Higher education tightens its belt again
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, January 4th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Higher education tightens its belt again
In 1960, California passed a master-plan for higher education that put the state at the leading edge of the nation’s public colleges and universities. Without that vision, inventions like the Internet never may have come into American homes. But after a year of implementing layoffs, staff furloughs, tuition increases, enrollment freezes and cuts to deal Read More →
The Year in Review 2009
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, December 28th, 2009 / Top Stories / Comments Off on The Year in Review 2009
The top stories, revisited Scroll down to read the top Business Times stories of 2009 by topic and to view a month-by-month timeline of highlights (and lowlights) from the year. Top stories by topic: THE ECONOMY • Stimulus funds flood the region [published Nov. 6, 2009] Stimulus dollars have poured into the Tri-Counties since President Read More →
Runoff rules rile builders
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, December 21st, 2009 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Runoff rules rile builders
New storm water rules taking shape in Ventura County have public and private builders concerned that costs for routine projects could go way up and that some developments — such as large factories or warehouses — wouldn’t be feasible at all. The big change in the rules is that builders will have to deal with Read More →
A wind in Clipper
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, December 21st, 2009 / Top Stories / Comments Off on A wind in Clipper
Carpinteria-based Clipper Windpower is not going anywhere. The wind turbine maker has expanded rapidly and created hundreds of high-paying engineering and finance jobs on the South Coast in recent years. But it’s struggled with losses despite explosive sales, and on Dec. 9, industrial giant United Technologies Corp. agreed to buy a 49.5 percent stake in Read More →
Select slashes debt with public option
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, December 21st, 2009 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Select slashes debt with public option
In the region’s second major going-public transaction this year, Santa Barbara-based Select Staffing has agreed to a deal that would let it pay off $200 million in debt and become listed on a major stock exchange. With $1.4 billion in revenue in 2008, Select, a temporary staffing services firm, is the largest privately held company Read More →
A life of building
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, December 14th, 2009 / Top Stories / Comments Off on A life of building
David Bagwell was a bit of a celebrity in Moorpark. He and his wife spent years building a family business, which was featured several times on an ABC television reality show. Customers sought Bagwell almost as much for his good-natured personality as they did his skills as a contractor. When he took his life Nov. Read More →
Xirrus secures $20M deal
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, December 14th, 2009 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Xirrus secures $20M deal
Thousand Oaks-based Xirrus, a maker of high-performance wireless Internet gear, has secured a $20 million round of venture capital and all but declared plans to go public or pull off a sale soon. The deal, announced Dec. 1, is likely to be the single largest venture capital round announced in the Tri-Counties this year. It Read More →