Meeting business demands today means keeping up-to-date on important issues. Most recently, the swine flu or even compliance-related topics such as recent COBRA changes affect how San Diego organizations do business. How to manage these issues can be challenging, and even risky. Where do you go to get information on such a wide range of topics?   

A weakening lending environment prompted Jeff Ellis to move his career another step forward.   

House Democrats are crafting a plan that would require all Americans to carry health insurance and would help families making less than $88,000 pay the premiums. Employers, too, would have to help foot the bill.   

The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the validity of a landmark anti-fraud law that served as Congress' response to the wave of corporate scandals starting with Enron.   

Californians laid off from a small business would get help paying for their health insurance under a bill sent to the governor.   

Advanta Corp. (Nasdaq: ADVNB), a credit card lender to nearly 1 million small businesses, will close all its cardholders' accounts next month in a last-ditch effort to stem losses.   

Paula Mello, CEO of Crafty Productions Inc., needed to find a way to fund her growing business, which designs and manufactures craft, jewelry and gift products for national retailers from Michaels to Wal-Mart. The company's celebrated design talent helped Mello to distinguish her business from other budding craft houses and land a banking partner that was poised to take the company to the next level.   

What is the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?   

Business executives are battling time and the economy, necessitating that every company has a strategic plan. Many of the recessionary-induced changes may be permanent, forcing executives to employ strategic management techniques to revise their organizations for success in a new economy.   

Trading hours of commuting for a brisk walk down a staircase. Swapping the boardroom for beach sand. Converging a career with comfort. To some, this sounds like doing the impossible. To the developers of Bluwater Crossing, it's just business as usual.   

Faith Bautista   

Small Business Person of the Year   

On May 27, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce will partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration and ESET to celebrate the accomplishments of small and micro businesses at the 2009 Small Business Awards Luncheon & Business Exchange.   

Innovative Commercial Environments does more than just design furniture.   

Small businesses already working to hold costs down during the recession have another expense to contend with: higher postal rates.   

More than $730 million of the federal stimulus has been marked specifically for small business, and although the details remain scarce, a few business leaders agree that certain programs look promising.