Daily Business Report: Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021
How much will California’s EDD scandal cost
Gov. Newsom in today’s recall election?
By Emiy Hoeven | CalMatters
Had Ivy Bland been able to access more than $9,000 of locked unemployment benefits, she and her husband might have been able to put off their move to Florida.
Had Lindsay Green’s benefits not been frozen due to suspected fraud, she might have kept her medical, dental and car insurance — and not been forced to go on food stamps.
Had Susan Baker’s unemployment payments not suddenly stopped, she might have avoided dipping into her savings to make house payments.
On the other hand, had the state Employment Development Department’s system worked perfectly, Ginny Silver might still have only 37 subscribers to her YouTube channel.
Instead, she has more than 72,000.
The 36-year-old Elk Grove mother of two posts daily videos demystifying the inner workings of EDD by discussing work search requirements, pending payments and tricks for reaching the notoriously backlogged call centers. More than 1 million people watch her videos a month, enough for Silver — who went on unemployment at the beginning of the pandemic when her wedding photography business shut down — to not only get off unemployment herself but also hire an assistant.
She currently makes more money from her EDD videos than she does from her photography business, which resumed once California began to reopen.
TOP PHOTO: Ginny Silver of Elk Grove has turned frustration with the California Employment Development Department into a successful YouTube channel. (Photo courtesy of Ginny Silver)
Polling error: How one survey
changed the Newsom recall campaign
The early August survey suggested Gov. Gavin Newsom would get ousted — and scared Democrats and progressives into ramping up their efforts. Republican Larry Elder’s rise only fueled those fears.
Prebys Cancer Center opens at Scripps Mercy Hospital
Comprehensive facility serves patients in central, south San Diego County
A new comprehensive cancer care facility opened its doors Monday to serve patients from central and south San Diego County. Prebys Cancer Center, located on the campus of
Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, is part of Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center, a clinically integrated cancer care program that treats patients throughout San Diego County.
The $59 million Prebys Cancer Center is the second of two regional cancer hubs offered as part of the partnership between Scripps Health and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The other hub, located on the Torrey Pines Mesa, serves the northern region.
The new outpatient center will offer a wide range of advanced cancer treatments and patient support services. The 40,000-square-foot, four-story facility is named for the late Conrad Prebys, who earlier donated $25 million to support the facility and an endowed medical director position at Scripps MD Anderson.
Prebys Cancer Center is now open for physician appointments for new and existing patients. Additional patient care services are expected to begin at the new facility in the coming weeks, including radiation therapy and immunotherapy, targeted therapy and chemotherapy infusion.
Vista Outdoor announces agreement to
acquire San Diego-based Foresight Sports
Vista Outdoor Inc., a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of products in the outdoor sports and recreation markets, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire San Diego-based Foresight Sports, a leading designer and manufacturer of golf performance analysis, entertainment, and game enhancement technologies, for $474 million.
Foresight Sports is a vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing company that produces launch monitors, simulators, performance/entertainment software and smart mobility solutions for on- and off-course golf activities and a variety of other sports and games.
Earlier this year, Vista Outdoor brand Bushnell Golf entered into an exclusive domestic partnership with Foresight Sports to bring pro-level launch monitor technology to the everyday golfer. The Launch Pro, a personal launch monitor built on the industry’s best and most widely accepted technology, will be available for purchase at BushnellGolf.com and select golf retail outlets nationwide this fall.
Medical device manufacturer acquires
MindFlow Design of Carlsbad
Midwest Products & Engineering, a design and contract manufacturer of medical devices, announced its acquisition of MindFlow Design, a Carlsbad medical product design firm offering concept through manufacture-ready product specifications with a three-phase proprietary design process.
“We employ a human-centered design philosophy that emphasizes the role of user research in product development that is critical and necessary for delivering successful medical device to the highest standards of safety and efficacy. And now, with MPE’s design and manufacturing process, we can make final products even better, said Chris Ross, founder of Mindflow.
Midwest Products & Engineering is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisc.
UC San Diego leads a $12.25 million
grant to improve epilepsy treatment
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $12.25 million grant to the University of California San Diego to develop and enhance brain-sensing and brain-stimulating platform technologies to enable treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.
The project is led by UC San Diego electrical engineering professor Shadi Dayeh, who leads the Integrated Electronics and Biointerfaces Laboratory and brings together expertise from all across UC San Diego, including the Jacobs School of Engineering and Health Sciences.
