The team at Davis-based Gold Standard Diagnostics Inc., which sells disease test kits, automated instruments and regulatory services, noticed an opportunity in the medical laboratory industry to build an instrument that would automate not only the test kits it was offering, but those of other suppliers as well, allowing labs to consolidate to one instrument and improve efficiency, says John Griffiths, chief executive officer.

If there’s anyone more excited than a kid in a candy shop, it’s a middle-aged woman in a cupcake shop. The national cupcake craze also has hit all regions and demographics, according to those in the bakery industry.

Like many independent business owners, Christine Trice has a product she believes in and plenty of potential customers. Trice, the owner of Sacramento-based Brown Bag Botanicals, also has a limited marketing budget to reach those customers.

Charles Rieger is building a case for going green. As the executive director of the Solano Center for Business Innovation, the umbrella organization for the newly formed Solano Green Business Council, it’s Rieger’s job to plant the seeds for a greener economy.

Sometimes small things can make big differences. Whether it’s a dry towel, a warm hat or advice on how to create a budget, a little bit of time can have a positive impact on one of Sacramento County’s 4,000 foster youth, many of whom don’t have anyone to provide these basics.

After 19 years of struggling to belong, Juanita Nicolas found the students at Wilson Riles Middle School. As a youth aid, the teenager tutored 40 students, many in the foster care system just as she had been before emancipation a year earlier.

It’s too soon to tell whether health insurance brokers are an endangered species on the cusp of going the way of the Dodo or, more recently, the travel agent.

Rancho Cordova recently celebrated the annexation of a finger of land — Folsom Boulevard east of Sunrise Boulevard and south of Highway 50 — with the rest of the incorporated city.

As a chief executive of a real estate and brokerage firm, Jason Moulton faced some hard financial decisions in 2009.

Among the cost-saving measures Moulton implemented was to move all operations to the clouds, or virtual, rather than physical hardware and software.

As a chief executive of a real estate and brokerage firm, Jason Moulton faced some hard financial decisions in 2009.

Among the cost-saving measures Moulton implemented was to move all operations to the clouds, or virtual, rather than physical hardware and software.

Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar felt the recession in April 2008 when catering sales began to slide. When the financial pinch hit the chain’s eight restaurants in the second and third quarters of 2009, its management team refocused marketing efforts.

Ready or not, California’s architects will go green starting in January. The state has adopted the Green Building Standards Code, or CalGreen for short.

If there was a soundtrack to banking this summer, it sounded something like the theme from “Jaws” — tense, ominous and hinting at unknown dangers below the surface.