Daily Business Report: Sept. 27, 2023
Gov. Newsom signs bills targeting
Child sex trafficking, school book bans
Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed into law two high profile bills: one making child sex trafficking a serious felony and another that cracks down on censorship in public schools.
Senate Bill 14, written by Sen. Shannon Grove, a Bakersfield Republican — adds “human trafficking of a minor for purposes of a commercial sex act” to a list of felonies that have greater penalties and are part of the state’s three strikes law. Under that law, an offender will face life in prison after a third strike.
Child sex trafficking will join the list of serious felonies that include murder, attempted murder, rape and arson. In addition to adding the offense to the serious felony list, Grove’s bill strengthens protections for victims of sex and labor trafficking.
Assembly Bill 1078 — by Assemblyman Corey Jackson, a Moreno Valley Democrat — prohibits school boards from banning textbooks, library books, and other instructional materials on the basis of their inclusion of racial and LBGTQ+ topics. The requirements of the bill reflect current state law that requires instruction and school materials that accurately portray the state’s cultural and racial diversity.
Photo: Gov. Gavin Newsom signs Senate bill 14 with lawmakers — including the bill’s author, Sen. Shannon Grove, a Bakersfield Republican (on Newsom’s left) — and advocates. (Governor’s Press Office)
CA Attorney General reaches $200,000
settlement with San Diego biotech company
By Elizabeth Ireland
A San Diego-based biotechnology company has agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that it made misleading claims to healthcare providers and patients regarding the cost of its genetic testing services, the California Attorney General’s Office announced.
The settlement, announced by California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, requires Biora Therapeutics Inc., to pay $200,000 in penalties and wipes out all outstanding debts for California consumers for the company’s genetic testing services.
The company, which offered tests to screen for elevated risks of cancer and other diseases that could be passed from parent to child, “advertised and marketed its testing services with false and misleading representations concerning the costs of its services, in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law,” Bonta’s office said.
Will governor sign bill giving
unemployment benefits to striking workers?
By Felicia Mello | CalMatters
The weekend. The eight-hour workday. Paid family leave. Those fruits of labor victories are part of everyday life in California. Now the state’s hot labor summer may have helped inspire another precedent-setting measure, if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill on his desk that would allow striking workers to receive unemployment benefits.
How many workers would get help, and can the state afford to pay each of them as much as the $450 maximum per week? The answers, researchers and advocates say, likely depend on whether California’s recent wave of labor activism continues, and what action lawmakers take to shore up the state’s debt-ridden unemployment insurance system.
Senate Bill 799 would provide unemployment benefits to workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks. Legislators passed it Sept. 14, just before Hollywood writers and studios headed back to the negotiating table four months into a strike that has paralyzed the industry, and as thousands of Los Angeles hotel workers continue their union’s rolling labor stoppages in a push for higher wages.
Inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational college
basketball tournament tips off Thanksgiving 2023
Sports San Diego, producers of the Holiday Bowl and the nonprofit organization responsible for driving sports tourism to San Diego, announced it is teaming up with Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, one of the nation’s top children’s hospitals and one of the largest on the West Coast, to create the Rady Children’s Invitational,an annual college basketball tournament that will take place during the Thanksgiving holiday. Featuring four NCAA Division 1 teams from top conferences, the inaugural event is positioned to be one of the premier invitational tournaments in the country.
The Rady Children’s Invitational tips off this year on Thanksgiving Day. The two-day event will be played at UC San Diego’s LionTree Arena (4,000) and games will be televised by Fox Sports.
Air Force selects Northrop Grumman
to develop Stand-in Attack Weapon
Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that the U.S. Air Force has awarded the company a $705 million contract to deliver the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW), an air-to-ground weapon that accelerates the pivot to a new generation of air power.
During the next 36 months, Northrop Grumman will further develop the weapon, conduct platform integration and complete the flight test program for rapid prototyping in preparation for rapid fielding.
General Atomics awarded design contract
supporting Sandia National Laboratories
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has been awarded a contract by Sandia National Laboratories to provide design development services in support of a conceptual research reactor design for a new advanced facility. The concept design will facilitate the safe utilization, operation, and maintenance of the reactor and supporting systems.
General Atomics’ expertise is based on nearly seven decades of designing and operating its TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) reactors, which are the most widely used research reactors in the world. General Atomics has installed a variety of TRIGA reactor configurations in 68 facilities in 24 countries that support nuclear research, testing, and training activities at universities, government and industrial laboratories, and medical centers.
Unleashing the power of AI to track animal behavior
Movement offers a window into how the brain operates and controls the body. From clipboard-and-pen observation to modern artificial intelligence-based techniques, tracking human and animal movement has come a long way. Current cutting-edge methods utilize artificial intelligence to automatically track parts of the body as they move. However, training these models is still time-intensive and limited by the need for researchers to manually mark each body part hundreds to thousands of times.
Now, Salk Institute Associate Professor Eiman Azim and team have created GlowTrack, a non-invasive movement tracking method that uses fluorescent dye markers to train artificial intelligence. GlowTrack is robust, time-efficient, and high definition—capable of tracking a single digit on a mouse’s paw or hundreds of landmarks on a human hand.
