Monterey County Business, Economy & Jobs Digest

The lack of enough places for everyone to live has sent coastal rent prices inland, removing large swaths of previously cheaper rental units.

Luis Yauri Oyola hopes one day to buy a tractor to start a business in Peru; he estimates that he is six years away from that goal, for which he will have spent more than a decade of his life living thousands of miles away from his family. He is on call 24/7 and doesn’t leave the job site except for necessities.

Thirteen Republican state attorneys general have sent a cautionary letter to the CEOs of the 100 largest U.S. companies, highlighting the potential legal ramifications of using race as a factor in employment practices.

Rick L. Callender, president of the California/Hawaii Conference of the NAACP, has announced that the organization is offering free legal advice and consultations to public and private sector employees who have been targets of racial harassment and discrimination.

California’s electric rates are among the highest in the country. Three big power companies propose charging fixed rates based on income, saying low-income customers will save money. Critics doubt it’ll work.

San Francisco has become the prime example of what downtowns shouldn’t look like: vacant, crime-ridden and in various stages of decay. But in truth, it’s just one of many cities across the U.S. whose downtowns are reckoning with a post-pandemic wake-up call.

Places where a California move is common do not require a long relocation.

Some insurers are bypassing hospital pharmacies to send some drugs through third-party pharmacies, which shifts who gets to buy and bill for these complex medications, including chemotherapy drugs.

The environmental costs of ending water diversions from Mono Lake to Los Angeles would be mixed: It might help a shore bird habitat but would require changes that increase carbon emissions.

For the first time, San Diego has surpassed San Francisco for average rental rates, making the All-American City the nation’s third-most expensive rental market, according to a Zillow report. But San Jose had the nation’s highest monthly rent with $3,411.

Many California caregivers are aging immigrants making near-minimum wage. Two bills to improve pay and safety could benefit elderly Californians facing a caregiver shortage.

California’s more than 170,000 unhoused people often lack the means and mobility to locate and visit a doctor who will accept them. At least 25 street medicine teams throughout the state are trying to fill that gap by providing health care to unhoused individuals in need.

As California gives immigrants access to more public programs, its poverty rate declines, some say. But budget and recession worries slow that progress.

A proposal to set up degree completion funds for California student athletes has met with stiff opposition from universities and the NCAA. College athletes could earn a share of the revenue they generate under the bill — as much as $25,000 for each year that they played their sport. But the bill’s author has delayed it until 2024 after opponents charged the fund would draw money away from less lucrative sports like gymnastics and swimming.

Many California colleges and universities define “first-generation college student” differently, creating a confusing situation for students to navigate.

The potential influence of ex-Californians seems to stay fairly West.

Legislative leaders declared support for a bill to let staffers finally form a union, but the newly amended bill wouldn’t allow one for another three years.

Truck manufacturers won’t file legal challenges over California's controversial mandate, and in return, the state air board will relax some smog-fighting requirements.

A budget deal between lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newson includes $227 million more for the state’s Middle Class Scholarship, part of a commitment to eventually remove any reason for public university students to go into debt. The revised program debuted last year, sending an average of nearly $2,000 to 300,000 students.

Medi-Cal is changing how it pays mental health providers. Many of those providers say they may no longer be able to afford peer support specialists, home visits and other services.

The first-in-the-nation measure to add caste to state anti-discrimination laws, which passed the state Senate, survives the Assembly judiciary committee. The bill’s author refused to water down the measure further.

The Board of Supervisors has directed the county’s economic development manager to thoroughly review incentive and support requests aimed at enticing Joby Aviation to expand its manufacturing plant in Marina.

A union says hotel workers making $20 to $25 an hour aren’t earning enough to live near where they work.

Breaking from over a decade of traditionally not raising tuition for its students, Cal State leaders on Thursday released a proposal that would start annual increases in fall 2024. They say it’s the only way to make up a shortfall between operating costs and revenues.

What are fair premiums that offer homeowners decent protection from risk while providing insurers a fair profit?

California health officials say granting the licenses prevents the eviction of hundreds of residents from their homes and provides oversight provisions, including a two-year monitoring period.

After several years of devastating wildfires, California lawmakers want to give hefty raises to Cal Fire firefighters. The deal could tie the governor’s hands in contracts.

The aircraft is expected to become the first-ever eVTOL to be delivered to a customer; it will next undergo initial flight testing before being used to demonstrate a range of potential logistics use cases.

Climate activists and some lawmakers want two of California’s pension funds to shed about $15 billion of fossil fuel holdings. They say the move would reduce oil and gas companies’ political power, but opponents say it would be a bad move financially.

Environmentalists and project proponents agree: Infrastructure bills crafted by legislators and Newsom are a good compromise to streamline development. The package aims to speed up lawsuits for solar farms, reservoirs and other infrastructure, and relax protection of some species.

The Salt & Straw ice cream chain is part of the upcycling movement, creating high-quality products from leftover food with flavors like Cacao Pulp & Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato, made from leftover cacao pulp from chocolate production.

An obscure 1910s-era labor board once regulated everything from canneries to film sets to sheep farms. Why is California trying to bring it back now?