Sacramento Business Journal articles from December 2000

Sacramento Business Journal archives from December 2000

Economy still holding a brisk clip.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... A slowing economy lightly tapped the brakes on the unprecedented job growth seen in 1999, but the Greater Sacramento area is expected to close the millennium year with more than 21,000 new jobs. That's a respectable growth rate of 3...

Growing rift divides largest worker's comp insurer and all the rest.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The already-troubled workers' compensation marketplace was nearly thrown into turmoil this week as private carriers put pressure on the Department of Insurance to rein in the state's fast-growing public provider of this mandatory insurance....

Siemens scores another contract.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Siemens Transportation Systems Inc. has won a $27.6 million contract to build 12 rail cars for an expanded light-rail system in Denver. It is the second major pact won by the Sacramento-based company in three months as public transit...

Leases at McClellan.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Three more companies sign on The developer that's turning McClellan into a business park has signed two more leases and a freight-train deal that should speed the conversion. The leases could bring more than 100 employees to...

Big cash gift gets YWCA out from under a mortgage.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... A $255,000 cash gift from a local businessman has paid off the mortgage at the downtown Sacramento YWCA. But the Y isn't saying who he is. "He has a hugely successful business," says Lisa Kohl, the Y's interim executive director since...

Golf tourney ahead on sales.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Raycom Sports is about 15 percent ahead of where it was this time last year in sponsorship sales for the Longs Drugs Challenge, the LPGA tournament held annually in April at Twelve Bridges Golf Club in Lincoln. Raycom's Sacramento staff...

Insurer downgraded by S&P.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Financial Pacific Insurance Co., the commercial insurer based in Rocklin, last week saw its credit rating lowered by Standard & Poor's Corp. from good to marginal. The action was based on Financial Pacific's "increased, leverage, the...

Record lows for public companies.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... It was a bad week for a quartet of local publicly traded companies. For a bit more than a buck, you could have bought a share each of Track 'n Trail, InsWeb, Integrated Surgical Systems and Supermail International. Each was at or very near...

Alanis buys at Squaw.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Pop diva Alanis Morissette bought a pad in the mountains -- The Estates at Squaw Creek -- for $639,090 this month. A good place to practice her yodeling.

Reinventing the speech.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Sacramento Venture Forum's January event for entrepreneurial growth companies will feature Jack Crawford Jr., founder of CampusEngine.com. Unfortunately, his Folsom-based Internet portal closed abruptly when it ran out of money earlier...

Judge cuts jury award in mold suit.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The $18 million punitive judgment won by a 96-year-old Placerville man with a moldy house has been cut by a Sacramento judge to about $2.5 million. Federal Magistrate Peter Nowinski said the original jury award to Tom Anderson, who won...

Cable News Service given extension on K Street while startup seeks capital.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Sacramento City Hall has worked out another deal to help the startup California News Service put its headquarters and cable TV studio in the old Woolworth at 10th and K streets downtown. The statewide cable news operation said in May that...

Tower looks for stable ground.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The parent company of Tower Records reported this month less-than-stellar financial results through Oct. 31, the end of the, first quarter of its fiscal year. West Sacramento-based MTS Inc. had a net loss, a lower gross profit as a...

Northgate land sold to Oregon firm.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Harsch Investment Properties LLC has stepped up its rapid expansion in Sacramento by buying land from a national developer that didn't make a go of it here. The result will be a new business park in Northgate aimed at Bay Area computer...

Two Bay Area tech companies keep growing in Folsom.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Portal, TeaLeaf plan more hires in 2001 Two Bay Area technology companies are growing their new branches in Folsom. Portal Software, a publicly traded online billing-software maker in Cupertino, opened a Cold River office in July,...

Gone soon without trace.(Zions Bancorp to buy Eldorado Bancshares Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Zions to buy what remains of Commerce Security Bank The last trace of what was once a busy local lender will disappear when Utah-based Zions Bancorp buys Eldorado Bancshares Inc. of Laguna Hills in a stock-swap valued at $190 million. ...

