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

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

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 28, 2001... Sep. 28--VENTURA GYM CONSTRUCTION NEARS COMPLETION: Gold's Gym started work on a 6,000-square-foot remodel and expansion of its current club in July. Construction is scheduled to be completed by mid-December. Over the next few months...

Ventura, Calif.-Based Technology Outsource Firm Vsource Improves on Losses.
September 28, 2001... Sep. 28--Vsource Inc. (Nasdaq: VSRCE), a Ventura-based provider of business process outsourcing and distribution services in the Asia-Pacific region, announced Thursday that it had revenues of $1.1 million and a net loss of $6.4 million, or...

Camarillo, Calif.-Based Biotech Firm Appoints New President.
September 27, 2001... Byline: Deborah Crowe Sep. 27--BioSource International Inc. (Nasdaq: BIOI) announced on Wednesday that one of its board members will become the Camarillo-based biotechnology company's new president and chief executive officer. Leonard M....

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 27, 2001... Sep. 27--AUTOLOGIC, WELLPOINT ARE BIG WINNERS: The news that Autologic Information International (Nasdaq: AIII) will be purchased by a Belgium company (see story, Page D1) pushed stock of the Newbury Park company up $3.75 a share, or 115.4...

Brea, Calif.-Based Furniture Chain's Bankruptcy Puts Customers' Orders on Hold.
September 27, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain Sep. 27--The two leather couches with matching chairs that Jackie Moran picked out more than 10 weeks ago for her newly remodeled home were supposed to be her 36th-birthday gift. But the Ventura woman's birthday...

New Jersey Firm to Buy Thousand Oaks, Calif.-Based Tech Manufacturer.
September 27, 2001... Sep. 27--Technology manufacturer Autologic Informational International Inc. (Nasdaq: AIII) in Thousand Oaks announced Wednesday that it will be sold to Agfa Corp. in a cash-for-stock deal valued at approximately $42.4 million. Autologic...

Ventura County, Calif.-Area Video Conferencing Firms See Surge in Sales.
September 27, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 27--Demand for video conferencing services in Ventura County has jumped sharply in September as companies change their travel habits to deal with heightened concern about air travel and an economy sliding toward...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 26, 2001... Sep. 26--NETZERO, JUNO FINALIZE MERGER: Internet service providers NetZero Inc. (Nasdaq: NZRO) and Juno Online Services Inc. (Nasdaq: JWEB) announced Tuesday the completion of their merger to form a new public company, United Online Inc....

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business People Column.
September 26, 2001... Sep. 26--WOLLOFF NAMED MARKETING DIRECTOR: The California Manufacturing Technology Center, with a regional center that covers Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, appointed Michelle Wolloff to the position of director of marketing. In...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Company Spotlight Column.
September 26, 2001... Sep. 26--LEVI MIZE WOODCRAFTSMAN INC. Owner: Levi Mize Type of product or service: Designs and builds custom cabinetry Where: 162 Aviador St., No. 17, Camarillo Date established: 1992; incorporated in 1998 Telephone:...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
September 26, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 26--A few weeks ago I opened an e-mail from a PR representative that started off with, "Now this one is going to sound crazy." I'm thinking, "So what else is new?" Unsolicited story pitches from the dark side...

Ventura County, Calif., Home Sales Market Stays Strong.
September 26, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 26--Ventura County home buyers were among the busiest in the state in August, according to a sales report released Tuesday by the California Association of Realtors. Sales of existing single-family homes in...

Santa Barbara, Calif.-Based Medical Device Company to Lay Off Workers.
September 26, 2001... Sep. 26--Santa Barbara-based medical-device maker Inamed Corp. (Nasdaq: IMDC) announced late Monday that it is laying off 75 workers and taking a $2.2 million charge in the third quarter to account for restructuring and severance costs. ...

Ventura, Calif.-Based Medical Equipment Company Makes Production Agreement.
September 26, 2001... Sep. 26--Med-Design Corp. (Nasdaq: MEDC) announced Monday that it is giving medical device maker MedAmicus Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDM) the right to manufacture more products based on the Ventura company's safety needle designs. The announcement...

