As with other retail sectors, holiday sales are crucial for bakeries and cookie sellers who say that the month of December alone can account for up to 25 percent of annual receipts. The season is important enough to merit overtime and extra production shifts to crank out holiday-themed products. Sacramento Bee 12/19/07
Two men police believe are robbing East Bay Asian restaurants and their customers struck twice in Albany in the past few days, bringing the number to at least 13 in the past month. Asian restaurants in Richmond, El Cerrito, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro and Union City have been robbed, police said, including a number of Japanese restaurants. A UC Berkeley professor offered that maybe the stereotype “that Asians are passive” is fueling the spree. CC Times 1219/07
A slow-moving storm churning across California is expected to drop several feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada and bring much-needed relief to depleted reservoirs. Since July 1, California has received 61 percent of its normal precipitation, a worrisome sign for state water managers after the state had its lowest snowpack in 19 years last winter. One snow resort spokesperson added, "It's a vacationer's dream come true because it's happening right before a major holiday.” CC Times 12/19/07
Famous local chefs are attracting buyers by opening restaurants in San Francisco's newest luxury residential complexes. For example, homeowners in the under-construction Millennium Tower each will get a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse and nationally known restaurateur Michael Mina. According to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, the average San Francisco household spends $3,769 a year eating outside the home. That's $545 more than households in New York, $598 more than in Chicago, $660 more than in Seattle, $986 more than in Atlanta and $1,725 more than in Miami. SF Chronicle 12/19/07
While cotton remains an important crop for the state, there has been a dramtic shift away from it as the crop of first choice among San Joaquin Valley row-crop farmers. Leaders of this agricultural sector say the number of acres has decreased by about half and the price growers get for the crop is what they would have received prior to the 1980s. The price for cotton has remained at or below the cost of production for quite a few years. California Farm Bureau Federation 12/19/07
The California citrus industry has filed a lawsuit against Florida when the state began quarantining truckloads of oranges over a local fungus. The move has threatened to cut off one of California's most lucrative domestic markets for oranges, lemons and grapefruits. California exports about $75 million worth of citrus to Florida each year. Growers and agricultural officials faced off in state court in Tallahassee on Tuesday battling over the validity of the quarantine, with a decision by the judge expected as soon as Wednesday. SJ Mercury 12/18/07
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