The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 42

iy 1 1 "mii i my i D2 SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 1996 LOS ANGELES TIMES Phoenix Firm Buys Los Angeles Reader BRIEFLY Media: New Times Inc. will merge the weekly paper with Los Angeles View. No purchase price disclosed. HEALTH up every week," he said. Vowell said Burnside Group decided to sell the Reader because it did not have access to the capital needed to fight two competitors with deep corporate pockets.

The L.A. Weekly is owned by Hartz Mountain of New York, which also publishes the Village Voice. "We were looking at being squeezed out of the market by two well -funded alternative weeklies, one in Hollywood the L.A. Weekly and one in West Los Angeles Los Angeles View," Vowell said. "The people who own New Times want to do a publication and they are going to bring the resources to bear to create in Los Angeles a metropolitan news weekly that's second to none." the Chicago Reader, which founded the weekly in 1978.

Many of the Reader's 25 full-time employees will be offered jobs at New Times, and some of the Reader's regular features will be picked up by the new tabloid, said Rick Barrs, editor of Los Angeles View. New Times Inc. operates successful weeklies in Phoenix, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Houston and Miami. It is known for investigative articles and for commentary, humor and criticism with an edge to it. L.A.

Weekly Publisher Michael Sigman said he will miss the Reader. "My main reaction is a little bit of sadness because the Reader has been around about as long as the Weekly has. I'm used to picking it No purchase price was disclosed for the Reader, but when New Times bought Los Angeles View in June, it was rumored to have paid $1.5 million. Los Angeles View has a weekly press run of 75,000, and the Reader, which is printed in a stitched and trimmed magazine format, has a weekly press run of 93,500. The L.A.

Weekly leads the pack with a 195,000 weekly circulation. The deal is expected to close Aug. 16, the day the last Reader will appear, said James Vowell, publisher of the Reader. Vowell is a principal shareholder along with Westside lawyer Codette Wallace in Burnside Group, which has the license to publish the Reader from By NANCY RIVERA BROOKS TIMES STAFF WRITER The weekly Los Angeles Reader is being sold to New Times the Phoenix-based owner of a string of weeklies that recently bought another, the Los Angeles View, the companies said Friday. The new owners will merge the two local publications and on Aug.

22 will publish a new combined version, renamed New Times. With an initial press run of about 100,000 copies a week, New Times will still be smaller than the competing L.A. Weekly but will be larger than either Los Angeles View or the Reader was alone. Managed Care Company Sanctioned: Citing its "repeated failure" to comply with state licensing requirements, regulators have suspended a Long Beach-based managed care company that provides health services for Medi-Cal patients from all marketing and enrollment activities for 90 days. Tower Health Services will be barred from enrolling new Medi-Cal recipients or advertising its programs in Los Angeles and other Southern California counties.

The California Department of Health Services said it imposed the sanctions after an annual audit concluded that Tower had improperly handled member complaints and requests for disenroll-ment, failed to notify doctors of their rights to appeal health plan decisions, and other violations. Tower Health executives have contended that there were "discrepancies" in the state report and deny any improper handling of disenrollment requests. United Health Wins Temporary Court Order: A federal judge has temporarily barred United Healthcare a Minneapolis-based managed care firm, from marketing its health plan in Southern California. The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian in Los Angeles, came after United Health Plan, an Inglewood-based HMO, sued its much-larger similarly named rival for trade-name infringement and unfair competition.

United Health's suit claims that United Healthcare's recent marketing push in the region will confuse consumers and hurt its business. A United Healthcare spokesman said the company will appeal the judge's ruling if it cannot resolve the dispute before Aug. 12, the date of the next court hearing. FINANCIAL MARKETS Daily Diary August 2, 1996 MAY JUNE JULY BANKING DOW 30 5,679.83 85.08 Great Western Wins Approval to Create National Banks: The nation's second -largest savings and loan received approval to establish national banks in California and Florida in its effort to escape the high cost of thrift deposit insurance. The ruling puts further pressure on Congress to come up with a plan to rebuild the ailing Savings Assn.

