The New York Times reports a curious trend: As sales drop for many companies across the country, their profits rise. As companies this month report earnings for the second quarter, news of healthy profits has helped the stock market -- the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index is up 7 percent for Jul

This blog entry posted by Business Insider makes the case that the country's middle-income earner is endangered. Michael Snyder of the theeconomiccollapseblog.com

Pio Loco's "Chef Jeff" Cerasaro is pondering retirement again. Heard some buzz this week that Cerasaro's downtown Redding restaurant was on the market. I left a phone message with Cerasaro this morning but have not heard back. Well, it is true. Ron Largent of Keller Williams Realty in Redding writ

Shasta Association of Realtors President Joyce Middleton said in today's story on June home sales that a house priced above $300,000 probably needs to be in Cadillac condition if the seller doesn't want it to languish on the market. Or the house needs to be an extraordinary deal. In an e-mail titled "Anot

For the second time in eight months and sixth time since January 2009, the coffee kiosk at the corner of Market and Trinity streets in downtown Redding is looking for new ownership. Originally called Coffee Cruz before the most recent owner changed the name to Mixer Girls, the business is closed and the building

Think government bailout and bankers and car companies come to mind. But according to this Reuters article, Uncle Sam has been very, very good to the nation's top homebuilders. What's more, top executives a

Got an e-mail from local real estate agent Eric Smith, who attached a link to a recent "60 Minutes" segment on the growing popularity of strategic defaults: homeowners under water on their mortgages walk away despite the fact they can afford their monthly payments. Clearly, the stigma of losing your house to fore

Popular Mechanics magazine has released a list of the 18 strangest bridges in the world, which features two Santiago Calatrava creations. Here is the magazine's take

While researching and getting background for today's story on the summer vacation season, I ventured over to the California Travel & Tourism site. The site features a slide show of popular vacation haunts and destinations in the Golden State. Click on the "Northern California: San Francisco & Beyo

That's the question I posed to Frank Strazzarino, Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce president, after getting an e-mail last week from a local print shop. Lacy Lamoire of Computer Typesetting & Graphics wrote it's hypocritical for the chamber to promote shopping local when the business advocacy group goes ou

So Shasta County Assessor-Recorder Leslie Morgan and her staff will be busy over the next several weeks reevaluating all homes sold going back to January 2001. For the record, the median sales price of a home in Shasta

Unemployment in Shasta County reached its record low in October 2000 at 5 percent. Back then, there were a mere 3,900 residents without jobs with 72,600 residents employed. In contrast, with the jobless rate in Shasta County last month at 17.7 percent - the highest in modern-record keeping, which goes back

The $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers -- given new life in November -- is due to expire at the end of this month. So will Congress give the government-backed incentive another lifeline? That's not in the cards, according to

Reading about Bank of America's new $3 billion plan to help some 45,000 troubled borrowers reduce their mortgage principal made me think of Happy Valley resident Lisa McConnell, who's been battling the mega-bank for months trying to modify her home loan. The Associated Press reported that BofA will help homeowner

Heard of Yelp, the popular Web site that allows customers to post opinions about restaurants and other businesses? The site has drawn the ire of several small businesses that have sued Yelp, claiming it's strong-arming them. The deal is we will scrub the site of those negative reviews if you buy advertising, acco

At first glance, Starbucks' decision to close its Discovery Village location is a head-scratcher. By all accounts, the store was doing a healthy business in one of the most popular shopping centers in Redding. Starbucks is arguably Discovery Village's headlining act. It has been there since early 2000 and is one

The federal index that cast the national spotlight on Redding seven years ago released its fourth-quarter 2009 survey this week. Home values in the Redding area, which includes Anderson and Shasta Lake, fell 7.3 percent over the final three months of 2009 compared with the same quarter in 2008, according to the F

David Jensen, president of Redding Distributing Co., has a history of cashing in on economic development flops. Jensen is one of five partners who make up Redding Civic Plaza Group LLC, the consortium that scooped up the vacant, bank-owned Civic Plaza building across from City Hall for a bargain-basement price of

Many north state real estate experts are quick to point out that the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers helped drive sales last year. Roughly seven of every 10 homes sold in Shasta County in 2009 were priced below $250,000 -- and many of those closing escrow in that price range were first-timers

With the Toyota brand reeling from this week's remarkable news that it will temporarily stop selling some of its top models -- including the iconic Corolla and Camry -- at least one American auto maker is poised to cash in: From MarketWatch: But the greatest damage to Toyota could be the long-term eff

I asked North Valley CEO Michael Cushman that on Friday while interviewing him about the Fed's enforcement action against the Redding bank. "What it means for management and the board is that there is a written

See Sunday's "Buzz on the Street" for more.

