Daily Business Report: Wednesday, March 29, 2023
California lawmakers OK Newsom plan that
could someday cap oil industry profits
By Lynn La | CalMatters
The California Assembly handed Gov. Gavin Newsom a long-awaited win on Monday, approving his revised proposal to punish alleged price gouging by oil companies
and sending the measure to his desk for a signature, nearly six months after he first called on state lawmakers to take action on record gas prices.
The floor vote was an overwhelming 52 to 19 — far more than the simple majority needed to pass in the 80-member house. But unlike in the state Senate last week, where Democrats supported the bill in near-lockstep, about one-eighth of the Assembly Democratic caucus laid off in the initial vote. Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, who represents part of oil-producing Bakersfield, was the lone Democrat who voted no, tweeting later that she “will never throw my constituents under the bus.”
The bill, Senate Bill X1-2, which would authorize the California Energy Commission to investigate and potentially cap oil industry profits, always faced a tougher road in the Assembly, where business-friendly moderate Democrats hold greater sway.
Monday’s vote, however, reflects enduring apprehensions among many lawmakers about what the ultimate effect could be on gas prices in California.
Top photo: Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat, argues in favor of Newsom’s oil profit penalty plan at the state Capitol on March 27, 2023. (Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters)
California’s first public fast chargers
for electric vehicles are unveiled
San Diego Gas & Electric, along with local and state officials on Monday, unveiled four public, direct current (DC) fast chargers at a busy truck stop just north of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry – the first of its kind to open at a truck stop in California to serve medium and heavy-duty vehicles. While these chargers are designed to provide high power charging for trucks, delivery vans, buses and other large vehicles, they can also be used to charge passenger cars.
The chargers are funded by a $200,000 grant through the California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program. Now in its 14th year, the program has been an essential part in making California a leader in zero-emission transportation, providing more than $1 billion to alternative fuel and vehicle technology projects that deliver health, environmental, and economic benefits to communities. Funding for the program is scheduled to phase out at the end of the year.
San Diego has 3rd biggest decline in home
prices in key 20-city housing report
A closely watched housing report released Tuesday showed San Diego had erased annual price gains. San Diego metropolitan area saw its annual price drop 1.4 percent in January, said the S&P Case-Shiller Indices. That is a substantial difference from the 30 percent rise in March, and the first time America’s Finest City had posted a negative number since June 2012.
In the 20 cities covered in the index, metros in the South and Southeast continued to show price growth while West Coast cities appeared to be hit hardest. In addition to San Diego, there were three other cities in the index where price gains had gone negative: Portland, down 0.5 percent; Seattle, down 5.1 percent; and San Francisco, down 7.6 percent.
Frontier Airlines announces nonstop
service from San Diego to Cleveland
Ultra-low fare carrier Frontier Airlines will launch new seasonal nonstop service from San Diego International Airport to Cleveland in June of 2023. With the new service, Frontier will serve a total of seven nonstop destinations from San Diego. To celebrate, the airline is offering fares as low as $89.
About the Introductory Fare Offer:
Fares must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 4, 2023. Fares are valid for nonstop travel on select days of the week. Fares are valid May 10, 2023 through Aug. 15, 2023. The following blackout dates apply: May 26-29, 2023, June 30, 2023-July 9, 2023. Round trip purchase is not required.
Sanford Burnham Prebys researchers awarded
$2.6 million to discover pancreatic cancer drugs
Cosimo Commisso and Susanne Heynen-Genel have received a grant from the National Cancer Institute to advance a new treatment approach for pancreatic cancer. The four-year, $2.6 million project will identify potential drugs that can manipulate the pH of cells to stop pancreatic tumors from growing. The promising approach would selectively kill pancreatic cancer cells without affecting surrounding healthy cells.
Commisso is an associate professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Heynen-Genel directs a team at the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics.
“Pancreatic cancer is a growing global health crisis, and there is an urgent need for better ways to treat it,” says Commisso. “This project will help us find molecules that are the starting points to create new medicines.”
Pancreatic cancer accounts for just 3 percent of cancer cases in the United States, but it is so difficult to treat that it is projected to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related death by 2030. According to the NCI, about 49,830 people died from pancreatic cancer in the United States in 2022.
Lakeside community celebrates grand
opening of new Library branch
LAKESIDE — The new Lakeside Library branch is now open for business. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening took place over the weekend. The new branch is more than three times larger than the prior facility on Vine Street and includes meeting spaces, a 2,000-square-foot community room, 3D printing capabilities, a Vet Connect station to link veterans to resources through the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, and a Friends of the Library bookstore.