Insurance Fund something lawmakers have been working on for more than a year. Chatsworth-based Great Western is (he second major thrift to receive approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter national banks, and applications from at least five other thrifts are pending. Great Western Financial estimates it could save $70 million a year in deposit insurance premiums by convincing its customers to shift their deposits to higher-yielding accounts in its new subsidiaries. MARKETS: Dow Surges as Yields Plunge Continued from Dl won't feel compelled to tighten credit when it meets on Aug. 20.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan "was looking for an excuse not to raise interest rates, and he got that," said Steve Vielhaber, who heads $35 billion of taxable bonds at Bank of America in Los Angeles. Bond investors had pushed yields up sharply since winter, betting that the economy's surprising strength would force the Fed to begin raising short-term rates to slow activity. But as those worries faded this week, the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond yield plummeted to 6.74 by Friday's close, down from 6.83 on Thursday and 7.01 a week ago. Friday's close was the lowest since April 22. Shorter-term yields also continued to dive.

The one-year T-bill I I 500 662.49 12.47 A NYSE 353.87 6.09 TELECOMMUNICATIONS airn 0 Dow Jone High" 5,703 51 I 1310 Industrials Close i 5,679.83 ti-ZZZ ZZ: 531 1 Low I 5,601.41 70 zzzzj liltzzc-I zz z. zzz zzz 30 4 1 5,210 I ZZZZZ Ztl 70 1, I I (TZZ 70 ZZi j.JZI ZZ ZZ ZZ ZZ ZZ. ZZ ZZ ZZ ZZ 30 I I I I -I 5,010 6 13 20 27 3 10 17 24 1 8 15 22 29 7 p-p rr1 pr? 700 New York Volume f3 11 I NASD Admits Erasing Negative Marks From Broker Records From Bloomberg Business News The National Assn. of Securities Dealers has been quietly erasing certain negative marks from stock brokers' public records since January 1995, the agency acknowledged Friday. About 1,100 items probably shouldn't have been deleted and will be restored, said Frank McAu-lif fe, a vice president at the agency.

Although the NASD agreed to restore some of the records after being privately criticized by state regulators over the practice in early 1996, it continues to delete certain arbitration complaints from the records of brokers. The deletions have been made in two areas. The NASD has been removing references to customer complaints whenever the customer "withdraws" the complaint, said Renee Erdmann, a securities investigator with the state of Montana. Customers frequently withdraw complaints when a brokerage firm finds a creative way to settle with the customer without officially calling it a settlement, according to lawyers who represent investors and brokers in customer disputes. A customer complaint is typically made in the form of a letter to the brokerage firm and isn't a request for a formal arbitration proceeding.

The agency also has been deleting records of arbitration complaints when a panel of arbitrators asks that it be done. Although the NASD says it stopped deleting withdrawn customer complaints in April, it still deletes records of arbitrations when an arbitration panel requests it. NASDAQ 1,124.92 26.07 Pac Bell Loses Battle Over Area Code Policy: The California Public Utilities Commission rejected a plan backed by Pacific Bell to overlay new area codes on top of existing ones as it attempts to devise new ways to meet the increasing demand for telephone numbers caused by exploding numbers of fax machines, cellular phones and pagers. Instead, the commission voted to continue splitting overcrowded area codes, forcing a portion of the customers change their three-digit area codes. Commissioner Henry Duque said he did not want the commission to change its policy until Californians are surveyed about which method they prefer for adding area codes.

Pacific Bell, the main unit of San Francisco-based Pacific Telesis Group, says California needs to double its 13 area codes over the next five years. Potential rivals in the state's $G-billion local phone market, such as Corp. and MCI Communications say overlays are anti-competitive. WILSHIRE 6,462.226 120.542 uauuiiuimu i uii 11 1 iui 24 1 8 15 22 29 "Theoretical high and low. Actual in Market Roundup.

6 13 20 27 3 10 17 Floor volume only. Figure on Market Roundup page Includes other exchanges and after-hours trades from previous day. TOBACCO 'The breadth of the market is very impressive. This is the broadest move in months, and that's one for the MICHAEL METZ Oppenheimer Co. analyst Firms Sue Over Massachusetts Disclosure Law: Gov.

William Weld signed the nation's first law requiring all tobacco companies to list their ingredients on the side of cigarette packages, and moments later, the industry challenged the law with a federal lawsuit. Philip Morris R.J. Reynolds, Brown Williamson and Lorillard tobacco companies cried foul in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, claiming that the measure, if left to stand, would force them to "disclose trade secrets and other proprietary information." Under the law, tobacco companies will have to file annual reports with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health listing all the additives for each brand sold in the state. Meanwhile, in a separate action, the judge overseeing Mississippi's landmark legal case against the tobacco industry ordered the state to turn over the names of six new whistle-blowers who may be asked to testify against major cigarette makers.

