Dole Food Co. said today that it is closing several of its flower operations in Ecuador and Colombia and downsizing several other farms in a move expected to affect 1,275 workers. The Westlake Village-based company said the move is intended to boost performance in its fresh flowers division. Dole said it would take a restructuring charge of $26 million to be recorded in the third and fourth quarters as a result of the move.

The Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce hosts its business after hours mixer at the Taste of Expo. 5 p.m. College of the Canyons 26455 Rockwell, Santa Clarita $20 (661) 702-6977 scvchamber.com

Stuart Wolff, the former CEO of Homestore.com, was sentenced in Los Angeles today to 15 years in federal prison for his role in inflating the company’s revenues in an attempt to make the company appear more profitable to Wall Street. Wolff was also ordered to pay a $5 million fine. In June, a jury found Wolff guilty of 18 counts of conspiracy, insider trading, making false reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, falsifying corporate records and lying to company auditors after a three-month trial. The charges involved a scheme to inflate revenues by overpaying vendors for goods and services with the understanding that the overpayments would be directed back to the company in advertising contracts, according to the prosecutors. Wolff was the eleventh former Homestore employee to be convicted or take a plea in connection with the scheme. He resigned in 2002 as an internal probe began uncovering the problems. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, shareholders suffered losses of at least $100 million when news of the investigation became public and the company’s stock price dropped dramatically. Westlake Village-based Homestore has since changed its name and business model and is now known as Move.com. Wolff’s attorneys have said they plan to appeal the conviction. A hearing on whether Wolff can remain free on bail pending the appeal is scheduled for Nov. 13.

Mortgage lending continued its slide in September, leading to a 22 percent decrease in fundings at Countrywide Financial Corp. for the month and the quarter. Calabasas-based Countrywide reported that it funded 21.7 percent fewer mortgages for home purchases in the month and the third quarter for mortgage volume totals of $18 billion and $54 billion respectively. The company said that home equity loan fundings were relatively flat for the month at $3.8 billion and for the quarter at $12 billion. Average daily mortgage application activity in September was $2.8 billion compared with $3 billion in September, 2005. “Declining interest rates spurred a 7 percent increase in average daily applications from August to September,” said Angelo R. Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Countrywide in a statement.

The Mid Valley Chamber of Commerce hosts the Mid Valley police council’s citizen recognition lunch. 11:45 a.m. Airtel Plaza Hotel 7277 Valjean Ave., Van Nuys (818) 989-0300 midvalleychamber.com

Santa Clarita hotels continued to register the highest occupancy rates in Los Angeles County, according to a study of August hospitality trends by PKF Consulting. The occupancy rate in Santa Clarita for August tallied 92.05 percent, a slight gain from the 2005 rate of 92.03 percent. The next highest occupancy rate was Santa Monica, which had a 91.91 percent rate for the month, the study found. The average daily room rate in Santa Clarita was $134.73 a night, a 12.2 percent increase from the same 2005 period. The occupancy rate in the San Fernando Valley registered at 84.84 percent, a 1.8 percent decrease from last year. The average daily rate came in at $127.65, an 8.4 percent gain from 2005. Countywide, the overall average daily rate for August was $151.06, a 10.9 percent increase from last year. Occupancy average 82.86 percent, a 1.4 percent drop.

Office vacancy rates hardly budged in the third quarter, maintaining an average 6.3 percent in the greater San Fernando Valley area for the second quarter in a row, according to data just released by Grubb & Ellis. The most movement occurred in the East Valley where 46,377 square feet of space was absorbed, causing vacancies to dip to 3.2 percent from 4.8 percent in the second quarter. The greatest absorption rates occurred in the Conejo Valley where 163,818 square feet of office space was absorbed. The submarket’s vacancy rate remained relatively flat at 6.5 percent, compared to 6.4 percent in the prior quarter. Over at the eastern end of the greater Valley, Glendale’s vacancy rate continued to rise. The city registered a 16.5 percent vacancy rate in the quarter, up from 14.5 percent in the prior quarter and 15 percent a year ago. Meanwhile, Burbank’s vacancy rate fell to 4.2 percent versus 5.9 percent in the prior quarter.

The effort to squash a proposed mine outside Santa Clarita has turned to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A group of 8,000 Santa Clarita businesses, citizens and city officials have written a letter to Schwarzenegger to not meet with officials from CEMEX, the Mexican company that’s planning to build a 69-million ton mine near Santa Clarita, while he is on a trade mission to the country next month. The city contends the proposed mine does not meet air, water and other environmental standards and opposes the project’s size. “Once the Governor knows the facts about CEMEX’s shameful track record of environmental violations across America, it should be an easy decision for him to cancel his visit with the Mexican company, as their track record runs counter to the Governor’s words and actions,” said Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste, in a statement released Tuesday. This summer, Santa Clarita erected 80-foot-wide signs along a local freeway denouncing the mine.

A multi-tenant, 30,000-square-foot industrial property in Santa Clarita has sold for $3.9 million or $133.82 per square foot. The property at 12843 Foothill Blvd. sits on about one acre of land. Buyer Foothill Properties was represented by Yair Haimoff at NAI Capital Commercial. The seller, Arrofoot Partnership, Tarzana, was represented by Stu Leibsohn, a broker with Delphi Business Properties Inc.

In preliminary data for the third quarter of 2006, The Cheesecake Factory said that its comparable store sales declined by 1.6 percent, although its Grand Lux Caf & #233; saw a 6.7 percent increase in comparable store sales. Cheesecake Factory said its total revenues increased about 11 percent to $325 million in the third quarter ended Oct. 3, from $292.8 million in the like period a year ago. The company also said that it has incurred expenses of about $1 million to $1.2 million in the third quarter connected with its voluntary stock option review. Officials said additional expenses related to the review and the SEC inquiry will likely be incurred in the future.