Dilemma of the Month: Abruptly Made a Manager
Yesterday, I was an individual contributor who did technical work. This morning, a group of my coworkers and I found out that we are now expected to manage about 10 non-exempt staff each. Overnight! There’s no title change, no increase in salary — just added work and stress. We are told we have no choice and have to take on that extra work because the company’s success or failure depends on us. Can they just make us managers without asking? Do we have the right to turn down these positions?
CSU Then and Now
As enrollment at California State University campuses has increased, state funding for the system has dramatically declined
Take increasing student enrollment. Add economics. Stir both in slowly with the 23-campus California State University system during the past three decades and nowadays you get stark inequality.
Back and Forward: Jonathan Palmer on the Shift to Mobile Platforms
Jonathan Palmer, chief technology of Autometrix in Grass Valley, provides insight into how software development has shifted away from PCs and to mobile platforms. His company manufactures automated cutting equipment for textile markets and develops the computer software needed to control the equipment.
From the Editors: May Business Recap
Comstock’s monthly look at the business news in the Capital Region. We fondly remember what happened in May.
Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus Ticket Giveaway
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! Or does it? Not if you ask the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus who plan to bring hits from the Vegas Strip right here to Sacramento. So if you want a little taste of sin city in the Capital Region, play your cards right and you could enjoy this awesome show for free.
Gettin’ Figgy With It
The peculiar world of fig traders and their trees
California fig farmers, who grow nearly all the figs produced in the U.S., harvested about 30,000 tons of fruit worth $22 million in 2015, according to the latest crop report from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. But of all those figs, there were just a handful of genetically distinct varieties. Meanwhile, almost uncountable heirloom varieties have fallen to the wayside or even disappeared.
First Mother Farms Launches in West Sacramento
Graduate of California Farm Academy branches out into business ownership
For every 1 farmer over age 25, there’s 5 over age 75, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. America’s farmers are aging out of the business that feeds us, and Center for Land-Based Learning is focused on resolving this problem before it’s too late. To date, they have trained 96 future farmers, 17 of whom have purchased their own land and started farms.
California Warns Senate Taking Step to Gut Auto Efficiency Rules
Gov. Jerry Brown criticized a U.S. Senate bill that aims to simplify auto efficiency standards, warning the measure represents a step toward decimating requirements that manufacturers produce cleaner cars.
Resurgent Housing Market Brings Labor Shortage into Focus for Homebuilders
Through the first four months of 2017, our industry has completed an impressive 1,888 new home sales. Underscoring the uptick in the homebuilding industry’s economic fortunes, in March we sold more than 500 — 527 to be exact — homes in a single month for the first time in a decade.
Back and Forward: Harvey Correia on Working in the World of Figs
Harvey Correia, a third-generation Delta resident, has one of the most diverse collections of the common fig in the world. Correia offers his perspective on this very particular industry. For more from Correia, check out “Gettin’ Figgy With It” in our June issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.