A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against Pacific Capital Bancorp that alleged the parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust hid bad loans from shareholders before announcing a $362.6 million loss last summer. In a Jan. 28 decision, Judge Gary Klausner said the shareholder who brought the case, William Jurkowitz, didn’t [...]
The U.S. Census Bureau opened its local census office in Santa Maria as the massive, once-a-decade population headcount gets underway. The Santa Maria office will be the hub of census operations for the surrounding communities, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Margarita, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, San Simeon, Paso Robles, San Miguel and Maricopa. The bureau [...]
On Jan. 26, a court of appeals sided with Ampersand Publishing and Wendy McCaw, owners and publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press, saying that the newspaper’s First Amendment rights would be violated if it were forced to reinstate union employees. The appeal was brought after a U.S. District Court Judge had ruled that granting an [...]
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Christie Stanley announced on Jan. 25 that due to health reasons, she will formally retire within two weeks. She was elected to the D.A. position in June 2006, garnering almost 70 percent of the vote. Stanley, who began her career as a prosecutor in 1980, graduated from Ventura College of [...]
[Editor's Note: After this story was posted, Pacific Capital announced that its earnings call will be delayed until Feb. 1.] Pacific Capital Bancorp named longtime insider Donald Lafler interim chief financial officer on Jan. 26. Pacific Capital, the struggling corporate parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust and a likely buyout target, has been under [...]
Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen reported only a slight increase in profits in the fourth quarter, but said one new drug in its pipeline looks promising. Amgen’s net income inched up 1 percent to $931 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $925 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue for the quarter [...]
After months of struggling with capital ratios, Harrington West Financial Group, parent company of Solvang-based Los Padres Bank, has escaped a regulatory action that can precede a seizure and returned to “adequately capitalized,” the bank said Jan. 25. The bank remains under a longer-term cease and desist order to raise capital ratios. Harrington West had [...]
The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce will have a new driving force behind it Jan. 23 when it releases its updated economic vision statement. The SLO chamber is the oldest and largest voluntary organization in the county. The new 18-page document acts as a roadmap for the chamber, which has thrown its full weight [...]
Taser, maker of the handheld voltage delivery system of “don’t tase me, bro” fame, is setting up shop on the South Coast. Arizona-based Taser snapped up a former Microsoft executive and put him to work as head of the new virtual systems division in Carpinteria, where he and roughly 80 employees are working on a [...]
A Santa Barbara firm has just garnered a $6 million investment to see if it can shake up the broadcast, radio and print advertising world the same way its leaders shook up the online advertising world. Impact Radius has rolled out a new online platform for advertisers and media firms to buy and sell performance-based [...]
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