Daily Business Report: Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023
Environmentalists say governor’s budget cuts
jeopardize climate programs, electric car mandate
By Nadia Lopez | CalMatters
Summary:
Newsom’s proposal to slash $6 billion in funding “unquestionably hurts the state more in the long-term,” one climate activist said
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Environmentalists slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom for slashing billions of dollars from initiatives that the governor has repeatedly called top priorities: efforts to combat climate change and transition to zero-emission vehicles.
Facing a projected $22.5 billion deficit, Newsom proposed to eliminate $6 billion in climate spending in his 2023-24 budget. The governor helped push a five-year $54 billion climate package approved by the Legislature during last year’s session, but he now proposes to cut it to $48 billion.
More than half of those proposed cuts – $3.3 billion – come from the state’s clean transportation initiatives. Newsom hopes to offset those reductions with federal funds and perhaps a new bond reserve, but the move comes just five months after the state approved a historic mandate for electrifying cars.
Now climate advocates are questioning whether the state will be able to fund its ambitious electrification efforts and ensure California transitions to clean cars as it faces an economic downturn.
“We recognize the financial situation, but this is exactly what we’ve been nervous about,” said Mike Young, political and organizing director at California Environmental Voters, an advocacy group. “We actually need to be investing and defending more of our climate investments and really pushing for that. We can’t get out of our situation if we’re going backwards.”
Top Photo: An electric vehicle charging station in Milbrae on July 29, 2022. (Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters)
Microsoft AI can copy a human
voice with only a 3-second sample
By Alex Blake
Microsoft recently released an artificial intelligence tool that’s able to copy the sound of a person’s voice after hearing just three seconds of speech. According to WindowsCentral, Microsoft’s technology, called VALL-E, can also replicate the emotions of the speaker, a feature that sets it apart from some of the other similar AI powered technologies. Audio clips generated by VALL-E can be found on GitHub. Some are better than others, but the best ones are very impressive and could easily be mistaken for a real voice.
Higgs Fletcher & Mack names Joshua P. Katz
and Geoffrey M. Thorne as its newest partners
Attorneys Joshua P. Katz and Geoffrey M. Thorne have been named the newest partners at Higgs Fletcher & Mack law firm.
Joshua Katz is a tax law attorney with a practice focused on tax controversy matters, including audits, appeals, tax liens, levies, installment agreements and offers in compromise.
He also assists clients with corporate and LLC issues from formation to dissolution. He represents both corporate and individual tax clients before the Internal Revenue Service, the California Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and other state taxing authorities.
Geoffrey Thorne is a business attorney and civil litigator, representing individuals and businesses ranging from local enterprises to Fortune 500 companies.
He counsels and defends clients throughout California in business and employment disputes—including high-stakes wage-and-hour class actions, single-plaintiff harassment and discrimination claims, and trade secret theft. He also provides training to management and workforces on employment law updates.
Trevor Bender named AFCEA International’s
regional VP for Southern California Region
Trevor Bender, a San Diego business development professional in the IT field, has been named AFCEA International’s newest regional vice president (RVP) for the Southern California Region.
Bender has been with Cypher Analytics for seven years and currently serves as its director of business development.
His RVP responsibilities extend to the Camp Pendleton and San Diego chapters of AFCEA International.
AFCEA International is a professional membership association for those engaged in defense, intelligence, security and all related technology disciplines.
Members come from military, government, industry and academic organizations and individuals worldwide.
Supervisor Nora Vargas elected chair
of County Board of Supervisors
Supervisor Nora Vargas was unanimously voted in as the new County Board of Supervisors Chair on Tuesday. Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer was chosen as vice chair and Supervisor Joel Anderson will serve as chair pro tem.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher chose not to seek a third term as board chair while he considers a run for state Senate.
Vargas and Lawson-Remer have forged a strong working partnership over their first two years in office, co-authoring a myriad of legislative priorities including landmark proposals for developing a Regional Decarbonization Framework, creating county Environmental Sustainability Plans, and a Green Jobs Program for San Diego youth, as well as initiatives protecting reproductive freedom, advancing criminal justice reform and focusing on housing affordability.
Case Kamshad, Justin Prybutok and Kathleen Jones-Raya
named new partners at Antonyan Miranda law firm
San Diego-based family law firm Antonyan Miranda has named three new partners — attorneys Case Kamshad, Justin Prybutok and Kathleen Jones-Raya.