During a discovery hearing before Jackson County Chancery Judge William Myers, tobacco industry attorneys demanded the names of the industry insiders whose existence came to light about two months ago. Myers ordered the state to comply with the industry's demands within 30 days. Mississippi and Massachusetts are among 10 states suing tobacco companies to recoup Medicaid payments for treating smoking-related health conditions. Los Angeles Times Circon climbed 1XA to 19V4. U.S.

Surgical started an unsolicited $18-a-share offer for all outstanding Circon shares. Some investors bet the hostile bid will be sweetened. In foreign trading, European stock markets climbed, partly as a result of gains in U.S. stocks. Swiss stocks surged 3.2, Swedish shares 2.2 and Spanish stocks 2.

Latin American shares also soared. But in Asia earlier, Japanese stocks continued to edge lower. Meanwhile, pork belly prices, soared to their highest level in 14 years Friday after the government reported that hog slaughtering was well behind last year's pace while demand for bacon remained strong. August pork belly futures rose the two-cent daily limit to 98.475 cents a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It was the highest price since August 1982, though well below the record of 105.10 cents a pound set in August 1975.

"It is the slaughter pace combined with really good demand. The fast food chains now consume huge amounts of bacon every day," broker Dennis Smith of LIT Investor Services said. Pork bellies are used to make bacon. Market Roundup, 03 high. Not everyone was willing to declare a watershed, however.

"The environment was so extraordinarily pessimistic that since the world didn't end, we've had a rally," said Michael Link, who runs a $180-million portfolio at Gradison-McDonald Asset Management in Cincinnati. "To my way of thinking, we're still in the dark. We need more definitive data" on the economy. Among Friday's highlights: Financial stocks led the rally. Merrill Lynch soared 3V6 to 64, Wells Fargo rocketed 7V4 to 244, J.P.

Morgan leaped 2 to 89V6 and BankAmerica gained 2 to 84 V4. Among recently battered tech issues, Hewlett-Packard rose to 45V4, Intel shot up 1 to 78V4, Micron gained 3 to 22 and Microsoft jumped 2 to 123. Industrial stocks that would benefit from a sustained economic expansion, even if a slower one, rose broadly. Emerson Electric gained 3V6 to 88, GE soared 2Vt to 86V6 and B.F. Goodrich rose 1 to 38.

Airline stocks climbed after AMR, parent of American Airlines, reported a surge in domestic passenger traffic in July. AMR jumped 3 to 8134 and Delta rose 1V to 71 V6. yield sank to 5.58 by Friday, down from 5.92 on Monday. In all, U.S. bonds completed their biggest one-week rally in 15 months.

For the stock market, battered in July by not only interest-rate worries but also concerns about slowing corporate earnings growth, this week's turnaround in rates was enough to bring buyers flocking back. "There was a huge sigh of relief on Wall Street," said Philip Orlando, chief investment officer at Value Line Asset Management. "Goldilocks is back," with the economy not too hot or too cold, "and near term I think we'll have a summer rally," said David Shul-man, chief equity strategist at Salomon Bros. Friday's gain left the Dow off just 1.7 from its record high of 5,778.00 set May 22. At the deepest point in the July sell-off the Dow was down more than 10 The Nasdaq composite index, off more than 20 at its July low, has recouped more than half that, and now is off 9.9 from its record COMPANY TOWN ANNEX Investment Firm TMI Sells Parducci Wine Cellars Viacom Drops Antitrust Suit Against TCI: Viacom Inc.

and Tele-Communications Inc. filed court papers agreeing to dismiss the strongly worded and much-publicized 1993 suit in the wake of TCI's acquisition of Viacom's cable systems, and a federal judge approved the dismissal. Details of the agreement were not immediately available. The suit had been mostly dormant for the last 18 months, and company executives had said they expected the suit to be dismissed once TCI's two-stage acquisition of Viacom cable systems was completed. That deal closed Wednesday.

