BRIEFCASE EVENT WILL TARGET LOANS FOR BUSINESS.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

GRANADA HILLS - Looking to link entrepreneurs with capital, the Valley Economic Development Center will host ``Where's The Money?'' on Saturday.

Held at the Odyssey Restaurant at 156000 Odyssey Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the event will discuss all aspects of procuring business development loans, from both government and private sector sources. VEDC President Roberto Barragan and others will speak.

Admission is $20 at the door. For more information, call [phone].

State Farm ends home insurance

State Farm Insurance Co., one of the nation's largest home insurers, will stop writing homeowner policies in California because the cost of payouts has surged over the past two years.

The company said Monday that it will no longer accept new clients in California as of May 1, although existing customers will still be covered by their policies. The change won't affect the company's auto insurance business in California.

State Farm has seen its cash reserves dwindle while the cost of claims continues to rise. The insurer earlier this year reported a net loss of $5 billion in 2001.

Based in Bloomington, Ill., State Farm covers about 20 percent of the homes in California. Last year, the company added about 40,000 new homeowner policies in California.

Gates' legal mind evident in court

WASHINGTON - After nearly nine hours on the stand in his company's antitrust trial, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has made at least one point clear - he has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of legal minutiae in the case that's plagued his company for more than four years.

Gates is making his first in-person courtroom appearance in the case this week and will continue to defend his company at least through today. He's battling a group of nine states that are seeking to impose harsh penalties on the company for violating antitrust laws.

His testimony in the overflowing courtroom Tuesday spanned several facets of the states' complicated proposal. He continued to insist that a key feature of their proposed remedy would force its flagship Windows system from the market and said another clause would restrict the company from making any changes to the product.

Fiorina: No deal deception for HP

WILMINGTON, Del. - Fighting to save the biggest merger in high-tech history, Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Carly Fiorina testified Tuesday that she didn't deceive shareholders about the prospects of the Compaq Computer Corp. purchase and never bullied big investors to vote for the deal.

Fiorina's four-plus hours on the witness stand came immediately after lawyers for dissident Director Walter Hewlett said company memos and a personal diary showed that HP executives knew the Compaq deal was likely to work out far worse than what the companies were publicly touting.

A preliminary tally released last week found that 51.4 percent of HP shares were voted for the Compaq deal, and 48.6 percent came out against. That translates into a lead for HP of 45 million shares.

Hewlett hopes Chancellor William Chandler III negates the election either by voiding certain votes or by determining that HP corrupted the entire process. The case was brought here because HP is incorporated in Delaware.