Diego Based

Perhaps the wooden bats they swing don't make enough noise, or the 27-foot motor home they take on trips doesn't devour enough of the road. Or maybe the initials of the organization in which they play are too easily confused with a television network. The San Diego Stars--members of the National Baseball Congress (NBC) and one of the best semiprofessional teams in the country--can't get any attention. Not in San Diego, anyway.

Dana Milner believes the future of trucking is installed in the cab of his 18-wheeler. Along with his CB radio, radar detector and several pine-tree air fresheners, Milner rides with a computer device linking him via satellite to his home base in Ontario, Canada. "It's a pretty handy gizmo," said Milner, 27, a driver for Frederick Transport Ltd. of Dundas, Ontario. "It's what trucking of tomorrow is all about." Milner no longer must call General Motors Corp.

Titan Corp. is big on secrecy. Some say too big. The San Diego-based defense contractor is prized in industry circles for its large roster of workers with security clearances, folks entrusted to keep mum. "We're proud of that," said Gene Ray, Titan's board chairman, president and chief executive. Lately, Titan finds itself with extra incentive to button lips.

President Bush told thousands of Marines on Thursday that the war on terrorism was "slowly but surely" being won, and he cited as proof the fresh capture of a senior Al Qaeda operative. But in an otherwise upbeat progress report, Bush also warned of the continuing dangers that lurk in "parts of Iraq." The president sounded that cautionary note just 2 1/2 months after his last visit here, when he proclaimed an end to major combat in Iraq after landing on an aircraft carrier offshore.

If Willy Wonka had a farm, it would fit right in here in Israel. Want a lemon-scented tomato or a chocolate-colored persimmon? How about some miniaturized garlic cloves for the home chef who doesn't have time to chop, or a purple potato that tastes buttery when cooked? There are no chocolate rivers or edible teacup flowers on Israeli farms, but you will find carrots shaped like potatoes, strawberries shaped like carrots, star-shaped zucchini and "watermelon" tomatoes — dark green on the outside with a juicy red flesh.

Internal Revenue Service agents on Wednesday seized documents at a major San Diego marketer of herbal weight-loss products as part of an income tax evasion investigation, officials said. About 40 IRS criminal investigators spent most of the day at the San Diego headquarters of Metabolife International Inc. and at its warehouse and shipping center, IRS Special Agent Mark Lessler said. Documents seized remained under seal and the investigation is continuing.

Federal authorities have charged a San Diego-based weight-loss clinic chain, Pacific Medical Clinics Management Inc., and two executives with deceptive advertising. The Federal Trade Commission says the firm misled consumers with broadcast and print ads saying they could lose 1 1/2 pounds a day--without exercise--with a "medically safe" program. Karin Lynn Norred and James Norman Wells are the company officers named in the Sept. 17 civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Leveraged buyout specialist Forstmann Little & Co. has agreed to acquire General Instrument, a cable television equipment manufacturer that owns San Diego-based VideoCipher, in a deal valued at $1.6 billion, the two companies announced Monday. The deal is not the largest leveraged buyout announced so far this year--that honor belongs to the proposed $4.4-billion employee buyout of UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines.

A partnership led by San Diego-based home builder Buie Corp. that is developing a Temecula retirement community said Wednesday that it has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code, blaming a soured investment in Executive Life, the insurer that failed last April. The partnership, Margarita Village Development, whose general partner is Buie-Rancho California Ltd.

With the holiday shopping season supposedly in high gear, Charlotte Russe Holding Inc.'s stock fell 8% on Tuesday after the seller of clothes for teens and young women said its profit this quarter would probably be much lower than expected because of disappointing sales. The San Diego-based parent of nearly 370 Charlotte Russe and Rampage stores said after the market closed Monday that it expected earnings of 7 cents to 11 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter ending Dec.