Daily Business Report: Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023
How much does the Legislature look like California?
By John Osborn D’Agostino, Sameea Kamal and Ariel Gans | CalMatters
Summary:
The new state Legislature is the most diverse ever, but by some measures, it still isn’t fully representative of California.
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The California Legislature that reconvenes today is the most diverse ever. It includes a record number of women, occupying 50 of 120 seats, with one still being contested. It also includes an all-time high of Latino legislators, as well as lawmakers who openly identify as LGBTQ. And it now includes its first Muslim and Sikh members.
But how representative are legislators of California as a whole?
The proportion of women, Latinos and Asian Americans still isn’t at parity with their share of the state’s population.
And how much does representation matter, anyway?
Advocacy groups and legislators, themselves, point to issues that have received and will receive more attention at the state Capitol, including reproductive health and pay equity, and bills that became law. Last session, for instance, the LGBTQ caucus successfully pushed landmark legislation to make California a refuge for transgender health care.
Take a deeper look with the CalMatters interactive
Top illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
SDG&E natural gas bills
to double this month
A household gas bill of $105 is expected to leap to about $225 in January
Ouch!
Wholesale prices for natural gas have gone through the roof, soaring higher than predicted for the month of January, and San Diego Gas & Electric officials warn customers with gas hookups to prepare for price shocks. The rate for natural gas has doubled compared to last month, with the price per therm jumping from $2.55 in December to $5.11 in January.
A typical SDG&E residential customer uses an average of 44 therms of gas in January — usually the coldest month of the year.
If your household gas bill came to about $105 last January, SDG&E now estimates this month’s bill will come to about $225. That’s an increase of 114 percent.
Visit Oceanside working on first
Sustainable Tourism Master Plan
Recognizing the importance of smart tourism growth that aligns with environmental and community priorities, Visit Oceanside is collaborating with the City of Oceanside to develop the destination’s first ever Sustainable Tourism Master Plan. The plan will provide a 10-year blueprint for stewarding tourism growth towards a sustainable future to benefit the economy, environment, residents and visitors.
Oceanside is the first destination in San Diego County, and one of only two California destinations, to utilize best practices and criteria established by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) in developing its plan. The destination will be evaluated against GSTC standards, which aim to help tourism fulfill its potential as a vehicle for social, cultural, and economic good while removing and avoiding any negative impacts from its activities in terms of environmental and social impacts.
General Atomics partners with Bharat Forge
to manufacture aerostructures
In a major move to boost manufacturing in India, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) and Bharat Forge Limited, India have announced a partnership to manufacture main landing gear components, subassemblies, and assemblies of remotely piloted aircraft. Part of the Kalyani Group, Bharat Forge is the largest repository of metallurgical know-how, design and engineering expertise, and manufacturing prowess in India. With over five decades of experience in manufacturing a wide range of high-performance, critical safety components, Bharat Forge offers full-service supply capability from concept to product design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, and validation.
“Bharat Forge’s expertise in the field of forging is known globally, and their outstanding contributions in the aerospace sector has inspired us to work together for building the next generation of the world’s most advanced unmanned aerial vehicles,” said Vivek Lall, chief executive of General Atomics Global Corporation.
WowWee launches robot dog
Dog-E was launched at CES (Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) by WowWee, a global innovator of robotic toys and consumer entertainment products. Dog-E is a groundbreaking robot dog that is unique to every owner as a result of over a million possible combinations of colorful lights, sounds, and personality traits. Dog-E is a smart, app-connected robot dog with life-like movements, audio sensors to hear sounds, touch sensors on its head, nose and sides of its body, and a POV (persistence of vision) tail that displays icons and messages to communicate.
WowWee offices are in Montreal, San Diego, and Hong Kong.
Rita Leong and Elizabeth Chiba Rein elevated
to partner at San Diego’s Wilson Turner Kosmo firm
The San Diego-based law firm Wilson Turner Kosmo has elevated two leading business litigators to partner. Rita M. Leong and Elizabeth Chiba Rein stepped into their leadership roles on Jan. 1. 2023.
A partner in the firm’s Class Action and Employment practice groups, Leong has extensive experience representing clients on the plaintiff and defense side of employment and class-action lawsuits in state and federal courts and arbitration. Today, Leong helps employers of all sizes, and across industries, navigate California’s intricate labor and employment laws. In her practice, she skillfully represents employers involved in complex workplace disputes involving wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims as well as wage-and-hour and class-action lawsuits.
