Daily Business Report-Nov. 30, 2020
Holiday shopping (Photo courtesy of JLL)
JLL Survey: consumers planning
to spend lesss this holiday season
COVID worries will shift much of holiday shopping
from brick-and-mortar stores to online
This holiday season might not be so merry for retailers, according to the 2020 U.S. Retail Holiday Survey Report from JLL. And the culprit, to no one’s surprise, is COVID-19.
JLL surveyed 1,089 U.S. consumers online in September and found that shoppers are cutting their holiday spending this year. According to the survey, the average consumer plans to spend $694 this year on holiday spending. That’s down 20.5 percent from the $873 on average consumers said they spent last year.
The survey found that consumers of all ages and income levels will spend less on average this year and that COVID worries will shift much holiday shopping from brick-and-mortar stores to online.
JLL found that the prime spending cohorts, those shoppers 30 to 44 years old, will cut their spending the most, reducing their holiday shopping spending by 31.5 percent.
High-income shoppers earning more than $200,000 a year will cut their spending the least, by just 3.9 percent. Shoppers earning from $50,000 to $100,000 will cut their spending by 26 percent.
Shoppers’ reliance on online shopping will remain during the holiday season, too, according to JLL. The survey says that the percentage of consumers who plan to shop at purely online retailers such as Amazon rose more than 16 percentage points year-over-year to 58.5 percent. Shoppers who plan to order online from physical retailers nearly doubled, climbing to 48.5 percent. The survey found, too, that nearly one-quarter of shoppers plan to use curbside pickup for their holiday shopping.
One thing that hasn’t changed from last year? The top three retailers at which consumers plan to do their holiday shoppping. This year, as they did last year, consumers chose Amazon, Walmart and Target as their top three holiday shopping destinations.
The percentage of consumers who chose Amazon as one of their top holiday retailers actually increased this year from 38.1 percent in 2019 to 53.6 percent in 2020. These figures rose from 36.2 percent to 47.2 percent for Walmart and from 29.6 percent to 39.4 percent for Target.
________________________________________________
Another employment department scandal:
State paid inmates $1 billion in fraudulent claims
California may have paid up to $1 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims filed on behalf of prison and jail inmates in what prosecutors are calling “the most significant fraud on taxpayer funds in California history.”
The state paid more than 35,000 claims under state prisoners’ names, with one inmate collecting nearly $49,000, a group of district attorneys and a federal prosecutor said at a Tuesday press conference. California also paid more than $421,000 to 133 Death Row inmates — including Scott Peterson, a San Quentin prisoner convicted of killing his wife and unborn child. Some of the claimants used pseudonyms like “Poopy Britches” or “John Doe,” and most targeted federal benefits distributed by the state.
In a sharply worded letter, the district attorneys asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to get personally involved and immediately implement changes at the state unemployment department — including a system to cross-check prison and jail rosters against unemployment claimants. California is one of 15 states that doesn’t have such a system, according to the letter.
Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney: “We are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of serial killers, rapists and child molesters. We need to turn the spigot off.”
Newsom: “I have directed the Office of Emergency Services to stand up a task force to coordinate state efforts and support investigations by local district attorneys.”
Click here for the full story…
________________________________________________
Board of Supervisors approves more funds
for businesses impacted by COVID-19
The County Board of Supervisors has voted to provide more stimulus funds to businesses forced to close indoor operations after the region was placed in the Purple Tier. The board gave the green light for $20 million in general funds to be added to the Small Business Stimulus Grant Program established in May.
The funds will be available to businesses and nonprofit organizations in the following industries: Restaurants; Gyms and fitness centers, including yoga studios; movie theaters;
museums, oos and aquariums; event planners (weddings, festivals, fairs, etc.)
Businesses in these industries had to close or stop indoor operations to limit the spread of COVID-19. The financial relief will help them to reverse some of the disproportional impact on their operations and keep some from having to close permanently.
The County’s five supervisorial district offices will review and recommend applicants for $4 million in funds each. Applications are available at the Small Business Stimulus Grant Program website. Award recipients will also be posted on the site.
________________________________________________
General Atomics awarded
$93.3 million smart sensor contract
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) has been awarded a $93.3 million contract from the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to enhance the autonomous sensing capabilities of unmanned aircraft. The goal of the JAIC Smart Sensor project is to advance Artificial Intelligence technology by demonstrating object recognition algorithms using an unmanned aircraft, as well as employing onboard AI to control the aircraft’s sensors and direct autonomous flight.
“GA-ASI is excited to leverage the considerable investment we have made to advance the JAIC’s autonomous sensing objective,” said Vice President of Strategic Development J.R. Reid. “This will bring a tremendous increase in unmanned systems capabilities for applications across the full-range of military operations.”
