QPC Lasers, Inc. received an additional round of private financing in the amount of $9.5 million, the company announced Wednesday. The funding done through the sale of convertible debentures brings to $16.9 million the amount the Sylmar-based company has received in the second quarter. The money will allow QPC to increase manufacturing and inventory needs that coincide with the ramp in sales order it has experienced and support the launch of a new generations of lasers later in the year, said Executive Vice Chairman and CFO George Lintz. “We are confident the company now has adequate cash to support our growth and operations for at least the next twelve months,” Lintz said. QPC develops high-power semiconductor lasers for the industrial, defense and medical markets.

A city in Greece will use equipment from Calabasas-based Strix Systems to deploy the first wireless system in that country, the company announced Wednesday. With the Strix Access/One Outdoor Wireless system, the city of Galatsi will provide fee-based broadband services to residents and businesses, free Internet access to students, and free Internet access and VoIP service for municipal employees. Internet access to all citizens in the coverage area was the first phase of the deployment. The second phase involves expanded coverage for public buildings, the business district, schools, and the Olympic athletic center. The deployment shows that Strix’s outdoor wireless system can provide good coverage even in dense urban areas, said Jim Mooreland, vice president of worldwide sales. “Galatsi has a real understanding of the value a wireless mesh network can bring to all constituents of a community businesses, residents, and the municipality itself,” Mooreland said.

A senior manager at ValueClick, Inc. has been elevated to head the online marketing company. Tom A. Vadnais replaces long-time CEO James R. Zarley who has been named as executive chairman of the board of directors for the Westlake Village company. Vadnais has served on the board of directors since October 2001. He has also held various senior management roles in the company, including president of U.S. operations. As executive chairman, Zarley will be focusing primarily on ValueClick’s strategic direction and the gradual management transition of the company’s operations. “Jim and I and the rest of the team have worked hard to make ValueClick one of the largest and most comprehensive online marketing companies in the world, and I welcome the opportunity to help lead ValueClick during this exciting time for the company and the industry,” Vadnais said. “My focus will be on continuing ValueClick’s successful track record and capitalizing on the opportunities that exist for all of our businesses.” Vadnais joined ValueClick in 2001 after the company acquired Mediaplex, where he served as president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.

Just months after signing a new contract, NBC Universal’s top entertainment executive Kevin Reilly was fired by the struggling network, according to published media reports. The Associated Press reported Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff were named as replacements. Silverman and Graboff will both be responsible for all of NBC’s prime-time, daytime and late-night programming. Both will report to NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker, with Graboff concentrating on the business side and Silverman on creative efforts and scheduling, the AP reported. Silverman helped bring “The Office” and “Ugly Betty” to American audiences. Reilly had been entertainment president since 2004. NBC landed in fourth place in the recently finished television season.

Biotech giant Amgen will appeal the decision of a European committee over its cancer treatment drug Vectibix. The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use developed a negative view of the company’s marketing authorization application for Vectibix, used to treat patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have failed chemotherapy. In accordance with European regulations, Amgen said it intends to request re-examination of the committee’s opinion by appealing. “Notwithstanding the CHMP’s initial view, Amgen is confident that the available data demonstrates that Vectibix improves progression-free survival for mCRC patients ” Amgen officials said in a written statement last week. Vectibix was approved by the FDA in September 2006.

The city of Santa Clarita will apply for a $35,545 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. The grant offered through the Bureau of Justice Assistance supplements existing community safety resources provided by the city. Programs that are being proposed for funding include curfew sweeps, graffiti enforcement, truancy sweeps, bike patrols, surveillance, undercover and sting operations and probation/parole enforcement. Resources would also be used to address some of the Attorney General’s priorities, including gang enforcement and prevention, school safety and multi-jurisdictional task forces addressing violent crimes and drugs. The grant would fund approximately 475 overtime hours for the Sheriff’s Community Interaction Team to allow CIT to conduct the proposed operations in addition to their normal duties and would supplement community policing and law enforcement efforts in the city.

El Camino Resources, through its El Camino Resources Mexico division, has acquired a Mexican regional leasing company, ABC Leasing, Mexico City. Chatsworth-based El Camino did not disclose the terms of the deal. The acquisition will add offices in Guadalajara, Morelia, Veracruz, Guanajuato and Chihuahua along with 25 employees. ABC Leasing’s portfolio totals about $8.4 million U.S. The company targets motor vehicle leasing for small companies.

Optical Communications Products, Inc. will expand its board of directors with members representing its majority shareholder, the company announced Tuesday. The move will give seven of the 12 seats on the board to The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., which has a 58.1 percent ownership interest in the Woodland Hills-based manufacturer of fiber optic components. OCP is in the midst of an attempted buyout by Oplink Communications, which has an agreement to purchase Furukawa’s share of the company and made an offer for the outstanding shares of OCP stock. Furukawa informed OCP that once its additional directors are in place, the board would amend a recently adopted shareholder rights plan in order to complete the sale of its OCP holdings to Oplink.

