Allergan halts Lap-Band sales to 1-800-GET-THIN clinics

1-800-GET-THIN billboards line Southern California freeways. (Mariah Tauger, Los Angeles Times)

Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said it will no longer sell its Lap-Band weight-loss device to companies affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN marketing company.

The move comes amid state and federal investigations of surgery centers affiliated with the ad campaign.

Five Southern California patients have died since 2009 following Lap-Band surgeries at clinics affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN, according to lawsuits, autopsy reports and other public records. The California Department of Insurance is investigating the surgery centers for alleged insurance fraud, said David Althausen, a spokesman for the state agency.

Allergan spokeswoman Caroline Van Hove said in a statement that the company has “made the decision to presently discontinue the sale of the Lap-Band AP System … to all entities affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN.”

– Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading Allergan halts Lap-Band sales to 1-800-GET-THIN clinics

Reports link Taco Bells to 2011 multi-state salmonella outbreak

For days, the speculation has been rampant: Which Mexican food chain – only identified as “Restaurant Chain A” by federal investigators earlier this month — was linked to a large salmonella outbreak late last year?

This week, Food Safety News named Irvine-based Taco Bell as the chain in question.

In October and November, at least 68 diners were sickened across 10 states, including 16 in Oklahoma and 43 in Texas. The spate of illnesses eventually petered out and was reported by the Centers for Disease Control on Jan. 19.

But the agency stayed mum on the origin of the salmonella bacteria, saying only that the majority of victims had reported eating at 18 separate locations of “a Mexican-style fast-food restaurant chain” in the Midwest.

– Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading Reports link Taco Bells to 2011 multi-state salmonella outbreak

Toy firm owners get 3 years in money laundering case

The owners of a Los Angeles toy company that made teddy bears were sentenced to federal prison terms Tuesday for their roles in helping launder drug money for Colombian and Mexican traffickers.

Meichun Cheng Huang, of Irvine, and Ling Yu, of Arcadia, owners of Angel Toy Company, were immediately taken into custody after being sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the company had twin reputations – as a manufacturer of plush toys and as an international leader in laundering dirty money.

The toy company, federal prosecutors said in a statement, was part of the so-called “Black Market Peso Exchange,” which trades drug money in the United States for “clean” Colombian pesos through the international purchase and shipment of goods.

– Dalina Castellanos, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading Toy firm owners get 3 years in money laundering case

Broadcom fourth-quarter profit, revenue top analysts’ forecasts

Apple Inc. sold 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads during its record holiday quarter. Those are also happy numbers for Irvine-based Broadcom Corp., which makes microchips for the popular Apple devices and many others.

Broadcom reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter Tuesday, beating Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and earnings per share despite enduring profit and sales declines from the same period a year earlier.

The company’s stock rose 1.98%, or $0.68, to $35.02 in after-hours trading following its earnings announcement. Since Jan. 1, the company’s stock has risen 17.44%, a welcome jump after a rough 2011 that saw that company’s stock drop 33%, from $43 to $29.

– David Sarno, Technology, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading Broadcom fourth-quarter profit, revenue top analysts’ forecasts

Solar Decathlon will move to Orange County in 2013

A rendering of 2013 Solar Decathlon Solar Village at Orange County Great Park. (Courtesy Orange County Great Park Corp.)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s worldwide competition to build solar-powered, highly energy-efficient homes will move to Orange County in 2013. The biennial Solar Decathlon had been held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., since its inception in 2002.

“We wanted to find a way to extend the competition’s reach beyond D.C. and showcase energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies across the country,” DOE spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said. By moving it to Orange County Great Park, in Irvine, “we’ll be able to reach millions of Southern Californians and demonstrate for a new audience the benefits that come with energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.”

The DOE selected Orange County Great Park through a national competition. The site was chosen for its ability to accommodate 20 houses, its visitor parking and easy freeway access, as well as favorable weather conditions.

– Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading Solar Decathlon will move to Orange County in 2013

State launches Lap-Band investigation

Robert Silverman, president and chief executive of 1-800 GET-THIN, before the start of a Board of Supervisors meeting in December. (Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times)

The California Department of Insurance is investigating the business practices of Lap-Band surgery centers affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN advertising campaign, according to insurer Aetna Inc.

The insurance giant said in a statement that it was cooperating with the department’s law enforcement branch, which has the power to make arrests and pursue criminal charges, to “investigate alleged fraud against our members by the 1-800-GET-THIN … surgery centers.”

The state probe joins local and federal agencies investigating the businesses behind the ads that have become a fixture of Southern California airwaves and roadside billboards. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Congress are examining alleged misleading advertising and risks of the weight-loss surgery.

– Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times

…Continue reading State launches Lap-Band investigation

Scientist say ‘party atmosphere’ gives clue to galaxy creation

A team of astronomers that includes a leading UC Irvine scientist has found a missing link that shows how the universe’s most active star-creating galaxies evolve into its largest and quietest ones billions of years later.

UCI post-doctoral scholar Julie Wardlow and her colleagues accurately measured the invisible halo of dark matter — visible only through its gravitational effects on light and mass — that surrounds the universe’s galaxies.

“It’s important in terms of galaxy evolution,” Wardlow said. “Somehow the galaxies in the past need to transform into the galaxies of today.”

One way to look at it would be viewing the universe as your neighborhood, with a new family building a house, or galaxy, next door.

They relied on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope in Chile with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, among others, to assist in the research.

– Joseph Serna, @JosephSerna, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading Scientist say ‘party atmosphere’ gives clue to galaxy creation

Cement truck rolls on 405 near Sand Canyon

Teacher gets 8 years for molesting two girls

Christopher Brazelton (Courtesy Orange County district attorney's office)

An Irvine man was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday for molesting one of his students and a girl at Wal-Mart.

Christopher Micah Brazelton, 36, was convicted in October of two counts of lewd acts upon a child younger than 14 with sentencing enhancements of having multiple victims and performing substantial sexual conduct on a child.

Authorities were alerted to Brazelton’s crimes after he grabbed a 12-year-old girl’s buttocks inside a Santa Ana Wal-Mart as she passed by him in the school supplies aisle in 2008. Authorities were notified, and he was detained and ultimately convicted for the incident.

– Joseph Serna, @JosephSerna, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading Teacher gets 8 years for molesting two girls

Police: Man sold iPhone boxes filled with tiles

Luther Clayborn Dawson, 41 (Courtesy Irvine Police)

A San Marcos man was arrested on suspicion of selling iPhone boxes stuffed with tiles to unsuspecting customers he met on Craigslist, police said Tuesday.

Luther Clayborn Dawson, 41, on was arrested Monday after detectives spotted him allegedly selling an Irvine man boxes containing rectangular ceramic tiles and user manuals, the Irvine Police Department said.

Dawson first appeared on Irvine police’s radar when another resident said he was sold three boxes that he believed contained cellphones.

– Lauren Williams, @lawilliams30, Daily Pilot

…Continue reading Police: Man sold iPhone boxes filled with tiles