Belmont Overbilling Alleged

The top auditor of the Los Angeles school system said his investigation into the Belmont Learning Complex has found more than $2 million in overbilling, and that millions more could be unearthed.

Don Mullinax, head of internal audits and the special investigations unit of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said the overbilling was discovered in the most recent billing statements, representing just a fraction of the invoices on the $200 million project.

Concluding the second part of his inquiry into the Belmont fiasco, Mullinax blamed poor accounting controls both within the district and on the part of outside consultants for allowing the problem. In response, Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller said he had demoted the district’s chief financial officer and recommended that the school board fire its accounting firm.

Arrests Made in Web Scheme

Federal authorities in Los Angeles charged three men with allegedly manipulating shares of a tiny stock by posting false rumors on hundreds of Internet message boards.

The men, all in their 20s, reaped a total of $364,000 in trading profits from the alleged scheme, which was carried out during one weekend in November, authorities said. The message-board activity allegedly drove the price of tiny NEI WebWorld Inc., a Dallas printing company, from pennies a share to $15 in just three days. The company isn’t accused of wrongdoing.

Boeing Shows Plan for Fighters

Boeing Co. unveiled its submissions in the Joint Strike Fighter competition ahead of rival Lockheed Martin Corp. in what has been billed as a winner-take-all contest for the biggest military contract in U.S. history.

But even as Boeing and government officials hailed the shark-like design at the aerospace giant’s Palmdale facility, it appears more likely that neither Boeing nor Lockheed will walk off with the entire contract, valued at about $150 billion.

Some companies and government officials concede the work is likely to be split between the two aerospace and defense giants.

Smog Cleanup Plan Approved

Air quality officials and environmentalists announced a landmark agreement that for the first time sets an exact course for cleaning up smog in the L.A. region for the next decade.

The rules to be adopted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District many of them controversial with businesses are aimed at a variety of sources, including oil refineries, aerospace plants and restaurants, and target such diverse causes of pollution as household paints and charbroilers.

The plan comes as a way to settle a longstanding lawsuit and is enforceable by a federal judge. Only under special economic or technical conditions could the AQMD weaken the outlined rules or the deadlines.

New Cable System Proposed

Signaling new competition that could translate into lower prices for consumers, RCN Corp. is negotiating with the city of Los Angeles for the right to build a high-capacity fiber-optic network to compete against cable operators, phone companies and Internet service providers.

The network is the most ambitious proposal yet in Southern California for duplicating cable’s residential telecommunications system. But the proposition is both costly and risky, and few companies have had economic success in carrying out similar undertakings.

Building a network able to serve all 1.4 million households in L.A. would cost more than $1.4 billion. RCN, a relatively young firm based in Princeton, N.J., said it initially would target only a few of the city’s 15 cable franchises.

Council OKs Cargo Terminal

Over the objections of some powerful unions and neighboring communities, a divided L.A. City Council approved a lease for a $30 million United Airlines cargo terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

The 8-4 vote touched off another round of accusations from LAX expansion foes claiming the No. 1 passenger carrier at the airport is improperly attempting to enlarge its cargo capacity without a full environmental review.

But a majority of the council was convinced that United had more than adequately reviewed the effects of the new facility on surrounding areas, traffic and air pollution, among other things.

Dock Dispatch System Rejected

Dock workers at the nation’s busiest harbor complex have overwhelmingly rejected a measure to computerize the dispatch hall that serves the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Mike Freese, president of Local 13 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, suggested the rejection was due to workers’ distrust of employers, who are paying for the $1 million computer system but designing it along with the union.

Employers want to computerize the dispatch hall because workers aren’t getting to the job on time. The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and terminal operators, estimates that workers start 15 to 30 minutes late on average, reducing annual productivity by 7 percent.

Carnival Plans Long Beach Terminal

Cruise-line operator Carnival Corp., in a potential blow to the Port of Los Angeles, unveiled a proposal to build a new terminal next to the Queen Mary in Long Beach for its two ships currently docked in San Pedro.

The cost for the new terminal, which is expected to take up to 18 months to build, was estimated at $16 million. Carnival’s lease at Los Angeles expires at the end of next year.

The preliminary agreement between Queen Mary operator Queen’s Seaport Development Inc. and Miami-based Carnival, which operates the Elation and Holiday leisure ships out of San Pedro, must be approved by the city of Long Beach and other government agencies as well as Carnival’s board of directors.

Gun Show Moves to Vegas

Blaming a recently passed ordinance banning firearm sales on county property, officials of the Great Western Gun Show said they are leaving Los Angeles and moving to Las Vegas.

L.A. County has been home to the gigantic gun show, one of the nation’s largest, for 31 years 22 of which were at the Fairplex in Pomona.

The decision is the culmination of a heated gun-control controversy that took front-burner status after a rash of mass gun assaults across the country. The move to the Las Vegas Convention Center will cost the Fairplex $600,000 a year, about one-third of its annual earnings.

Bryant Buys Share of Team

L.A. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant has earned a new title: team owner.

Bryant, 21, has agreed to pay about $4 million for a 50 percent stake in Olimpia Milano, one of Italy’s most hallowed pro-basketball teams.

The deal represents one of the larger investments on record by an active pro athlete in team ownership. It also demonstrates that at a time when the traditional pool of corporate endorsement money is shrinking, today’s young athletes are looking for deals and investments that will include them in most business decisions.