The National Automobile Dealers Association reported that the average annual payroll of a California new-car dealership was $4.4 million with combined payroll accounting for 13.1 percent of the state’s total retail payrolls.

Then the bottom fell out of the economy. The federal government bailed out two of Detroit’s “Big Three,” GM and Chrysler and vehicle sales went south.

The California Credit Union League reports that credit unions represent a significant portion of California’s financial industry. The state has more than 475 state licensed and federally charted credit unions with more than 10 million members and total assets of $122.9 billion.

Nationally, nearly 8,000 credit unions serve 92 million members and boast assets of more than $908 trillion.

“PG&E has a long-standing commitment to renewable energy sources,” said Cindy Pollard, the utility’s media relations manager. “Renewable energy is cost effective, reliable and it deals with climate change issues, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

A package of proposed legislation supporting some type of canal – or “conveyance facility” – canal supporters seem to prefer this less provocative term but a canal is a canal – recently were debated in Sacramento and likely will continue to be hashed over when legislators return for a special session later this fall.

So, what’s the answer?

Finding a solution everyone can agree upon is the difficult part.

But most have weathered the storm.

Thomas L. Bryant, president of Thomas L. Bryant and the Investment Consulting Group headquartered in Modesto, said his business is brisk despite “a lot of turnover in client relationships. On the other hand, we’ve gotten quite a few new clients.”

The Stockton-French Camp area was selected after a five-year evaluation process. The decision was based upon analysis of where the majority of Northern California veterans live. Transportation access, potential for hospital partnerships, cost of land and the availability of qualified medical staff also were key factors.

Since its inception in 1965, the Williamson Act also has kept thousands of acres of land in agricultural use, allowed thousands of acres more of open land to remain undeveloped, helping the environment in the process.

“Overall, the value rose by a little more than $52 million, which was a bit of a surprise,” said Agricultural Commissioner Gary Caseri. “The reason being dairy didn’t drop as much as we’d anticipated.”

The new figures are contained in the county’s 2008 Crop Report, recently released by Caseri’s office.

Chick’s forthrightness will be put to the test early as she deals with both the state and federal governments – neither of which have adequate plans in place to accept, distribute or monitor the dispersion of the billions earmarked for California in federal Recovery Act money.