BRIEFCASE COMPANIES SETTLES SOFTWARE LICENSES.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

VAN NUYS - Six local firms have reached settlements with the Business Software Alliance regarding unlicensed software. The trade association, which audits businesses for improper use of computer programs, is offering a grace period until Nov. 15 in which businesses can register software without fear of prosecution. In the immediate area, Van Nuys' Bunim-Murray Productions paid $40,000 to bring its Microsoft license up to date and Cyber Merchants Exchange of Pasadena paid $33,000 for its Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft and Symantec software.

Pinnacle betting on riverboat plan

GLENDALE - Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday that it is in line to get the 15th and final riverboat gaming license to be issued by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.

The license will not be issued, however, until Pinnacle's board signs off on various conditions imposed by the gaming board, and the voters of Calcasieu Parish approve a proposed riverboat casino, hotel and entertainment resort in Lake Charles, La.

Pinnacle anticipates building a resort similar in design and scope to its Belterra Casino Resort in southern Indiana.

The Lake Charles project will be on a 225-acre site on Interstate 210.

Glendale Galleria adding Aerosoles

GLENDALE - Aerosoles is getting the granddaddy of all shoe boxes - the Glendale Galleria. The women's footwear retailer is opening up shop in the mega-mall on Nov. 23, the first Los Angeles location of the Edison, N.J.-based chain. It currently operates 80 retail stores nationwide, with 10 in California.

Japanese airline cuts some flights

All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd., Japan's largest airline, will continue to serve Los Angeles and five other cities in the U.S., according to its preliminary winter schedule announced Tuesday.

ANA currently operates daily nonstop service from Tokyo to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington and San Francisco, and 18 flights per week to Honolulu from Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

ANA daily nonstop service from Tokyo to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco will not change.

But due to declining demand for trans-Pacific flights following the events of Sept. 11, ANA will merge its daily nonstop flights from Tokyo to Chicago and Washington into a single service operating Tokyo-Chicago-Washington-Chicago-Tokyo, using a 336-seat Boeing 747-400.

The service will take effect Nov. 1, and represents a reduction of seven flights per week, or 20 percent, of ANA service to the U.S. mainland.

On Oct. 28, ANA will suspend daily service between Nagoya and Honolulu, as was announced in August. Service from Osaka and Tokyo to Honolulu will not change.

House2Home's sales fall big time

IRVINE - The head of Irvine-based House2Home Inc. reported Tuesday that sales are off 25 percent to 30 percent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, putting ``increased pressure on the company's liquidity and our bottom line.''

The company, which previously operated HomeBase stores, said it expects to report ``substantially lower'' sales and a greater net loss for the third fiscal quarter ending Oct. 27 and full year than was previously anticipated.

House2Home expects to announce third-quarter results in mid-November.

Theme parks trim workers, events

ORLANDO, Fla. - Facing a drop in theme park visitors since the terrorist attacks, Universal Orlando on Tuesday laid off about 100 workers and Walt Disney World postponed the opening of a new resort.

At nearby Walt Disney World, officials announced Tuesday that they are postponing indefinitely the opening of Pop Century, a $460 million, 5,760-room resort that will showcase pop items such as the Big Wheel and Rubik's Cube.