Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of longtime Edna Valley agriculturalist Ernie Righetti, a pioneering San Luis Obispo County avocado grower who died this week at age 97.
Strawberries remain the largest piece of the pie in the Tri-Counties’ multibillion-dollar agriculture industry, but there will be slightly less acreage in the New Year.
An agreement reached by two of the groups jockeying to shape the future of a water district in Paso Robles wine country won’t stop two lawsuits that could lead to years in court and millions of dollars in legal fees to sort out the water basin’s woes.
By Editorial Board / Friday, November 29th, 2013 / Editorials, Opinion / Comments Off on Editorial: Lawsuits could derail Paso water fix
Depending on whether and how the county government elects to fight back against the suits, the legal actions could lead to what’s known as adjudication, in which courts oversee how water rights are allocated in the basin. This happened in Santa Maria, with proceedings dragging out over a decade and costs topping $11 million.
In remarks prepared for the 2014 SLO County Economic Forecast Breakfast on Nov. 22, Jordan Levine of Beacon Economics said only San Luis Obispo, San Jose, San Francisco and Bakersfield have gone positive when it comes to the pre-recession jobs peak.
With its $56.4 million purchase of another Central Coast bank, Heritage Oaks Bancorp lays the foundation to build the region’s next big community banking franchise and emerges as the dominant player in the market.
Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks said Oct. 21 that it is buying Mission Community Bank, based in San Luis Obispo, in a cash-and-stock deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. The combined bank would have $1.5 billion in assets, making it the largest bank based in the Tri-Counties.
