Daily Business Report-July 30, 2020

The coronavirus has played havoc with California’s economy, state Democrats to consider exploiting a loophole to expand jobless benefits. (Image via iStock)

If feds let jobless benefits drop, California

Dems may ‘backdoor borrow’ to extend them

CalMatters

California has a lot riding on federal unemployment benefits set to expire this week.

The Golden State could sink even deeper into recession and lose thousands more jobs if the Republican proposal to decrease weekly benefits from $600 to $200 is enacted, according to several recent studies. Congressional Democrats want to keep the $600 weekly addition to state unemployment benefits, which in California max out at $450.

California would lose about $1.4 billion weekly and $12.9 billion by the end of September under the GOP plan, according to the nonpartisan Century Foundation. It would also lose nearly 560,000 jobs over the next year, more than any other state, the progressive Economic Policy Institute found.

But if California Democrats have their way, the $600 additional weekly benefits will continue even if the GOP’s plan is approved.

Lawmakers on Monday released a $100 billion plan that proposes borrowing money from the feds to make up the difference in unemployment benefits — one of the few options California has to stimulate its own economy, CalMatters’ Ben Christopher reports.

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Headline News: Botox injections may lessen depression

FDA database of drug side effects indicates the benefit may hold up no matter where Botox is injected

Botox, a medication derived from a bacterial toxin, is commonly injected to ease wrinkles, migraines, muscle spasms, excessive sweating and incontinence. Forehead injection of the medication is also currently being tested in clinical trials for its ability to treat depression.

Researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego have mined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database to see what nearly 40,000 people reported happened to them after treatment with Botox for a variety of reasons.

In the study, published July 30, 2020 in Scientific Reports, the team discovered that people who received Botox injections — at six different sites, not just in the forehead — reported depression significantly less often than patients undergoing different treatments for the same conditions.

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SDG&E customers to receive

$64 bill credit for August, September

In August and September, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) residential customers will see their electricity bills reduced each month by $32.28 – or a total of about $64 – thanks to the California Climate Credit program designed to fight climate change.

The credit is from a state program that requires power plants, natural gas providers, and other large industries that emit greenhouse gases to buy carbon pollution permits. The credit on customers’ bills is their share of the payments from the state’s program.

“This bill credit provides some financial relief at a critical time when many people need it due to the COVID-19 economic crisis and summer weather driving up energy use,” said Scott Crider, SDG&E’s vice president of customer services.

Originally, the credit was scheduled to appear on customer bills in April and October. To help reduce bill spikes in the summer, when energy usage typically goes up along with the temperature, SDG&E successfully petitioned the California Public Utilities Commission to change the timing of the credit to August and September – the months when air conditioning use typically peaks.

There is no action required to receive the credit. All residential customers, including community choice aggregation customers, will automatically receive this credit from SDG&E on their August and September billing cycles.

Residential customers with natural gas service received the natural gas portion of the California Climate Credit – $21.11 – in April. Next year, the electric and gas credit will follow the same schedule as this year.

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Sharp rise in consumer complaints

since the onset of COVID-19

The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has experienced a more than 40 percent increase in consumer complaints, calls and inquiries since the onset of COVID-19 in the state, DBO Commissioner Manuel P. Alvarez announced.

Pandemic-related concerns about mortgages, student loans, personal loans, questionable investments, and apparent fraudulent schemes prompted many of the additional complaints and consumer contacts the DBO received in March through the end of June.

“Predatory financial products and services proliferate in an economic crisis,” Alvarez said. “The DBO is stepping up its consumer protection efforts but the public also should be vigilant and extra careful during this historic pandemic.”

In the four-month span from March 1 through the end of June, consumer complaints have increased more than 37 percent to an average of 588 per month, email inquiries jumped 86 percent to almost 2,400 per month and consumer calls climbed 22 percent to more than 3,100 per month. Consumers can reach the DBO at (866) 275-2677 or Ask.DBO@dbo.ca.gov.

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Bites and Stings: The Worst Insects in the U.S.

Lawnstarter

Welcome to peak season for bites and stings. The summer months of July and August each send about 170,000 Americans to emergency rooms for treatment of bug bite and insect sting emergencies.

According to a study published by the Southern Medical Journal in May 2020, an average of 1.2 million Americans a year needed emergency treatment for bug bites and stings. These bites cost an estimated $5.7 billion in health care costs and lost wages.

But which bugs are worst? And where are particular bugs the worst?

To answer the questions, LawnStarter, the largest U.S. provider of lawn care, pest control, and other standard home services, evaluated biting and stinging pests in four ways. We looked for:

The most common pests. Our definition of pests is broad, including spiders, scorpions, and insects. If it’s not a mammal and not a reptile, we counted it.

Which ones cause the most trips to the doctor.

Which kill the most people.

Whose bite is most painful.

We tabulated the results for each pest and each state. Here’s what we found. Click here.

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 National Conflict Resolution Center to host national

conversation on race with best-selling authors

The National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC) will bring leading authors, scholars and journalists together for a national online conversation about race in America and bridging our country’s political divide.

The “A Path Forward” virtual event on Thursday, Aug. 20 from 7 p.m.- 8:15 p.m. PDT will feature an engaging discussion with two New York Times #1 bestselling authors and leading national scholars whose works have been made all the more relevant by recent protests against police brutality.