Walnut Creek bank opening branch here.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Bank of Walnut Creek, which started doing business in Sacramento with its specialty finance division in September, wants to open a full branch in the area in 2001. The bank has opened a small office of its BWC Business Credit on...

A swelling population will increase demands on land.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Sacramento area is about to embark on a growth spurt that should increase our population, job count and housing during the first 22 years of the century. For industries that depend on growth -- construction, development retail,...

High-voltage shocks apt to jolt the state in 2001.
December 29, 2000... 2000 was the year that Californians figured out that the state's energy deregulation plan, as outlined in 1996 legislation, wasn't such a bright idea. Next year we'll all begin paying for it. As the prices utilities paid for wholesale...

Dot-com bomb explodes many a startup's dream.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... From dot-com to dot-bomb, the rise and fall of CampusEngine.com tells the story. A year ago, the promising Folsom startup, with dreams of fashioning an Internet portal for college newspapers, raised $1.5 million in seed capital from...

High notes for arts groups may presage a crescendo.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Local arts groups plan to build up in 2001, literally and figuratively. F Following lean times and a slew of financial woes in the mid-1990s, the arts that have survived are cautious and growing. While Sacramento no longer has a...

In 2000, Greater Sacramento covers all the bases.(Sports years don't get much bigger)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Sports years don't get much bigger in Sacramento. Sure, as 2000-began the capital already had the Sacramento Kings, Monarchs and a couple of golf tournaments. The Kings were winners, reaching the playoffs for the second straight season....

If things tank, it shouldn't hurt as badly as 1990.
December 29, 2000... The times have been good. The question is whether time is up. The prevailing sentiment among local financial professionals is that momentum will propel the economy through a strong 2001. After that, it's anybody's ball game. A strong...

An increased role at UC Davis is stimulating growth.
December 29, 2000... The area's life sciences sector kept growing in 2000. It shows every sign of expanding again in 2001, drawn by stepped-up technology transfer efforts at the University of California at Davis. One sign of the growth shows up in the High...

Would a bust on the coast help us or hinder us?(information technology in Sacramento, CA)
December 29, 2000... The region has been steadily adding to its total of high-technology companies and jobs in recent years. The big question for 2001 is, will that trend continue, or flatten out? A flatter growth curve appears imminent. But local analysts...

Workers' comp rates will rise sharply in coming year.
December 29, 2000... Measured by rates and regulation, 2000 was a rocky year for property and casualty insurance in California. The new year looks like a rough ride, too. Scandal led Chuck Quackenbush to resign as elected state insurance commissioner in...

Look out! Double-digit premium hikes are back.(California health insurance)
December 29, 2000... Employers on average will pay 10 percent to 15 percent more for insurance in 2001. Part of that is expected to trickle down. to struggling hospitals and doctors, but whether it'll be enough to stabilize the market remains unclear. ...

'Clicks and mortar' companies winning e-com race.(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... By most accounts, the frenzied spending made possible by the Internet-rich New Economy is coming to a close. The retail industry will slow in 2001. Car sales nationally quit growing and actually fell midyear after years of uninterrupted...

We're not overbuilt, so a slump shouldn't hit hard.(Sacramento, CA commercial real estate)
December 29, 2000... Greater Sacramento's commercial real estate market is booming, much like it was during the late 1980s, only better. Corporate expansion has been filling office buildings with workers. The workers' demand for goods and their productivity...

Clogged roads threaten both commerce, quality of life.(Sacramento, CA)
December 29, 2000... Traffic keeps getting worse in Greater Sacramento, inspiring a search for solutions lest the region get mired in congestion of Bay Area proportions. Bay Area refugees laugh at what we call rush hour. What's this, a little slowdown? This...

Home sales expected to flatten after record year.(Sacramento, California)
December 29, 2000... With a strong economy and the population heading rapidly toward the 2 million mark, 2000 was a record-breaker for sales of new and used homes. Next year? Observers aren't quite as optimistic as they have been during the past three or...

Pro-union laws will continue taking effect in 2001.(California)
December 29, 2000... Organized labor, buoyed by a supportive governor, scored big legislative and regulatory victories in 2000. But success in the workplace itself was mixed. Labor won a higher minimum wage and stiffer rules to enforce California s new daily...

