A team of archaeologists working during the Nacimiento Water Project unearthed a large collection of Chumash artifacts, ranging from bowl mortar and pestles, a milling stone slab, and a number of other stone tools, bone fragments and shells. More than 500 pieces were found and are estimated to be 5,000 – 10,000 years old. 

The property excavated is located on River Road in Paso Robles, and is owned by American Perspective Bank (APB).

The archaeologists, working on the site for the County of San Luis Obispo, cleaned, sorted and catalogued the artifacts, which were then given to APB. The artifacts were turned over to the Northern Chumash Tribal Council as the caretakers for the Chumash Nation.

Two new team members have joined Collaboration, a San Luis Obispo-based business consulting firm. Christin Frederick will lead the business development efforts and Paden Followwill will focus on technology and partner support as the innovation coordinator.

“I’m really excited to have Christin and Paden join our team,” said Collaboration Founder and Managing Partner Michael Gunther. “They each bring so much to the organization, with Christin’s background as a recruiter in the Marines and Paden’s knowledge of implementing business technology.”

Collaboration’s growth continues with an expansion of geographic reach and the implementation of an online education portal. The addition of these individuals, with their expertise, will allow the organization to accelerate the development of those initiatives.

The Pacific Coast Business Times is the winner of two first-place honors in the 53rd annual Southern California Journalism Awards.

The region's only weekly business publication won first place in both the business news and hard news categories at the Los Angeles Press Club's annual awards.

Wells Fargo Foundation has awarded a $5,000 grant to the San Luis Obispo County Housing Trust Fund (HTF) on behalf of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. 

The award is for the HTF’s George Moylan Affordable Housing Fund and will be used exclusively to help finance the development of housing for low and moderate income home buyers in San Luis Obispo County.

“We are excited about Wells Fargo’s support for the Moylan Fund,” adds HTF Executive Director Jerry Rioux.  “The bank’s generous award will be combined with donations and investments from throughout our community to help finance affordable housing in San Luis Obispo County."

The HTF is a nonprofit corporation that was formed in 2003 to increase the supply of affordable housing throughout the county. Rather than develop, own or manage affordable housing, the HTF provides financing and technical assistance to help private developers, nonprofit agencies and local governments create, preserve and improve homes that working families, seniors on fixed incomes and persons with disabilities can afford to rent or buy.

Mission Community Bank, headquartered out of San Luis Obispo, recently acquired Atascadero's Santa Lucia Bank in a definitive merger agreement. 

According to the terms of the agreement, Carpenter Fund Manager GP, LLC, as General Partner of the Carpenter Community BancFund, L.P. and Carpenter Community BancFund-A, L.P. (the “Funds”) will retire Santa Lucia Bancorp’s preferred stock and associated warrants issued to the United States Department of the Treasury under the Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program, and pay the holders of Santa Lucia Bancorp’s common stock $0.35 cents per share.

The agreement also provides for the Funds to acquire the Santa Lucia Bancorp entity as a vehicle to receive and hold certain non-performing assets of Santa Lucia Bank.  

The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art will host a special exhibit called, "Dimensions: A Juried Exhibition of Fine Craft" from Oct. 15 to Dec. 4, and the museum is calling all local artists to enter.

The exhibit is open to all residents of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Kern, Ventura, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. A minimum of $1,000 in cash will be awarded. All work must be original and executed by the hand of the artist in any of the following media: clay, fiber/paper, glass, metal/jewelry, wood, mixed media and sculptural objects. 

Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates recently held the Grand Opening of its second retail shop on July 2 in downtown San Luis Obispo, 950 Chorro St., next to Trio Boutique.

The shop carries an assortment of Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates' award-winning organic, fair-trade chocolates as well as chocolate memorabilia, art and cocoa-butter-based body-care products. The original shop, four doors down from Splash Café Artisan Bakery, will continue to serve the full array of Sweet Earth’s offerings, hot and cold chocolate drinks, and frozen treats. Visit the original location at at 1445 Monterey St.

Chocophiles of every taste will find something to love in Sweet Earth’s broad range of delicacies — from the deepest of rich, aromatic dark chocolates paired with complex and exotic flavors (try the cinnamon ancho Aztec Caramel Nugget or the Chili Orange Walnut bark), to a playful array of chocolates on sticks. New items also include a line of vegan caramel nuggets, the perfect treat to nibble on while watching a movie at the Palm Theatre.