When Kevin Marshall co-founded a real estate valuation firm in 2001, his first order of business was to bust down the walls.

Despite months of negotiations between legislators and the governor, a reasonable state budget seems an almost unreachable goal.

The market for social gaming in America will reach an estimated $1.25 billion in 2011, and social gaming startups — which didn’t exist three years ago — will account for about $835 million of that total, according to Inside Network Inc., a data collection firm that monitors Facebook, apps and the gaming industry. Sacramento’s own KlickNation Corp., a Facebook-game developer staffed by gaming addicts, techies and three former Marvel Comics artists, is one such small firm with big aspirations.

According to Mark Jansen, Blue Diamond Growers is a 100-year-old brand that is just now reaching its potential. It’s this goal of establishing the Blue Diamond brand as the world’s No. 1 producer of almonds and almond-related products that lured the lifelong Midwesterner to California with his family late last summer.

Golf bag slung over his shoulder and a bounce in his step, a stocky fellow walks alone to his car in the Haggin Oaks parking lot. “I was crushing the driver,” he says, talking more to himself than anyone else. “Absolutely crushing it.”

The state law requiring the use of electronic documents as evidence in civil lawsuits, also known as e-discovery, turns two next month, and local attorneys say its application is still in the developmental stages.

Bringing in new owners and managers can disrupt a small business even under the best of circumstances. When death forces those changes on a business with little or no warning, the stress multiplies exponentially.

When California’s building industry began to crumble in 2008 — with 2009 producing the lowest number of homes built since 1954 — veteran contractors like Jim Bayless scrambled to reinvent themselves.

Although the concept of sustainable building isn’t new, affordable sustainable building has been slow to market. Historically, products, materials and expertise were in short supply and building green was cost prohibitive, particularly in residential development. That’s beginning to change.

In November, after seven years of work, the U.S. Green Building Council passed construction guidelines for health care facilities. Some local building experts say it’s too early to tell what this means for Capital Region architects and builders; others say it’s too much too late for the region.

If a local economy is thriving and healthy, it may have the manufacturing industry to thank. If things aren’t so good, it’s probably because manufacturing jobs are leaving.

South Placer County has long been considered a good place to settle down and raise a family. Likewise, some companies are finding it to be a great place to settle down and raise a business.

Spring weather has graced area ski resorts with abundance, dumping generous volumes of snow on the slopes for giddy guests.