North Bay Business Journal

Bill to streamline college transfer process advances

NORTH BAY – California Community College officials are hopeful that a bill to put into place standards for students who transfer from a California community college to the California State University will be approved this month.

NCES to provide free solar

NORTH BAY — North Coast Energy Services will offer free solar electric systems funded by the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to qualifying homeowners in Solano, Napa, Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Yolo counties. NCES will use Real Goods Solar and Gaia Energy Systems to install the systems and provide weatherization.

Health Care: Petaluma Health Center breaks ground on $15.5 million facility

The Petaluma Health Center last week broke ground on an expansion that will double its patient volume and significantly increase services offered at the federally qualified health center.

Unemployment rates continue to rise

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates in the North Bay ticked slightly upward this month, according to statistics released by the Employment Development Department today.

Education jobs throughout the state were scaled back over the summer, and temporary U.S. Census jobs were eliminated in the government sector.

Unemployment rates remain high in June, barely changed from May

Unemployment rates for North Bay counties remained high in June and mirrored those for the state and nation, with rates changed less than a half-percentage point from May and some the same as in June 2009, according to state figures released today.

Wine Industry Business Journal: Spotlight: Leaders of the North Coast’s Independent wine companies

Following are profiles of the top day-to-day leaders from the Business Journal’s lists of the largest independently owned wineries under 100,000 cases, published in March, and the largest wine companies, published in May.

Unemployment drops in North Bay, California, U.S.

NORTH BAY — The jobless rate decreased month over month in all North Bay counties in May, though still above 2009 rates for the same period, according to figures released by the Employment Development Department today.

The unemployment rate in Sonoma County was 10.0 percent, down from 10.6 percent in April and up from 9.4 percent in May 2009. In Napa County the rate was 9.0 percent, down from 9.9 percent in April and up from 8.0 percent last May. Marin County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 7.9 percent, down from 8.4 percent last month and up only slightly from 7.7 percent in May 2009. Solano County had a drop in joblessness to 11.8 percent from 12.2 percent in April.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay dip in April

NORTH BAY — The jobless rate decreased month over month in all North Bay counties in April, though still above 2009 rates for the same period, according to figures released by the Employment Development Department today.

Unemployment rose again in March

NORTH BAY — Every North Bay County saw an increase in the unemployment rate in March, with Marin seeing the largest uptick from 8.4 percent in February to 8.8 percent. Sonoma jumped from a revised 11.1 percent in February to 11.3 in March.

Green Business: Local governments add water-miser rules

A number of the municipal water suppliers in Sonoma and Marin counties already have adopted a model water-efficient landscape ordinance developed by a working group led by Santa Rosa. The model ordinance was based on the statewide standard from the Water Conservation Landscaping Act, or Assembly Bill 1881, which took effect at the beginning of this year.