Monterey County Business, Economy & Jobs Digest

For months, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has been waging war on the oriental fruit fly, a voracious pest that can attack hundreds of types of fruits and vegetables.

On Jan. 31, dozens of cities and counties are expected to convert thousands of suburban-style tracts into apartment-ready parcels. Will the state hold them to it?

Fast food lives in a consumer sweet spot: demand, convenience and relative affordability. And this pay hike—equal to minimum wage increases during the past five years—will create grand economic unknowns.

A Cal State systemwide strike secured what more than half a year of negotiations and partial strikes couldn’t: a deal.

As the FAIR Plan writes more fire-insurance policies, homeowners complain about poor service, rising costs and threats of getting kicked off.

Locking up a California state prisoner for one year costs nearly twice as much as tuition at the state’s top private universities—due to inmate medical costs and pay boosts for prison guards and other workers.

The swing from a $100 billion surplus to a deficit somewhere between $38 and $68 billion in just two years illustrates the volatility of California’s tax system.

Ian Brand, who owns the I. Brand custom crush facility in Salinas, was looking for room to grow. So he has leased the Dorcich winery in a major expansion.

State officials hope a lottery and an emphasis on first-generation homebuyers will make California’s most generous down payment assistance program more equitable.

Building off December’s one-day strikes, the California Faculty Association is striking Jan. 22-26, affecting the California State University system during the first week of the spring semester.

We need to have a serious discussion about supporting our education investments with stable revenue.

Bucking the “doom loop” narrative, many tech entrepreneurs say San Francisco is still the “it city” for innovation—especially with the rise of AI.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recipe for digging the state out of a multibillion-dollar budget hole has “strengths and weaknesses” while his revenue projections are “plausible, but optimistic,” the nonpartisan analyst’s office said.

California’s projected budget deficit of close to $38 billion likely means some cuts are coming. Among them, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed ending the California State Park Adventure Pass, which offers free access to some state parks for fourth graders.

California State University at Monterey Bay and Pebble Beach Company unveiled a new $1.4 million hospitality program, built on an existing partnership.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed that lawmakers tap a rainy day reserve and that a minimum wage increase for health care workers be delayed to help the state fight a $37.9 billion deficit. This projection is more than double what Newsom and other officials had anticipated last year.

Pea Soup Andersen’s, a Buellton, Calif., restaurant just shy of its 100th birthday, closed suddenly. The restaurant's other location, near Interstate 5 in Santa Nella, remains open.

Caltrans has set a Jan. 25 deadline for tech companies to show how generative artificial intelligence might reduce traffic congestion in the state. This follows an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September related to this type of AI.

Philadelphia-based Audacy, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $1.9 billion in debts, owns six radio stations in the Bay Area. These include 95.7 The Game, KCBS and 102.1 Jams.

A long-serving business community leader in Big Sur has called it quits after being at the helm of an organization that served not only businesses but the populace during good and bad times.

San Diego Unified School District has received more than $700 million in federal and state relief funds since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with these funds ending, some schools could be facing serious deficits.

Sean Loloee, a first-term Sacramento councilmember, has resigned from office—a move that came weeks after he was federally indicted on charges related to his business Viva Supermarkets.

High prices at hospitals in Monterey County are “an anomaly even among the most expensive” communities in California. One insurance plan there saves money by paying for members’ travel to other counties for procedures.

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing has been acquired by Adair Paterno of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales and Brad Clark of Private Press Brewing, which focuses on malt-forward and barrel-aged craft beer.

The dawn of 2024 meant that California’s minimum wage rose from $15.50 to $16 an hour. That puts the Golden State at the second-highest minimum wage for a U.S. state, trailing only Washington state at $16.28 an hour.

The pandemic threw a wrench in Katherine Stern’s plans, but on Dec. 29, the chef’s long-awaited first restaurant opened on Soquel Avenue, two doors down from the Rio Theater.

A 2021 law passed by the California legislature went into effect Jan. 1, requiring major retailers to maintain an aisle of toys marketed to people of either gender. The bill’s author, Evan Low, said the legislation will help kids “express themselves freely and without bias.”

The Monterey Bay region, which includes Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, is undergoing a major demographic shift with a younger generation that is more diverse, according to Chris Benner, director of the Institute for Social Transformation at UC Santa Cruz.

A feisty team of lawyers and tenants are fighting Alden Capital—the owners of two daily newspapers in the Monterey Bay region—and sometimes, they’re winning.

A new law, sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta, will create a fund designed to fully compensate victims of false advertising or unfair competition.

Just as you might intend to change your diet or workout plan, resolve to make changes that will allow you to meet financial goals.

Under two new laws, employers in California can’t ask workers about their use of cannabis outside the workplace and can’t use hair or urine tests. Employees in construction are excluded, as are applicants for federal jobs with background checks.