The firm also opened three new centers, giving it a total of 31 oncology centers in 11 states.

Vantage Oncology, which operates or partners with oncology centers to fight cancer, also secured a $100 million line of credit to continue its expansion.

Stephen Najera, 23, was pronounced dead at 12:10 a.m. Saturday at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey.

The cause of death was undetermined, pending further testing, according to Ed Winter, Assistant Chief at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

During the evening shift on June 30, the Baldwin Park resident was working at the El Segundo facility inside a grit blast booth, a room that uses a sand blaster to treat parts before they are painted.

"He was found unconscious by fellow employees in the booth, and they began administering CPR," said Brooks McKinney, a spokesman for Northrop's El Segundo-based Integrated Systems sector.

The company's onsite fire department responded to the emergency, and took over CPR on Najera. Later, the El Segundo Fire Department responded, and transported him to the hospital.

Najera remained hospitalized until his death, McKinney said.

"Northrop Grumman is still investigating the circumstances of the incident," McKinney said. "We have to determiine what happened. Was Northrop Grumman's activities related to his death? Sometimes people come down ill while they're at work, and it has nothing to do with their work. I don't want to speculate about that."

License to Play
By Muhammed El-Hasan, Staff Writer

Thanks to Keith Robinson, fans of the old Astrosmash video game and other games for the Intellivision console can still play them.

The Manhattan Beach resident, who served as a programmer on some of the more than 100 Intellivision games produced by Mattel Electronics, keeps the brand alive through a company he co-founded. Robinson, 52, is president of Intellivision Productions Inc., a Manhattan Beach firm that licenses the game rights to other companies.

"They have a lot of things blowing up," Robinson said of the games. "Sometimes you don't want a lot of nuance. You just want to blow things up."

Read the full story.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

The paper said Toyota would equip solar panels on the roof of the high-end version of the Prius when it redesigns the gasoline-electric hybrid car early next year, and the power generated by the system would be used for the air conditioning.

Read the full story.

Boeing's allies on tanker: Hurry up, Pentagon

(P-I) WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is facing an Aug. 17 deadline to respond to a blistering report from government investigators that the Air Force made "significant errors" in tapping a team of Northrop Grumman and EADS to build a fleet of refueling tankers instead of awarding the $35 billion contract to The Boeing Co.

But Boeing's powerful advocates in Congress are urging the Air Force to act quickly and announce whether it will reopen bidding on the contract, which was awarded in February to Los Angeles-based Northrop and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., the parent of Airbus.

Read the full story.

Earlier that night, Roger Rooney, a 53-year-old heating and air conditioning contractor who lives in Lomita, brought in two rabbits he had cooked. The rabbits, one in Spanish marinade and the other in wine sauce, were the price Rooney paid for losing a bet that the Lakers would defeat the Celtics in the NBA Finals.

"Actually, I'm a Celtics fan," Rooney told me in a genuine Irish accent. "But I just wanted to cook a couple of rabbits for the guys."

Here's the column as it was published.

Honda grows while US auto industry falters

DETROIT (AP) -- When consumers astonished the U.S. auto industry two months ago by quickly shunning trucks and going for gas mileage, the biggest beneficiary ended up being Honda Motor Co.

The No. 2 Japanese automaker, with the most fuel-efficient model lineup in the industry, never put both feet into the U.S. truck market, instead focusing on slow-but-steady growth with popular cars like the Civic and Accord.

It paid off in June. While its major competitors reported double-digit sales declines and burgeoning truck and sport utility vehicle inventories, Honda had a modest 1 percent sales increase. Its car sales were up 20 percent from the same month last year, and the Civic and Accord were among the industry's top sellers.

"They are better positioned than anybody in terms of the products they have for this kind of environment," said Ron Harbour, a partner with the Oliver Wyman Group and author of a widely respected annual report on auto factory productivity.

But while Honda may look like it can peer into the future, the company's top U.S. executive says it is well-positioned for $4 per gallon gasoline because it always has emphasized small, fuel-efficient vehicles.

"We're not geniuses," John Mendel, the company's U.S. executive vice president, said Wednesday. "We're consistent."

Industry analysts say Honda has managed to avoid the sales crisis that has hit the Detroit Three and even Toyota Motor Corp. for two reasons. Although it makes SUVs and a small pickup, it has a strong lineup of cars that get good gas mileage. And its factories are so flexible that it can quickly make more of the vehicles that are in demand.

"We can reprogram it to make it build more Civics," Mendel said. "That's by far one of our competitive advantages."

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Detroit Three, most with too few small car models and each caught with well over half their factories building trucks at a time when the market has shifted to 56 percent cars and 44 percent trucks. GM and Chrysler have announced plans to close truck and minivan factories, and Ford is expected to announce specific cutbacks later this month.

Executives at all three wish they could flip a switch and convert factories from cars to trucks, but Greg Gardner, an analyst with the Oliver Wyman Group, says that's difficult and costly because cars require different tooling.

"In a perfect world, this would be great," says Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting company IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids. "Even Honda can't do that."