Speakers: Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” and Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.”

Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at CBS News and author of “They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of the Struggle for Black Lives,” will moderate.

This online conversation will be free to attend and will serve as the public launch of the organization’s comprehensive response to the turmoil created by the coronavirus pandemic and the social unrest caused by racial injustice.

click here to register online.

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Truvian Sciences receives FDA emergency

use authorization for COVID-19 test

Truvian Sciences, a San Diego health care company, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the company’s Easy Check COVID-19 IgM/IgGTM antibody test. Truvian’s Easy Check test is being produced at mass scale at a U.S.-based manufacturing facility and will be available to health care practitioners immediately.

The test, which has been tested and validated by leading health care professionals and scientific experts at University of California San Diego and the University of Chicago, exceeds the current EUA requirements for current COVID-19 antibody tests by delivering a sensitivity rate of 98.44 percent and a specificity of 98.9 percent. Additionally, the  cross-reactivity evaluation determined no cross-reactivity (0 percent) with HIV, Influenza A and B and several coronavirus strains.

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Aviation trailblazer Patty Wagstaff

featured in Facebook Live Event

Friday at S.D. Air & Space Museum

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is hosting a special Facebook Live Event with Patty Wagstaff, one of modern aviation’s most recognized trailblazers and ambassadors, on Friday, from 11 a.m. to noon.
The Facebook Live Event can be viewed at www.Facebook.com/SDASM.
“Patty Wagstaff has dedicated her life to inspiring others to learn the freedoms, challenges and rewards of careers in aviation,” said Jim Kidrick, president and CEO of the museum. “She has furthered the cause of aviation on so many levels, from her incredible air shows and aerobatic demonstrations, to engaging on a personal level with audiences everywhere she performs. She has inspired millions across the globe. She’s a Hall of Fame Aviator, in the mold of Amelia Earhart. She’s that good!”
Wagstaff is a six-time member of the US Aerobatic Team. She has won the gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympic-level international aerobatic competition. She is the first woman to win the title of U.S. National Aerobatic champion and one of the few people to win it three times.
She is a six-time recipient of the “First Lady of Aerobatics” Betty Skelton Award. In 2004, Patty was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. In 1994, she received the National Air and Space Museum’s Award for Current Achievement.
She is a recipient of the airshow industry’s most prestigious award, the “Sword of Excellence,” and the “Bill Barber Award for Showmanship.”

Wagstaff entered the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in 2007.

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Wilshire Quinn reaches $200 million

in bridge loans funded

Wilshire Quinn Capital Inc. announced Wednesday that its private mortgage fund, the Wilshire Quinn Income Fund, has funded more than $200 million in bridge loans since it was launched in 2011. The announcement comes just two years after the San Diego- based bridge lender reached the $100 million milestone.

Wilshire Quinn specializes in bridge loans, a type of asset-based loan financing through which a borrower receives funds secured by property. Through its emphasis on in-house loan origination, the loan process is streamlined and typically closes within seven days.

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Community college district students initially denied

CARES Act benefits to receive emergency grants

Up to 1,300 or more San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) students who had been excluded by the United States Department of Education from collecting Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security (CARES) Act funds will be receiving an emergency grant of $200 to help them cope with financial hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to United Way of San Diego County.

United Way of San Diego County is sending a total of $267,000 to the SDCCD. Students at Mesa College, the largest in the district, will share $96,120; City College is receiving $64,080; Miramar College is receiving $58,740; and San Diego Continuing Education is receiving $48,060.

Funds are limited to SDCCD students who were initially ruled ineligible for emergency CARES Act grants distributed by colleges and universities. Approximately 24,000 SDCCD students were kept from receiving those grants because of a federal directive limiting them to Title IV students – or those who qualified for federal financial aid. That effectively excluded DACA students, international students, and all Continuing Education students, among others. (Following a lawsuit filed by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and five local districts, including the SDCCD, the federal directive has since been placed on hold through a District Court judge’s preliminary injunction.)

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S.D. Women’s Week Leadership Conference Goes Global

New virtual format with no boundaries features Daymond John, Linda Cureton, Ed Smart, Amy Trask

San Diego Women’s Week, celebrating 11 years of inspiring, empowering and connecting women is now virtual with leadership events for all ages and professions. Attendees enjoy virtual networking, keynote speakers, panel discussions, and more, all wrapped around creative solutions to everyday issues affecting leaders in the workplace and in their daily lives.

WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 26 – Friday, Aug. 28, 2020

WHO: Keynotes for 2020 Leadership conference include:

• Daymond John from Shark Tank: Powershift, Transform Any Situation, Close Any Deal, and Achieve Any Outcome.
• Linda Cureton, Former CIO – NASA: Managing and Leading in a Tough Environment.
• Ed Smart, Father of Elizabeth Smart: Two Miracles, and Standing up for Yourself.
• Amy Trask, Former NFL Team Executive – Los Angeles Raiders: Leadership Vulnerabilities.

WHERE: Wednesday – Virtual Women and Wine 6-7:30 p.m.

Friday – Virtual Leadership Conference 8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Click here for complete list of speakers and additional details.