BRIEFCASE TWO LOCAL FIRMS TAKE TOY PRIZES.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Two local toy companies took home accolades at the Toy of the Year Awards, FamilyFun Magazine announced Thursday. Malibu-based Jakks Pacific's retro Namco TV Games won in the electronic toys category of the ages 5-to-7 segment. MGA Entertainment of North Hills won twice, for its Bratz Electric Funk Krazy-Cool Karaoke in the role-play category, and for its Bratz Formal Funk Super-stylin' Runway Disco in activity toys, both in the ages 8-to-9 segment.

Construction up 7.8% over 2002

BURBANK - With heavy construction leading the way in August, state construction activity for the first eight months of 2003 was up 7.8 percent from the corresponding period last year, an industry board reported Thursday.

The total was $46.54 billion, according to the statistical data gathered monthly by the Construction Industry Research Board.

One of the heavy construction projects in August was a $270 million private-toll-road project in San Diego.

According to CIRB analysts, the year-to-date figures show private building construction (residential and private nonresidential) totals $34.94 billion, up 10.8 percent from the same period last year.

To date, residential building is up 17.8 percent but private nonresidential building is down 4.9 percent.

IHOP, Milisci plan nine more stores

GLENDALE - IHOP Corp. announced another multiunit

development deal Thursday, with Christopher R. Milisci adding nine more stores to his Arizona portfolio. Milisci already owns and operates 19 of the pancake houses, and will open the new stores in the next six years. A franchisee for 12 years, the restaurateur will open the first two spots in Phoenix, aiming for a summer and fall of 2004 debut.

Toast the Dead with Jerry's label

GEYSERVILLE - The next time you toast the memory of Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia, you can toast him with his own signature wine.

The Clos du Bois winery is launching J. Garcia wines, which feature Garcia's artwork on its labels. Garcia's abstract creations have already graced T-shirts and neckties.

The initial release consists of 50,000 cases of 2002 Sonoma County chardonnay, 2000 Sonoma County merlot and 2000 Sonoma County cabernet sauvignon. A zinfandel is due out later this year.

Garcia, who died of a heart attack in 1995, attended high school near this Sonoma County town, about 90 miles north of San Francisco.

House opposes altering OT rules

WASHINGTON - Democrats hailed a House vote Thursday opposing administration plans to rewrite decades-old rules on overtime pay, saying it was a clear signal to the Labor Department that new rules denying benefits to millions of workers were unacceptable.

The 221-203 vote to block the rule changes has no binding effect: it merely states the House position in upcoming House-Senate negotiations on a $137.6 billion spending bill for health, education and labor programs for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

But coupled with a 54-45 Senate vote against the rules last month, the House action complicates both passage of the spending bill and implementation of the rules. President George W. Bush has threatened to veto the spending bill if it includes the prohibition on the overtime changes, which are strongly backed by business groups.

The administration, said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, ``overreached on this because they went into suburbia'' in defining the workers affected by the new rules.