To go from trucks to cars, an automaker would have to replace the factory's machines for millions of dollars at a time when losses are mounting and they're burning up cash, Gardner said.

"Now we're in a situation where because of the cash burn rate, those kind of wholesale investments may be prohibitively expensive," Gardner said.

As a result, the Detroit Three could wind up with truck factories sitting idle while they max out the capacity at small-car plants, Gardner said.

Even a short-term solution -- somehow cranking up output at existing car plants -- isn't easy either.

Ford Motor Co., which couldn't produce enough Focus compacts last month, is trying to add a third shift so it can run the lone factory that makes them around the clock. But logistics stand in the way because some parts of the factory can't move as quickly as others.

"In any plant you always have one area that's the bottleneck," Harbour said. "You can only run as fast as that bottleneck."

Relieving the bottleneck might take additional tooling, and that also takes time and money, Harbour said.

"It could take a year or two to get it all done and get it all cranked up," he said.

If the automakers are successful in ramping up small-car production, they shouldn't have problems getting parts because suppliers are used to making parts at higher volumes, Gardner said.

The Detroit Three say they're moving as fast as they can to bring their factories in line with car demand. GM has added shifts at plants that make its fast-selling Chevrolet Malibu and Cobalt cars. The company will refit the Cobalt plant so it can make a new fuel-efficient small car in 2010. Chrysler signed an alliance with Nissan Motor Co. to build subcompacts to sell in the U.S., and Ford is retrofitting a Mexican factory to build the Fiesta subcompact in two years.

Ford and GM say they have models in other parts of the world that will sell in the U.S., and it just will take time to get them here because U.S. safety and emissions regulations vary from those of other countries.

But analysts say they will struggle and probably have wider losses in the meantime, while Honda and Toyota will continue to grow.

At Honda, Mendel doesn't expect rapid growth. The company's history, he says, is to grow 2 to 3 percent per year in boom times as well as during downturns.

The company "narrowly" satisfied demand for Civics and Accords last month due to its flexible factories.

Its plants, Mendel said, can switch back and forth almost instantly from one model to another. For instance, a plant in Ohio that makes Accords also builds the Acura TL luxury sedan, which isn't selling well. So the company made more Accords last month and will continue to do that until TL sales rebound.

When a new small-car factory comes on line in Indiana next year, the company will have even more capacity to make Civic- and Accord-size vehicles, Mendel said.

Honda has had trouble making enough Fit subcompacts at overseas plants to meet increased worldwide demand.

In June, Honda had 2,000 Fits in stock in the U.S. but took orders for more than 10,000, he said.

"We compete basically for Fit with the rest of the world," he said. "The recent couple of months' demand has really outstripped our ability to supply it."

Mendel sees the U.S. market slowing further this year as more and more people see trade-in values for SUVs and pickup trucks drop to the point where they can't afford to buy another vehicle.

Still, Honda is trying to be ready as long as the market is in its favor, yet not growing too fast.

"We set out to grow our business at a steady rate," Mendel says. "Our philosophy supports that."

The three Northrop employees, who were freed Tuesday from FARC rebels after five years of captivity, are recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where they are undergoing extensive medical evaluation.

Northrop said it has been engaged with the three families since the hostage crisis began and continues to provide them with assistance as needed.

"Crude oil prices are now our top economic concern, outweighing the housing market and credit problems. Labor market trends continue to deteriorate with job losses across a broad spectrum of industries and earnings growth falling further behind inflation."

Anderson goes on to say that nonfarm job losses will continue through the end of the year with national unemployment to hit 6%. Also, he says that the Fed will hike interest rates before the year is up to temper inflation.

Hang in there, folks. Things are bound to get better eventually.

The grocery store, at 1700 Rosecrans Ave. in Manhattan Beach, was the 62nd store opening in the U.S since its introduction in November by British retail giant Tesco, whose American headquarters is in El Segundo.

More significantly, the Manhattan Beach location was the first store opening since the company froze its rollout for three months to reassess its brand and work out supply-chain problems.

"The way we do business is ever so simple. You listen to customers, find out what it is they want and you try to deliver it better than anyone else," said chief marketing officer Simon Uwins, adding, "We've done exactly that."

During the three-month break, Tesco increased its product selection, enlivened stores with more colors and brand messages on the walls and counters and offered more deals to accommodate consumers' shrinking grocery budgets amid the economic downturn.
"There were some who said it felt a little bit cold and sterile," Uwins said. "We went into all our stores and, if you like, warmed them up, telling them about what we're about and adding color."

The customers' feedback came in the form of comment cards, exit surveys and emails to the grocery chain's Web site.

Tesco also has a model store in Hawthorne where it market tests its ideas.
"We developed a brand from the ground-up based on listening to our customers," said Tim Mason, CEO of the U.S. operation.

In a sign of the store opening's importance, Mason was joined at the ceremony by his son and three daughters from England.

Tesco, which began opening locations at a torrid pace last November, will resume its swift rollout. By the end of February, Tesco expects to have about 200 Fresh & Easy stores open, Uwins said. This would include the South Bay's second location, which is scheduled to open within a few months in Harbor City.

