Institute heralds $50M gift
In another sign of the changing ways that medical research gets funded, the partner institute in the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Center for Nanomedicine received a $50 million gift from a philanthropist Jan. 26. South Dakota billionaire Denny Sanford gave $50 million to the La Jolla-based Burnham Institute, the partner organization in the UCSB-Burnham Read More →
Judge sides with PCBC in shareholder lawsuit
A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against Pacific Capital Bancorp that alleged the parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust hid bad loans from shareholders before announcing a $362.6 million loss last summer. In a Jan. 28 decision, Judge Gary Klausner said the shareholder who brought the case, William Jurkowitz, didn’t Read More →
Census office opens
The U.S. Census Bureau opened its local census office in Santa Maria as the massive, once-a-decade population headcount gets underway. The Santa Maria office will be the hub of census operations for the surrounding communities, including San Luis Obispo, Santa Margarita, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, San Simeon, Paso Robles, San Miguel and Maricopa. The bureau Read More →
Court sides with paper
On Jan. 26, a court of appeals sided with Ampersand Publishing and Wendy McCaw, owners and publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press, saying that the newspaper’s First Amendment rights would be violated if it were forced to reinstate union employees. The appeal was brought after a U.S. District Court Judge had ruled that granting an Read More →
D.A. Stanley to retire
Santa Barbara County District Attorney Christie Stanley announced on Jan. 25 that due to health reasons, she will formally retire within two weeks. She was elected to the D.A. position in June 2006, garnering almost 70 percent of the vote. Stanley, who began her career as a prosecutor in 1980, graduated from Ventura College of Read More →
Pacific Capital taps veteran as interim finance chief
[Editor’s Note: After this story was posted, Pacific Capital announced that its earnings call will be delayed until Feb. 1.] Pacific Capital Bancorp named longtime insider Donald Lafler interim chief financial officer on Jan. 26. Pacific Capital, the struggling corporate parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust and a likely buyout target, has been under Read More →
Amgen earnings hold steady
Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen reported only a slight increase in profits in the fourth quarter, but said one new drug in its pipeline looks promising. Amgen’s net income inched up 1 percent to $931 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $925 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue for the quarter Read More →