In advance of Thursday's public workshop on Shasta Builders' Exchange Kent Dagg's "Radical 10 in 2010" proposals, Redding City Manager Kurt Starman analyzes seven of the ideas that would directly involve City Hall. One initiative, money to stimulate new home construction, will need a local bank or investor to par

When I walked into Capone's on Monday to interview co-owners Kenny Breedlove and Jayson Burris about their new downtown lounge, the first question I asked was what's going to happen to the old Clover Club sign that still sits atop the building. Short answer: They don't know yet. "I'm going to talk to the

Caught Shasta Builders' Exchange CEO Kent Dagg and Pat Keener, economic development liaison for Redding, on KRCR Channel 7 last night. At one point during the report, Dagg and Keener were talking about server farms (a collection of computer servers with few employees) and the potential ripple effect they could ha

Yep, it's that time of year, when we get an earful from talking-heads like Bill O'Reilly, who remind us of the annual threat. Here's a piece from Time's Amy Sullivan about a new battle being waged. An excerpt: A moveme

So now that Sterling Savings Bank has played its hand in a big way with the Civic Plaza building, willing to unload the foreclosed shell for $2.6 million cash to the city of Redding, what is the takeway for the next potential buyer who comes sniffing along? Local real estate experts agree that the three-story, 40

News here of a western Virginia holiday hay-ride accident harkens back to my interview with Redding businessman Ed Rullman, whose Hilltop merchants are hosting their first Holidays on Hilltop celebration this

One thing you can say about Montana residents: They are not fair-weather Sarah Palin fans. Former Record Searchlight reporter Rob Rogers writes about Palin's visit to the Borders book store in Billings. The 5 a.m. update: "As temperatures dipped to 6 below this morning, more than 150 people had staked out

Maybe we're not in migraine territory yet, but Shasta County's Economic Stress Index score is certainly a blood-pressure raiser. From today's front-page story about areas making a surprise job comeback, Shasta County's Associated Press Economic Stress Index score is 18.55. Tehama County registers a 16.99, while B

I don't believe there were any expectations Tuesday night that Redding City Council members were going to ratify Shasta Builders' Exchange CEO Kent Dagg's 10 proposals to jump-start the area's economy. Still, c

Here is a good one from U.S. News & World Report. For the record, north state shoppers have started lining up already for day-after-Thanksgiving sales. A tent was pitched in front of Best Buy on Hillt

That's the brutal assessment of Margot Grissom, when I asked the McCloud Chamber of Commerce volunteer today about the impact of losing the Shasta Sunset Dinner Train will have on the former logging community. I called the chamber Thursday for a reaction while working on the initial

That's the takeaway from a California Association of Mortgage Brokers (CAMB) advisory that went out today. Short sales have become easier to pull off, but the industry group wants to remind homeowners that there are potentially legal and tax ramifications that go along with this last-ditch effort to avoid foreclo

While one in four metro areas in the United States might be in an economic recovry mode, Redding _ and all of California, for that matter _ is still stuck in reverse. That's according to the Adversity Index from msnbc.com and Moody

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed its top picks for 2010 today and conspicuously absent from this year's list is Toyota. Under the heading "Missing the mark" the Institute notes "not a single model from the world's biggest automaker by sales is represented among this year's winners." The

Then click here.

My story today about work starting on Capone's on Market Street had at least one comment lamenting about the parking problem in downtown Redding. I've lived in Redding for nearly 20 years. Downtown Redding does not

This Investopedia.com article that names Keva Juice among the top franchise failures might be news to Redding business owner Ronda Nelson, who closed her Keva Juice store on Dana Drive in Redding early la

Red Bluff's Ann Minch has set her sights on Chase Bank. "Now Chase bank tried to jack me! Can you beleive it??? So I ACTUALLY CALL THEM on the phone, right here in the video... Check it out!!!" Minch e-mailed. Check it out here.

Red Bluff's Ann "Rockerchic" Minch, whose YouTube revolt against Bank of America captured a nation, is scheduled to appear on the "The Suze Orman Show" on CNBC at 6 p.m. Saturday. The telecast will be repeated at 9. For a preview of Minch's appearance click here. M

Citing a recent Deutsche Bank analysis, Redding real estate agent Curt Largent predicts short sales will account for a large portion of real estate transactions -- including in Shasta County -- over the next few years. Speaking to

Leslie Appleton-Young, California Association of Realtors top economist, gave her annual housing market forecast Thursday in San Jose. Appleton-Young says housing prices next year could rise for the first time in three years as fir

Even the iconic, reliable Japanese automaker Toyota lands on this dubious list of "Worst Cars of the 2000s." The Toyota Echo is described as a subcompact before its time: "The Echo proved that sometimes bland is better than bold. The problem wasn't that the youth-targeted Echo appealed more to older

OK, maybe Red Bluff resident Ann Minch's YouTube revolt against Bank of America has nothing to do with the financial giant's announcement that it will not jack up credit card interest rates or fees before the new rules take effect in

As noted by former "Buzz" partner and fellow blogger Marc Beauchamp, Bethel Church is talking up Redding's economic future. The church in its happy-days-are-ahead video predicts commuter flights to Sacramento are on the horizon. Does anybody remember who the last person it was to provide airline service t

Caught up this morning with Dick Blake, co-owner of Giff's Steakburger and president of the Mission Square Property Owners Association. So what's he think about the uproar by some in his center over Family Tree, a medicinal marijuana co-operative that opened in Mission Square about a month ago? "You might

Has Redding resident Bert Stead become Joe the Plumber of the national debate on health care? The eponymous plumber, Joseph Wurzelbacher, gained national notoriety after his name was brought up last fall during the presidential debates. Stead called himself "a proud right-wing" terrorist during the Aug. 1

. . . At least temporarily. The former Circuit City building on Dana Drive has been converted to a Halloween Bootique. The scariness opened Aug. 20 and will close the first week of November. The 28,600-square-foot building has been empty since March, when the electronics retailer went dark after 1

Earlier this year, Forbes magazine provided a grim outlook for the north state, calling Redding one of the worst small cities in the country for jobs. Redding cracked the top 10, coming in at number seven. But when it comes to a housing turnaround, Forbes is far more bullish about the River City.