Steinfeld and Werth: Cannabis businesses are essential
By Amy Steinfeld and Alina Werth As a result of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home executive order, all but “essential” businesses have closed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Cannabis dispensaries are one of a few retail operations deemed essential, along with pharmacies and grocery stores. And it’s not just dispensaries that have been Read More →
Banks struggling with PPP loans for tri-county small businesses
Last-minute rules changes and a messy rollout mean small businesses and nonprofits will have to wait a little longer to get the help they’ve been promised under the CARES Act. The $349 billion Payroll Protection Program, a key part of the act, went live on April 3, but few banks were in a place where Read More →
Dubroff: When it comes to the PPP, we’re not in it together
This does not feel like a team effort. I’m stepping out of my role as pundit this week and putting on my hat as a small business owner. And I am here to state that the rollout of the Paycheck Protection Program has been a nightmare for many small business owners. Every day I get Read More →
Pandemic kills demand for tri-county produce and cut flowers
COVID-19 restrictions that canceled events and shuttered restaurants have collapsed distribution chains for fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers grown throughout the Tri-Counties. Consumer demand plunged, growers said, as buyers prioritized shelf-stable goods like grains, pasta and frozen and canned foods, foregoing berries, leafy greens and cut flowers grown on the Central Coast. “(Agriculture is) an Read More →
COVID-19 layoffs skyrocket in Tri-Counties
In the first month after the novel coronavirus arrived in the region, tens of thousands of people in the Tri-Counties lost their jobs when their workplaces shut or slowed, and experts predict April and May will bring unemployment rates unseen since the Great Depression. The pandemic has touched every part of the tri-county economy, from Read More →
Alaska Airlines changes flights to keep serving SLO and SB airports
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Tri-county performers struggle as audiences forbidden
The coronavirus pandemic has much of the region working from home, but there’s only so much you can do from home when your work is performing in front of crowds of people. Theater companies, orchestras and concert venues in the Tri-Counties began cancelling and postponing shows even before state and local governments banned public gatherings Read More →
