Daily Business Report-Aug. 16, 2018
Patrick Wright’s Ferret PAC logo. (Courtesy of Patrick Wright)
Political Action Committee
organized to legalize ferrets
By Dan Morain | CALmatters
Gavin Newsom has raised more than $22 million for his run for governor. Patrick Wright of La Mesa hopes he notices one donation of $125 from his Ferret PAC.
Wright, who answers his phone “Ferrets Anonymous,” has been on a mission for 25 years to persuade California’s legislators to legalize ferrets as pets, without success. . He hopes Newsom will change that if he is elected governor.
Wright told me: “He accepted the money. Sometimes they return it. I got a nice thank you note.”
Then again, the Newsom campaign has not returned Wright’s calls or responded to his pleading tweets. Wright also approached Republican John Cox, Newsom’s opponent, at a campaign stop at Rudfords Diner in San Diego, and asked for his support:
“He looked at me like I had three eyes.”
State scientists and environmentalists oppose legalizing ferrets, believing they will escape and do what their cousins the weasels do: reproduce and hunt prey, including burrowing birds and other native critters. Although Newsom’s spokesman opted against discussing the topic in any detail, Wright should not count on Newsom reversing that stand.
“We’ve surveyed candidates in the past, but I think asking as a PAC will get us taken a bit more seriously,” said Wright in an emailed newsletter announcing the PAC’s formation.
This story originally appeared in WhatMatters, our daily roundup of the most important policy and politics news in California.
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Cannabis tax revenue increases
to $74.24 million in 2nd Quarter
Tax revenue from the cannabis industry in California totaled $74.24 million in the second quarter of 2018, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The total includes state cultivation, excise and sales taxes, but does not include tax revenue collected by each jurisdiction.
California’s excise tax on cannabis generated $43.9 million in revenue during the second quarter of calendar year 2018. The cultivation tax generated $4.5 million, and the sales tax generated $26.3 million in revenue. Medicinal cannabis is exempt from sales tax if the purchaser holds a valid Medical Marijuana Identification card.
The revenue from 1st quarter 2018 was $60.9 million, which included $32 million in excise tax, $1.6 million cultivation tax, and $27.3 million in sales tax.
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Mission Valley stadium ballot initiatives
to get airing at Nov. 22 panel discussion
The two competing Mission Valley stadium initiatives on the November general election ballot will be explained at an Aug. 22 panel discussion sponsored by C-3 and the League of Women Voters. It will be staged at noon at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse Restaurant on Harbor Island.
One initiative (SoccerCity) is sponsored by a private investment group, to have the city sell them the 160-acre stadium site for a mix of commercial and residential development at a price to be determined. The other (SDSU West) would turn over the site to San Diego State University for campus expansion and tech-industry development, under terms of a lease and purchase agreement yet to be negotiated. Both proposals include a new stadium and some form of improvements to San Diego’s river park.
“This vote will determine the future of the largest developable property in the City of San Diego, and our forum is one small step we can take to shine a light on the competing proposals,” said Kathleen Ferrier, C-3’s president.
Moderated by former San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, the panel of speakers includes:
• Nick Stone, spokesperson for SoccerCity
• Jack McGrory, former City Manager, representing SDSU West
• Cary Lowe, land use attorney and C-3 board member.
This event is open to the public; tickets are $35. For reservations or more information, visit www.c3sandiego.org or call (858) 633-3860.
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Qualcomm settles anti-trust
dispute with Taiwan regulators
Qualcomm recently announced that it has reached a settlement with the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission in an anti-trust case for about $93 million to safeguard its patent-licensing business.
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Research team awarded $2 million to study
brain circuitry driving alcohol dependence
Neuroscientists at Scripps Research have been awarded a grant of more than $2 million from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study how an understudied brain region promotes alcohol drinking.
Candice Contet, an associate professor at Scripps Research, will lead the five-year project. The work will build on her past success in identifying a cluster of neurons linked to the symptoms of alcohol dependence in mice. These neurons are located in a small region of the brain called the parasubthalamic nucleus, and are “strategically positioned to influence motivated behaviors,” says Contet.
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UC San Diego named
world’s 15th best university
A new ranking has listed the University of California San Diego 15th among the world’s best universities for its award-winning faculty and alumni, as well as producing high-impact and prolific research. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) released its new report of the best universities, also naming UC San Diego 13th among U.S. colleges and fourth among the country’s public universities.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities annual list has consistently included UC San Diego among the top 20 higher education institutions throughout the globe for nearly a decade.
