North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, Networking Breakfast 7:00 a.m. Northridge Fashion Center, Food Court, 2nd Level, 9301 Tampa Ave., Northridge Contact (818) 349-5676

Morton’s The Steakhouse, an upscale eatery with eight California locations, will open a new restaurant in Warner Center. Morton’s, which also operates in Burbank, will be opening at the upcoming apartment complex under construction on Canoga Avenue and Erwin Street. The unit is expected to open in early 2007. The dining room will seat 125, and Morton’s format will also include private dining areas that can accommodate small, private groups up to 60. “The San Fernando Valley, with its appealing demographics and strong economy, is clearly an attractive Morton’s location,” said Thomas J. Baldwin, chairman and CEO of Morton’s Restaurant Group in making the announcement. The steakhouse will be the third such format to open in Warner Center in recent years including Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

The HorseTV Channel has signed Wrangler to sponsor the network. The agreement includes endorsement, advertising and promotional strategies. HorseTV, based in Calabasas, features 24-hour programming related to equine competitions, riding-related travel destinations, movies and other shows involving horses. Wrangler, which signed a one-year sponsorship agreement, makes and markets western wear jeans, shirts and accessories.

Non-profit organization, SCORE Los Angeles will be offering free counseling for small businesses in its Glendale office located on 330 North Brand Blvd., Suite 190. SCORE will offer free one-on-one counseling for advice on start-ups will be offered at the facility. Hours are 9:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m., no appointment is necessary and the last counseling session is at noon. SCORE is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and focuses on entrepreneurial education and the formation of small businesses nationwide. SCORE has 16 employees and is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Antelope Valley Hospital has been given top honors from HealthGrades, a firm that ranks the quality of medical facilities across the country. For the fifth time in as many years, the Lancaster hospital was given a five-star rating for clinical experience in maternity care. The hospital was also ranked in the top 5 percent of hospitals for maternity care for the third straight year. The rankings of 1,400 hospitals nationwide are based on complication rates with deliveries, in-hospital volume and the number of neonatal mortalities. The 379-bed nonprofit hospital annually delivers more than 5,000 babies.

Stockholders officially approved the name change of Homestore, Inc. to Move, Inc at its annual meeting, the Westlake Village company announced Friday. The name change took effect in April to better reflect its goal of providing consumers with real estate content, decision support tools and professional connections needed before, during and after a move. Move, Inc. operates the Move.com website, a real estate search site for rentals and homes, and Realtor.com, the official website of the National Association of Realtors. Also at the annual meeting, Paul Unruh, Bruce Willison, Alan Yassky, and Roger McNamee were re-elected to the company’s board of directors.

The Valley Economic Development Center (VEDC) has appointed three board members to their Board of Directors. The VEDC appointed Carrie Nebens, branch manager for Robert Half International, Keith E. Weaver, senior vice president of government affairs for Sony Pictures Entertainment and Don St. Clair, vice president of enrollment management and university marketing for Woodbury University. VEDC Board Chairman, Mel Kohn, managing partner at Kirsch, Kohn & Bridge, said in a statement, “Our goal at VEDC is to diversify our board of directors by having new members that represent areas of our community that are not currently on our board We have done this with our new board members coming from education, entertainment and personnel backgrounds and we look forward to their contributions to VEDC.”

Encino Chamber of Commerce, UCC Board Meeting 7:30 a.m. 9:00 a.m. Buca Di Bepo, 17500 Ventura Blvd., Encino Contact (818) 789-4711

New Metro Bus improvements in the San Fernando Valley were announced Friday by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilmember Wendy Greuel at a press conference. The Metro Rapid will operate the new 734 line which will connect with the Metro Orange Line at the Sepulveda Station near the 405 Freeway, the Metro Rapid 761 at Van Nuys Blvd. running to Westwood/UCLA and Line 750 on Ventura Blvd. at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The Metro Rapid Line 734 Service will begin June 26 on Sepulveda Blvd. connecting Sherman Oaks and the Sylmar Metrolink Station. The Metro Rapid will have new 60-foot long buses running on the 761 line on Van Nuys Blvd. and 45-foot high capacity buses on the 750 line. Line 734 is the 15th Metro Rapid line in the Metro’s system and there are plans to expand the service to a countywide network of 28 lines covering 450 miles by 2008.

Six Flags, Inc. is eyeing the sale of six of its theme parks, including Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor in Valencia, the company announced Thursday. The move is being done to reduce company debt and focus resources on parks with the highest strategic value. The other parks slated for sale are in Buffalo, Concord, Calif., Denver, Seattle and Houston. Options available to the company are to sell the parks outright, or dismantle and re-use certain rides and attractions and sell the land for real estate purposes. “We’re making progress with our strategy to focus on the growth of our strongest assets, reduce the company’s debt and generate increased value for our shareholders,” said Six Flags President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Shapiro. Revenues at the theme parks were down 1 percent for the period through June 18 compared with the same period a year ago. Per capita guest spending was up 14 percent but attendance was down 1.3 million primarily due to reduced season pass attendance, the company said. Six Flags is attempting to attract more families to its parks and get away from catering to teenagers who spend little money. “Make no mistake about it, families are coming back but not as quickly as we had hoped,” Shapiro said. “”We have to work even harder to regain their trust and bring them back to sample today’s Six Flags.”