MannKind Corp. pledged Monday to continue developing its insulin inhaler system even though its stock fell after Eli Lilly & Co. said last week that it had given up on a similar diabetes treatment. The Valencia biotech firm’s president said MannKind stock, which has lost more than two-thirds of its value in the last year, would bounce back once investors realized its product was superior to the one Lilly had been pursuing. For the full story visit

Brushing aside conventional wisdom, UCLA economists say California and the nation will survive the housing slump and job losses without plunging into recession — although it will still be miserable for many Americans. “We are holding firm: no recession this time,” UCLA Anderson Forecast Director Edward Leamer said in a report being released today. For the full story visit

The FBI has started a criminal investigation into Calabasas-based Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, reported the Wall Street Journal on Saturday. By Sunday, other news outlets had independently confirmed an inquiry into whether Countrywide had misrepresented its financial condition. The FBI would not comment but the New York Times reported the agency was reviewing the practices of the mortgage industry, a broader investigation that included 14 companies. Countrywide is amid federal and state investigations of, among other things, its lending practices, as well as several investors’ lawsuits. On Friday March 7, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo testified before Congress amid a federal panel’s investigation into the compensation of corporate heads. Three financial executives testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations. Drawing much scrutiny from the House committee was compensation of Mozilo, who earned $410 million since becoming chief executive in 1999, including several stock sales made under an adjusted, automatic plan while the company was buying back shares. The New York Times reported Federal securities regulators have been scrutinizing those trades, and in a report released March 6, Congressional investigators found that the use of a flawed peer group and bonus targets added to his pay. He also was given a $37.5 million severance package, which he denied in January, after Congress requested that he testify. Also testifying with Mozilo were Charles O. Prince III, the former chief executive of Citigroup, and E. Stanley O’Neal, the former chief executive of Merrill Lynch. Earlier last week, units of Countrywide were subpoenaed by the Illinois attorney general in a probe into whether the companies violated federal law by corralling non-white borrowers into more expensive loans than those offered white borrowers, Reuters reported. Other investigations had been looking at possible accounting fraud or insider trading connected to loans made to borrowers with subprime credit. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting about three dozen civil investigations into how subprime loans were made and how securities were valued, the New York Times said. A federal judge in Houston found March 5 that Countrywide did not show “bad faith” in the handling of a Texas homeowner’s mortgage and will not be sanctioned merely for unprofessional and unethical conduct, Bloomberg News Service reported. Countrywide and two law firms it used showed “a disregard for the professional and ethical obligations of the legal profession and judicial system,” the federal judge wrote. To meet the threshold for sanctions, Judge Jeff Bohm wrote, he would have had to find “clear and convincing evidence of conduct that is in bad faith, vexatious, wanton or undertaken for oppressive reasons.” In a complaint filed March 1, The United States Trustee filed a second lawsuit with the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Miami, accusing the company of abusing the bankruptcy process. A similar but separate lawsuit was filed earlier in Atlanta, Reuters reported. Countrywide is in the process of being acquired by Bank of America for about $4 billion, a price on top of the $2 million bail-out offered last August in exchange for about one-sixth of the lender. Under the merger agreement, Countrywide shareholders would receive 0.1822 of a Bank of America share for each of their shares. The Calabasas firm reported a loss of about $422 million in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Federal authorities are investigating Countrywide Financial Corp. for securities fraud, according to newspaper reports. The FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether executives with the Calabasas-based company misrepresented its financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans, the Wall Street Journal first reported Saturday, citing law enforcement officials and finance executives with knowledge of the development. The Justice Department is also involved in the investigation into the nation’s largest mortgage lender, according to the New York Times, which also cited anonymous sources who said they were not authorized to discuss ongoing criminal matters. Read the full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-countrywide10mar10,1,2689468.story?ctrack=8 & cset;=true

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge reduced by more than $3 million a verdict against Dole Food Co. Inc. in a case stemming from the use of pesticides on banana farms in Nicaragua. Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney dismissed the punitive damages against Westlake Village-based Dole because they violated the due process clause of the Constitution by being arbitrary and excessive. The ruling reduces the original $5 million verdict in favor of the plaintiffs to $1.58 million. That amount is under appeal by Dole. Multiple employees working for Dole in Nicaragua filed suit against the company over claims that the use of the pesticide DBCP had left them sterile. In November, a Superior Court jury found that six of 12 plaintiffs had not been harmed by exposure to the chemical, and awarded compensatory damages to six other plaintiffs. That verdict is under appeal.

U.S. HealthWorks Medical Group has acquired New Jersey-based Medical Emergency Treatment (MET). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Valencia, U.S. HealthWorks is the second largest operator of occupational healthcare centers in the nation. With the acquisition of MET, it now operates 115 occupational medical centers the U.S., including six in New Jersey. “We continue to seek attractive expansion opportunities,” said U.S. HealthWorks Chief Executive Officer Daniel D. Crowley. “We are pleased to welcome MET and its employees and customers to our dynamic organization.” MET will offer employers comprehensive occupational health care, which includes injury and illness diagnosis and treatment, pre-placement and post-offer physical exams, drug and alcohol testing, physical therapy and orthopedic services.

WASHINGTON — The government reported today that the U.S. economy lost jobs in February for a second month running and at its fastest pace in five years, making it all the more certain that the nation is slipping into a recession. Separately, the Federal Reserve, concerned about another round of financial market freeze-ups, announced it will boost loans to the nation’s banks that the central bank will make in two auctions this month from $30 billion to $50 billion per auction, and will buy up $100 billion of mostly troubled mortgage-backed securities. Employers’ payrolls dove by 63,000 last month and by a downwardly revised 22,000 the previous month, the Labor Department said this morning. Although the unemployment rate declined a tenth of a point to 4.8%, that was the result of so many people giving up and leaving the labor force, rather than a sign of economic strength, the department said. Read the full story at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-jobs8mar08,0,3491698.story

Technicolor will install digital cinema equipment at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, the company announced. The deal between Burbank-based Technicolor Theatrical Services and ArcLight includes the Cinerama Dome, the site of many movie premiers and where the company had previously tested its digital equipment. The installation features an integrated networked system with a satellite system for content delivery and software enabling exhibitors to control theatre automation and manage trailers, advertisements, and features with simple drag-and-drop technology. Technicolor has installed digital theatre equipment at Mann’s Village and Bruin in Westwood and Grauman’s Chinese in Hollywood.

CHAD Therapeutics Inc. has closed the sale of the assets related to its transfilling oxygen business for $1.8 million. Because of the sale, the Chatsworth-based sleep disorder product manufacturer will discontinue production and sales of its transfilling oxygen products. “This transaction marks the final step in our announced plan to exit the oxygen business and focus our future efforts on the sleep disorder market,” CHAD President and CEO Earl Yager said. CHAD recently filed an application with the FDA for clearance to begin marketing the first of its sleep products. Yager believes the company can establish a niche in the sleep disorder market with the additional proprietary sleep products it has in advanced stages of development.

Van Nuys-based clothing manufacturer Jerry Leigh announced it has partnered with rock star Avril Lavigne to launch a new fashion line, Abbey Dawn. The apparel and jewelry will be sold exclusively at Kohl’s U.S. stores beginning in July. This is the first retail foray for Lavigne. “Following the success of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers, tokidoki and our long-standing relationship with Disney, the partnership with the multi-talented Lavigne was a natural succession,” said Andrew Leigh, president of Jerry Leigh, in a prepared statement. With this partnership, the family-owned apparel manufacturer, established in 1962, expands an already extensive range of girl-power brands and licenses including Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and Supergirl.