Being earth-friendly does not pay when you’re running a restaurant. At least that’s what the owner of San Luis Obispo’s Pizza Fusion thinks.

The first tenant in Paso Robles’ newest shopping center — the approximately 300,000-square-foot Golden Hills Plaza off Highway 46 East — is set to open at 6 a.m. Friday.

Taste, the downtown San Luis Obispo business featuring local wines, is closing on Nov. 9.

Hundreds of Paso Robles-based businesses, including local places to eat, drink and play, are now included in a tourism Web site designed to help brand the city as a travel destination.

A new pizza parlor is taking over the Boston Bagel shop in downtown San Luis Obispo. It will be the third Croce’s Pizza on the California coast and should open in a week to 10 days, said its owner, Sean Croce.

One North County mixed-media artist hopes to create a multifaceted venue for wine and art with the construction of his new 3,000-square-foot wine tasting room in southern Paso Robles.

Gray skies and precipitation have Paso Robles zinfandel growers concerned about the threat of rot and scrambling to get ripe grapes off vines and into tanks.

The latest tourism statistics for San Luis Obispo County offer a bit of sunshine amid the continued economic gloom.

J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines has promised thousands of dollars to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the company announced last week, to honor a member of its family.

California’s housing market is beginning to show signs of stability after a collapse that led to falling prices and slowing sales.

Nominations are being accepted for The Tribune’s Top 20 under 40 competition. The award, in its fifth year, honors 20 women and men younger than age 40 who have demonstrated leadership in both their professions and communities.

The U.S. Treasury Department has given half a million dollars to a local nonprofit group that seeks to provide affordable housing.

Shareholders of Pacific Capital Bancorp — parent company of First Bank of San Luis Obispo — voted earlier this week to increase the number of shares of its stock and to authorize a reverse stock split — moves designed to strengthen its capital and bolster its stock price.

A plea bargain is expected today in the criminal mortgage fraud case of Santa Maria hard-money lender Mike L. Wilson, according to Jerry Lulejian, the Santa Barbara County deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.

The answer to the question “Why do people donate money?” depends on whom you ask and about whom you are asking.

The San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau has been awarded a contract of $95,000 from the San Luis Obispo City Council to help market the region as a tourist destination.

A bankruptcy court judge has ruled that a lawsuit with more than 400 plaintiffs that alleges fraud and other wrongdoing by an Atascadero-based lender can proceed in San Luis Obispo Superior Court, even as the company and its executives are under bankruptcy protection.

Chandler/May Inc. of Huntsville, Ala. has bought AeroMech Engineering of San Luis Obispo, a producer of small unmanned aircraft known as drones.

Santa Lucia Bancorp, parent company of Atascadero-based Santa Lucia Bank, will no longer pay a cash dividend to shareholders, a move designed to bolster its capital in uncertain economic times, bank officials say.

Defense attorneys in the Estate Financial Inc. criminal case told the court at a pretrial hearing on Tuesday that the San Luis Obispo County Employees Association was an investor in Estate Financial’s securities and loans. If that is the case, employees in the District Attorney’s Office could be among Estate Financial’s alleged victims, thus creating a conflict of interest for the prosecution, the defense said.