Southern California burger chain Johnny Rockets has a new owner in Boston Market parent Sun Capital Partners.

The Boca Raton, Fla., private equity firm also runs several other restaurant brands, including Fazoli’s.

The financial terms of the Johnny Rockets deal, which was confirmed by the chain, were not disclosed. The transaction was announced by North Point Advisors, which guided Johnny Rockets’ previous owner, private equity firm RedZone Capital.

The Aliso Viejo-based company was founded in 1986 by Ronn Teitelbaum, a men’s fashion retailer. The name was meant to evoke a sense of Americana by mashing the Johnny Appleseed tale with the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 car.

The first branch opened on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

Now, the 1950s-style diner has 300 restaurants in 30 states and 16 countries. More than 7,500 people are employed at the chain, which said on its website that it serves 17 million hamburgers a year.

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The $367.5-million sale of U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, the tallest building in the West, has been completed.

Its new owners are Singapore investors Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd. The developer and landlord also owns commercial properties including, offices, shopping centers and hotels in Singapore, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China.

The planned sale by MPG Office Trust Inc. was announced in March. MPG, which has been the largest office landlord in downtown L.A. for many years, is winding down its business and selling its assets.

In April, MPG agreed to sell its other four remaining downtown buildings to Manhattan real estate company Brookfield Office Properties Inc. for $430 million. That transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

A month later, MPG agreed to sell its Plaza Las Fuentes office and retail complex in Pasadena to East West Bank and Downtown Properties Holdings in a $75 million deal expected to close this month.

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NEW YORK -- Everyone on Wall Street knows that the Federal Reserve will eventually stop its $85-billion-a-month bond buyback program and see if the U.S. economy can stand on its own two feet. Though most investors want this to happen and look forward to when the economy is booming again, many worry about what could happen to the economy without this government money.

So it was a surprise to many when a highly anticipated statement from the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday promised that the Fed would continue its buyback program for the time being, even though committee members are optimistic about the economy.

“They’re optimistic, so they see the economic airplane on the runway rolling, but what they really want is to continue to throttle it to make it run fast enough to take off,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for BMO Private Bank in Chicago, employing one of the many metaphors of the day (Bernanke himself spoke of landing on an aircraft...

NEW YORK -- Stocks fell sharply after the Federal Reserve's statement and Chairman Ben Bernanke's news conference Wednesday, with major U.S. indexes losing more than 1%.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 206.04 points, or 1.35%, to 15,112.19 at the closing bell on Wall Street.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 22.88 points, or 1.39%, or 1,628.93.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 38.98 points, or 1.12%, to 3,443.20.

Bernanke reiterated the Fed's position that it would continue its monetary stimulus programs until the economy meets certain inflation and employment thresholds.

“He didn’t give us any time frame,” said Alan Whitman, managing director of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Pasadena. “I don’t necessarily see this as something that’s going to be occurring quickly."

QUIZ: How much do you know about the stock market?

Economic data have shown lackluster growth, and investors will expect more help from the Fed, Whitman said. Despite...

California's outdoor resources -- its beaches, mountains and deserts -- are key assets in fueling the state's $106-billion tourism industry.

A new study finds that keeping those assets pristine helps keep visitors coming.

Beaches that have stormwater mitigation programs have  significantly higher attendance than those with no such pollution control measures, according to a new study by scholars at UCLA.

The report by visiting scholar Ryan Vaughn and others at the Ziman Center for Real Estate found that beaches with stormwater mitigation programs had an average of 600,000 more visitors per year than those that did not.

The study was based on attendance numbers taken at 26 beaches in Southern California over a 10-year period. Such factors as population growth and weather at the beaches were taken into consideration, Vaughn said.

"The major goal of the study is to show there are real economic impacts to any kind of envornmental improvements," he said.

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Business majors top the list of college graduates who are most likely to be underemployed in the current economy, a report says.

The image of business students who march into cushy Wall Street jobs post-graduation has lured so many young people into getting an undergraduate business degree that the marketplace is overflowing with them, according to a report from salary data firm PayScale.

"The business world is saturated with recent grads, many of whom are trying to get their loafers in the door," the report concludes. "There just aren't enough cubicles to go around."

Ten craziest excuses employees have used to call in sick

So instead of dressing up in suits for high-powered corporate gigs, many business majors are finding themselves working as waiters and waitress, assistant managers in retail stores or as credit or collection managers, the report found.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke outlines what he expects for U.S. growth in the coming year as the central bank releases its policy statement. He'll also face TV cameras and reporters during a quarterly news conference.

