BRIEFCASE VALENCIA MACY'S PLANS ARE ON TRACK.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

VALENCIA - Negotiations to bring a Macy's department store to the Valencia Town Center are back on track after delays prompted by the economic uncertainty that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Charles Gill, the mall's general manager, said Monday that it would be at least two years before Macy's opens at the Santa Clarita Valley's only major mall, but that negotiations are going well.

Likely to help draw Macy's and other retailers to the mall is a tax-sharing agreement approved in July by the Santa Clarita City Council. Under the terms of that deal, the city would return a share of sales tax revenue generated by any expansion to the mall owner, The Newhall Land and Farming Company, to use as incentives to entice retailers.

Union vote avoids Lockheed strike

PALMDALE - A union representing about 1,000 Palmdale workers at Lockheed Martin voted narrowly to accept a three-year contract proposal from the company, averting a strike that had been scheduled to begin Monday.

The Palmdale membership of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted 485-415 to ratify the new deal.

The new contract includes no increase in out-of-pocket medical costs to employees and pay raises of 4 percent in the first year and 3 percent in both the second and third years of the contract.

Northrop informs panel of TRW plan

CENTURY CITY - Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. has notified federal authorities of its proposed $5.9 billion hostile takeover of auto parts and defense group TRW Inc.

Northrop made an unsolicited offer to buy Cleveland-based TRW last month with a stock swap that would give TRW shareholders the equivalent of $47 per share. TRW's board rejected the bid as too low.

Northrop said in a press release Monday that it had notified the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission of the proposed takeover to comply with the premerger notification requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

American adds 9 flights out of LAX

American Airlines announced plans Monday to add nine daily round-trip flights from Los Angeles International Airport to complete the carrier's summer flight schedule.

The new flights will begin between April and June, the Arlington, Texas- based airline announced.

American's Terminal 4 in Los Angeles is undergoing a $270 million renovation scheduled for completion this fall. Some of the principal features include a new main ticket counter area, an outbound baggage system and a new international arrival facility.

Sony forms new wireless branch

CULVER CITY - Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment announced the formation of Wireless Services on Monday.

The new group will focus on developing and distributing mobile specific entertainment applications, games and services, featuring Sony Pictures Entertainment properties, for current and emerging wireless technologies and platforms.

Wireless Services will distribute its offerings to consumers through partnerships with wireless carriers, device manufacturers and infrastructure providers on a worldwide basis, according to SPDE.

Genentech retrial selection begins

Jury selection began Monday in the retrial of a lawsuit the City of Hope National Medical Center filed against the South San Francisco biotech firm Genentech over royalties for experimental drugs.

In October, a jury deadlocked 7-5 in favor of Genentech after six days of deliberation.

City of Hope says it is owed a 2 percent share of sales of drugs that it developed in collaboration with Genentech. Those drugs - human insulin and human growth hormone - have accounted for $30.7 billion in sales, according to the Duarte medical center.

Genentech claims it was only obliged to pay royalties to City of Hope in situations in which Genentech also used DNA that the hospital manufactured.

Short-term T-bill rates rise again

WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities rose in Monday's auction.

The Treasury Department sold $13 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.825 percent, up from 1.760 percent last week. An additional $13 billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 2.020 percent, up from 1.890 percent.

The three-month rate was the highest since Nov. 26, when the bills sold for 1.920 percent. The six-month rate was the highest since Oct. 22, when the rate was 2.130 percent.

In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, the most popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, rose to 2.41 percent last week from 2.28 percent the previous week.

Chief executive at Kmart leaves

DETROIT - Kmart Corp.'s chief executive, Chuck Conaway, left the nation's third-biggest discount chain Monday, three days after the company operating under bankruptcy protection announced plans to close 284 stores and cut 22,000 jobs.

Chairman James Adamson, a turnaround expert and longtime Kmart board member, will replace Conaway as Kmart's CEO effective immediately.

Kmart's chief financial officer, John T. McDonald Jr., is also leaving.