ANTELOPE VALLEY PALMDALE The California High-Speed Rail Authority has proposed three new routes between Palmdale and Burbank that would be less disruptive because much of the tracks would be underground. The three routes would require extensive tunneling under the San Gabriel Mountains before emerging to link with a station near Burbank Bob Hope Airport. One of the three new routes would parallel the 14 Freeway and turn south to go under the mountains and emerge near Pacoima. The others would leave Palmdale south of the freeway and tunnel under the mountains with one emerging near Pacoima and the other emerging near Sun Valley. CONEJO VALLEY CAMARILLO A device that monitors the workout routines of physical therapy patients won $10,000 in funding at Startup Weekend Ventura County. The event took place March 11 to 13 at Rancho Campana High School in Camarillo and brought together programmers, application designers and entrepreneurs who had 54 hours to create a connected application for use in health care or agriculture. RepWatch was the overall winner. It is a device that monitors physical therapy patients’ workouts and makes it easier for therapists to adjust their routines. Semtech Corp. in Camarillo was the technology sponsor of the event. THOUSAND OAKS The Los Angeles Rams have signed a deal to use space at California Lutheran University’s Thousand Oaks campus for in-season training until its Inglewood stadium is finished in 2019. The NFL franchise will lease two practice fields, temporary modular buildings for offices, training areas, locker rooms and a paved parking lot on the campus’ northwest corner for two to five years. The city has approved construction on the site, and the Rams have filed a proposal with the city for permission to install the temporary buildings. Training at the campus means about 130 athletes, coaches, trainers and Rams employees will move to the facilities. The Rams also are negotiating a 50,000-square-foot office lease at 29899 Agoura Road in Agoura Hills with Woodland Hills commercial realtor Realty Bancorp Equities. Amgen Inc. prevailed in federal court when a Delaware jury determined that the cholesterol drug Praluent infringed on two Amgen patents for its cholesterol drug Repatha. The Thousand Oaks biotech in Oct. 2014 brought suit against Praluent’s owners, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Tarrytown, N.Y. and Sanofi of Paris. Regeneron and Sanofi defended their product, challenging the validity of the patents. The jury sided with Amgen, stating that the two defendants failed to show that the patents had a lack of description. Regeneron and Sanofi plan on appealing the judgment, which could take a year or more. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY CANOGA PARK Variel Court Apartments, a 72-unit apartment building in Canoga Park, has sold for $9.85 million, according to commercial real estate brokerage Sperry Van Ness – Rich Investment Real Estate Partners in Los Angeles. Sunnycrest Real Properties of Los Angeles bought the two-story complex at 8305-8325 Variel Ave. from Mitchell Burger of Variel Investors. The buyer bought the 53-year-old complex because it believes it may be able to increase rents at the apartment complex, according to Sperry, especially given the 7 percent rise in apartment rents citywide. Sunnycrest’s plans for the complex include common area improvements and interior renovations. SHERMAN OAKS Real Industry Inc. matched Wall Street expectations on earnings but fell short on revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter. The Sherman Oaks investment holding company reported a net loss of $3.9 million (-16 cents a share) for the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with net income of $5.1 million (39 cents) in the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased 14,900 percent to $300 million. Analysts on average expected net income of -16 cents on revenue of $323 million, according to Thomson Financial Network. Real Industry, formerly known as Signature Group Holdings, owns an aluminum recycling business, Real Alloy, in Cleveland. STUDIO CITY A Studio City man was convicted for stealing information from 1,400 credit cards at Valley region gas stations, according to the Justice Department. Koren Robert Kechedzian, 24, of Studio City, was convicted March 11 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft. Kechedzian had two USB flash drives with the stolen card information. Investigators in the case recovered from Kechedzian’s home an illegal skimming device designed to be installed in gas station pumps to steal credit card data. Bank records established that the stolen credit cards numbers on the flash drives came from Chevron gas stations in Palmdale and Moorpark. WEST HILLS Kohl’s Corp. has announced it will close 18 underperforming stores in the next quarter, one of which is in West Hills. The closures stem from the specialty department store’s push to drive future sales. The Menomonee Falls, Wis. retailer will close the underperforming stores on June 19; they are in California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey and Wisconsin. Nine of them are in California including its West Hills store at 6651 N. Fallbrook Ave. A store in Arcadia is the only other one in Los Angeles County. Roughly 80 to 100 store associates will be affected by the closure. WOODLAND HILLS Viking Cruises announced it is sponsoring the Viking Exhibition, a showing of centuries-old artifacts that debuted in New York City’s Discovery Times Square museum last month. The exhibition, which will run through September, displays more than 500 Viking artifacts, many of which have never been seen outside of Scandinavia. It is the most extensive display of Viking antiques ever seen in North America, according to the museum officials. Artifacts include full-scale Viking ships, jewelry, metalwork, craftsmanship and religious iconography, all of which dates to A.D. 700 to 1100. SANTA CLARITA VALLEY SANTA CLARITA Princess Cruises has appointed a new head of guest operations to help drive its marketing initiatives and develop new guest experiences. The cruise line announced this week it has promoted Mario Siebaldi, former vice president of guest services and technology, to senior vice president of guest operations effective immediately. Siebaldi brings 25 years of experience working for Princess Cruises to the position, and is now in charge of spearheading the lines’ “Come Back New” initiative, which includes onboard experiences exclusive to Princess such as its Discovery at Sea and North to Alaska onboard programs. VALENCIA MannKind Corp. announced its fourth quarter and end-of-year financial results that fell far short of analyst expectations. The Valencia biotech reported a loss of $277 million (-66 cents a share) in the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared to a loss of $36.4 million (-9 cents) for the same period a year earlier. The company reported no revenue. Analyst estimates were -5 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial Network. For the entire year, MannKind’s net loss was $368 million (-91 cents) compared to $198 million (-51 cents) in 2014. SIMI VALLEY SIMI VALLEY A shopping center with many independent, long-time tenants has changed hands for $7.1 million, according to Investment Real Estate Associates, an Encino investment advisory firm. Plaza Los Angeles LLC bought the two-parcel shopping center at 1464 E. Los Angeles Ave. and 1902 Hubbard St. from Frank Mushmel of FM Enterprises Inc. The portion of the center on East Los Angeles is 29,700 square feet, and was 95 percent occupied at the time of sale, with tenants such as the popular Egg House breakfast and lunch restaurant, said Yubin Tao, senior vice president of Investment Real Estate, who represented FM Enterprises. The Hubbard Street parcel, at 6,500 square feet, was 100 percent occupied. – Compiled by Stephanie Henkel