American Dream, millennial edition: Young restaurateurs in Isla Vista
By Marissa Wenzke / Friday, July 4th, 2014 / Restaurants, Small Business, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on American Dream, millennial edition: Young restaurateurs in Isla Vista

Daniel Dunietz and Sean Evans, both in their 20s, enjoy a friendly rivalry as neighboring small-business owners in the student-dominated community of Isla Vista, next to UC Santa Barbara.

Apeel blooms: Startup gets $1.3M to explore flower, produce coatings
By Stephen Nellis / Friday, July 4th, 2014 / Agribusiness, Small Business, South Coast, Technology, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Apeel blooms: Startup gets $1.3M to explore flower, produce coatings

Apeel Sciences has raised $1.3 million and is working on a new product for flower growers to complement its existing efforts to prevent fruit and produce losses to pests and spoilage.

Developers squabble over $8M RiverPark theater fund
By Elijah Brumback / Friday, July 4th, 2014 / Columns, Real Estate, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County / Comments Off on Developers squabble over $8M RiverPark theater fund

As a new mixed-used housing project in downtown Oxnard lands on the table, the partners behind the development hope they can unlock a long-disputed $8 million that was once tied to the city’s redevelopment agency.

AppScale refines cloud technology, signs major clients
By Stephen Nellis / Friday, July 4th, 2014 / South Coast, Technology, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on AppScale refines cloud technology, signs major clients

A year after commercializing its code, Santa Barbara-based AppScale Systems has released a major update to its cloud-hopping technology and is signing up partners and customers such as IBM and Chico’s.

Tech-savvy Ventura County grower re-engineers approach to raspberries
By Marissa Wenzke / Friday, July 4th, 2014 / Agribusiness, Small Business, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County / 1 Comment

Jurgen Gramckow is one of a few Ventura County raspberry growers who are making the crop one of the county’s highest-grossing agricultural products.
NASA chief tours Goleta space firm
By Stephen Nellis / Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 / South Coast, Technology, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on NASA chief tours Goleta space firm

A Goleta company with a new design for spacecraft solar arrays got a chance to show off its technology to the head of NASA on July 1. Deployable Space Systems, or DSS, is working on a flexible solar blanket that can be rolled up like a sleeping bag. The design saves precious space and Read More →
Paso Robles chamber hires tourism veteran as CEO
By Staff Report / Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 / Central Coast, Top Stories, Tourism / Comments Off on Paso Robles chamber hires tourism veteran as CEO
The Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce has hired Central Coast wine and hospitality veteran Sunni Mullinax as its new president and CEO, effective immediately.