Bad times for tomatoes, sugar beets, even wine.(Sacramento, California)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... It's been a tough year for farmers and food processors in the Sacramento region. Costs are up, revenues are down and next year doesn't look much better. "No doubt about it, there are producers out there, good farmers, who are really...

Rooms and restaurants surge, but so does demand.(Sacramento, California)
December 29, 2000... The hospitality industry is still trying to catch up with strong local demand. Despite tremendous expansion in the past few years, the area still seems short on hotel rooms and restaurants. New hotels and restaurants have been added...

Atkin Air has high hopes in Lincoln.(chartered air services)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... As a car salesman, Kent Atkin may have had his feet firmly on the ground, but his head was in the clouds. Atkin loved flying, so he and his wife, Niki, crafted a livelihood out of his lofty aspirations: Atkin Air, a charter...

Contractor 'blacklisting' rule slips in.(federal contract rules)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Clinton administration is playing beat the clock with a new regulation that empowers federal contracting officers to block contracts to companies that, in their judgment, do not have a "satisfactory" record of compliance with federal...

Workplace injuries decline.(United States Bureau of Labor Statistics)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Job-related injuries and illnesses fell in 1999 for the seventh year in a row, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 5.7 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses last year, a 4 percent drop from 1998. ...

Merger review threshold raised.(United States Congress)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... As part of its final budget deal, Congress reduced the regulatory burdens for small mergers and acquisitions by increasing the threshold for antitrust reviews from $15 million to $50 million. This means that parties involved in...

Contractor takes over as chief of NFIB.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Tom Musser, an electrical contractor from Kennett Square, Pa., will become. chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business in January. Musser succeeds longtime NFIB Chairman Jim Herr, chairman and CEO of Herr, Foods in...

Pyramid Alehouse subsidy Dian set for January airing.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Pyramid Alehouse proposal that was supposed to go to the Sacramento City Council in early December, seeking approval of $650,000 in grants and loans, never did make it to a public meeting. But it's now being scheduled for early January....

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... COMPUTERS Ken Larson has been named Hewlett-Packard Co.'s public affairs manager for California. Larson, who continues to be based at H-P's Roseville site, is responsible for directing the computer company's public affairs activities...

California State University Sacramento's division of nursing.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... California State University Sacramento's division of nursing is accepting community service project proposals from health agencies and service groups. Senior nursing students will complete the projects accepted to earn their degrees. Over a...

U.S. international University.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... U.S. international University and Alliant University/CSPP, a graduate school of psychology, will join early next year to create a new multinational university with eight campuses. Six campuses are slated for California: Sacramento, Fresno,...

Institute of Food Technologies.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... University of California at Davis food engineering professor Paul Singh was elected a fellow to two professional societies: the Institute of Food Technologies and the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

L.E.D. Effects Inc.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... L.E.D. Effects Inc. of Rancho Cordova had its Progressive System and associated electronic display devices declared in compliance with standards of Nevada Electronic Gaming Control. L.E.D. Effects has received new orders from tour casinos in...

The Sierra College Small Business Development Center.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Sierra College Small Business Development Center is offering the Tune-Up program, a provider of assistance to business owners who need help in accounting, cash flow, employees, marketing, and taxes. A client can call in to receive...

The Placer County Juvenile Justice/Delinquency Prevention Commission.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Placer County Juvenile Justice/Delinquency Prevention Commission is seeking nominations of individuals who have made a difference in the lives of Children. The submission, limited to 500 words, should explain how this person has made a...

United Way.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... United Way's California Capital Region's Success By 6 Task Force has chosen Pollack Pines in El Dorado County as the ideal community to implement a Success By 6 pilot initiative. The Task Force will educate families on early childhood...

NASA.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... NASA awarded more than $850,000 in grants to the University of California at Davis for combustion research in microgravity to scientists. A grant of $460,000 was awarded to Zuhair Munir, interim dean of the College of Engineering, and Ben...

