Free Republic

A tray of asymmetrical chocolate lumps balances on the counter behind the espresso machine, where owner Jean-Marc Gorce is slinging a cappuccino. Scotch-taped to the walls, clippings about the mom-and-pop truffle shop display accolades from Gourmet, the New York Times and 7 x 7. At the window, a few stools share a high counter; outside, two tables perch on the sidewalk. Cluttered but quaint, off-kilter but authentic, XOX Truffles is just the sort of place that one might associate with North Beach's motley character. Yet one of its design anomalies - a step from the curb into the shop -...

California has the seventh-worst legal climate in the nation for business, according to a survey released Wednesday by a leading business lobby. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform said California's legal climate moved up a spot from last year, but was still stuck in 44th place. "California's low ranking is not surprising, given the fact that California courts have a reputation for certifying class action lawsuits that most other jurisdictions would toss out, and that California juries are increasingly likely to award disproportionately large judgments in civil cases,"

Berkeley is one of the most affluent, lively cities in the Bay Area, but its downtown looks more like Tombstone, Ariz., on a slow day. Shuttered businesses dot the streets like tumbleweeds in a ghost town: Barnes and Noble. Gateway Computers. UC Theater. Soon to join their grim ranks: Ross Dress for Less and Shoe Pavilion. "Berkeley's downtown plan has resulted in a wonderful, vibrant, mixed-use community. It's called Emeryville," said Will Travis, chairman of the city committee charged with revitalizing the beleaguered commercial district around Shattuck and University avenues. In a few years, downtown Berkeley could look a bit...

Industry fears costs of minimum wage boost, sick leave, health care will hurt trade - The first big hit to the San Francisco restaurant industry came three years ago this month -- a $1.75-an-hour increase in the minimum wage. The second came last Monday when the city became the first in the country to require all businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees. The third is due in July when the city's plan to require health coverage for uninsured residents kicks in -- assuming the employer mandate portion of the ordinance survives a legal challenge by restaurant owners....

A federal appeals court this week struck an indirect but potentially fatal blow to one of the most controversial pieces of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's comprehensive health insurance plan -- requiring employers to either provide coverage to workers or pay 4 percent of their payrolls into a state insurance purchase pool. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled that Maryland's play-or-pay health insurance law, specifically aimed at retailing giant Wal-Mart, violates a federal law governing employers' group health plans. It upheld a lower court's finding that invalidated "any and all state laws insofar as...

Christiane Schmidt runs her small San Francisco restaurant, Walzwerk, on a tightrope-thin margin. She does her own bookkeeping and cleaning, waits tables and relies on tips to survive. Of her four full-time and six part-time employees, none gets paid sick leave, and only her chef gets a paid vacation. That's about to change. On Feb. 5, San Francisco will become the first city in the country to require all businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees -- full- and part-time employees, permanent workers and temps. The sick leave requirement was passed by voters in November with little fanfare...

California continues to lose residents to other states, one factor driving a slowing population growth rate, the state Department of Finance reported Wednesday. Overall, the state gained a net 462,000 residents in the fiscal year that ended June 30, bringing the total population to 37.4 million. California lost a net of about 67,000 people to other states, the report said, but gained about 213,000 foreign immigrants. Those people, combined with hundreds of thousands of babies born to California residents, accounted for the growth. The relatively high cost of living in California is both keeping people from moving here and encouraging...

Foreign investment in S. Korea drops sharply SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- Foreign investors' exit from South Korea is accelerating amid worries over a worsening business climate here and the economy's falling growth potential, the central bank said Sunday According to the Bank of Korea, foreign direct investment in Asia's fourth-largest economy reached a mere US$790 million in the first nine months of this year, about one-fourth of the $3.42 billion during the same period a year earlier. Foreign direct investment tumbled to $4.34 billion in 2005 from $9.25 billion the previous year. "It is true that foreigners are withdrawing...

Mike Hethmon, he is with the Immigration Reform Law Institute. He`s one of the groups backing the California lawsuit. Mike, thank you for doing this. I`ve been saying for a long time, "Choke these companies to death." Give me the lawsuit in a nutshell and the chances of it actually winning.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. It took the looming closure of much-admired Cody's Books on Telegraph Avenue for Berkeley to finally get serious about cleaning up what's become a four-block showplace for urban decay, drug dealing and homelessness -- right on the doorstep of one of the nation's most prestigious universities. Responding to Cody's recently announced exit in July, the Berkeley City Council last week approved a package of measures submitted by Mayor Tom Bates that will provide for more cops and more social workers, streamline the permit process for new businesses and generally clean things up. "We've had...