Planet Based Foods now found in
Southern California grocery chain
SAN DIEGO — Planet Based Foods announced that the company’s products will now be available for purchase at Ralph’s stores throughout Southern California. Planet Based Foods was founded in 2018 in San Diego with a mission to build a better food system by providing hemp-formulated superfood products to people today that support our planet tomorrow; all Planet Based Foods products are 100 percent vegan.
Tripadvisor brings immersive art
to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago
SAN DIEGO — To entice Vitamin D-starved travelers to visit sun-soaked San Diego, Tripadvisor, with the San Diego Tourism Authority (SDTA) and The Shipyard, announced the upcoming launch of a first-of-its-kind immersive art and augmented reality experience “The Sunny Side of Things” in the three largest U.S. cities: New York, Los Angeles and Chicago from Monday, April 3 – April 30. The murals are hand painted by San Diego artists Channin Fulton, Hanna Gundrum and Phoebe Cornog.
Firestorm Labs joins $46 billion contract
to provide disruptive tech to USAF
SAN DIEGO — Firestorm Labs Inc., a defense tech startup, announced its participation in the $46 billion Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition (EWAAC) contract that empowers selected industry partners to provide the Air Force weapons acquisitions hub at Eglin Air Force Base with innovative munitions technologies. Firestorm Labs’ is “future proofing” unmanned aerial systems by creating completely modular, open architecture vehicles, which can be manufactured from base materials and deployed within 24 hours – delivering capability when and where it is needed.
Jetty Extracts enters New York market
SAN DIEGO — Jetty Extracts, founded in San Diego in 2013, a producer of high-quality cannabis extracts and pioneer of clean vape technology, announced its launch into the New York market. The popular brand is expanding to its first market outside of California, returning to its New York roots and diving into authentic partnerships with local producers and retailers. “As states along the East Coast open up for adult use, it is thrilling to introduce a legacy California brand like Jetty to consumers on the other side of the country,” said Ron Gershoni, co-founder and chief executive officer of Jetty Extracts.
Quectel and Amazon Sidewalk partner
to bring advanced connectivity to customers
SAN DIEGO — Quectel Wireless Solutions, a global provider of IoT solutions, and Amazon Sidewalk, a secure, low-bandwidth, long-range network for IoT devices, announced a partnership to bring advanced connectivity solutions to customers. The Quectel KG100S module and a portfolio of matching antennas will be fully compatible with Amazon Sidewalk, making launching and maintaining connected IoT devices and solutions quicker, easier, and lower cost. It is designed to provide persistent connectivity to devices that are outside of the range of typical home IoT networks.
Selvita joins Scientist.com’s
IND Package Pipeline Program
SAN DIEGO — Scientist.com, the premier R&D marketplace for the biopharmaceutical industry, announcedthat Selvita will be participating in its new IND Package Pipeline Program. The program provides a commercial framework that enables researchers to prepare their Investigational New Drug (IND) application in less time, at lower cost and with reduced risk. The IND Package Pipeline Program is an expansion of Scientist.com’s category strategy, in which the company collaborates with industry clients and suppliers to create a unique value proposition that allows for a more targeted and efficient sales approach.
Two-story house in Point Loma given historical
designation by city’s Historical Resources Board
SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego Historical Resources Board designated six historic buildings, including one two-story house in Point Loma at 3425 Xenophon St., to be historical. The Xenophon residence is a two-story home built in 1937 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style with a Monterey-style cantilevered second-floor balcony covered by the primary roof. The Carl and Ethel Mae Sharp House meets HRB Criterion C for retaining key elements of these two architectural styles. These include a low-pitched, combined hipped-and-gabled roof with minimal eave overhang; smooth stucco and wood cladding; brick chimney; asymmetrical primary facade; multi-light and single-light wood-framed windows; and French doors.
City attorney sues Hyundai and Kia for failing
to install anti-theft technology in their cars
SAN DIEGO — San Diego City Attorney Mara W. Elliott has sued carmakers Hyundai and Kia for failing to install standard anti-theft technology in their cars, a business practice it is claimed makes their vehicles dangerously and unreasonably susceptible to theft. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the People of the State of California, covers the period 2011 through 2021, during which, it alleges, the two companies were a “glaring exception” to industry norms by manufacturing vehicles that could be stolen with “relative ease” using “tools no more advanced than a USB cable.”
San Diegan named president-elect
of Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
SAN DIEGO —Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, M.D., chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at University of California San Diego School of Medicine has been named as the 2023 president-elect of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. SMFM is the leading society and national voice for more than 5,500 highly qualified maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) subspecialist physicians, as well as scientists, nurses, genetic counselors, ultrasound technicians and administrators, with expertise in high-risk pregnancy and collaboration for optimal and equitable perinatal outcomes.
