Give bankruptcy judges right to impose sanctions
Now that the Obama administration has opened the door to reducing the home mortgage interest deduction for taxpayers earning more than $250,000 per year, we’ll throw another idea up against the wall and see if it sticks. Jeff Dinkin, a Santa Barbara attorney, has suggested that people who file fraudulent applications for mortgages or speculate Read More →
CLU snags quite a team
California Lutheran University scored quite a coup in late February when it lured the University of California Santa Barbara’s Economic Forecast Project team to Thousand Oaks. It marks a bold move for CLU’s relatively new president, Chris Kimball, who seems to have made a quick study of the political and economic landscape of the Tri-Counties. Read More →
Transitions noted
Sometimes the owner is the company. Such was apparently the case with the Wine Cask, a popular Santa Barbara watering hole and wine shop that closed abruptly in mid-February. Owner Doug Margerum sold the operation a year or so ago and the new owners tried hard. But with the down economy and without Doug’s magic, Read More →
Tri-county innovation can rebrand the region
In a dramatic speech on Feb. 24, President Barack Obama vowed to lead America’s economy back to health and prosperity. In doing so, he laid down a considerable challenge to local elected officials, community and business leaders in the tri-county region. That challenge boils down to this: creating a new brand for the Highway 101 Read More →
Mr. Maldonado goes to Sacramento
[Editor’s note: Just as the Business Times was coming off the presses, state legislators approved a budget compromise. Click here to read more about the deal.] State Sen. Abel Maldonado is taking plenty of heat from the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere for standing his ground on the budget issue. But we think the former Read More →
Grassroots deserve some credit
Let’s give credit where credit is due. It was not just the pressure from local politicians that led Federal Receiver Clark Kelso to shelve, at least temporarily, his plan to build a 1,000-bed state prison hospital near Camarillo. A community group, known as the Prison Hospital Action Committee, was instrumental in gathering support from citizens Read More →
Esmay paved way for leaders
We’re going to say a few words about James L. Esmay, the first dean of California Lutheran University’s School of Business. Esmay, who passed away Feb. 10 at age 79, came to CLU in 1965. After a stint at Cal State Northridge, he rejoined the campus in 1979. He was named dean of the school Read More →
