Santa Barbara-based Continental Wind Power, a startup planning to build mid-sized wind energy turbines, has chosen Santa Paula as the site for its proposed factory, the company said June 29. Continental will open an office in Santa Paula this summer to begin recruiting potential workers for the plant, which it hopes will employ between 300 [...]
With healthcare costs rising at double-digit rates, the gap simply can’t be closed with one or two big ideas alone. But some Central Coast medical campuses are doing their part to generate small savings through energy efficiency. Two area hospitals, Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria and Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, have taken steps [...]
The engineers of one of the largest South Coast technology deals of the decade are one step closer to starting a new company after a state appeals court ruled in their favor in a years-long legal fight with their former employer and upheld a $1.6 million award for attorney’s fees. Bill Parrish and Tim Fitzgibbons have [...]
Tight credit markets and slumping revenue are forcing more entrepreneurs into bankruptcy. Tri-county bankruptcy filings have shot up nearly 65 percent so far this year. The court doesn’t break out business bankruptcies in its data, but recent filings have included small firms and entrepreneurs as diverse as a flooring contractor, a filmmaker, a chiropractor and [...]
If life gives you lemons, sell them and be glad you didn’t get high-end wine grapes. That’s the takeaway from recent updates from tri-county agriculture veterans and experts. Lemon prices will probably be down this year, and high temperatures mean the third paltry California avocado crop in a row. But with wine consumers trading down [...]
Presidio Sports founders Blake Dorfman and John Dvorak stepped up to the plate last year to provide Santa Barbara with more sports coverage, and they’re hoping to score in a tough market. The former Santa Barbara News-Press sports reporters co-founded the Web site of sports news and features in September 2008, knowing that starting an [...]
Just a few months shy of 10 years ago, I arrived in the Santa Barbara area to start what would become the Pacific Coast Business Times. I was introduced to Paul Glenn, an investor and philanthropist, who graciously hosted a lunch for me and several area business leaders. Glenn said at the time that he [...]
Some heavy accusations are being thrown at a well-known area contractor by a Santa Barbara bank. According to a lawsuit filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, David Lack of David Lack General Contractors and Bank of Santa Barbara are tangling over the matter of Lack’s house. Or, rather, the house Lack appears to lack. [...]
What will a smaller state government look like? What if it is $24 billion-a-year smaller? Those are the questions being debated in Sacramento these days. And no one is more important in that debate than Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. Blakeslee recently was elected minority leader of the assembly and from that perch he [...]
During our nine years in business, we’ve gotten to know Jim Lokey, first as president of Mid-State Bank & Trust and later at Rabobank, which acquired Mid-State a couple of years ago. During his time at Mid-State, Lokey worked closely with Chairman Carrol Pruett. He and his team helped build Mid-State’s branch network across the [...]
It’s all smiles and sauvignon in Happy Canyon’s vineyards
Towbes Group grabs Goleta with Groupon-like deals at retailers
Social-media IPOs could launch Golden State sustainability fund
Ventura County brokers hold out ’til 2013 for real recovery
Name changes and new faces at SLO and Oxnard law firms
From apartments to industrial spaces, deals close in the region