Tri-county firefighters deserve our support
Southern California’s persistent drought is making life tougher and tougher for the region’s firefighters. And the worst may be ahead of us. As Staff Writer Marissa Nall reports in this week’s edition of the Business Times, the Sherpa fire took a large bite out of agricultural production in Refugio Canyon and surrounding areas. Meanwhile, fire Read More →
Transportation future up to Ventura County voters
Ventura County has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take control of its future. Going before voters in November is a Transportation Investment and Expenditure Plan that would for the first time give Ventura County a dedicated sales tax revenue stream for transportation upgrades and environmental improvements. The plan, crafted by the Ventura County Transportation Commission, was Read More →
Strawberry crop might not always remain No. 1
It’s going to take a lot to dethrone the strawberry as the region’s top crop. But there are plenty of signs that the juicy red fruit that’s a year round sensation may not last forever at the top of the agribusiness pile. The retirement of the Dullam family, reported earlier in the Business Times, and Read More →
Mass shootings taking terrible toll in America
Two years ago it was Isla Vista. This year it is San Bernardino and Orlando. Mass shootings have become a way of life in America — and that is a tragedy. This year’s shootings have a particularly troubling twist: the targeting of LGBTQ victims in a nightclub by a young American-born Muslim who apparently was Read More →
Fraud charges cap sad demise of Melchiori
It was an iconic company among general contractors and its rise marked a pivot point in Santa Barbara’s emergence as a hub for tourism and technology in the 1990s. Ugo Melchiori, an immigrant from Northern Italy, turned skills as a craftsman into a business that, beginning in the late 1980s, was nearly as powerful as Read More →
Charges, lawsuits Plains’ Refugio oil spill legacy
One year later, the Refugio oil spill remains in the headlines amid rising costs and the first of what could be a series of criminal misconduct charges. Plains All American now faces a 46-count indictment at the state level for a May 2015 incident that spilled 21,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. The Read More →
Settlement reasonable amid political pressure
Maybe there’s not a major Supreme Court decision lurking in every case that’s in the headlines. That’s our takeaway from the court’s order to litigants in Zubick vs. Burwell, a case involving nonprofits seeking an exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to provide coverage for contraception. Among those seeking relief was Thomas Aquinas College Read More →
