BRIEFCASE JMR WILL ACQUIRE TRIMM'S ASSETS.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

CHATSWORTH - JMR Electronics, a Chatsworth supplier of data storage solutions, will acquire all assets of Trimm Technologies, a Las Vegas-based manufacturer of data storage subsystems and custom-designed enclosures.

Terms of the intended agreement were not announced. The deal is expected to close by midmonth.

Delta fliers can connect to 6 cities

Delta Connection will offer Delta customers connecting service between Los Angeles and six other California cities on 122 American Eagle flights beginning Jan. 18.

A new codeshare agreement will allow Delta customers to book flights to and from six cities served by American Eagle out of Los Angeles: San Diego, Fresno, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and San Luis Obispo.

Delta Connection customers will be served through American Eagle's remote terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. Access is provided by a bus shuttle system in Terminal 4.

Judge nixes class action in lawsuit

A judge refused to grant class action status to a lawsuit that independent video retailers filed against Blockbuster Inc. over its revenue-sharing plans with movie studios, Blockbuster said Thursday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney told the independent retailers they will have to ``proceed only as to the individual claims by the individual plaintiffs,'' according to Dallas-based Blockbuster.

State sues PG&E parent for fraud

SAN FRANCISCO - The state sued the parent company of California's largest utility Thursday, alleging the corporation drained off its subsidiary's assets and drove it into bankruptcy during the state's energy crisis last year.

Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. pushed PG&E Co. into Chapter 11 bankruptcy through fraudulent and deceptive business practices, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in filing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks between $600 million and $4 billion in penalties.

PG&E Co., which owes billions of dollars to creditors, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last April, as the state was roiled by blackouts and soaring wholesale electricity prices.

PG&E denied the allegations and vowed to defend itself vigorously against the civil complaint. The corporation cast the lawsuit as a waste of taxpayer money.

Ford to announce restructuring plan

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. will put to rest days of conjecture and guessing today in making public a restructuring plan that analysts expect will include anywhere from about 12,000 to 20,000 job cuts.

Ford also is expected to announce it will idle several assembly plants. The national contract with the United Auto Workers union does not permit outright plant closings before 2003.

Analysts agree Ford must cut, over time, about $4 billion to $5 billion to return to the profit machine it was just a year ago.