Financal Planning

A law firm has been hired to help prepare a financial plan to pay for new roads, sewers and power lines that must be built at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station to make the base an economic asset to the city. Sitting as the Redevelopment Agency, the City Council on Monday picked the law firm of McDonough, Holland and Allen from among four applicants to provide legal services.

SACRAMENTO -- State lawmakers will take their first official look at Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to overhaul the state's public school financing system at a Sacramento hearing on Thursday. The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to hear from Brown administration officials, the Legislature's own budget analysts and state schools superintendent Tom Torlakson as they discuss Brown's plan to give school districts more control over their budgets while directing more state dollars to districts that serve higher numbers of poor and non-native English-speaking students.

City officials hope they have lined up the necessary financing to complete $57 million in freeway improvements in time for the scheduled October, 1991, opening of a regional shopping center in the southwest corner of the city. The project will provide access to the shopping center, which will be located on a 72-acre piece of land at the intersection of the Pomona Freeway and Corona Expressway. City officials appealed to the California Transportation Commission last week to allocate $20.

Anaheim has Disneyland, a former Stanley Cup winner in the Ducks and, as of last month, Sir Albert Pujols . So why would the city want any part of the Sacramento Kings? The NBA franchise was in disarray after Coach Paul Westphal temporarily dismissed promising-but-erratic center DeMarcus Cousins last week, only to be fired four days later. The Kings responded by making a Smart hire — not Shaka, mind you, but Keith Smart , he of the NCAA tournament heroics while making a last-minute shot for Indiana against Syracuse in the 1987 national championship game — to replace Westphal.

SACRAMENTO -- State lawmakers will take their first official look at Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to overhaul the state's public school financing system at a Sacramento hearing on Thursday. The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to hear from Brown administration officials, the Legislature's own budget analysts and state schools superintendent Tom Torlakson as they discuss Brown's plan to give school districts more control over their budgets while directing more state dollars to districts that serve higher numbers of poor and non-native English-speaking students.

A federal judge has approved a $50-million financing plan for the Aladdin hotel-casino designed to keep the mega-resort open through the end of next year. Bankruptcy Judge Clive Jones previously had approved a plan that included a $9-million portion of a loan advanced after Aladdin Gaming's Sept. 28 bankruptcy filing. The resort's operators had gone through $4.6 million of that total by Wednesday as the troubled 2,567-room hotel-casino was further hurt by the travel decline after the Sept.

A panel created recently to help solve South Coast Symphony's money troubles has formed a subcommittee to make short- and long-term financial plans for the Costa Mesa-based organization, said committee member Ralph Radheim. "Contacts are being made right now about where short-term dollars are coming from and, with commitments, (results) will be announced next week," Radheim said Friday.

Ziegler Securities and Salomon Bros. plan to raise $330 million for Sisters of Providence, one of the largest Roman Catholic health-care systems in the nation, through several bond offerings. Sisters of Providence owns, leases and manages 13 acute-care hospitals, two long-term care facilities and an educational facility in Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington.

The Federal Communications Commission's ruling was a setback to businessman Jack Kent Cooke's efforts to acquire the Greenville, S.C.-based media firm. The FCC action means that the company can put its recapitalization plan before shareholders in about a month. But Cooke, owner of the Washington Redskins football team, vowed to continue trying to acquire Multimedia. He said he remained confident that shareholders would choose his $65-a-share proposal over a company offer of cash and bonds.

Robert Bruss' advice to an 82-year-old woman who needs to finance her nursing home care is irresponsible. He recommends that she sell her home for a small down payment and carry the mortgage to finance her nursing home costs. A buyer with only a minimal down payment and willing to pay above-market interest implies less-than-stellar credit worthiness and no incentive to stick around with the next downturn in housing prices. Would Bruss want his mother to depend on a monthly check from this buyer for her long-term security?

The funding plan for the California bullet train does not comply with key provisions of a ballot measure that voters approved to authorize the project and $9 billion in state bonds to help finance it, according to a report released Tuesday. The study — by the Legislative Analyst's Office, which periodically reviews the $98-billion construction proposal — concluded that the most recent funding plan does not meet important requirements of Proposition 1A because high-speed trains cannot operate on the first stretch of track to be built next year in the Central Valley.

Los Angeles officials produced their financing plan Monday for a downtown Los Angeles NFL stadium and new $275-million wing of the city Convention Center, saying it would protect taxpayers by requiring the developer to absorb a greater share of the costs and risks. Demolishing and rebuilding part of the Convention Center — a move that is central to the stadium deal — would require issuing $195 million in bonds, according to a proposed agreement released by negotiators for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council.

The head of the entertainment conglomerate seeking to build a National Football League stadium in downtown Los Angeles shot back at skeptics Tuesday and reiterated his pledge that "not a penny" of taxpayer money would be spent on the mega-project. "The city's never going to have to pay a penny ? and we're going to guarantee it," said Timothy J. Leiweke, president and chief executive officer of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is behind the $1-billion stadium plan. "It's easy to take shots at this," said Leiweke, who seemed taken aback at public apprehension that taxpayers could be left footing the bill ?

Aircraft leasing pioneer Steven Udvar-Hazy disclosed Thursday the formation of Air Lease Corp., a new Century City-based jet leasing venture. According to a release, Air Lease Corp., or ALC, has secured $3.3 billion in financing and plans to buy more than 100 commercial planes by spring of next year. "ALC is committed to helping shape the future of the aviation industry," Udvar-Hazy said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the leading global airlines as they modernize their fleets."

If corporate and union officials want to pour money into election campaigns, they would have to disclose who they are -- and perhaps appear in an ad -- under legislation introduced in Congress on Thursday. The bill is a response to a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate and interest group spending on elections. In Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission, the court in January struck down most federal limits on corporate spending as a violation of free speech.

Tribune Co. passed an early hurdle in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case Thursday when a U.S. bankruptcy judge signed a motion authorizing the continuation of a short-term financing arrangement worth $300 million. Judge Kevin Carey also granted the company more time to file schedules of its assets and liabilities and other financial statements. The financing arrangement, supplied by Barclays Bank and secured by Tribune receivables, will last until April.

Fox Television Stations, a new company set up by publisher Rupert Murdoch to acquire seven Metromedia television stations, will exchange cash and as much as 1.15 million in preferred stock for about $1.9 billion in debt securities of Metromedia Broadcasting. Based on the stations' current operating results, however, Fox Television said it won't have enough cash flow to pay all of the required dividends and might refinance its debt or sell assets.

City officials are set to take the first step tonight in approving a special financing plan to pay for a $15.8-million bridge over the Ventura Freeway at Rose Avenue. If the City Council votes in favor of the plan, Oxnard will establish a special assessment district requiring businesses and property owners to pay a tax based essentially on how much they use the span.

Paramount Pictures has ditched efforts to raise $400 million to $450 million in film financing through Deutsche Bank that would have helped bankroll its movies over the next two years, the studio said Monday. Deutsche, which has been a leader in film financing, sought terms that Paramount found too steep. "The deal terms had evolved to a point where they were unattractive when compared to alternative sources of financing," said Patricia Rockenwagner, a spokeswoman for the studio.

Three Los Angeles County men plotted to inflict 35 to 40 casualties in a jihad against Southern California military installations to avenge the U.S. war in Iraq and the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a federal affidavit. Levar Haney Washington, 25, and Gregory Vernon Patterson and Hammad Riaz Samana, both 21, have been in custody since midsummer.