San Diego Community College District
hiring 14 new full-time faculty members
San Diego Community College District is hiring 14 new faculty members as the result of state funding the district received to increase instruction by full-time faculty. The new hires are in addition to 25 new full-time faculty positions hired by the district since 2021 as a result of $3.1 million in state funding.
“This demonstrates our commitment to providing our students with exceptional academic instruction, counseling and library services,” said Gregory Smith, acting chancellor of the SDCCD.
San Diego Miramar College and the San Diego College of Continuing Education each will hire four new faculty members, while San Diego Mesa College and San Diego City College will hire three new faculty members.
The state funding was created as part of an effort with the California community college system following an infusion of $100 million that was included in the state’s 2021-2022 budget.
21st San Diego Biopharma Conference set for Sept. 30
The 21st San Diego Biopharma Conference will be staged on Sept. 30 at 9 a.m. at the Hilton San Diego/Del Mar hotel at 15575 Jimmy Durante Blvd. in Del Mar. It is presented by the Sino-American Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Professional Association. The event presents an opportunity to acquire knowledge, expand professional networks, and contribute to the ongoing transformation within the biopharmaceutical industry. Prices: $60, onsite regular: $80, Student, 30, onsite student: $40. Click here for registration
Port of San Diego to host 2nd annual workshop series
The Port of San Diego is launching its second annual workshop series, How to do Business with the Port. The workshops are geared at helping reduce barriers for local businesses looking for Port business opportunities and ensure local businesses are aware of the types of opportunities available. The first is Oct. 1, 3-5 p.m. at Chula Vista Women’s Club, 357 G St., Chula Vista. The second is Nov. 13, 3-5 p.m., at Aquatic Center, 3300 Pepper Park Place, National City. The third is Dec. 11, 3-5 p.m. at Port Administration Building, 3165 Pacific Highway, San Diego.
Two Salk Institute faculty members earn
V Foundation awards for cancer research
Salk Institute Assistant Professors Christina Towers and Deepshika Ramanan were named V Scholars by the V Foundation for Cancer Research. They will each receive $600,000 over three years to fund their unique cancer research goals. With her V Scholar Award, Towers will investigate these recycling mechanisms in pancreatic cancer. Ramanan will study the mechanisms by which breastmilk factors can shape intestinal microbes and immune cells and potentially protect generations from colorectal cancer.
County receives updated COVID-19 vaccine
The County of San Diego has received the new updated COVID-19 vaccine and joins the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in recommending all Californians stay up to date on this and all their vaccinations. People can schedule a vaccine appointment by visiting MyTurn.ca.gov or contacting their local pharmacy or health care provider.
San Diego Press Club hosts 50th
annual Excellence in Journalism Awards
The San Diego Press Club will host its 50th annual Excellence in Journalism awards program on the lawn among the International Houses in Balboa Park on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 5:30 p.m. The program will recognize 500 award recipients in more than 180 categories and 10 divisions. The event will also highlight two special career achievement awards. Recipients are Diane Bell — the Harold Keen Award for outstanding contributions in journalism and Georgeanne Irvine — the Andy Mace Award for career achievements in public relations.
Click here to purchase tickets
EDF Renewables signs agreement with
El Paso Electric for solar+storage project
San Diego-based EDF Renewables North America announced the execution of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with El Paso Electric. The PPA covers the output from the 150 MWac Milagro Solar and the 75 MW / 300 MWh Milagro Storage Project, which are slated for commercial operation in 2025. The Milagro Solar+Storage project is located on undeveloped private land in the Santa Teresa area of Doña Ana County, New Mexico,
High Speed Rail Authority receives nearly
$202 million from federal government
The California High-Speed Rail Authority announced receiving nearly $202 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation to expand construction of high-speed rail by completing six grade separations. The grant was made through the federal 2022 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements program and is the largest award the Authority has received since the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The work will be in the City of Shafter in Kern County.
California Wild Ales opens new brewery
And tasting room in Midway District
California Wild Ales held the grand opening of its new brewery and tasting room at 3826 Sherman St. in the Midway District on Friday, Sept. 15. The brewery moved to the Point Loma area from its original location in Sorrento Valley, where it had been operating since 2015. The brewery offers a wide variety of classic fruited sours, clean IPAs, and lagers, as well as seltzers and a non-alcoholic beer on its 20-tap system in its two-story tasting room overlooking the oak barrels.
Bella Vita Festival coming to Little Italy
October is Italian Heritage month, and to celebrate San Diego’s Little Italy Association will host the inaugural Bella Vita Festival over the weekend of Oct. 21-22. From the producers of Festa and ArtWalk San Diego events, this new Italian festival celebrates the tradition of street painting that began in 16th century Italy where traveling artists, known as Madonnari, would re-create famous paintings onto the pavement. The ticketed event will also feature Italian music, food vendors selling Italian specialties, and wine tastings. Tickets to Bella Vita Fest are available online.
SBA offers disaster assisance
Low-interest federal disaster loans are available to California businesses and residents affected by Tropical Storm Hilary that occurred Aug. 19 – 21. The U.S. Small Business Administration acted under its own authority to declare a disaster in response to a request SBA received from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authorized representative, Nancy Ward, director of the California Office of Emergency Services on Sept. 20. Get applications