Case Kamshad practices in all areas of family law, including working on complex case matters such as financial analysis and tracing, cross-border issues, custody and visitation disputes, post-judgment enforcement, and domestic violence restraining orders. Kamshad has experience in civil litigation, bankruptcy law, and patent law, and is a licensed real estate agent. He is a Certified Family Law Specialist.
Justin Prybutok represents a wide range of clients in all types of family law matters, including contested child custody, domestic violence restraining orders, asset division, and jurisdictional disputes. He also served on the board of directors of the San Diego Family Law Bar Association. He earned his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Kathleen Jones-Raya is a family law attorney and the director of client and community relations at Antonyan Miranda. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of client-case relations and community relations on behalf of the firm. Prior to joining Antonyan Miranda, Raya was a litigation partner in a top-tier, Certified Family Law Specialist firm, where she lectured and taught at local law schools in San Diego.
39th Annual Economic Roundtable set for Jan. 18
This year’s 39th Annual Economic Roundtable — a free in-person and virtual event will take place from 8 to 10 a.m. on Jan. 18 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice a the University of San Diego. It is sponsored by the County of San Diego, USD Knauss School of Business and the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Click here to reserve. If watching virtually, a livestream link will be available a few days before the event.
The UPS Store ranked No. 4 among the top
franchises in Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500
The San Diego-based UPS Store Inc., one of the world’s largest franchisors of retail shipping, postal, print and business service centers, was recognized in the top five for the seventh consecutive year by Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500, the world’s most comprehensive franchise ranking. The 44th annual Entrepreneur Franchise 500 is a highly sought-after honor in the franchise industry. In 2022, The UPS Store network expanded its footprint to more than 5,100 center locations across the U.S. and Canada, including the addition of more “nontraditional” centers inside hotels, military bases, college campuses.
San Diego Automotive Museum to hold
Cars & Coffee community event Jan. 15
The San Diego Automotive Museum (SDAM) in Balboa Park will host its monthly Cars & Coffee community event on Sunday, Jan. 15, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. The “Unpopular Mechanics: A Look at Some of History’s Most Controversial Cars and their Stories” exhibit is on display until March 26. The musem will be showing off some of the most controversial cars to ever hit the road and delving into why they were viewed as so. Some featured vehicles include the 1936 Chrysler Imperial Airflow, 1936 DeSoto Airflow, 1957 Ford Edsel, 1975 AMC x Levi’s Gremlin X, and a 2001 Pontiac Aztek.
Scholarships available for upcoming
San Diego STEAM Educators Conference
Hands-On Technology Education and UC San Diego Extended Studies announced that scholarships are now available for the upcoming San Diego STEAM Educators Conference on March 17-18. The two-day professional development and networking event is designed for educators at all levels and will feature 100 percent interactive and hands-on workshops with local experts in a diverse range of STEAM subject areas. All attendees will participate in customized STEAM planning sessions, receive personal guidance and support from STEAM experts, and walk away with a curated, actionable plan ready to share with students. For more information, visit www.sdsteameducatorsconference.com.
Qualcomm announces Snapdragon
Satellite for premium phones
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite, announced at CES 2023, is designed to provide global, two-way messaging capabilities for smartphones. The solution is supported by Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems and weather-resilient L-band spectrum for uplink and downlink, provided by the Iridium satellite constellation, which has been fully operational since 2019. “Snapdragon Satellite can expand to other devices, including laptops, tablets, vehicles and IoT,” said the company. “As the Snapdragon Satellite ecosystem grows, OEMs and app developers can differentiate and offer unique branded services taking advantage of satellite connectivity.”
Element delivers $200 genome on
AVITI benchtop sequencing system
Element Biosciences, Inc.— the developer of an innovative DNA sequencing platform disrupting genomics — announced a new throughput-based option for its AVITI System that provides the highest quality sequencing on a benchtop for as low as $200 a genome, or $2 per gigabase. For single cell sequencing, the new model offers potential costs as low as $0.60 per million reads, with sequencing runs finishing in less than 24 hours.
“Our goal is to enable labs everywhere to produce high-quality data at the lowest cost,” said Molly He, Element CEO and co-founder.
Internova Travel Group holds Internova PLUS event
Internova Travel Group, one of the world’s largest travel services companies, is redefining how luxury travel providers, travel agencies and advisors collaborate at the inaugural Internova PLUS event, Jan. 17-20 in San Diego. Internova PLUS will be held at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar. To learn more about Internova and its portfolio of travel agency brands, visit https://internova.com.