The world's third-largest retailer, Tesco plans to spend $2 billion over five years to open hundreds of stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

Each Fresh & Easy is about the size of a Trader Joe's, offering precooked meals, fresh meats and produce as well as quick checkout like a convenience store.

In a surreal scene during Wednesday's opening ceremony, Tesco employees used cheers to drown out heckles by about two dozen picketing labor activists, whose efforts to unionize the new chain have been rebuffed by Mason.

So I called up Starbucks corporate to find out if any store closing would hit the South Bay. This is the response I got from one of their PR people:

"Details for specific locations are still being finalized. The stores identified for closure are spread across all major U.S. markets with approximately 70 percent of them opened since fiscal 2006. Out of respect and dignity for our partners, and our desire to share this information with impacted partners first, we are not publishing a full list of the stores."

Here's a link to the story.

Toyota sales tumble 21.4 pct; Ford down 27.9 pct.

DETROIT (AP) -- High gasoline prices and a weak economy took a toll on U.S. sales of Toyota Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. vehicles in June, with Toyota reporting a 21.4 percent decline and Ford dropping 27.9 percent.

Industry analysts had predicted June auto sales could drop by double-digits to their lowest monthly rate in 16 years.

Toyota, however, had been expected to fare better because it has a lineup more tilted toward small fuel-efficient cars and crossover vehicles.

But it didn't. Toyota said Tuesday its car sales dropped 9.4 percent for the month, while its truck sales slipped 38.9 percent. For the first half of the year, Toyota sales were down 6.8 percent.

Ford shares sank to a new 52-week low, while rival General Motors Corp. shares were trading near their lowest level in more than a half century.

Dearborn-based Ford blamed the latest sales decline on high gas prices and low consumer confidence, which sent buyers to the sidelines. It reported steep drops in June sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, including a 41 percent year-over-year decline for the F-Series pickup, a perennial best-seller, and a 52 percent drop for the Ford Explorer SUV.

U.S. auto sales had already fallen for seven straight months as of May, the longest period of consecutive monthly drops in eight years, according to the auto information Web site Edmunds.com.

When customers do buy, they're picking smaller cars, crossovers and hybrids. The demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles has been a boon to Japanese automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which rely less heavily on trucks and sport utility vehicles than the Detroit Three.

For the first half of the year, Ford's sales were down 14 percent compared with the year-ago period.

Ford said sales of its smallest car, the Ford Focus, rose 28 percent in the first six months of the year, although Focus sales fell in June. The automaker said last month it plans to increase production of the Focus as well as the Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape small SUVs.

Ford shares tumbled 32 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $4.49 in afternoon trading after sinking to a 52-week low of $4.41 earlier in the session. They have traded as high as $9.64 over the past year.

The Associated Press reports unadjusted figures, calculating the percentage change in the total number of vehicles sold in one month compared with the same month a year earlier. Some automakers report percentages adjusted for sales days. There were 24 sales days last month and 27 in June 2007.

Hot Wheels hits the road for 40th anniversary

(AP) Hot Wheels cars are hitting the road for the brand's 40th anniversary.

A free event featuring life-size versions of the beloved toy cars will be held at locations around the country after a kickoff for employees at Mattel headquarters in El Segundo.

The road show will include the display of a one-of-a-kind diamond-encrusted Hot Wheels car created in honor of the anniversary and the production of the 4 billionth car. The event will also include historic Hot Wheels memorabilia, autograph sessions with Hot Wheels designers, and other offerings.

The road trip stops Aug. 21 during Speed Week at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. On Aug. 24, the traveling show hits the small town of Speed, Kan., and on Aug. 30, look for the life-size version of the toy cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

On Sept. 1, the Hot Wheels event comes to Detroit's Automotive Hall of Fame, and on Sept. 5, the road trip finale takes place at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival in New York's Finger Lakes region.

For more information on Hot Wheels and 40th anniversary activities, cruise over to http://www.hotwheels.com/40th.

Mattel spent $210,000 to lobby in first quarter

(AP) WASHINGTON - Mattel Inc. spent $210,000 in the first quarter to lobby the federal government on consumer product safety legislation and other issues.

The El Segundo, Calif.-based toy maker lobbied on a bill that would boost funding and staffing for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, mandate the first-ever toy safety standards and raise penalties for selling defective products. The legislation also would create a public database of complaints about products, but allow the commission to exclude sensitive business information.

Mattel last year recalled millions of Chinese-made toys that were found to be tainted with lead.

Mattel also lobbied on currency and trade measures, including proposals to address possible currency manipulation by China, among other issues, according to a disclosure form filed April 21 with the House clerk's office.

Carson-based aerospace subcontractor Ducommun Inc. and Torrance-based PC Mall Inc., a direct marketer of technology products, were added to the index on Friday. They will remain on the index for one year.

Inclusion in the index was based on market capitalization.

The Russell 3000 and other Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for investment strategies.