Retailers brace for a pandemic holiday
Small businesses are using the holidays to find new ways to support themselves and their communities.
Goleta’s Frinj takes coffee off state’s crop fringe and up to new levels
Coffee, South Coast’s newest emerging agribusiness; Goleta bean grower boosts state’s once-fringe crop, while shaking up traditional practices by shortening supply chain and bringing greater return to farmers.
New state order could close restaurants, other businesses if ICUs fill up
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a revised stay-at-home order on Dec. 3 that is tied to each region of the state’s intensive care capacity. In areas where the ICU capacity falls below 15%, a stay-at-home order will be implemented for three weeks. Under this new order, the state is broken into five regions, with Ventura, Read More →
QAD reports slight revenue dip, big earnings jump
Profits at Santa Barbara-based software firm QAD hit $3.2 million in the third quarter of 2020, up from $125,000 in the same quarter of 2019, the company announced Nov. 24. QAD had earnings of 16 cents per share, up from just 1 cent per share a year earlier. “We made significant progress toward our long-term Read More →
Montecito Bank & Trust hands out nearly $1.2M in charitable grants
Montecito Bank & Trust upped the ante for the 2020 round of its corporate philanthropy, giving away $1.175 million at its 18th annual Community Dividends program on Nov. 23. The program was presented virtually on Zoom, and around 350 people participated from 194 organizations in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The program was the creation Read More →
Tri-county unemployment down to 6.8% in October
The unemployment rate dropped by a full percentage point or more in each of the region’s three counties between September and October, according to data released Nov. 20 by the California Unemployment Development Department. Ventura County’s unemployment rate in October was 7.1%, down from 8.3% the previous month. In Santa Barbara County, the rate was Read More →
Newsom issues COVID curfew for most of state
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health announced a limited “stay-at-home order” requiring all non-essential work, travel and gatherings to stop between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. for the vast majority of the state’s population. The curfew order applies to all counties in California that are in the most restrictive, or purple, Read More →
