UI fund deficit requires multipronged approach
While California’s political class is salivating over the thought of tax windfalls and a spending spree, the state’s employers are coughing up $1.7 billion in payroll taxes this month to put a small patch over the state’s insolvent unemployment fund. That enormous haul was enough to close just a fraction of the $8 billion the Read More →
Apprenticeship programs give employers competitive advantage
Something old is new again. Apprenticeships, an ideal means to train future workers, have been around for centuries throughout the world. A formal statewide apprenticeship system was created in California back in 1939. Yet today, apprenticeships do not readily come to mind as people plan for careers or employers look for skilled workers. That mindset Read More →
Expand public-private partnerships to increase affordable housing
More than 1.5 million low-income California renters spend more than half their income on housing, according to a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report. That’s up 28 percent since the housing market crash. There is a role for federal and local policy in trying to address this issue, but we cannot hope to Read More →
Amgen drug Kyprolis gets another FDA approval
Amgen scored another victory for its breakthrough multiple myeloma drug on Jan. 21. The Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant hit it big when the Food and Drug Administration approved revolutionary multiple myeloma drug Kyprolis for treatments with Kyprolis in combination with another drug. The FDA also approved Kyprolis to treat patients on its own for those Read More →
Citizens Business Bank fourth quarter earnings up over last year’s
Ontario-based Citizens Business Bank reported $28.6 million in net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2015, or 27 cents a share. That was up $3 million from the fourth quarter of 2014. For the year, net earnings were $99.1 million, or 93 cents per share. That was down $4.9 million, or 4.69 percent, from the Read More →
Santa Barbara’s 123Compliance acquired by Sparta Systems
Santa Barbara-based cloud software company 123Compliance was acquired by Hamilton, N.J.-based Sparta Systems on Jan. 20. Founded in 2011, 123Compliance develops software that helps medical companies’ products stay compliant with Food and Drug Administration regulations once research efforts are diverted to the next generation of development. Sparta Systems is a global technology company with customers Read More →
SpaceX launches NOAA SST satellite
A critical SpaceX mission blasted off from Vandenberg Airforce Base at 10:42 a.m., despite foggy conditions Jan. 17. Hawthorne-based SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket to launch a weather satellite into orbit, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will use to monitor ocean wave heights to track and measure the strength of hurricanes. The Read More →
