The Glendale Chamber of Commerce holds its meeting of the board of directors. noon 200 S. Louise St. Glendale (818) 240-7870 glendalechamber.com

The Woodland Hills insurance company 21st Insurance Group has expanded its product line to include four new states. The company will now sell auto insurance to consumers in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin, the company announced Monday. It continues a rapid expansion of the company, earlier this year expanded to Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It added Illinois, Indiana and Ohio in 2004 and Texas last year.

Have single-family home prices finally begun to decline? A just released report from the Southland Regional Association of Realtors found that prices in the month of November were off, albeit just 1 percent, from the median price of a single family home in the San Fernando Valley a year ago. For November 2006, the median price of a single family home was $595,000. Although the drop is miniscule, it is the first time that home prices in the area have slipped in years, and the first time prices have shown some vulnerability despite a considerable slowdown in sales which began earlier in the year. Condominium prices dipped as well to a median of $391,000, down from $393,000 a year ago. Meanwhile, the slowdown in single-family and condominium resales continued in November, with single-family home sales in the San Fernando Valley declining 22.5 percent and condo sales dropping 21.3 percent for the month, the area’s trade association reported. A total of 753 single-family homes and 284 condominiums were sold in the month, according to data from the Southland Regional Realtors Association.

Thousand Oaks-based drug maker Amgen Inc. said results from an open-label extension study indicate that long-term administration of the investigational therapy AMG-531 stimulated the production of platelet production. The study also found the therapy did not react adversely in patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura, a bleeding disorder that destroys platelets. AMG-531 was developed to boost the product of platelets faster than the immune system destroys them. Meantime, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has released studies showing similar results from its experimental blood-clotting drug. That could set the stage for the two companies to face off against one another in coming years over the drugs.

The Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce holds its neighborhood council meeting. 6:30 p.m. Sherman Oaks Elementary School 14755 Greenleaf, Sherman Oaks (818) 906-1951 shermanoakschamber.org

1105 Media Inc., a Chatsworth based publishing company, has agreed to acquire Post Newsweek Tech Media, the government publishing and events group of The Washington Post Co. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Post Newsweek group publishes Government Computer News, Washington Technology, Government Leader, Defense Systems and other online products as well as the FOSE trade show. The acquisition will give 1105 Media a subscriber base of 240,000 government readers, the company said.

Woodland Hill-based managed health care provider Health Net said a U.S. court fined the company after it did not comply with document-sharing rules in a lawsuit. The company has not determined the amount of the fines or whether it will affect financial results from the period in which the numbers were taken.

American Reprographics Co., a Glendale-based provider of reproduction technology and services, has acquired another such business in San Francisco. Elite Reprographics, a privately held company with revenues of about $5 million, was acquired for an undisclosed sum. Elite provides services to architectural, engineering and construction companies. “With California voters passing construction-related bond measures in November, we expect to take advantage of Elite’s expertise immediately to acquire part of the $42.7 billion of work represented by these new state initiatives,” said S. Mohan Chandramohan, chairman and CEO of American Reprographics.

An analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. downgraded Countrywide Financial Corp. to a “hold” from a “buy” on the expectation that the downward trend in the credit market will continue. In a report to clients, Stifel Nicolaus wrote: “Recent developments in the mortgage industry have significantly increased the risks in the sector.” A number of pundits, including Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, have said that they expect the downward trend in the housing sector to get worse before it gets better. Mozilo, addressing a banking and financial services conference last month, projected that 2007 will be what he called “a transitional environment.” Shares in Countrywide began sliding following the downgrade, and were trading down 2.78 percent at $39.90 by mid-day EST.

Valley residents make more money and spend more time commuting than the average American, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report that for the first time examines the population of the San Fernando independently of Los Angeles. The report found that 1.74 people live in the Valley, more than all but four cities in the U.S.: New York, L.A., Chicago and Houston. Valley residents spend an average of 29 minutes commuting to work, 7.4 percent longer than the average Californian and 15.5 percent more than Americans. The report also found the median Valley home cost $524,000, higher than the city, county and state averages and more than triple the national average. The report was prepared at the request of U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman and Los Angeles County. Click here for the full report.