GA-ASI will deploy the technology on the MQ-9 Reaper Remotely Piloted Aircraft configured with multiple sensors, including GA-ASI’s Reaper Defense Electronic Support System and Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar. GA-ASI’s Metis product will be used to command the MQ-9. Metis is an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance tasking and intelligence-sharing application that enables operators to specify effects-based mission objectives and receive automatic notification of actionable intelligence.
________________________________________________
Lenny Leszczynski named chief executive
officer of San Diego Automotive Museum
San Diego native Lenny Leszczynski, who joined the San Diego Automotive Museum as the executive director in January 2020, has been booted up to chief executive officer, effective immediately.
Leszczynski brings more than 25 years of nonprofit professional experience to the Automotive Museum. His experience also includes more than 15 years of developing, managing, and reporting budgets for community programs and over 10 years of fundraising experience.
Leszczynski prides himself on having advanced skills in organizational leadership, program development, fiscal management, fundraising, and forging community collaborations. He has a degree in Child and Adolescent Development from California State University Northridge and has a Master’s degree in Business Management and Leadership from WGU.
Leszczynski has fond childhood memories of playing in Balboa Park and visiting the museums, particularly the San Diego Automotive Museum. His love for cars started when his uncle took him to the Peterson Museum and he fell in love with a 1964 Chevy Impala; five years later he bought one for himself as his first car. When he is not at the museum, he can be found at the softball field with his wife and four daughters.
________________________________________________
Michael Bradshaw named executive vice president
of real estate lending at San Diego County Credit Union
Michael Bradshaw has joined San Diego County Credit Union as executive vice president of real estate lending. Bradshaw has over 25 years of experience in real estate lending management.
Before joining SDCCU, Bradshaw served most recently as the senior vice president, Mortgage and Consumer Division at Triumph Bancorp where he helped with the acquisition of several banks and restructure of the consumer and mortgage lending divisions. Prior to that, he spent seven years at the Bank of Texas restructuring and building their mortgage group as senior vice president of the mortgage division.
Bradshaw held senior leadership roles at Washington Mutual and Bank of America. While at Washington Mutual, where he served as the regional executive over the company’s largest region, producing over $2 billion in annual production, Bradshaw was selected as Chairman Circle winner and Premier Group winner.
After joining Bank of America to become the lending executive over multiple states in the southern United States, Bradshaw held various senior leadership roles including national executive of strategic alliances and received the Platinum Award for his contributions as a manager.
________________________________________________
Solving a Mystery: How the TB backterium
develops rapid resistance to antibiotics
For a slow-growing microbe that multiplies infrequently, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis (TB) has long puzzled researchers as to how it develops resistance to antibiotics so quickly, in a matter of weeks to months.
Now, TB researchers at San Diego State University have uncovered a crucial clue to the mystery: the answer may lie in the epigenetic domain rather than the genetic domain where most scientists have concentrated their efforts.
Their discovery could help advance new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine targets.
Worldwide, TB is among the top 10 causes of death. It killed 1.5 million people in 2018 and about 10 million people fall ill with it each year, according to the World Health Organization.
________________________________________________
PACE hosts drive to collect ‘everyday necessities’
for North County senior citizens
The nonprofit West PACE has started its first-ever collection campaign called “Everyday Necessities Drive for North County Seniors.” The organizers encourage San Diego County businesses, community groups, and individuals to donate new and unused toiletries, games, puzzles, socks, masks and other care items that will be assembled into holiday gift packages and new year bundles.
The goal is to collect hundreds of items to create 200 bundles which will be gifted to vulnerable North County seniors with chronic care needs who rely on West PACE for high-quality, comprehensive, and coordinated health care, social services which help them successfully age in place rather than in a nursing home.
In addition to distributing items during the holiday season, items will also be used to stock the center’s “Care Closet,” where West PACE team members can provide these extras to seniors in need or by request from caregivers throughout the year.
Items can be dropped off at the West PACE center, located at 1706 Descanso Ave. in San Marcos during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., through Dec. 31.
All donors who drive-in to drop-off items at West PACE will receive a coffee and a holiday treat.
________________________________________________
Study: COVID-19 infection combined with
blood clots worsen patient outcomes
While respiratory issues continue to be the most common symptom of a COVID-19 infection, new research indicates the disease could also be associated with hypercoagulability, or increased tendency of the blood to clot. In a new study published Nov. 20, 2020 in the journal EClinical Medicine by The Lancet , researchers from UC San Diego Health found that blood clots led to an increased risk of death by 74 percent.
Led by Mahmoud Malas, division chief of vascular and endovascular sugery at UC San Diego Health, researchers reviewed 42 different studies involving more than 8,000 patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Using random models, the team produced summary rates and odds ratios of mortality in COVID-19 patients with thromboembolism, blood clots — and compared them to patients without these conditions to determine what effect blood clots may have on risk of death.
