Breaking news: South Coast residents warned to prepare for heavy rain
Residents of Santa Barbara County’s South Coast are encouraged to prepare for heavy rain from Oct. 12 through Oct. 15 and officials have set up sandbag stations to allow area residents to protect their properties. Recent fires in the South Coast region of Santa Barbara County mean that heavy rains could result in flooding or Read More →
Economist: Government needs to rein in spending
Budget deficits by the U.S. government pose the greatest risk to the stock market, the dollar and the economy, a prominent economist said Oct. 9. Speaking at California State University, Channel Islands, Sung Won Sohn, the Martin V. Smith professor of economics at the school and a former chief economist for Wells Fargo, said the Read More →
PCBC shares soar on speculation of capital infusion
Shares of Pacific Capital Bancorp, parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, soared nearly 25 percent on Oct. 7, as 3 million shares, twice the normal volume, changed hands. Pacific Capital closed at $1.82 on NASDAQ, climbing 35 cents amid ongoing speculation the bank might be close to raising new capital or announcing a merger. Read More →
High-tech manufacturing facility to break ground
One of the largest industrial spaces planned for the Goleta area in recent years will soon break ground. Alliant Techsystems Space Systems plans to move the first dirt for a new 25,000-square-foot facility on Pine Avenue on Oct. 12, the company said in a release. Better known in the Tri-Counties as ATK Space Systems, the Read More →
PCBC stockholders approve new shares
Pacific Capital Bancorp shareholders passed two proposals on Sept. 29 that could make it easier for the capital-strapped banking firm to accommodate a new infusion of cash from investors and bolster its sagging stock price. Meeting at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort in Santa Barbara, shareholders quickly voted to give Pacific Capital’s board the power to Read More →
Financier not at fault in daughter
[Editor’s note: An update is attached below.] The late financier Michael Klein wasn’t negligent in the crash that killed him, his daughter and a pilot when their plane slammed into the side of a volcano in Panama on Dec. 23, 2007, a jury found. The Santa Barbara Superior Court jury instead found that the pilot Read More →
Local economist: Real estate will unfreeze slowly
Luxury home prices are likely to remain frozen at current levels for a long time, a lingering effect of the panic that disrupted financial markets a year ago, a top economist said in Santa Barbara. Speaking on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, California State University Channel Islands economist Sung Won Sohn said Read More →