Chamber says pending legislation not being analyzed - Two of San Francisco's leading business associations filed an unprecedented lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors and the city controller Monday, accusing them of ignoring a voter-approved law that requires an economic study on pending legislation. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Committee on Jobs filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court hoping to compel City Hall to better enforce Proposition I, a measure passed in 2004 that requires the city to create an Office of Economic Analysis under the controller and have it review proposed legislation before it is...

Coalition Sign-On Letter to the Senate Urging Opposition of Expansion of the Basic Pilot Employment Verification System (3/27/2006) Oppose Expansion of the Basic Pilot Employment Verification System as a Threat to American’s Privacy Dear Senator: The undersigned organizations and individuals urge you to oppose Section 301 of both Chairman Specter’s Immigration Mark and S. 2454, the Securing America’s Border Act, introduced by Senator Frist. This legislation mandates the use of the Basic Pilot employment verification database by all United States employers to verify the work-eligibility of all current employees and all future hires. The Chairman’s Mark, S. 2454, and other...

FRYEBURG — In an environmentally conscious state with a lackluster economy, Poland Spring has been a decades-long delight: a nonpolluting industry that relies on a renewable resource to provide hundreds of good-paying jobs in small towns where they are often hard to come by. The plastic bottle of spring water with the dark green label has become as much a part of Maine's image as a pair of L.L. Bean boots. The company's longtime slogan says it all: "Poland Spring. What it means to be from Maine." But the love affair is showing signs of strain. Poland Spring is a...

IT'S OFFICIAL: 2005 WILL BE the newspaper industry's worst year since the last ad industry recession. And things aren't looking much better for next year either, according to a top Wall Street firm's report on newspaper publishing. "Sadly, 2005 is shaping up as the industry's worst year from a revenue growth perspective since the recession impacted 2001-2002 period," says the report from Goldman Sachs, adding a warning that meaningful growth in 2006 is "very unlikely."

Employment market fails to match economic surges, researchers sayBERKELEY - Despite a sizzling economic recovery, the job market in California remains a chilly environment for some workers, UC Berkeley researchers said in a report released Sunday.California's economy also has become more vulnerable to a correction in the super-heated housing market because a growing share of the statewide employment base consists of construction and real estate jobs, economists at the school warned in a briefing timed for Labor Day weekend.The bottom line: Californians have seen no more than a modest improvement in employment and wages in the recent recovery, according to...

BALTIMORE -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. yesterday urged business leaders to embark on a "historic challenge" to rid the General Assembly of anti-business lawmakers in next year's elections. "You must aggressively challenge members who consistently vote against jobs and growth and opportunity and prosperity," Mr. Ehrlich told about 450 executives attending a luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. "You must convince competitive-seat members of the Maryland General Assembly that you are a powerful, pertinent political player in the state of Maryland. That is not an easy test to pass."

Costco has put a hold on plans to develop a new store in Kalispell, or new stores anywhere in Montana, because of a proposed tax on "box stores" that will be considered by the state Legislature, a Costco executive said Friday. "We feel this proposal is punitive against Costco and we are going to hold off on any additional investment in Montana until this is resolved," said Doug Schutt, chief operating officer for Costco's Northern Division. Costco has yet to break ground on its new store at the Spring Prairie Center on U.S. 93 north of Kalispell, and construction probably...

...The AG... says he is running for governor because New York is suffering a "crisis" and needs someone to address jobs, taxes and budgetary red ink.... His actions as attorney general have been one of the biggest job-killers in the state. ...The Pacific Research Institute examined state and regulatory regimes with an eye toward whether they attracted business investment or drove it away. New York was ranked dead last, right after California. In a study of the 200 largest metropolitan areas in terms of job-creation, New York ranked 169th. Matters were not improved this week when a gaggle of union-addled...

...The Spitzer complaint also inspired a flood of new lawsuits within days of his going public, including a class action suit from the king of trial lawyers, Bill Lerach -- this one against insurers. Mr. Lerach's firm was rewarded for its pluck when Mr. Garamendi (who is himself eyeing the California governorship) hired it to pursue any state claims against the industry.... We want to be clear that we aren't alleging formal collusion among these parties. But regardless of motive and communication, there certainly is a clear community of interest at work: Trial lawyers target an industry; politicians later get...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is funding a political group's ads criticizing trial lawyers, including John Edwards, for allegedly raising the cost of doing business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobbying organization, plans to help pay for ads attacking Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards and other trial lawyers for allegedly raising the cost of doing business. The chamber plans to fund a political organization that will ''tell the truth about the role John Edwards and the trial lawyers have played in driving up healthcare costs,'' said Bill Brock, a former Republican National Committee chairman and...