Reporters, editors and other analysts will live blog what policymakers say -- and what they don't say. We'll also follow the stock market's gyrations and other reactions.

The main question for today: Will Bernanke be able to reassure the world that the central bank has a plan for scaling back its unprecedented efforts to boost the economic recovery. And can he be vague enough about exactly what the plan involves to avoid boxing policymakers into a corner as they try to exit from their stimulus policies without damaging the recovery.

The Fed's stimulus efforts began nearly five years ago. And, with the economy showing signs of improvement, exactly how will it all wind down? The central bank's statements and prognosis for economic growth will be very telling.

NEW YORK -- Investors' early reaction to the Federal Reserve's statement: sell.

After being essentially flat all day, stocks fell after the Fed announced it would keep interest rates low and continue its massive stimulus program -- for now. 

The Dow Jones industrial average deepened its losses as Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at a news conference in Washington.

The Dow was down 145.22 points, or 0.95%, to 15,173.0 in late trading.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 16.50 points, or 1%, to 1,635.31.

The Nasdaq lost 30.99 points, or 0.89%, to 3,451.19.

Investors are still digesting the Federal Reserve's statement following its June meeting, and Bernanke's news conference was held as the trading day was coming to a close in New York.

QUIZ: How much do you know about the stock market?

“The markets are realizing that tapering is coming -- we don’t know when, but it’s coming,” said Marc Doss, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.

T...

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve policymakers said Wednesday that they would continue the central bank’s controversial bond-buying stimulus program and leave short-term interest rates near zero to help boost the economic recovery, which they said was facing fewer downside risks.

Members of the Federal Open Market Committee said they were seeing some improvement in the recovery and slightly upgraded their forecast for the labor market.

In Wednesday's statement, Fed policymakers said it saw "the downside risks to the outlook for the economy and labor market as having diminished since the fall."

QUIZ: How much do you know about sequestration?

Fed policymakers said unemployment could drop to as low as 7.2% this year and 6.5% in 2014. The previous forecast, in March, had the unemployment rate falling to no lower than 7.3% this year and 6.7% next year.

The 6.5% figure is important because that's a key threshold the Fed has set for short-term interest rates. The Fed reiterated Wednesday...

A study found that if patients and doctors used medicines responsibly, the U.S. healthcare system could save $213 billion annually.

Failing to adhere to prescription instructions, misuse of antibiotics and medication errors are some of the reasons for the avoidable costs, according to findings from IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

Together, these areas lead to unnecessary utilization of healthcare resources involving an estimated 10 million hospital admissions, 78 million outpatient treatments, 246 million prescriptions and four million emergency room visits annually.

To put the figure in perspective, the research firm said the $213 billion would pay for the healthcare of more than 24 million people who are currently uninsured.

“Drugs are often not used optimally, resulting in significant unnecessary health system spending and patient burdens,” said Murray Aitken, executive director of the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

“Reaching a meaningful level...

The state on Friday will release its monthly jobs report showing whether the unemployment rate rose or fell in May. The monthly data release will also show which sectors added or shed jobs last month.

Ahead of Friday’s news, our team of economy reporters is soliciting anecdotes of your job search. We'd like to get your perspective on the state of the labor market, and we’re looking for all types of Californians, including:

-- Those recently laid off from jobs.

-- Those who have recently found jobs in faster-growing industries such as technology or leisure and hospitality.

-- Those who have recently been hired in the construction sector.

-- People working low-wage jobs after being displaced from middle-class careers they held before the recession.

-- Long-term unemployed, meaning those unemployed longer than 27 weeks.

-- Those receiving unemployment benefits or those who saw benefits slashed as a result of federal budget cuts.

-- New job seekers entering the labor market.

If...

A Senate bill meant to offer a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. who entered illegally or stayed on expired visas could trim the deficit by about $175 billion over the next 10 years, according to a federal report.

The report from the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation also found federal budget deficits would decrease by about $700 billion from 2024 to 2033.

“However, the net impact of the bill on federal deficits would depend on future actions by lawmakers, who could choose to appropriate more or less than the amounts estimated by CBO,” the report said.

Story gallery: Healthcare law comes to California

About 8 million people would initially gain legal status under the bill, but that change would not affect the size of the U.S. population.

By 2023, the country would see an increase of about 10.4 million permanent residents, an increase of about 1.6 million temporary workers and their dependents and a decrease of...