WASHINGTON – First the good news: The worst of the painful housing slump and the credit crunch might come to an end this year. Now the bad: The economy will weaken further, and unemployment will rise. That’s the latest outlook from forecasters in a survey to be released today by the National Association for Business Economics, or NABE. It will take time for any rays of light to poke through the economic clouds, though. A growing number of economists believe the country is on the brink of a recession or in one already, dragged down by all the problems in housing, credit and financial markets. Now, 56 percent of the economists think the economy has started or will enter a recession this year. That’s up from 45 percent in a survey in February. If there is a recession, it probably will be short and shallow, economists said. For the full story visit http://www.dailynews.com/ci_9306512

A Japanese venture capital firm led a round of $40 million in financing that lets Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. complete trials for its fat deposit reduction drug. The financing makes $30 million available immediately to Calabasas-based Kythera, with the remaining $10 million available in 2009. Lead investor JAFCO Co. Ltd. is the parent company of JAFCO Life Science Investment. Other participating investors included Versant Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Prospect Venture Partners, Altitude Life Science Ventures and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati. Partnering with JAFCO provides better options for Kythera products in Japan and the broader Asia market, said President and CEO Keith Leonard. “This financing is a clear recognition of the progress made on and potential of our lead product candidate, [localized fat reducer] ATX-101, which is currently being evaluated in Phase II clinical trials in Europe, Canada, Australia and the U.S.,” Leonard said.

Construction has started on Patriot Commerce Center, an office and industrial park in Moorpark. A $60 million loan package brokered by Holliday, Fenoglio Fowler, LP that included financing from Hillwood Investment Properties, and a construction loan from Pacific National Bank funded the project “We are very excited about having Hillwood as an equity partner in this project,” said Mark Ossola, whose M.W. Ossola & Associates is developing the center. “It’s a big deal for us to have Ross Perot’s company involved.” The first phase will consist of a 22,000-square-foot Class A office building and approximately 143,000 square feet of industrial space ranging from just under 1,000 square feet to as large as 42,000 square feet, said Mike Tingus, president of Lee & Associates LA North/Ventura Inc. Tingus is also a partner in the project with developer, M.W. Ossola & Associates. “This is a property I’ve sold three times,” said Tingus, “and this last time I decided to buy it.” Ossola and his former partner, Nearon Enterprises, have divvied up the parcel with Ossola retaining ownership of 20 acres and Nearon taking possession of about 12 acres on which Home Depot has executed a long-term ground lease. About 90,000 square feet of the 20-acre Commerce Center is in escrow, said Tingus. The general contractor for the project is RCI Buildings, Inc.

Recent-model Gulfstreams are the Ferraris of private jets, with prices reaching up to $50 million each. Their sleek fuselages contain some of the most advanced control and navigation systems available. Fully fueled, the sophisticated jets with their plush interiors can fly 16 executives coast to coast at speeds of up to 527 mph — about 0.80 on the Mach meter, not far from the speed of sound. The twin-engine aircraft and others like it have become increasingly popular across the country — but not at Santa Monica Airport. There, local leaders and the Federal Aviation Administration are locked in a legal battle over the city’s unprecedented attempt to ban certain high-performance jets for safety reasons. For the full story visit http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jetban19-2008may19,0,3489430.story

Airborne broadband provider Row 44 received $21 million in financing to expand its operations and prepare for global use of its communications system. PAR Capital Management of Boston led the financing round. Westlake Village-based Row 44 will perform scheduled tests of its broadband system on Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines commercial flights this summer. “Row 44, together with its technology and initial airline partners, has developed an impressive business model and we look forward to the upcoming launch of its service,” said Ed Shapiro, vice president of PAR Capital. Shapiro joined the Row 44 board of directors.

SACRAMENTO — The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which poured about $1 billion into a troubled real estate deal, is in negotiations to keep a related loan default from turning into a bankruptcy. CalPERS, the nation’s biggest public pension fund, and its partners acquired a controlling interest in 15,000 acres of undeveloped land in the Santa Clarita Valley early last year, before the meltdown in the housing market. The land, once owned by Newhall Land and Farming Co., was appraised at $2.6 billion at the time of the CalPERS investment but has dropped considerably in value since then. For the full story visit http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-calpers19-2008may19,0,7906802.story

Anthem Blue Cross members in six California counties can now go online to find the estimated cost of medical procedures performed at local hospitals. Care Comparison is available to members in Los Angeles, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties. “Through this tool, our members have access to the costs associated with all aspects of a specific medical procedure,not just the cost of the procedure itself, but also the costs of the entire spectrum of care, from lab tests to recovery room charges,” stated Steve Melody, vice president of Health Care Services of Anthem Blue Cross in California. Because cost information is facility specific, members can compare the differences in cost among hospitals and get information on how often facilities perform each procedure. The data generated for the Anthem Care Comparison tool is updated quarterly and comes from claims that have been paid out over the past year. Cost and quality information is also supplied by company-developed programs and partnerships with information management companies.

A California law requiring drivers to hang up their use of handheld cell phones is more than a month away, but Southland retailers say they already are stocking up on Bluetooth and other hands-free devices amid a surge in sales. When the law takes effect July 1, motorists caught chatting without a hands-free device will be slapped with a $20 fine for the first offense and $50 for repeat offenses. And the looming penalties have spurred a rush at Wireless Gallery in Van Nuys, where manager Vlad Riftin said demand for Bluetooth headsets has been overwhelming. For the full story visit http://www.dailynews.com/ci_9275889

In another blow to Boeing Co.’s battered defense business, the U.S. Air Force on Thursday tapped rival Lockheed Martin Corp. for a contract potentially worth more than $3.5 billion to build a new generation of global positioning satellites. Chicago-based Boeing, which has a huge workforce in Southern California, would have made the satellites in El Segundo. The loss of the contract, known as Global Positioning System IIIA, was Boeing’s third high-profile defeat in as many months. The company lost a $35-billion contest to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force in February and a $3.74-billion award to build unmanned spy planes for the Navy in April. For the full story visit http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-satellites16-2008may16,0,5434942.story

Ridership on the Metro Orange Line rose by about 20,000 for April when compared to the previous year, the agency reported. Total boardings for the bus line in April were 622,699, an increase of 3.3 percent over the 602,970 boardings in April 2007. The Orange Line serves the Valley with stations from North Hollywood to the Warner Center in Woodland Hills. The service began in October 2005. The largest increase in boardings was for Sundays and holidays to 11,276 from 9,934 in April 2007. Average weekday boardings dropped by less than 100. Ridership on the Red Line subway increased to 3.7 million in April from the 3.6 million in April 2007. Red Line stations are located in North Hollywood and Universal City.