New Board

New Century Financial Corp.'s largest shareholder, Greenlight Capital Inc., seeks to oust three members of the real estate investment trust's board and seat its own slate. Shares of Irvine-based New Century have languished because of a "history of capital misallocation," Greenlight President David Einhorn said in a letter included in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and New Orleans levee officials joined forces in July 1985 to protect the city from a long-feared hurricane, the two agencies could not agree on how to proceed. It was the beginning of a dysfunctional partnership that ushered in two decades of chronic government mismanagement. Corps engineers wanted to install gates in front of the city's three main internal canals to protect against violent storm surges from Lake Pontchartrain.

Members of a newly seated board for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power proposed changes at the agency Friday. Board member H. David Nahai said the agency should revisit a shelved proposal to filter purified sewage effluent through groundwater supplies for eventual use as drinking water.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday appointed a five-member board for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that is packed with environmental advocates who vowed to accelerate the agency's move toward cleaner sources of energy, including solar and wind power. Villaraigosa said the appointments, announced at a Griffith Park nursery that provides free trees to DWP customers, reflect his commitment to a "cleaner and greener" city.

Question: A longtime network of owners dominated board positions leaving our association in bad shape. For six years the same board was advised by the same attorney and, with her help, secretly either amended, restated or rewrote portions of our governing documents. This cost our association tens of thousands of dollars that owners were unaware was being spent. We are still trying to figure out how these documents got recorded without a vote of the owners.

Walt Disney Co. held its first board meeting since the high-profile defections this week of Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold. And the consensus among the remaining directors: Good riddance. When board members convened for a three-hour dinner meeting Monday night at Disney's ABC headquarters in New York, they spent nearly 45 minutes venting over the pair's actions and expressed relief that their harshest critics were gone, a source close to the board said.

A council of the Hoiles family, owner of Freedom Communications Inc., concluded its discussions in Irvine on Monday without deciding whom to recommend as board members if the parent of the Orange County Register newspaper completes a deal to become a partner with two East Coast buyout firms. "Only one director is certain at this point, and that is me," said Freedom Chief Executive Alan J. Bell.

A council representing the family that owns Freedom Communications Inc. met Monday to consider which clan members should be on a reconstituted board of directors if the Orange County Register parent completes a deal to become a partner with two East Coast buyout firms.

WorldCom Inc. named five new board members to help lead the telecommunications giant after it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as MCI. The new members are David Matlin, chief executive of Matlin Patterson Global Advisers, a major investor in MCI; W. Grant Gregory, chairman of Gregory & Hoenemeyer, Merchant Bankers; retired Bell Atlantic Corp.

Peregrine Systems Inc. said Monday that Chief Executive Gary Greenfield stepped down and was replaced by John Mutch, one of the San Diego software company's new board members. Greenfield joined Peregrine in June 2002 amid a massive accounting scandal and steered it through layoffs, asset sales and bankruptcy proceedings. Peregrine emerged from Chapter 11 protection this month and appointed a new board of directors.