Ventura, Calif.-Based Safety Needle Company Boosted by Marketing Approval.
September 26, 2001... Sep. 26--Med-Design Corp. (Nasdaq: MEDC) announced on Tuesday that manufacturing partner BD (NYSE: BDX) has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to market a new spring-based retractable blood-collection set designed by the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 25, 2001... Sep. 25--EOS OFFERS TINY POWER SUPPLY: Camarillo-based EOS Corp., a privately held maker of ultraminiature, high-efficiency power supplies, has introduced what it says is the world's smallest and most efficient medically certified 110-watt...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 23, 2001... Sep. 23--VENTURA, Calif.--CIRCLE OF CHAMPIONS AGENT ANNOUNCED: James C. Nicoll, owner of Nicoll Insurance & Financial Services in Ventura, is on schedule to be a "Circle of Champions" agent for long-term care insurance. Nicoll is a fully...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Stock Profile Column.
September 23, 2001... Sep. 23--Company: Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) Where: Deerfield, Ill., with operations in Newbury Park Employees: 43,000 worldwide Industry: Health-care products What they do: Baxter develops, manufactures and...

Amgen Dumps Partnerships in Two Drug Projects.
September 21, 2001... Byline: Deborah Crowe Sep. 21--Amgen celebrated U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its improved version of its best-selling anemia drug, the Newbury Park biotech giant severed ties with two smaller pharmaceutical companies...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 21, 2001... Sep. 21--NEWBURY PARK, Calif.--SEMTECH BUYS BACK SHARES: Semtech Corp. (Nasdaq: SMTC) has agreed to buy back an additional $50 million of its common shares, the Newbury Park-based semiconductor reported Thursday. The company is now...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Career Path Profile Column.
September 21, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga Sep. 21--Company Spotlight: Learning-Success Institute Owners: Victoria Kindle Hodson, M.A., Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, M.S. Type of product or service: Learning-style evaluations; consultations for...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Company Spotlight Column.
September 21, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 21--As a business incubator, Rockwell Scientific Co. has few peers. In the past 20 years alone the Thousand Oaks-based company has, in one way or another, given birth to nearly two dozen high-tech businesses,...

Timely Construction of Homes Becomes More Important to Owners.
September 21, 2001... Sep. 21--Completing construction of a new home when promised is becoming more important to busy homeowners, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2001 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study released Thursday. "Customers want...

Ventura, Calif., Safety-Needle Designer Has First Product Shipped Out.
September 21, 2001... Sep. 21--Medical device maker MedAmicus Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDM) this week began first shipments of its guidewire introducer safety needle, whose design is licensed from Med-Design Corp. (Nasdaq: MEDC) of Ventura, the safety-needle designer...

Calabasas, Calif.-Based Internet Banking Firm Ranks Second on Tech Growth List.
September 21, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 21--An economy sliding toward recession and the dot-com collapse are making life tough on the technology sector elsewhere, but not along the 101 Technology Corridor. Final rankings of the 2001 Los Angeles...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 20, 2001... Sep. 20--SANTA BARBARA TENET EXPECTS HIGHER EARNINGS: Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) expects to report earnings per share for the fiscal first quarter ending Aug. 31 of 65 cents to 67 cents, significantly above current analysts'...

New Computer Worm Hits Ventura County, Calif.-Area Internet Service Providers.
September 20, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 20--Ventura County area Internet service providers were among thousands of businesses nationwide to be hammered Tuesday by a new computer virus that some called worse than the Code Red worm that attacked...

Ventura, Calif.-Based Safety-Needle Designer Makes Deal with Owens-Illinois.
September 20, 2001... Byline: Deborah Crowe Sep. 20--Ventura-based safety-needle designer Med-Design Corp. (Nasdaq: MEDC) on Tuesday announced an agreement with Toledo-based Owens-Illinois (NYSE: OI) to manufacture its safety pre-filled cartridge injector....

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 19, 2001... Sep. 19--SOMERA NAMES PRESIDENT, CEO: Shares of Somera Communications (Nasdaq: SMRA) were up 22 cents to $4.72 a day after the Santa Barbara-based company announced it has appointed Rick Darnaby as its new president and chief executive...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 18, 2001... Sep. 18--K-SWISS TO BUY BACK STOCK: K-Swiss Inc. (Nasdaq: KSWS) in Westlake Village on Monday announced plans to buy back up to $25 million of the company's Class A common stock through Dec. 31, 2006. This program is in addition to the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business People Column.
September 18, 2001... Sep. 18--CHIROPRACTOR JOINS HOLISTIC RESOURCE: Dr. Laurie S. Nizam, a chiropractor who resides in Westlake Village, has joined the Holistic Resource Center in Agoura Hills. Nizam uses a variety of techniques in her practice, including...

