Scrapbook store records its own last chapter
The recession can claim another small business victim with the closure of Santa Barbara Scrapbooks. But its owner is not looking back to pick up the pieces. Instead she’s closing this chapter of her life and moving on to the next. Barbara Bartolomè started her scrapbook store six years ago on a whim. Her experience Read More →
Big picture architecture
Their philosophy is best summed up in the words of Wallace Stevens’ 1928 poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” I. Among twenty snowy mountains The only moving thing Was the eye of a blackbird “In these [thirteen] short, haiku-like stanzas, he creates depth and space with an economy of means,” said Read More →
Oxnard merits better treatment in capital
Oxnard is the biggest city in the biggest county in the tri-county region. It has a pro-business attitude, plenty of land and utility resources, a large and eager workforce and a desire to lead the state’s economic recovery. But that apparently means nothing in Sacramento, where the California Enterprise Zone Program recently turned down Oxnard’s Read More →
Breaking news: Affinity Bank seized by regulators
In the first bank failure in the Tri-Counties in almost 20 years, Ventura-based Affinity Bank was seized by federal regulators Aug. 28. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took Affinity into receivership and said San Diego-based Pacific Western Bank will assume Affinity’s ten branches and $922 million in deposits. Pacific Western also agreed to buy essentially Read More →
In memoriam: Brian Wolverton
These days we spend our time consumed with the economy, business, careers, politics and family matters and we often forget that others are doing far more important work on behalf of our nation. Our freedom to speak, conduct commerce and fret about all things American ultimately relies on our nation’s ability to defend itself. Read More →
Legal discord over music festival
[Editor’s note: See correction below.] A battle of the band bookers is breaking out in Santa Barbara. The organizers of the West Beach Music & Arts Festival face a civil lawsuit from another concert organizer who demands nearly $500,000. Jackie Kane also alleges that the West Beach organizers froze her out of her share of Read More →








