Daily Business Report-Feb. 26, 2021
A swing set stands alone in the Salton Sea. State officials are helping fund experimental projects to extract valuable lithium from the lake’s brine. (Photo by Shae Hammond for CalMatters)
Will the Salton Sea power the future?
California’s desert is littered with remnants of broken dreams — hidden ghost towns, abandoned mines and rusty remains of someone’s Big Idea. But nothing looms larger on an abandoned landscape than the Salton Sea, which languishes in an overlooked corner of the state.
Could one of California’s biggest environmental problems end up being one of its biggest solutions? A new state commission on lithium extraction was to meet for the first time Thursday to discuss the treasure lurking beneath the Salton Sea, whose plumes of toxic dust blanket the Imperial Valley, a long-overlooked corner of the state near the Arizona and Mexico borders.
The sea contains brine rich in lithium, one of the planet’s most prized elements used to manufacture electric-car batteries and other forms of energy storage, CalMatters’ Julie Cart reports.
Companies mining the sea to produce geothermal energy are beginning to explore harvesting lithium there, too — and California has already doled out $16 million in grants in the hopes of transforming the ailing desert into a juggernaut that will power the next century. But local residents worry lithium extraction could simply result in more waste and pollution.
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Del Mar Highlands Town Center announces
15 new tenants opening now through May
Del Mar Highlands Town Center is welcoming 15 new retailers in addition to The Sky Deck collective. The new locations will include popular and new local concepts, opening now through May 2021.
The dining, fitness, beauty, and specialty locations are a part of the Center’s $120 million expansion that has been underway over the last few years. The new tenants include Modern Acupuncture (now open), Beverly Hills Rejuvenation, LuLu Nails, Salted Barber, Atelier Optica, Dirty Dogs and Meow, StretchLab, Title Boxing Club, Row House, Iceskimo, Micheline’s Pita House; Xin Chao, A Vietnamese Eatery; Ike’s Love & Sandwiches, Breakers Coffee + Wine, and Ceviche Craft
The existing Club Pilates, The Dance Academy Del Mar, CeramiCafé, and iTan, will also be unveiling indoor and new locations at the center in 2021.
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Register by March 4 as a bidder
for county’s 2021 online property tax auction
Potential buyers have until March 4 to register as a bidder for the county’s 2021 online property tax auction, featuring 603 properties.
“Our auction website makes it incredibly simple,” said San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister. “Just visit sdttc.mytaxsale.com to see the list of available properties and for instructions on how to register.”
On the site, prospective bidders must submit a refundable $1,000 deposit and a nonrefundable $35 processing fee (some parcels may require a larger deposit). The auction itself will take place March 12-17.
“Right now, we have 29 residential or commercial properties, 510 timeshares, and 64 parcels of land for sale. If all properties are sold for the minimum bid, the county would bring in $11,428,000,” McAllister said. “Each parcel has property taxes that have been in default for at least five years, so we want to sell all these properties and get them back on the tax roll.”
All sales are final, so this is a buyer beware sale. The Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office recommends beginning the research process on its website.
NIH awards UC San Diego $33 million
for five COVID-19 diagnostic projects
University of California San Diego was awarded five Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), totaling nearly $33 million over four years. The purpose of the RADx initiative is to speed innovation in the development, commercialization and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.
There are several programs within the RADx initiative, including the RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program, which funds projects aimed at understanding why some communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and reducing the factors associated with these disparities, and the RADx Radical (RADx-rad) program, which supports innovative approaches to addressing gaps in COVID-19 testing.
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Testing rates surge by 98 percent as UC San Diego
screens 100,000 students in two months
The University of California San Diego is on target to conduct 100,000 COVID-19 student tests in the first two months of winter quarter, a 98 percent increase in testing compared to fall quarter. Student participation in the campus’ Return to Learn weekly mandated testing protocols has helped keep the positivity rate at 0.2 percent, compared to San Diego County’s average of 5 percent. By March 1, UC San Diego will have processed 200,000 student tests.
COVID-19 tests for employees have also been on the uptick, while infection rates have declined. Some 55,000 employee tests have been conducted since March of last year and the positivity rate for the population is 0.1 percent.
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Vaccinations to open to teachers, law
enforcement, food workers on Saturday
The County of San Diego announced that COVID-19 vaccinations will open Saturday, Feb. 27, to people who work in emergency services, child care and education, and food and agriculture (including grocery stores).
Currently, health care personnel, long-term care facility staff and residents, and those who are 65 years and older are eligible for vaccines.
The county decided to open the vaccines to more people in Phase 1B, Tier 1 as vaccine supplies increase and more progress is made in vaccinating those currently eligible.
Three agencies will take the lead in vaccinating some of the newly eligible groups.
The San Diego County Office of Education and the California Schools VEBA will exclusively schedule appointments for transitional kindergarten (TK) through 12th grade teachers and staff through vebavaccinates.com.
Appointments exclusive to the law enforcement community will be organized by Scripps Health.
NuVasive Inc. acquires Simplify Medical
San Diego-based NuVasive Inc. has acquired Simplify Medical, a privately held company and developer of the Simplify Cervical Artificial Disc for cervical total disc replacement (cTDR).
The acquisition of Simplify Medical adds the most clinically effective cTDR technology and further distinguishes NuVasive’s cervical portfolio in the market, according to the acquisition announcement.
The cervical segment of the global spine market represents a $2.6 billion opportunity, and the company is well-positioned to expand its reach with the addition of the Simplify Disc to its C360 portfolio, according to NuVasive.
“The acquisition of Simplify Medical advances our previously communicated long-term growth strategy by both expanding, and further distinguishing, our portfolio with industry-leading innovation,” said J. Christopher Barry, chief executive officer of NuVasive. “Combining the Simplify Disc with NuVasive’s C360 portfolio will enable us to provide surgeons with world-class cervical technology, regardless of their preferred procedural approach.”
San Diego Foundation pledges $200,000 gift to the
San Diego Community College District Promise program
The San Diego Foundation has pledged a gift of $200,000 to the San Diego Community College District’s (SDCCD) tuition-free San Diego Promise, a program that has allowed thousands of students who may not otherwise be able to afford college to pursue a degree.
The gift includes a $100,000 outright gift and a $100,000 matching gift that will be made once the SDCCD receives a similar amount from other donors.
The donation is part of a $1million, San Diego Promise campaign aimed at opening the doors of higher education to all. The gift is being made in honor of SDCCD Chancellor Constance M. Carroll, a nationwide leader in the Promise movement and the driving force behind the San Diego Promise. Carroll retires June 30, after serving 17 years as the chief executive officer at one of the largest community college districts in California. She is also past chair of The San Diego Foundation.
Shellye Archambeau: Unapologetically Ambitious
Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms
One of Silicon Valley’s first female African-American CEOs, Shellye Archambeau will share how she overcame the challenges she faced as a young black woman, wife, and mother, managing her personal and professional responsibilities while climbing the ranks at IBM and subsequently in her roles as CEO. Through the busts and booms of Silicon Valley in the early 2000s, this bold and inspiring talk will share the risks she took and the strategies she engaged to steer her family, her career, and her company MetricStream toward success.
Through her journey, Shellye discovered that ambition alone is not enough to achieve success.
JAarchambeauis one of the featured speakers at the 2021 San Diego Women’s Week
March 15-19 sponsored by the North San Diego Business Chamber
