Real estate firms deliver relief, one square foot at a time
ColumnsTwo Santa Barbara-based real estate firms are doing their part to help Direct Relief International’s Haitian relief efforts. After a magnitude-7 earthquake struck the small island nation on Jan. 12, Goleta-based nonprofit DRI started receiving an enormous amount of aid – pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies – but had nowhere to put it. “We already Read More →
Giving small banks a path to profitability
ColumnsIn the film “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World,” Jack Aubrey, played by Russell Crowe, cleverly jokes about “choosing the lesser to two weevils.” When it comes to banking the choice is not quite so clever, but just as clear. Banks, especially those deemed “too big to fail” must go back into Read More →
Zoned out on the mountain
UncategorizedThe owners of a lonesome rural café have turned to Ventura County Superior Court for help after discovering the county rezoned their property to open space — 21 years before they were told about it. Tom and Janet Wolf, owners of the Pine Mountain Inn near the summit of Highway 33, allege in their Read More →
Census office opens
UncategorizedThe 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 Read More →
Court sides with paper
UncategorizedOn 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 Read More →
D.A. Stanley to retire
UncategorizedSanta 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 Read More →