Level 3 Communications Inc.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Level 3 Communications Inc. of Broomfield, Colo., announced it will begin offering Internet and communications services in Sacramento and Indianapolis. The company, which trades on Nasdaq under the symbol LVLT, plans to open advanced data...

University of California at Davis.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The University of California at Davis has enrolled a record high 26,094 students this fall, 1,002 more than last fall. The record number includes a 32.9 percent increase in all transfer students and a 22.8 percent increase in California...

Merrill Lynch.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Merrill Lynch Welcomed 150 Sacramento-area senior citizens to use the firm's phone free of charge. The Sacramento-office has participated for more than 15 years in Merrill Lynch's Christmas Calls programs, a worldwide effort that reaches out...

United Way California.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... United Way California's Capital Region has chosen to train 25-year-old Shi Chenxua, a representative from China. She works for China Charity Federation in Bejing and is on a study mission learning about charity work in the United States.

Target.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Target donated $10,000 to sponsor the eighth annual Santa Sam Event held by the Samuel C. Pannell Meadowview Community Center. Corporate sponsorships underwrite the program, which provides gifts to needy children. Ten children are selected...

Tower Records.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Tower Records will host Meal To Heal Jan. 18 at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. The fund-raiser is in honor of Christopher Hospon, former chief marketing officer of Tower, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease almost 10 years ago. The goal...

GEAR UP.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... GEAR UP -- Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs -- granted $1.45 million to the University of California at Davis and three educational partners. The grant is to increase the proportion of students from low-income...

Hiram Johnson West Campus High School.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Hiram Johnson West Campus High School student government leaders sparked an effort in collecting more than 5,000 cans of food, which will benefit the Bishop Gallegos Maternity House, which assists mothers-to-be who are homeless or who have...

University of California at Davis Cancer Center.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The University of California at Davis Cancer Center has published its first fund-raising calendar -- 2001 Celebrity Calendar -- which is available at several sites. A donation of $10 is suggested.

Cozz's Auto Body and Towing.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Cozz's Auto Body and Towing is offering free towing within Sacramento County and Folsom, Granite Bay and Roseville, 24 hours a day until midnight Jan. 1. This service is available for those who have drunk too much alcohol and don't have the...

Quinn Cottages Transitional Housing Facility.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Quinn Cottages Transitional Housing Facility received $5,000 in donated home furnishings from ExecuStay by Marriott and from Cort Furniture Rental. The donations will benefit the shelters and nonprofit transitional housing organizations...

Midtown Chiropractic Care.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Midtown Chiropractic Care at 2410 K St., Suite A, is holding a food drive until year's end. A blue barrel marked "Sacramento Food Bank" will be in the office and accept any nonperishables.

Maddle's Fund.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... A $2.2 million grant provided by Maddle's Fund of Alameda will be distributed over six years to Maddle's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of California at Davis Veterinary School. The program is designed to reduce disease and...

Art Savage.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Art Savage, owner and president of the Sacramento River Cats, was named Minor League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News, which cited the Pacific Coast League ballclub's minor-league best in attendance and merchandise sales, and its...

Michele McCormick.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Michele McCormick received the Wise Woman Award and was named the Businesswoman of the Year by the Sacramento chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners. And the chapter lauded Anne Marie Smith and Caroline Drakeley,...

Charles Tart.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Charles Tart, a University of California at Davis psychology professor, won the 2000 Social innovations Award in the science category for his creation of the Web site The Archive of Scientists' Transcendent Experiences. The kudos was made by...

Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce named Donald Gerth, president of California State University Sacramento, Sacramentan of the Year. The chamber chose AgraQuest Inc. founder Pamela Marrone as Businesswoman of the Year and picked...

Winnie and Kenneth Leung.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... California State University Sacramento presented the President's Award to Winnie and Kenneth Leung, husband and wife Hong Kong philanthropists. The award honors outstanding service to the university, to higher education or to the public and...

Telchert & Son.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Sacramento Area Council of Governments feted several people, companies and projects in the six-county Sacramento region. The recipients were: Regional Business of the Year, A. Telchert & Son, Bert Sandman, president and chief executive...

