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 →
Businesses must function autonomously
By Linda-Marie Sundstrom In 2015, point-of-sale computers at Starbucks went down — resulting in outages at 8,000 stores in the United States and Canada. Baristas were unable to accept payment for drinks so they either gave the product away or closed their stores. They couldn’t function autonomously. During disasters, businesses can find themselves without power, Read More →
Eich: Dedication to customers key to success
By Ritch Eich The Apple Farm in San Luis Obispo stuck with me after my last visit, and it wasn’t just the lovely antique furnishings or cozy country décor. The service and overall hospitality were second-to-none, leading me to correspond with several key staffers in an effort to learn how the Apple Farm achieves its 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 →
Policy normalization must continue
By Dan E. Hamilton Since 2008, the Federal Reserve has been engaged in an unprecedented experiment, one without any economic theory to recommend it. Its policies are internally inconsistent. Some work to restrict credit. Others ease credit. The 2007 failure of New Century Financial, a leading subprime lender, did not derail the economy. However, when 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 →