The nationwide team includes researchers and longtime collaborators of Dayeh at Massachusetts General Hospital led by Dr. Sydney Cash and Oregon Health & Sciences University led by Dr. Ahmed Raslan.
Epilepsy, a group of neurological disorders characterized by repeated seizures, affects more than 3.4 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Linewize acquires online safety provicer Smoothwall,
hires digital wellness expert Teodora Pavkovic
Linewize, a division of FamilyZone, an education technology company serving more than nine million K-12 students across the globe, announced:
• The acquisition of U.K-based software company Smoothwall, one of the world’s largest online student safety providers.
• A strategic hire with the addition of psychologist Teodora Pavkovic as lead cyber safety and digital wellness expert.
Both moves increase Linewize’s presence and foothold in the K-12 cyber safety space during a critical time, positioning them to deliver a more comprehensive portfolio of online safety and parental control products and further enabling Linewize to deliver on their goal of protecting every child’s digital journey, from the classroom to the home.
Kenneth Moore joins Intesa Communications
group as a senior account manager
Kenneth Moore has joined the government relations team at Intesa Communications Group as a senior account manager. Moore will support the firm’s Central San Diego-focused government relations practice.
“Ken is one of the brightest and most astute public affairs professionals in San Diego and beyond. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Intesa family and look forward to seeing him in action as he helps us support and grow our government relations work,” said Maddy Kilkenny, partner at Intesa Communications Group.
Over his nearly decade-long career at two regional public affairs agencies, Moore has developed and overseen award-winning, multi-faceted public affairs campaigns for land ballot measure, renewable energy, sustainability, housing, and mobility clients across Southern California.
He has created broad-based coalitions, developed inclusive outreach and education programs and helped secure decisive victories from city councils and at the ballot box.
Moore serves as vice chair of the Downtown Community Planning Council – San Diego and on the board of directors of I Love a Clean San Diego.
He is also involved with the Downtown San Diego Partnership, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in managerial organizational communications and a minor in public relations from Point Loma Nazarene University.
Molly Humphreys joins Higgs Fletcher & Mack
Attorney Molly Humphreys has joined Higgs Fletcher & Mack as part of the firm’s business litigation, transportation law and products liability law practice groups.
Humphreys’ litigation experience includes representing parties in serious personal injury auto and premise cases, including wrongful death. She also has represented military families in matters related to toxic mold and substandard conditions in privatized military housing.
While she was in law school, Humphreys was an intern for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California in both the criminal and civil divisions.
Humphreys earned her law degree from the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law, and previously earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from USD.
In law school, Humphreys served as president of Internal Affairs for the student branch of Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. She was also a member of USD’s mock trial team and competed in the Association of Business Trial Lawyers’ mock trial competition, where she was recognized as the “Best Trial Lawyer” of the tournament. She is actively involved in the Federal Bar Association and the San Diego County Bar Association.
VA launches program to improve emergency
care for the nation’s older veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched a nationwide movement to improve emergency department (ED) care for older Veterans treated in VA Medical Centers and become the nation’s largest integrated health network with specialized geriatric emergency care.
The VA Geriatric Emergency Department Initiative is a public-private collaboration between the VA, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), The John A. Hartford Foundation, and the West Health Institute to establish 70 of the VA’s EDs as accredited geriatric emergency departments (GEDs). GEDs are better equipped to treat older adults with complex conditions, catch unmet care needs, and develop teamwork strategies to better coordinate emergency and follow-up care. Recent studies have found GEDs can decrease hospital admissions and lower total healthcare costs.
Don and Karen Cohn give $2.5 million
to UC San Diego health neurosurgery program
Don and Karen Cohn have given $2.5 million to create the Don and Karen Cohn Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery at University of California San Diego School of Medicine. The gift will support excellence in research, education and clinical care in the field of neurological surgery.
Alexander Khalessi, M.D., neurosurgeon at UC San Diego Health, and chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery, has been named the inaugural chair holder.
In addition to the $2.5 million gift, an additional $500,000 will be provided from the UC San Diego Chancellor’s Endowed Chair Challenge. An endowed chair is one of the highest honors that an academic institution can confer upon a faculty member. It recognizes excellence in research and clinical practice.
