BRIEFCASE GAS PRICES DOWN SLIGHTLY IN REGION.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Gasoline prices remained relatively stable this week, dropping slightly across the Los Angeles area, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday.

The average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in the Los Angeles area Friday was $1.605 per gallon, four-tenths of a cent less than last week, 1 cent less than last month and 1 cent higher than prices at this time last year, according to the Auto Club.

Studio financing totals $1.5 billion

GLENDALE - DreamWorks LLC announced Friday that it has closed two major financing transactions totaling $1.5 billion - a $1 billion film securitization and a $500 million revolving credit facility.

The new financing replaces the company's existing arrangements at a substantially lower cost of capital and extends DreamWorks' access to debt capital until at least October 2007.

JPMorgan Chase and FleetBoston Financial served as co-arrangers on the securitization, with the former leading the syndication and the latter leading the structuring of the transaction.

Executives certify Dole statements

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - Dole Food Co. announced that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David H. Murdock and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Richard J. Dahl have each filed sworn financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, well ahead of the company's deadline.

Dole is not on a calendar fiscal year, and the statements were not required to be filed until Nov. 19. Most other major corporations were required to meet an Aug. 14 deadline for earnings certification.

TRW has contract to build satellites

REDONDO BEACH - Civilian and military arms of the government picked TRW Space and Electronics on Friday to build a national fleet of next-generation weather satellites under a $4.5 billion contract.

A California unit of Cleveland-based TRW Inc. and partner Raytheon Co. will build two satellites, with options for four more, for launch between 2009 and 2018. It beat out Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. to win the contract.

TRW is expected to build the satellites in Redondo Beach.

The joint program costs $6.5 billion and represents a savings of approximately $1.6 billion over operating separate military and civilian weather satellite programs, officials said.

Lockheed to use QualNet software

Los Angeles-based Scalable Network Technologies, the maker of QualNet software, announced Friday that Lockheed Martin Aeronautics will use its technology to connect elements of its communications systems.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which builds tactical military aircraft, plans to use QualNet to test and verify tactical communication networks that connect aircraft and integrate existing communications systems, according to SNT.

Fax.com leader defends ads sent

ALISO VIEJO - Fax.com, an Aliso Viejo company named in a $2.2 trillion proposed class-action lawsuit against the fax broadcast industry, called the suit's allegations ``unfounded and absurd'' on Friday.

Fax.com President Kevin Katz said businesses that utilize his company's services have the constitutional right to advertise by fax. He said a federal judge in Missouri ruled in March that a ban on fax advertising ``unnecessarily violates First Amendment rights.''