American Society of Animal Science.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The American Society of Animal Science presented the 2000 Ruminant Nutrition Research. Award to Richard Zinn, a University of California at Davis professor of animal science. He was feted for significant and lasting contributions to ruminant...

ThermoGenesis Corp.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... ThermoGenesis Corp., a 12-year-old Rancho Cordova medical company, has racked up accumulated losses of $38.7 million through Sept. 29, 2000. In the quarter ended in September, the company lost $1.4 million. ThermoGenesis last week landed...

Growth is shrinking, but few expect a 'pop'.(the economic bubble)
December 29, 2000... Do you think the economic bubble will burst in 2001? Is Greater Sacramento vulnerable? We e-mailed this question to more than 2,000 readers last week, and here's what some of them said: No, at least not for Greater Sacramento. In upturns...

TOP 25 LIST.
December 29, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST.
December 29, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

CampusEngine hits brakes; up for sale.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... CampusEngine.com, unable to replace a fizzled round of financing now that investors are scorning dot-coms, is up for sale. The Folsom startup opened a channel to college students by linking university newspapers to the Internet. It has...

Nowhere to go but the streets.(single-room occupancy hotels in Sacramento, CA)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... City looks at future of single-room occupancy hotels You make less than $750 a month. You can't scrape together enough cash for the deposit on an apartment, and you don't want to sleep in the park. So where do you live? The answer...

Finding the energy.(companies operating in Greater Sacramento, CA)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... Firms dim lights, change shifts Working in the dark became a civic duty for some companies in Greater Sacramento as a power crunch gripped the state during the last two weeks. Responding to calls for conservation from the state's...

Woodland plans 40-acre power center near mall.(County Fair Mall, Woodland, CA)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... A big-box power center is being planned next door to County Fair Mall in Woodland, in a project that city leaders see as a way to bolster the mall's draw and stop sales tax leakage to Sacramento. The project developer hopes attract Home...

HomeBase getting out of hardware; still mum locally.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... The fate of the area's two HomeBase stores is unclear now that the retail chain has decided to get out of the home improvement business and move into home decorating. HomeBase Inc. announced Dec. 5 that it will convert 62 of its HomeBase...

Eight laid off at PacifiCare.(PacifiCare Health Systems)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... Eight employees in the local sales and marketing office of PacifiCare Health Systems may get extra time off for the holidays. The bad news is that it's permanent. On Wednesday, the Santa Ana-based health plan announced 550 layoffs at...

VC faces a long commute.(venture-capitalist Chris Branscum becomes CEO of Hallador Venture Partners L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
December 15, 2000... Sacramento venture-capitalist Chris Branscum on Monday took over management of a Sunnyvale technology company after the CEO resigned. Repeater Technologies Inc. isn't saying why Kenneth Kenitzer stepped down. He developed Repeater into a...

Is the Christmas partying over?(companies operating in Sacramento, CA)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 15, 2000... Just 77 percent of Sacramento's top 100 companies are throwing a holiday party this year, according to a survey by Pacific Staffing. While 66 percent of those are just for employees, another 11 percent are for both employees and clients. ...

World music festival goes south.(Brief Article)
December 15, 2000... After seven years in Marysville, the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival will move to Angels Camp. The festival is a regional draw for some 7,000 people a day. Its promoter, San Rafael-based Epiphany Artists, decided to move, after...

Sports Rack diversifies with a new line of stores.(Bauer Industries' Gear on the Go stores)(Brief Article)
December 15, 2000... The company that owns Sports Rack Vehicle Outfitters has started a new line of stores designed to broaden its market. Bauer Industries has unveiled an expanded store called Gear on the Go. It still sells racks for carrying gear on...

Mercy puts bottom line in black.(Mercy Healthcare Sacramento goes from loss to profit)
December 15, 2000... Mercy Healthcare Sacramento reduced its operating losses by almost $25 million over the last year and pulled its bottom line back into the black. The six-hospital division of Catholic Healthcare West reported net income of $1.5 million...