UC San Diego 2nd Best U.S.
University, says Money Magazine
The University of California San Diego is a national leader in transforming lives of low-income students. One of the best schools for students to get a quality education at an affordable price, Money Magazine has listed the campus in the No. 2 spot in its new 2018 Best Colleges for Your Money ranking.
U.S. News ranks Scripp hospitals
No. 1 in San Diego region
The combined programs of Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla rank No. 1 in the San Diego region for the second year in a row and are among the best in the nation in seven specialties, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals list, which was released Tuesday.
U.S. News ranks UC San Diego Health nationally
UC San Diego Health and its medical and surgical specialties have again been nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report for 2018-19. comprehensive care. UC San Diego ranked in six specialtie
SDSU ranked among nation’s
best by The Princeton Review
San Diego State University has been named one of the country’s top colleges by The Princeton Review. Given the exceptional academic and social experiences San Diego State University provides its students, the institution is becoming a mainstay on The Princeton Review’s Best 384 Colleges list.
Cal State San Marcos gets funding
to assist math and science students
Cal State San Marcos is one of six California State University campuses that earned National Science Foundation funding to support educational opportunities for math and science students pursuing a K-12 teaching credential. The university will receive $842,267 from the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program for a project titled “Cultivating STEM Teaching Identity in Noyce Teacher Scholars.”
Rong-Ji Chen, an associate professor in CSUSM’s School of Education, is the principal investigator on the project.
Personnel Announcements
Natalie Dahl named a managing
director for CBRE in San Diego
Natalie Dahl has been appointed managing director for investor services for CBRE in the San Diego region. Dahl will drive the firm’s overall strategy for its investor clients and oversee its Investor Leasing, Investment Sales, Debt & Structured Finance, Asset Services and Valuation & Advisory Services businesses across all property types for its three San Diego-area offices. Dahl will also help lead CBRE’s Capital Markets business across Southern California.
She will help oversee more than 250 real estate professionals in Carlsbad, San Diego Downtown and San Diego UTC.
Dahl succeeds Paul Komadina, who was named senior managing director and regional manager of CBRE’s Arizona operations, based in Phoenix.
Dahl was previously a member of CBRE’s Northern California Capital Markets team, based in the company’s Downtown San Francisco office. Prior to that role, Dahl spent more than 10 years honing her expertise in sales management and platform operations while working on CBRE’s national Capital Markets leadership team, based in San Diego.
Jaya Cummaragunta named COO
for Girl Scouts San Diego
Girl Scouts San Diego has named Jaya Cummaragunta to the position of chief operations officer. She will oversee the finance, human resources, property, and IT departments for the organization, which serves 23,000 members in San Diego and Imperial counties.
Cummaragunta spent 11 years at the WD-40 Company in business, project, and portfolio management; global innovation; and research and development. Prior to that, she did marketing, product management, research, and development for Earthbound Farm and Fresh Express/Chiquita Brands International, both located in Northern California. Most recently, Cummaragunta was COO for alumni at the University of California, San Diego, where she provided leadership to execute innovative approaches to engaging with alumni and students.
“The COO search committee was impressed by Jaya’s diversity of experience within the corporate world and higher education,” said Girl Scouts San Diego CEO Carol Dedrich. “She has a big picture vision and impressive record of innovating, improving processes, and executing successful solutions.”
Cummaragunta is certified as a project management professional. She earned an MBA at Santa Clara University; a Master of Science degree in horticulture at the University of Maryland, College Park; and a bachelor’s degree in horticulture at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India.
Nicole Capretz appointed to
the state Strategic Growth Council
Nicole Capretz of San Diego, an attorney and executive director of Climate Action Campaign and the primary author of the city’s clean energy Climate Action Plan, has been appointed to the state Strategic Growth Council. The appointment was announced by Sen. President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, chair of the Senate Rules Committee.
Capretz has played a pivotal role in helping other cities in the region adopt 100 percent clean energy climate plans and is a prominent advocate for Community Choice Energy in Southern California. She is a board member of Trees 100 and Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, and is a member of the Sierra Club.
Capretz received a Bachelor of Arts in in Law and Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Arts in Environmental Law, and a Juris Doctorate from Vermont Law School.
The Strategic Growth Council was created to take action with regard to coordinating programs of member state agencies to improve air and water quality, improve natural resource protection, increase the availability of affordable housing, amd improve transportation.
