Worth Noting in business: new bank branch, economic summit and more
| Wednesday, Mar 10 2010 06:10 AM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 10 2010 06:12 PM
Tri Counties Bank plans to open its third Bakersfield location inside the Wal-mart Supercenter set to debut March 17 at 5075 Gosford Road.
The new branch is to offer service by ATM, a telephone banking center, online banking and the bank's BillPay program, as well as private space for personal banking. Its hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The bank said it will give a Wal-Mart gift card to the first 300 people who open checking accounts at the new branch.
Tri Counties is based in Chico; this new office would be its 58th branch.
The 10th annual Kern County Economic Summit has been scheduled for 7:30 a.m. to noon March 24 at the DoubleTree Hotel.
Speakers include a senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co., a chief economist at the Kyser Center for Economic Research of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., Cal State Bakersfield economics professor Abbas Grammy, the general manager of the Mojave Air & Space Port and the founder of ICON Aircraft.
Tickets cost $100 each, and can be ordered, preferably before March 18, by calling 862-5150, or doing so online at kedc.com.
The annual China Lake Job Fair has been scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22 at the naval air weapons station's Paradise Community Center.
The fair is expected to feature opportunities in the fields of electronics, high technology, mechanics and law enforcement. Among the employers planning to attend: Jacobs Technology Inc., Wyle Laboratories, Searles Valley Minerals, Cerro Coso Community College, MIL Corp., General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and SA-TECH.
More information is available by calling Joan Tells at 760-939-4553, or Andy Lara at 760-939-4545.
Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against an Imperial Valley farm labor contractor who the state says failed to pay minimum wage and overtime to employees in Kern County, the Coachella Valley and the Mojave Desert.
The lawsuit also accuses the farm labor contractor, Juan Munoz, of potentially deadly safety violations such as neglecting to provide drinking water, shade and rest breaks.
Munoz did not return a telephone call seeking an interview.
According to the lawsuit, the company typically paid people who worked on onion farms $1.23 for each four-gallon sack of onions they harvested, which is less than both the state's $8 an hour minimum wage and the federal $7.25 an hour minimum wage. He also asked employees to work split shifts day and night, the lawsuit alleges. They slept in fields and bathed in a nearby reservoir, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction, civil penalties, restitution to field workers and legal fees.
