February 23, 2026

		

Guest Commentary


| Friday, February 20th, 2026

Guest commentary: Business and baseball go hand-in-glove

Latest news, Op/Eds, Opinion

By Ritch K. Eich I kinda grew up with a baseball and a glove in my hands. I was naturally left-handed, but I used a right-hander’s baseball glove until I played first base in youth baseball. I was about 10 years old when I got my first real first baseman’s mitt designed for southpaws. As Read More →

| Friday, February 20th, 2026

Guest commentary: Protect your top business assets — Your employees

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By Covered California Running a business is the culmination of a dream and the execution of a vision. While managing your own business comes with immense opportunity, it also comes with a slew of challenges.  From finding the right talent and managing payroll, to ordering inventory and handling marketing, you’re busy — and every decision Read More →

| Friday, February 13th, 2026

Guest commentary: A case study in smart growth on the Central Coast

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By Jocelyn Brennan  Drive down West Grand Avenue in Grover Beach today, and it is hard to remember that this corridor once sat quiet and overlooked.  For decades, the “West End” of Grover Beach was an area locals passed through on their way to Pismo or the dunes.  Few lingered, and fewer still imagined that Read More →

| Friday, February 13th, 2026

Guest commentary: How commercial credit cards can improve cash flow, efficiency and security for your business

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By Joey Heinrich In the business-to-business (B2B) world, checks have long been the preferred method of payment, but the rise of electronic options is changing the payables landscape.  According to the Association for Financial Professionals’ (AFP) 2025 Digital Payments Survey, 76% of organizations plan to update their payments strategy within the next three years.  Exploring Read More →

| Friday, February 6th, 2026

Guest commentary: Santa Barbara County doesn’t have a revenue problem — It has a spending problem

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By Mike Stoker Santa Barbara County is at a crossroads, and once again, local officials are looking to the pockets of hardworking residents to solve a crisis of their own making. The proposal to hike the local sales tax from 7.75% to 8.75% is not just a minor adjustment; it is a profound betrayal of Read More →

| Friday, January 30th, 2026

Guest commentary: 2026 Economic outlook: The K factors 

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By Eric Kelley Economic growth was surprisingly robust in2025, despite the numerous fireworks in Washington, D.C., and some challenging periods for the financial markets. We experienced a painful market sell-off in April following the initiation of the new tariff campaign, but that trend reversed quickly as it became clear that the tariffs may not be Read More →

| Monday, January 26th, 2026

Guest commentary: How AI agents and robots are rewriting the future of work

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By Vlad Vaiman Artificial intelligence may be the most significant workforce revolution since the advent of electricity. But whereas earlier automation displaced human muscle with machines, today’s digital transformation involves learning to work alongside intelligent systems.  AI agents that can do more and more sophisticated cognitive tasks, robots that can navigate physical spaces with more Read More →