Thousand Oaks, Calif.-Based Flooring Business Closes, Owner Disappears.
September 18, 2001... Sep. 18--A longtime Thousand Oaks-based flooring business was abruptly closed late last week. Employees, charging they have not been paid, said they cannot find its owner. The locks at Al Johnson Flooring, with stores in Thousand Oaks,...

Some Ventura County, Calif., Companies Suffer as Stock Exchanges Reopen.
September 18, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga Sep. 18--Shares of some companies based in the region suffered steep declines Monday on the first day of stock trading after the terrorist attacks last week on the East Coast. Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN) in Newbury...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
September 17, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 17--Technology exists that would prevent unauthorized persons from flying a plane. Biometric devices that measure the geometry of hands and faces, for example, could be employed to ensure that only the right...

Unemployment Rate Rises in Ventura County, Calif., during July.
September 17, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 17--Ventura County's unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent in August, up from 4.8 percent in July, according to a state jobless report released Friday. That's the first time since September 2000 that the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Technology Briefs Column.
September 17, 2001... Sep. 17--MERCEDES-BENZ SIGNS TDK DEAL: TDK Mediactive Inc. (OTCBB: TDKM), a global publisher of entertainment software in Calabasas, announced that in cooperation with TDK Mediactive Europe, a division of TDK Recording Media Europe SA, the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 15, 2001... Sep. 15--GREEN HILLS SOFTWARE SELECTED: Green Hills Software Inc., a Santa Barbara supplier of real-time operating systems and embedded development tools, announced that its Integrity real-time operating system and Multi 2000 Integrated...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 14, 2001... Sep. 14--STATE GAS PRICES STABILIZE: Gasoline prices in Southern California and the state Wednesday remained virtually unchanged from the previous day in the wake of the terrorism attacks in New York City and near Washington, D.C., the...

Ventura County, Calif., Shoppers Return as Shippers Seek Alternatives.
September 14, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 14--Ventura County shoppers returned to malls Wednesday, and office workers were back at their desks in the Financial Plaza in Oxnard, but it wasn't entirely business as usual on the day after the worst...

Thousand Oaks, Calif., Scientist among Dead in Hijacking.
September 14, 2001... Byline: John Scheibe Sep. 14--Dora Menchaca would not have been aboard the American Airlines jet that slammed into the Pentagon Tuesday if not for her passion to cure deadly diseases and save lives. The 45-year-old mother of two had...

Newbury Park, Calif., Executive Fears for Associates in World Trade Center.
September 14, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 14--Gary Snyder, executive director of California Central Coast World Trade Center, watched in horror Tuesday as scenes from the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center played across his TV screen. ...

Ventura County, Calif., Investment Firms Try to Calm Customers, One Another.
September 13, 2001... Sep. 13--Tuesday was numbing for the Ventura County financial community as it attempted to calm clients and comfort each other as the World Trade Center disaster unfolded. The World Trade Center is a few blocks from the New York Stock...

Healthcare Company Wants to Create Production Site in Newbury Park, Calif.
September 12, 2001... Sep. 12--Baxter Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: BAX) announced on Monday that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a third production suite at its BioScience facility in Newbury Park. This facility manufactures Baxter's...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 12, 2001... Sep. 12--COUNTRYWIDE UPGRADE: Shares of Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. (NYSE: CCR) in Calabasas rose by $1.26 to close at $39.71 on Monday. The company was upgraded by Sutro & Co. from a hold to a buy rating. WellPoint upgraded...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 12, 2001... Sep. 12--VITESSE EXPECTS LOWER EARNINGS: Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: VTSS) was downgraded Tuesday by two brokerage firms a day after the company said it will have lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenues. Shares closed at...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business People Column.
September 12, 2001... Sep. 12--CHIROPRACTOR EARNS DESIGNATION: Dr. Michael E. Coggins Jr. has obtained the postgraduate designation of certified chiropractic sports physician by the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians. The CCSP degree requires...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Focus Column.
September 12, 2001... Byline: Frank Moraga Sep. 12--FRANCHISE FOCUS: Las Vegas Golf & Tennis Owners: Peter Blowitz, Cynthia Keefover Type of product or service: Full-service golf store featuring Proline Golf equipment and top name-brand clothing. ...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Company Spotlight Column.
September 10, 2001... Sep. 10--Company: Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER) Where: Boston, with a test group operation in Agoura Hills Employees: 10,200 company wide Industry: Electronics What they do: Teradyne manufactures automated test equipment and...