Nearly half of employees working in Palmdale and Lancaster commute from other areas outside the Antelope Valley, a study commissioned by the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance has found. That number came as a shock to the alliance’s board of directors and its President Mel Layne because it was always assumed that more people were leaving to work in other areas of Southern California. After all, Layne said, on the freeway out of town to the south is nothing but taillights between 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. The far left lane on the southbound Antelope Valley Freeway is restricted to car pools during those hours, just as the northbound lane is restricted to car pooling during the hours of the evening commute. “It caught everybody a bit off guard,” Layne said. The next step for the alliance is taking those numbers and studying them further to determine specifically where the workers come from, their income level and their skill sets so that the region can adjust to creating a home-grown workforce. The first-ever study was based on data provided by the state’s Employment Development Department. The San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University Northridge created maps showing where workers lived and worked. According to the study, 61,556 residents in Lancaster and Palmdale hold private primary (non-governmental) jobs. Of those, 17,100, or 27 percent, stay in the two cities with another 4 percent staying elsewhere in the Antelope Valley. Fifty-four percent commute to Los Angeles, Ventura, and Orange counties, with the remaining 6 percent working in either San Bernardino or Riverside counties. Of the workers commuting to L.A. County, 2,800 work in Santa Clarita and 10,000 work in the San Fernando Valley. There are 41,000 private primary (non-governmental) jobs in Lancaster and Palmdale with 42 percent (17,150) held by people living in the cities and another 9 percent held by people living elsewhere in the Antelope Valley. Of the 48 percent commuting in from other areas, 24 percent (9,841) come from L.A., Ventura and Orange counties; 9 percent from either San Bernardino or Riverside counties; and the remaining 15 percent from outside the Southern California region. Lifestyle factors Layne concedes there is a lifestyle issue to factor in for those workers living outside the two cities. But commuters also tend to take less of an interest in the cities as a whole and businesses receive little to no benefit from the paychecks the commuting workers earn. “People who drive in take a big portion of their money back to where they live in somebody else’s economy,” Layne said. As president of Antelope Valley College, Jackie Fisher personally knows there are teachers at the school who commute from outside the Antelope Valley. The study is a good starting point to take a closer look at the reasons behind residents commuting out for their jobs, Fisher said, adding there may be industries that should be in the two cities but aren’t. “Once you have the fruit you need to peel off the layers to find out what is going on at the core,” said Fisher, who serves as a vice chair for the alliance.. Heavy on aerospace Palmdale Mayor James Ledford had not seen the study results but said because of the aerospace companies in the two cities it was not surprising that workers commute in. Lockheed Martin Co. and Northrop-Grumman are among the top five employers in the Antelope Valley, with Boeing coming in at a distant third, according to a 2007 Economic Roundtable report. He is curious, however, to know what other industries the city has that attracts out-of-towners to work there, Ledford said. According to the roundtable report, more than a quarter of the Palmdale workforce held sales and office jobs. The next highest categories were in professional occupations, service jobs, and manufacturing positions. In his opinion the city has a diversified work force that is attractive to helping the economic development of the area, Ledford said. What Palmdale and Lancaster also have to offer is a moderate cost of doing business. The 2006 real estate tax rate for both cities came in below those of Bakersfield, San Bernardino and Victorville. Layne hopes that figures like those will catch the eye of businesses in the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere looking to expand and relocate, especially since thousands of residents already work there who live in Palmdale and Lancaster. In recent years, Senior Systems Technology and U.S. Pole Inc. left the Valley for Palmdale. Delta Scientific Corp. moved from Valencia. “I fear there are some businesses in the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles basin that are discouraged by the high cost and can’t get the industrial space they need when in fact it is right here,” Layne said. Antelope Valley Job Profile 61,556 employed residents of Lancaster and Palmdale (non-governmental) 27 percent work in Lancaster or Palmdale 4 percent work in other areas of the Antelope Valley 54 percent work in Los Angeles, Ventura or Orange Counties 6 percent work in San Bernardino or Riverside Counties 2,800 work in Santa Clarita 10,000 work in San Fernando Valley 41,008 non-governmental employees in Lancaster and Palmdale 42 percent live in Lancaster or Palmdale 9 percent live elsewhere in the Antelope Valley 24 percent live in Los Angeles, Ventura or Orange Counties 9 percent live in San Bernardino or Riverside Counties 15 percent live outside the Southern California Region Source: Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance

Northridge Fashion Center ran a special event during the week of May 17 in a partnership to help raise money and awareness for Habitat for Humanity’s San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valley affiliate. Northridge over the past two weeks displayed photo cards of local Habitat for Humanity families as part of a campaign to raise funds for the organization, which is building homes for local families in the Pacoima area. Customers who visited the exhibit at the Fashion Center’s Center Court were able to make donations to Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita valleys. Dream Dinners A local franchise owner is working with Northridge Hospital Medical Center Pediatric Services to raise funds for a mobile entertainment unit for patients to use during their hospital stay. Dream Dinners, a Granada Hills company that provides meal planning, and meal assembly services for busy families, will donate a portion of every dollar in sales during the month of June to the fundraising effort. The Kiwanis Club of Northridge and the Northridge Hospital Foundation will match up to $3,000 raised by Dream Dinners to purchase the entertainment center, which includes a flat screen television, DVD player and game system. Granada Hills Dream Dinners will host a special event on June 15 to help raise donations for the effort. For information on the event e-mail: [email protected]. Hanna-Barbera Scholarship Warner Bros. Animation awarded its first Hanna-Barbera Scholarship to Los Angeles County High School for the Arts senior Kris Anka. Anka will attend California Institute of the Arts in Valencia in the fall. He receives a cash scholarship of $10,000 given in equal amounts over the course of his enrollment. In addition, Anka is eligible for four consecutive paid summer internships at Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank while attending CalArts. The scholarship was named in honor of animators Bill Hanna, who died in 2001, and Joseph Barbera, who passed away in 2006 and their work with both Warner Bros. and their own Hanna-Barbera Studios. Anka chose character animation as the focus of his studies. Newhall Coffee Care Packages Newhall Coffee Roasting Co. in Sherman Oaks has partnered with Operation Gratitude to send 1.2 million cups of coffee to U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest program brings to 25,000 the number of pounds of coffee Newhall has donated to troops since the war began four years ago. Operation Gratitude is a program to help troop morale by sending care packages of food, toiletries, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation.