CAPITOLA, Calif.

Central Coast Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Carmel) stood before public officials, educators and business owners Thursday morning, describing the gloomy state of the economy and the highlights of the recently completed state legislative session.

Monning told members of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce what they probably already knew -- virtually no program was spared from cuts. 

Stephanie Corey listened to Monning discuss the economy, attending her first chamber meeting as a brand new small business owner.  She recently left her job as the Chief of Staff to the General Counsel of Hewlett Packard to start "Miss Stephanie's Potions," a bath and body line. 

When she started gauging interest in her product from wholesalers and retailers, Corey noticed that buyers seemed to be holding on to their money tightly.

"It's evident that when you go into these stores, the welcome isn't quite as warm as it probably would have been a few years ago," Corey

Bay Federal Credit Union Board Chair Dennis Osmer announced the appointment of Danny Keith to the Credit Union’s all-volunteer Board of Directors.

Keith is the Chief Development and Technology Officer for Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County with a long history of success as a local business owner, consultant, writer, radio personality, and philanthropist. His accomplishments include the establishment of several successful business ventures, sports writing/blogging, a 4-plus year radio stint on KDON FM, co-development of an e-commerce platform, a video game, an iTunes App, and the founding of Grind Out Hunger, a hunger-awareness campaign created through partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank.