Mexican ex-president calls for free trade, legal drugs
The United States needs to strengthen its economic alliances with Mexico and Canada to compete with emerging markets in Asia, former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Feb. 19 in Santa Barbara. “I hope that the present [U.S.] administration has vision and learns that to recover — to fully recover — the competitiveness of this nation Read More →
Forecasters:
Ventura County’s unemployment rate has peaked, but its decline will be painfully slow even as discount retail jobs in Camarillo, farm work and manufacturing jobs provide glimmers of hope, economic forecasters said Feb. 19 in Camarillo. “Only the Inland Empire and Sacramento have lost more jobs [than Ventura County], proportional to their populations,” Brad Kemp Read More →
Central Coast CEOs lament barriers to business
The Central Coast presents an attractive landscape for entrepreneurs but lacks some of the community support systems required to grow successful niche companies. That was the consensus among three company presidents from a wide range of industries from Paso Robles to Santa Maria at the second annual Central Coast Business Symposium, held in Arroyo Grande Read More →
Deciphering space intelligence ranks a military priority
With a space-based tracking and surveillance system set to launch from Vandenberg Air Force base this summer, turning the flood of information generated by the United States’ military space operations into actionable intelligence for commanders is a top priority, a top Air Force space commander said Feb. 17. “There’s a lot of data coming in Read More →
T.O. bank looks to raise $10M in stock sale
California Oaks State Bank, a community business bank based in Thousand Oaks, announced Feb. 17 that it plans to raise up to $10 million to buy back stock, pay down its bailout money and potentially snap up assets from failed banks. California Oaks, which also has a location in Simi Valley, said it will offer Read More →
Pacific Capital hires troubled-loan czar
Santa Barbara-based Pacific Capital Bancorp, the struggling parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, has named Paul Alexander to oversee the team that addresses the company’s troubled assets, the source of many of the bank’s capital woes over the past year. Since last spring, Pacific Capital has been under a voluntary agreement with regulators to Read More →
Flower industry looks for love and money
Valentine’s Day kicks off the busiest time of the year for the Tri-Counties’ $175 million cut-flower industry, and growers say they could have their most profitable season in years. Reeling from a steep decline in sales last year and a Valentine’s Day that falls on a sales-dampening Sunday, growers have made their operations leaner but Read More →
