Business 2-5
Raytheon Company, a defense technology developer whose Electronic Warfare Systems and Vision Systems divisions are located in Goleta, reported fourth-quarter 2008 income of $466 million, up from $420 million in 2007’s fourth quarter. Raytheon’s net sales in the last three months of 2008 exceeded $6.1 billion, and it has high hopes for continued growth in sales in the coming years, according to the report.
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Pacific Capital Bancorp, a community bank holding company headquartered in Santa Barbara, announced its fourth-quarter 2008 financial results, reporting a loss of $41.8 million, compared to an income of $12.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2007. This increases Pacific Capital Bancorp’s “allowance” for loan losses to $140.9 million, or 2.44 percent of total loans. President and CEO George Leis explained that the loan portfolio deterioration is consistent with a recessionary economy.
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The U.S. Navy tested a new shaped-charge warhead made by Raytheon that is cheaper yet equally as effective as other air-to-ground weapons, according to Commander Andrew Kessler of the Navy’s Precision Strike Weapons Office. He explained that the armed forces are on a constant lookout for improved capability at reduced cost to taxpayers. The warhead also has new seeker-algorithms that allow the missile to hit moving targets, such as maritime targets.
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As part of international efforts to make low-energy lighting a reality, $2.1 million in grant funding was announced this week for a project involving UCSB. The Science Bridges grant is to be shared among four UCSB professors and a team of scientists from England’s University of Cambridge as they work together to find new materials to advance low-energy lighting science to the prototype production stage.
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Some UCSB students are urging Congressmember Capps to increase funding for public transit within the stimulus package being considered by the House of Representatives. Student campaigners argue that cars and trucks are the second largest source of global warming pollution in the country.
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Nine years after it began, DOGGR (the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources) completed filling and sealing 80 long-abandoned oil wells in the Capitan oil field. Production in the field, located between Santa Barbara and Gaviota, peaked in 1943, but some wells dated from the 19th century. Funding came from California’s current oil producers.
