Business Closing

Kensington University has no classrooms, laboratories or dorms. Its students don't play football, join fraternities or linger dreamily on a quadrangle. In fact, the entire campus is housed in a small Glendale office building. Recruiting from across the nation, the school runs a program in which students studying entirely at home can earn anything from a bachelor's degree to a doctorate--all without ever attending a single class or even meeting their instructors face to face.

Say what you will. Say stay off the sidewalk. Ora Alcox is going to see the space shuttle. On Friday, the now-earthbound Endeavour will be wheeled by very slowly, a block from Alcox's Inglewood home. She will witness it, she says; try to stop her: "They'll have to drag me, screaming and crying. I'm 70 years old. I have MS and I plan to see this. " At the drive-through window at Randy's Donuts, Alcox was picking up her usual apple fritter. And like a lot of those there for their morning fixes Thursday, she was peeved.

Irvine medical device maker Sorin Biomedical Inc. will shut down by the end of the year, laying off about 250 employees, company executives said Tuesday. The cuts are part of a consolidation by the company's parent, Italy's Sorin Biomedica SpA. On Monday, the Italian company closed a $247-million deal to acquire COBE CV of Denver, a leading manufacturer of cardiopulmonary systems.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Hours after two car bombs exploded recently in Syria's capital, the few residents still willing to venture out on what would normally be a lively Friday night were gathered at the Sham City Center mall, inside thick walls with entrances guarded by metal detectors. In the food court, families and young couples lingered over ice cream cones and greasy American-style fast food. Most shops were empty save for their sales staff. Outside, almost a minute passed before a vehicle did. Cabs were few and far between.

The world's oldest financial exchange, the Belgian bourse of Antwerp, ended five centuries of trading as it closed its doors in preparation for its merger Friday with the Brussels bourse. "Antwerp has had its day; we could no longer have two bourses in Belgium," Antwerp bourse Chairman Marc Corluy said. With a last bout of trading and glasses of champagne, Antwerp's brokers bid farewell to the bourse that served as a model for the Amsterdam and London exchanges that eventually outstripped it.

Peregrine Investments Holdings Ltd., one of Asia's largest investment banks, locked its doors Monday, the biggest casualty yet of the financial crisis sweeping the region. Most of Peregrine's staff in Hong Kong cleared their desks late Sunday, and a spokesman said the firm took steps late Monday to file for liquidation. The troubles at Peregrine, which has about 1,700 employees worldwide, shook Hong Kong financial markets and helped trigger an 8.7% decline in the benchmark Hang Seng index.

When her newborn was diagnosed with Down Syndrome three years ago, Tiffany Nurminen became depressed, overwhelmed and scared. Rather than greeting the birth with joy, people behaved as if Erik had died. Through a haze of tears and confusion, the 23-year-old first-time mother turned to an unusual resource in Orange County: the Intervention Center for Early Childhood.

RTC to Pay Golden State Federal Savings Bank Depositors: The Resolution Trust Corp. said it will immediately begin paying off the insured deposits of customers at tiny Golden State in Sherman Oaks because no suitable bids to take it over were received from potential buyers. The thrift has about 200 accounts worth a combined $3.6 million. Regulators also said Golden State Fed was officially shut down Friday, and that the closure will ultimately cost taxpayers about $1.7 million.

The city of Santa Clarita on Thursday ordered an immediate shutdown of Hasa Chemical Co. in Saugus, contending that the firm poses a public safety hazard, city officials said. The company, which manufactures chlorine, does not comply with city chemical storage regulations, City Manager George Caravalho said, adding that both the city and the Los Angeles County Fire Department have ordered compliance for several years.

Standard Brands to Close 6 Stores: Torrance-based Standard Brands Paint Co. announced plans to close six unprofitable retail paint stores as part of its strategic repositioning. Targeted are five stores in Southern California including Corona, Cypress, Fullerton, Norwalk and Simi Valley, and one in Phoenix. The outlets will close Sunday. Richard H. Loeffler, president of Standard Brands, said, "Most of the . . . personnel employed in these stores will be transferred to other . . .

Thousands of immigrant-rights protesters across Riverside and San Bernardino counties rallied Monday, joining a nationwide boycott and denouncing proposed federal immigration restrictions with boisterous marches, speeches and songs. Lively crowds of citizens and undocumented workers hit the streets in Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario, Moreno Valley and Palm Springs, beating drums, blowing trumpets, rattling maracas and waving U.S. and Mexican flags.

Thousands of pro-immigrant protesters thronged Santa Ana on Monday, surging around the downtown Civic Center while a handful of counterprotesters stood on a corner shouting defiance. Only two arrests were reported. Officials said both were for failure to disperse after a flurry of rock and bottle throwing aimed at police. Santa Ana Police Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo estimated there were 10,000 to 15,000 protesters, making it one of the largest demonstrations in Orange County in decades.

Fernando Lopez plans to close his three local Los Angeles-area Oaxacan restaurants for the day Monday after his approximately 50 employees agreed to observe a planned immigrant rights boycott then. "I am an immigrant too. We are all part of the community of Los Angeles and we are very united," said Lopez, 46, adding that his suppliers told him not to expect deliveries Monday.

The head of a novel upstart business called Doctors for Rent has closed up shop because of his past legal troubles. William H. Ziering, one of the principals of Doctors for Rent, said he closed the business after the Monterey Herald newspaper inquired about his history of legal troubles, which includes a federal prison sentence for cheating on a drug study and a number of sexual harassment lawsuits. "I'm stopping that as of right now," Ziering said.

Vice President Dick Cheney scored big-time, to use one of his favorite phrases, when a federal judge on Monday tossed out a General Accounting Office lawsuit against him. The lawsuit, which was instigated by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), sought to force Cheney to release records of participants in and the topics of private meetings held by his energy task force.

Nearly 200 businesses, banks and schools closed in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, as part of a general strike to protest President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government. Business groups and opposition politicians called the strike a day after Aristide supporters attacked anti-government protesters in several cities. "We must ... save our country from chaos," said a statement by 12 business groups.

Several disaster application centers created to assist residents in filing for government aid will close this month. Saturday will be the last day of operation for centers at the Downey Recreation Center in Lincoln Heights and the Watts Senior Citizens Center.

Crown Books, the beleaguered discount book chain that will close nearly all of its San Fernando Valley outlets within the next few weeks, may be back on the scene as early as next year, a company spokesman said. Steve Pate, vice president of operations at the Landover, Md.-based chain, said that once the company sheds scores of unprofitable stores, including eight in the Valley, Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks, it will begin opening stores again.

Eleven employees from two Orange businesses sought medical treatment after they inhaled noxious fumes from chemicals that had been dumped in the sewer, fire officials said. Many more people complained of dizziness, headaches and nausea, apparently caused by a "sweet, acetony, solventy" smell that wafted into the buildings near Lewis and Metropolitan avenues, across the street from each other, said Orange Fire Department battalion chief Rey Montoya.

It was a sound that hasn't been heard in a while among the racks of windbreakers and sweatshirts in the active wear section. "Next in line, please!" sales clerk Gerald Rivera shouted Saturday to those waiting to make purchases at the Montgomery Ward department store in Eagle Rock. For once, there actually was a line of customers stretching across the second-floor aisle in front of Rivera's cash register.