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By Editorial Board / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Editorials, Opinion / Comments Off on Editorial: Memo to Abel: Keep political options open
As we watched him speed across the state in search of votes for a long-shot bid for statewide office, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado’s passion for small business and the small-business owner left a big impression. Yes, in the crazy world that is California politics, the former Santa Maria city councilman finished short of the mark Read More →
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By Marlize van Romburgh / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Features, Small Business / Comments Off on Sweet success: Region’s candy firms expand
The shelves at Kingston’s Candy Co. are stacked with enough Pixy Stix, Gummi Bears, Abba Zabbas, Moon Pies, bubblegum, Smarties and chocolate bars to make Willy Wonka himself proud. “Nine months ago I was in the corporate world, and here I am having fun in candy land,” owner Sarah Jaimes says from behind a center Read More →
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By Marlize van Romburgh / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Banking & Finance, Banking Industry, Top Stories / Comments Off on Banks in no rush to repay TARP money
Two years after the U.S. Treasury Department rolled out its Troubled Asset Relief Program, the federal rescue plan for banks, eight of the nine banks based in the Tri-Counties that took those funds have not yet repaid them. The one bank in the region that has repaid its TARP funds — Santa Barbara-based Pacific Capital Read More →
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By Marlize van Romburgh / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Columns, Real Estate / Comments Off on Entitlements done, Investec finds $10M exit from Carpinteria property
The 12-acre residential portion of Carpinteria’s Lagunitas mixed-use project recently sold for $10 million, a move the seller says frees it up to focus on what it does best. “I am not as enamored with building as I am with entitling and getting things approved,” Ken Slaught, president of Investec Real Estate Companies, told the Read More →
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By Henry Dubroff / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Columns, Opinion / Comments Off on California’s chips are all in on green
One thing is clear from this year’s election results: California will bet a big chunk of its economic future on alternative energy. The resounding defeat of Proposition 23, which would have rolled back the Golden State’s cap-and-trade regime, came at the hands of a big coalition of venture capitalists, environmentalists and traditional business leaders bent Read More →
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By Marlize van Romburgh / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Features, Top Stories / Comments Off on SLO mortgage lenders file personal bankruptcy
The former president of now-defunct mortgage lender Cameron Financial Group has filed for personal bankruptcy, listing $33.1 million in debts and $2.6 million in assets. E. Shannon Faries and his wife, Olivia Faries, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Sept. 29, listing mostly debts from their now-bankrupt company, which was based in San Luis Obispo. Read More →
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By Stephen Nellis / Monday, November 8th, 2010 / Features, Green Coast, Technology / Comments Off on Bright, but not as big: Solar projects could be downsized to protect wildlife
The two massive solar projects winding toward approval on San Luis Obispo County’s Carrizo Plain could end up generating 30 percent less energy than the 800 megawatts their corporate backers would prefer. That is according to draft environmental impact reports circulating for the California Valley Solar Ranch, backed by San Jose-based SunPower Corp., and the Read More →
