Business news for Tue, 18 Dec 2007 & with word california. 11 news.

(AP) -- Allstate Corp. said Tuesday October's California wildfires plus other disasters have hiked the insurance company's fourth-quarter catastrophe losses by about $100 million. Allstate said it received over 7,000 claims from the Southern California wildfires, resulting in approximately $315 ...

Comerica Bank will open a branch in Alameda on Dec. 26 as part of its expansion in California and Arizona. (CMA)

LOS ANGELES - The median home price in six Southern California counties plunged 10.3 percent in November, marking the biggest annual drop for any month in 20 years, a real estate survey said Tuesday.

PG&E will become the first U.S. utility to agree to buy energy from the ocean when it announces a deal today to get 2 megawatts of power by 2012 from the cold, choppy waters off the Northern California coast.

Signaling a major change in strategy, trustees of the California Public Employees' Retirement System on Monday agreed to shift billions from stocks and bonds into real estate, startup ventures and other private market investments.

The board is expected to ratify a shift into alternative investments such as commodities and building projects. The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest government pension fund, Monday moved to diversify its portfolio by buying commodities, such as oil and timberlands, and by investing in public-private partnerships that build roads, bridges, airports and other projects.

The state Assembly on Monday approved a massive health care reform plan that will expand coverage to nearly 70% of the state's ...

Highlights of the $14.4 billion Health Care Security and Cost Reduction Act, passed Monday by the state Assembly and sent to the Senate. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports the bill:

The state Assembly on Monday approved a massive health care reform plan that will expand coverage to nearly 70 percent of the state's uninsured and require most Californians to buy health insurance.

Michigan and Ohio share something with Florida and California — some of the nation's highest rates of foreclosed homes. But the reasons are as different as their climates.