BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Professionals In Human Resources Association's Ventura County District 10 has elected new board officers for 2001. Heading up the group as district...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 7, 2001... May 7--SALEM NETWORK MAKES PURCHASE: The Salem Radio Network, a division of Salem Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: SALM) in Camarillo, this week announced it has agreed to buy the Dame-Gallagher Networks headquartered and produced in New York....

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
May 7, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 7--I love the Internet, let me make that clear straight from the start. Being able to take a virtual trip anywhere in the world is simply amazing. But searching the Web can be so enraging. Take online...

Ventura County, Calif., Residents Use Lower Interest Rates to Buy Houses.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga May 4--Falling interest rates helped more Ventura County residents to afford an existing home in March this year over last year, a state real estate group reported Thursday. About 36 percent of the households in the...

Santa Barbara, Calif.-Based Software Firm Looks to Overseas Markets.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris May 4--With a sluggish national economy putting the squeeze on corporate spending, Santa Barbara software developer Miramar Systems Inc. is counting on overseas markets to boost sales in 2001. Miramar this week...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 3, 2001... May 3--CALABASAS, Calif.--NOVALOGIC APPOINTS PRESIDENT: Lee Milligan has been named president and vice chairman of NovaLogic Inc., the Calabasas-based developer of entertainment software said Wednesday. Milligan joined the NovaLogic team...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 2, 2001... May 2--THQ UPGRADED: Shares of THQ Inc. (Nasdaq: THQI) in Calabasas rose by $6.61, the biggest dollar gainer in the region, to close at $44.70 on Tuesday after coverage was initiated with a buy rating by CSFB. The firm believes this industry...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Company Spotlight Column.
May 2, 2001... May 2--COMPANY: Katana Software Inc. OWNER: Rob Woodward TYPE OF PRODUCT OR SERVICE: Software development WHERE: 920 Hampshire Road, Suite A-8, Westlake Village DATE ESTABLISHED: May 1, 2000 TELEPHONE: 494-1651 FAX:...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
May 1, 2001... May 1--HOMESTORE SLIPS AS CAPSTONE SURGES: Homestore.com (Nasdaq: HOMS) in Westlake Village fell by $1.66 to $31.93, the biggest dollar loser in the region. Homestore.com offers a family of real estate Web sites. Capstone Turbine Corp....