Target Center

Palmdale has decided to open negotiations to buy the city's oldest shopping center, hoping to demolish the failed and fire-gutted eyesore in the downtown area and perhaps replace it with senior citizen housing. The City Council voted in closed session Thursday night to begin talks with Reseda businessman Melvyn Starkman, the head of a partnership that owns most of the stores at the Palmdale Plaza. Starkman approached the city asking $3.

Palmdale officials promised Friday that work will begin next spring to transform an old city auditorium into a new community theater, even though the recession has reduced the project to only 348 seats and a $2.5-million budget. The City Council voted 5-0 Thursday night to allocate the money for improvements to the 40-year-old Maryott Auditorium in the downtown area. A contract will be awarded next spring, said deputy public works director Doug Dykhouse.

Authorities said Friday they are conducting a criminal investigation into the suspected embezzlement of at least $25,000 from the satellite wagering facility at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster, the latest in a series of problems there. Fair officials said Jack Farmer, the supervisor of the publicly operated wagering center, was placed on paid leave last month because of the inquiry.

Phase 2 of the air campaign is under way, said Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One of its main targets is Saddam Hussein's strategic reserves--the armored forces of Iraq's elite Republican Guard. That choice of targets is most revealing, for it provides clues to what military planners believe to be the war's center of gravity.