The suit stemmed from Viacom's battle to take over Paramount Communications a battle in which TCI had backed rival bidder QVC Inc. ABC Executive Exits: Kim Fleary has resigned as senior vice president of comedyvariety series development at ABC Entertainment, continuing a reorganization under new President Jamie Tarses. Fleary, one of the few high-ranking African American women in network television, leaves after 13 years at ABC. Fleary reportedly believed ABC violated certain provisions in her contract in the recent reorganization and reached a settlement with the company. Additional changes are expected, with senior vice president Alan Sternfeld being promoted and programming executive Jeff Bader's assuming responsibility over scheduling prime-time programs.

Times Staff and Wire Reports DILBERT IF WE ARE TO 5UCCEE0, YOU rUST BECOrAE CHANGE MASTERS IN AN EVER-CHANGING, CHANGE-ADAPTIVE. ENVIRONMENT. By DEBORA VRANA TIMES STAFF WRITER NEWPORT BEACH-Embat-tled Teachers Management Investment Corp. said Friday that it has sold its Parducci Wine Cellars in Napa to Hill Thoma Wines for $19.9 million. The Napa winery was one of the few remaining partnerships still operated by the Newport Beach investment company, which has been stripped of most of the real estate partnerships it put together for 20,000 educators statewide.

"This will be a boon to the limited partners. It's been a long time coming," said James R. Perci-val, a lawyer for TMI. "Hopefully we can try to resolve the remaining issues," he added. Investors in the Parducci partnership are expected to get $10.5 million, a lawyer said.

About $3.7 million will be held back pending the outcome of other litigation. Investors in TMI sued the firm nearly two years ago, accusing company operators Maurice B. Shuman and James R. Martin of diverting funds for their own use and causing more than $10 million in losses. Shuman and Martin deny the charges, saying any losses stem from a drop in real estate values during the recent recession.

Parducci produces about 350,000 cases of wine annually. Teachers bought the winery from the Parducci family in 1972. Hill Thoma is led by wine-maker William Hill and venture capitalist Carl Thoma. Senate Confirms New CFTC Chairman, Commissioner From Associated Press WASHINGTON After a lengthy delay, the Senate on Friday approved Washington lawyer Brooksley E. Born as the next chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Also approved as a CFTC commissioner is David Spears, a former aide to GOP presidential hopeful Bob Dole. The CFTC supervises the nation's commodities and futures markets. Born, 55, is a partner with the prominent law firm of Arnold Porter. She was considered a candidate for U.S. attorney general early in President Clinton's term and for a seat on a federal appeals court.

She specializes in complex litigation, including commodities law. "Having a permanent chairman and full commission membership is important for the CFTC to do its job of market oversight during very volatile times," Senate Agriculture Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) said in a statement. The CFTC has had an increasingly prominent role in international markets, with its investigators taking the lead on the Sumitomo Corp. copper trading scandal and the Barings collapse as a result of losses from futures trades by a Singapore trader.

The agency has been without a permanent chairman since January, when Mary Schapiro left to join the National Assn. of Securities Dealers as its regulatory chief. Spears is a former state director of Dole offices in Kansas. He was picked in February to succeed Sheila Bair on the five-member commission. The Senate Agriculture Committee approved Born and Spears on May 22, but the full Senate delayed final confirmation, although both nominees had strong industry support.

World Bank to Double Contribution to Loan Plan From Associated Press WASHINGTON To cover a shortfall in money promised by the United States, the World Bank plans to double its contribution to the agency that grants loans to the poorest countries. The decision coincided with the bank's announcement Friday of a 12 drop in profit for the 12 months ended June 30. It attributed the decline in net income from $1,354 billion to $1,187 billion to generally lower global interest rates cutting into earnings of the bank's investment portfolios. The recommendation to increase to $600 million the World Bank contribution to the International Development Assn. came from representatives of the 180 member countries, including the United States, on the bank's executive board.

They said U.S. arrears forced the move. Please see BANK, D7 A AND THE PROBLEM IS OUR LACK OF FLEXIBILITY LET fAE GET THIS EVERY CHANGE SEEMS TO INCREASE OUR WORKLOAD WHILE DECREASING OUR JOB SECURITV AND PJiAL NOT ENTIRELY. THERE'S ALSO YOUR BAD EARNINGS AFTER I I I sv MORALE. ik A fA a ffpff gffl ffr rrfflr infi jg.