Workers with Disabilities Contribute to Ventura County, Calif., Work Force.
September 10, 2001... Byline: Jim McLain Sep. 10--At the Nike Factory Store in Camarillo's Premium Outlets, Mia McCormick matches shoes, stocks shelves, helps customers in the dressing rooms and rehangs or folds what they don't buy. But anyone who thinks...

Ventura County, Calif.-Area Gas Prices Rise Again.
September 10, 2001... Sep. 10--Gasoline prices continued to rise in the Southland as the summer driving season draws to the end, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday in its weekly Weekend Gas Watch. "An increase in pump prices during the...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
September 10, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 10--ARTS SEMINAR TO TEACH ABOUT ROLE OF COMPUTERS: The Greater Thousand Oaks Telecommunity center is at it again. Every few months, it seems, the center offers the Conejo Valley something new from the world of...

Ventura, Calif.-Based Maker of Safety Needles Rides Wave of Speculation.
September 10, 2001... Byline: Deborah Crowe Sep. 10--To shareholders of a stock that had generally traded between $14 and $18 for much of the past 12 months, $42.15 was nice while it lasted. For Ventura-based safety-needle designer Med-Design Corp., that was...

Ventura County, Calif.-Area Firms Make Magazine's Best Tech Companies List.
September 10, 2001... Sep. 10--The 101 Technology Corridor once again has representatives on a national list of hot companies. This time it is the Forbes ASAP Dynamic 100, a list of the best tech companies according to analysts who cover them. Area companies...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 8, 2001... Sep. 8--CALABASAS, Calif.--COUNTRYWIDE BREAKS RECORDS: Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. (NYSE: CCR) operations in August broke several company records, the Calabasas-based financial services provider reported Friday. Total fundings...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 7, 2001... Sep. 7--INSURANCE COMPANY OPENS BRANCH: First Southwestern Title has announced the grand opening of its Ventura branch office at 3500 Camino Ave. in Oxnard. The company has been in business for more than 22 years and currently operates...

Ventura County, Calif., Economy Remains Strong Despite National Slowdown.
September 7, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 7--Despite a sluggish national economy and the "tech wreck" in Northern California, Ventura County's economy remains robust, and the outlook for the future is positive. That was the optimistic message at the...

Ventura County, Calif., Housing Affordability Declines in July.
September 7, 2001... Sep. 7--Ventura County's housing affordability in July declined over the previous month but was still above July 2000 levels, a state real estate group reported Thursday. About 34 percent of the households in the county could afford to...

Ventura, Calif.-Based Safety-Needle Company Challenges Patent Claims.
September 7, 2001... Byline: Deborah Crowe Sep. 7--Ventura safety-needle designer Med-Design Corp. (Nasdaq: MEDC) filed a Form 8K report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday to challenge claims that patents on its designs would...

California's eLabor.com Disputes Rumors, Says It's Not Going Out of Business.
September 6, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 6--The "We're hiring" banner that hung on the front of eLabor.com's Camarillo headquarters for most of last year came down months ago, but contrary to a recent flurry of fabricated press releases and claims...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business Briefs Column.
September 5, 2001... Sep. 5--AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--STARDRIVE RESUMES TRADING: Stardrive Solutions Inc. in Agoura Hills resumed trading Friday under its old Nasdaq symbol, SDRV. The symbol had been changed to SDRVE after the company failed to file a required...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Business People Column.
September 5, 2001... Sep. 5--VENTURA COUNTY, Calif.--VOLLMER RE-ELECTED REGIONAL VP: Members of the National Association of Catering Executives re-elected Valerie Vollmer, CPCE, as Region 5 vice president. Her region consists of six Western states. Vollmer...

Ventura County Star, Calif., Roger Harris Column.
September 5, 2001... Byline: Roger Harris Sep. 5--CRAFTSMAN SHOWS HIS FLEXIBILITY: Six years ago, Tom Marmalich had a good thing going. Not long retired from the Seabees, Marmalich had developed a unique wood- working technology that turned thinly cut wood...

Krispy Kreme Recruiters Seeking Personable People for Oxnard, Calif., Store.
September 5, 2001... Byline: Deborah Crowe Sep. 5--A daily doughnut run might not be enough for some Krispy Kreme fans when the new Oxnard store opens next month. They may want to wear the crisp white uniform of the "Hot Team." They'll get their chance...