June 2010

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Expanding the Middle

With California’s unemployment statistics among the worst in the nation, there’s no hotter topic right now than jobs: how to keep, expand and create them. Increasingly, policymakers are focused on so-called “middle-skill jobs.”

May 31, 2010 Winnie Comstock-Carlson
Deon Taylor founded Deon Taylor Enterprises in 2004.

Movie Mogul

Film maker sets up shop in Sacramento

Building a $50 million company from the ground up in six years doesn’t take a rocket scientist, but it does take one hell of an entrepreneur. Deon Taylor, the 36-year-old mettle behind Deon Taylor Enterprises, is that kind of guy.

Jun 16, 2010 Christine Calvin
Candidate Ami Bera, an internist and former chief medical officer for Sacramento County, is running against Dan Lungren for Congress.

Election Dissection

How safe is Congressman Dan Lungren

Two years ago, I wrote in this column saying that Republican Congressman Dan Lungren might be in trouble in the November 2008 election. It seemed like a stretch at the time. Lungren had won re-election in 2006 with 59.5 percent of the vote against a weak Democrat, emergency room physician Bill Durston. However, a look at party registration trends showed that the district was trending Democratic. By 2008, the large registration edge enjoyed by Republicans this decade had all but disappeared.

May 31, 2010 Tony Quinn
Mexican national Yulithza Ortiz (center) strands outside the Memorial Auditorium surrounded by family after his U.S. citizenship ceremony last month.

Immigration Reform

Arizona laws spark local dialogue

When Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he vowed that if elected he would take up George Bush’s failed 2007 effort to reform the nation’s immigration policy, secure U.S. borders and provide a path to citizenship for undocumented persons who had lived in America for years. Since then, however, issues such as health care reform have pushed immigration to the back burner.

May 31, 2010 Rich Ehisen
Mas Cocina Mexicana in Roseville.

Good Eats

Restaurants get creative to pad the bottom line

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.

May 31, 2010 Joanna Corman
Vikram Janardhan, CEO, Insera Therapeutics; and Cary Adams, founder of, Proximal Ventures.

Stayin’ a Life

Will the health care overhaul affect investment in medical technology?

After four quarters of increasing venture investment, 2010 is off to a slow start. Venture capitalists invested $4.7 billion in the year’s first quarter, down from $5.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The life sciences sector, including biotechnology and medical device industries, took the biggest hit with a 26 percent decline in venture investment over the previous quarter.

May 31, 2010 Christine Calvin
Although vacancies at the Sheraton Grand have increased the past few years, the lobby's bar has maintained business.

The Inn Crowd

Hotels ride out the occupancy dip

When Meg Whitman arrives in Sacramento to campaign for the gubernatorial race, she stays at the Citizen Hotel. “It’s her home away from home,” says Mark Mathews, the hotel’s general manager.

May 31, 2010 JT Long