Rein, a leader in the firm’s Product Liability and Warranty practice groups, vigorously defends automotive manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies in warranty, product liability, consumer lending and personal injury matters in state and federal court.
She’s responsible for all aspects of pre-trial litigation and advises clients on national risk management and defense strategies.
Al Diaz joins EVOTEK as a vice president
San Diego-based EVOTEK announced the hirin of seasoned executive Al Diaz as vice president, cloud transformation. Diaz will be leading EVOTEK’s strategy in navigating the cloud-solution landscape.
Diaz is a veteran business executive who is driven to understand, build, and transform global organizations and businesses.
He has most recently led the Azure Infrastructure Solutions Organization at Microsoft and for more than 15 years, held executive and senior leadership positions at Symantec and Intel.
He has earned a reputation as a strategic leader, transforming fractured or non-existing teams into high-performing organizations and industry-leading businesses that repeatedly surpass revenue, profit, and growth expectations.
Zoom Drain to open new franchise in San Diego
Zoom Drain, a leading operator of drain and sewer services is preparing to open its newest franchise, and the third in The Golden State, which will serve San Diego and the surrounding areas. The owner of this location is Rick Vazza, a Point Loma resident, as the owner of John Padilla Plumbing. Set to open on Jan. 9, Zoom Drain of San Diego will provide 24/7 commercial and residential service, focusing on drain and sewer cleaning, sewer video inspections, grease trap maintenance and more.
Westcore acquires industrial property in Georgia
San Diego-based Westcore, an industrial real estate acquisition, development and asset management firm, has acquired Braselton Crossroads, a three-building, 460,000-square-foot industrial campus in Braselton, Ga. Westcore purchased the property from Atlanta-based Ackerman & Company for an undisclosed sum. The Class A, new-construction Braselton Crossroads property is comprised of three warehouses of approximately 150,000 square feet. Casey Masters of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in this transaction, while Westcore represented itself.
Sony Electronics introduces new
Battery Station for drone
Sony Electronics Inc. introduced a new Battery Station at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and announces the development of new accessories for the Airpeak S1 drone. A new battery pack to help with longer flight time and RTK (Real-time Kinematic) kit with base station will be available later this year to expand operational capabilities for longer flight times and precise positioning data.
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes and Inhibrx collaborate
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC, a global innovator in the development, production and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals used for therapeutic applications and medical imaging, and San Diego-based Inhibrx Inc., a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of therapeutics for oncology and rare diseases, announced a collaboration to develop and produce novel radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer. Inhibrx will use its optimized single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) to create a new generation of targeted alpha therapies.
PrecisePK collaborates with Wolters Kluwer
PrecisePK announced a collaboration with Wolters Kluwer, a global provider of trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions, to offer an integrated Bayesian dosing solution through Sentri7 Pharmacy in early 2023. With PrecisePK’s model-informed precision dosing software, Sentri7 Pharmacy will deliver a comprehensive drug package that supports vancomycin and 20+ other medications. Through this agreement, Sentri7 Pharmacy customers can adopt integrated patient-specific vancomycin dose management, fully incorporating the best practices of the 2020 vancomycin therapeutic monitoring guidelines by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Harbor Healthcare announces pharmacy sale
San Diego-based Harbor Healthcare announced the successful sale of a multi-location long-term care (LTC) pharmacy, servicing over 8,500 patients in skilled nursing facilities throughout the state of California. The strategic acquirer maintains a nationwide presence in the LTC pharmacy space, and this acquisition provides them with key access to the desirable California market. The long-term relationships and immensity of the California market also made it a strategic advancement for the acquirer.
Keysight Technologies collaborates
with Qualcomm Technologies
Keysight Technologies Inc., a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, announced it has collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies Inc. to establish an end-to-end 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) connection. Based on this successful demonstration of call signaling and data transfer using orbit trajectory emulation, Keysight and Qualcomm Technologies aim to accelerate 5G NTN technology to provide affordable broadband connectivity in remote areas.
Biosero and DeepCure collaborate
Biosero Inc., a San Diego developer of laboratory automation solutions to orchestrate scientific discoveries, and DeepCure, a therapeutics company powered by next-generation AI and AI-enabling technologies, announced their collaboration on an advanced, fully automated chemistry synthesis platform to accelerate drug discovery. The platform, which is part of DeepCure’s Molecular Foundry, based in Rehovot, Israel, will be powered by DeepCure’s innovative AI engine and Biosero’s Green Button Go suite of laboratory automation software.
