Blog
Report: California’s aerospace industry bigger than Hollywood
Boeing's C-17 Globemaster plant in Long Beach, CA will shut down production in 2015. (Photo credit: Greg Bishop) What's nearly invisible but bigger than California's agriculture and entertainment industries combined? It's the state's aerospace industry. That's the story coming from a new economic impact report trying to show how aerospace is a massive but endangered species…
Paying for California water action plan beyond the drought
California Aqueduct. (Photo Credit: sfbaywalk/flickr) Released today, Governor Jerry Brown's final version of a five-year "Water Action Plan" lays out something most people involved in the contentious water issue can agree on: finding new, smart ways to navigate the choppy waters of long-term financing is vital to the California economy. While the twin Delta tunnels…
Shot & Edited: Medical school gives Inland Empire economy a shot in the arm
Economic recovery throughout California has been an uneven experience. Unemployment rates for coastal communities have dipped, many below the state’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent. It’s a much different story when you travel inland where unemployment rates remains in the double digits. Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, also known as the Inland Empire, are no…
Edited & Shot: Moving into middle class by making things
There’s no arguing the facts: Manufacturing, in California, is a huge element of the state’s economy. According to the state’s Employment Development Department, there are more than 360,000 workers in the industry, in Southern California alone. California Governor Jerry Brown and GO-Biz have made manufacturing a priority. Brown signed two bills designed to help manufacturing,…
I also edited this! A Tale of California’s Two Economies
Originally published on CAeconomy. California is an economy of regions—from the north to the south—from the inland to coastal communities—California’s regional economies are diverse. When the recession hit in 2008, no region was exempt. Five years later, the state’s economy is improved, but not every region has bounced back in the same way. In fact,…
Getting creative to pay for transportation as funding dries up
Rendering of the proposed California high-speed rail project in Bakersfield. (Photo Credit: California High Speed Rail Authority) Originally published on CAeconomy A small study from Minnesota showed people living near quality public transit can make them happier. Whether it's because the respondents have easy access to cool destinations via light rail or they don't get…
Doh! California jobs numbers show middle-income doughnut forming
While everyone is up on the news Dunkin' Donuts is coming back to California in a big way and that the cronut is a trend, it also seems there's an unfortunate doughnut appearing in the state's job market and middle-income Californians are in the hole. Read more...
I shot this! (and edited it): “Bankrolling BBQ”
Video story we did with restaurant owners talking about experience cooking up a new business, a barbecue joint in downtown L.A. Read more...
Patent Pending: Silicon Valley’s patent office could be snatched from jaws of sequester
If you're still wondering how the sequester might be putting some drag on the California economy, you could look in the Silicon Valley. Mandatory budget cuts are slowing the roll of a patent office which was scheduled to open in the state's innovation capital this year. But luckily there's legislation out there to stop the…
Making manufacturing cool key to revival in California
Google's Glass product wil be manufactured in California. (Photo Credit: Robert Neff/Flickr) It doesn't take a fictional ad guru like Don Draper to let you know working in manufacturing has a branding problem with younger generations. The good news for the California economy is there's a new image already being crafted. "Manufacturing is cool. It's…