News

Gas prices continue to shoot up in the Sacramento region. The average price of a gallon of regular gas is $3.674, compared to $3.584 a week ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.

On Feb. 4, GenCorp said it would cut 5 percent of its nationwide workforce to gain efficiencies from the merger. At 5 percent, the cuts worked out to 225 employees across the country, and it turns out they are mostly in California.

The bills are part of a greater movement among states to stop contracting out in cases when the work is seen as better suited for public employees — an effort largely organized by the nation’s largest public services employees union, AFSCME.

An upcoming economic report predicts Sacramento will see modest job growth largely confined to the service sector job in 2014. Added pressure will be on hospitals due to implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and builders will continue to be hit by a cooling of the home purchasing frenzy that occurred within the last couple of years.

Inside the governor’s 2013-14 budget plan is a proposal to make it easier to for voters to implement infrastructure financing districts, which are similar to redevelopment in that they allow local governments to fund public infrastructure through tax increment financing.

California reported the largest drop in new claims of 14,635. It attributed the change to fewer layoffs in the service industry.

The move of legal and professional software development and research positions includes the division known as CounselLink, and will occur in phases through the year.

In their first legislative hearing for the year, the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment struck down a bill that would have allowed employers to negotiate a weekly schedule with non-exempt employees to work 10 hours in a day for four days without overtime pay.

California reported the largest drop in new jobless claims of 5,429. It attributed the change to fewer layoffs in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.

Nonetheless, other numbers paint a mixed picture for a holiday spending season that began with a disappointing Black Friday and later focused on hopes that retail momentum would rise with last-minute spending.

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council annually ranks the 50 states based on policy measures and costs impacting small businesses. For the second year in a row, California ranked No. 50.

The Lone Star State turned up the dial on efforts to poach businesses from the Golden State.

The number of people filing new jobless claims across the country dropped by 9,000 to 336,000, according to a weekly report from the U.S. Department of Labor. California saw a large drop in new claims.

California and Nevada are among the U.S. states with the highest poverty rates, according to new data that takes into account more cost of living measures, the Phoenix Business Journal reports.

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau California, an industry-supported advisory group, has officially recommended an 8.7 percent rate increase to the California Department of Insurance.