Business
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Whitman Pulls a Palin
Media / Politics / People / Business Robert Gammon — Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 12:28 PM
Republican Meg Whitman has apparently decided that the best way to win the California governor’s race is to imitate Sarah Palin. Whitman has repeatedly refused to talk to reporters and has instead made herself available to conservative columnists, mirroring Palin’s 2008 vice presidential run when she refused to hold a single press conference and preferred fawning interviews on Fox News. And Whitman did it again yesterday at the Port of Oakland, inviting reporters to come along on a tour, but then deciding at the last moment to keep them in an isolated room and refuse to answer their questions, the Trib and Chron report.
Chevron’s Richmond Refinery to Stay Open
Business / Health / Environment Robert Gammon — Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Chevron said Tuesday that it has no plans to close its huge Richmond refinery, confirming what industry analysts had long suspected. The oil giant’s announcement also threw cold water on the overheated concerns of the business editor of the Contra Costa Times, who had worried that Richmond facility would shutter and had started blaming environmentalists and the liberal Richmond City Council for it.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Bay Guardian Wins Half of SF Weekly’s Revenues
Media / Business Robert Gammon — Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 4:38 PM
A court commissioner has granted the San Francisco Bay Guardian half of the SF Weekly’s current and future advertising revenues in a move that could seriously damage the Weekly’s ability to stay in business. San Francisco County Superior Court Commissioner Everett A. Hewlett Jr. also ordered the SF Weekly to turn over all of its current and future revenues from advertisers who pay by credit card.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Yelp Gets Sued Again
Media / Business / Crime Robert Gammon — Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 11:14 AM
Yelp, the popular but controversial online site, has been sued in federal court again for alleged extortion, according to the San Jose Business Journal. It was the second time in the past few weeks that Yelp has been sued in court for an alleged of scheme of using customer reviews to make money. In the most recent case, a San Diego County day spa owner claims that Yelp deleted positive reviews that she solicited from customers after she refused to buy advertising with Yelp.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Against Yelp
Breaking News / Business / Crime Kathleen Wentz — Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 11:37 AM
A class-action lawsuit was filed against Yelp by two firms in Los Angeles federal court yesterday. The lawsuit alleges unfair business practices against the San Francisco-based user-generated review site, and, in particular, that the company “runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of ‘advertising contracts,’ in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews appearing on the website,” according to the official press release.
Layoff Blues Tempered by Green Jobs
Business Phil Marshall — Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:45 AM
It’s been a roller-coaster month for Oakland. On Tuesday, Feb. 16, the city council approved layoffs to multiple city departments from the police to information technology. However, the decisions came amidst other announcements this month that Oakland will receive more federal funding for green projects.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Perata’s Friends Targeted by the FBI
Politics / People / Business Robert Gammon — Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Agents with the FBI, the IRS, and the Secret Service raided the Concord offices yesterday of the Seeno Family, one of the East Bay’s most prominent developers and influential powerbrokers, the CoCo Times reports. The Seenos, who run a construction and suburban homebuilding empire, also have been good friends over the years with Oakland mayoral candidate and former state senator Don Perata. In fact, the Seeno family, led by Albert Seeno Jr., has donated at least $131,400 to Perata and campaigns associated with him since 2000.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Marijuana TV Show Comes to Bay Area
Media / Business / Health / Environment Robert Gammon — Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 11:18 AM
In another clear indication that pot legalization has gone mainstream, Cannabis Planet, a Los Angeles TV show about marijuana, will premiere this Friday night in the Bay Area on KOFY-TV. According to the Chron, the show, which first aired in the Southern California last July, features two “cannabis news’ anchors, education segments, cooking with pot demonstrations, and marijuana cultivation tips with ganja guru Ed Rosenthal. In Oakland and Berkeley, Cannabis Planet will air at midnight Friday on cable channel 13.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
PG&E Funds Anti-Green Measure
Politics / Business / Environment Robert Gammon — Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 10:42 AM
Pacific Gas and Electric Company has already spent $6.5 million on a June ballot measure that would make it much tougher for cities to purchase renewable energy on their own. And the public utility plans to spend millions more of rate-payer dollars on its measure, Proposition 16. PG&E is digging deep into its treasury because it fears losing market share if municipalities get into the public power business in order to increase their usage of green energy, including solar and wind power.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Feinstein Chooses Agribusiness Over the Environment
Politics / People / Business / Environment Robert Gammon — Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 10:05 AM
US Senator Dianne Feinstein wants to suspend federal environmental regulations that protect the fragile Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta in order to dramatically increase water subsidies to California agribusinesses that grow water-intensive crops in the desert. According to the Chron, Feinstein is attempting to rush her proposal through Congress by attaching it to the federal jobs bill. Feinstein’s maneuver also coincides with news that the state’s salmon season is doomed for yet another year because of a major collapse of the fishery, mostly due to the lack of water in the Delta, according to the CoCo Times.
