Over the last 12 years, Long Beach City College has seen the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction, renovations and upgrades of critical infrastructure to create a more conducive—and sustainable—learning environment for students.

Construction of the 80,000-square-foot Cherese Mari Laulhere Children’s Village on the Long Beach Medical Center campus has been completed and equipment will be moved into the facility over the next two months. The first patients are expected to be admitted in February.

With JetBlue Airways’ exit from Long Beach Airport, Southwest Airlines has stepped up as the airport’s premier carrier. The easily recognizable red, yellow and blue aircraft eventually will be flying 34 of the airport’s 53 allotted daily flight slots as it continues to expand service out of the domestic airfield.

Construction is underway on the second phase of the Long Beach modernization program, but the ongoing pandemic has wreaked havoc on the completion schedule and a budget that has already been increased once prior to COVID-19.

To offset lost business and brighten the holidays, Bixby Knolls staple Rasselbock Kitchen & Beer Garden sold about 200 Christmas trees out of its outdoor dining area.

Long Beach Airport has taken a massive financial hit due to the coronavirus pandemic, which caused passenger numbers to plummet, at one point down more than 95% over last year.

Over the weekend, new signage for Sheldrake Coffee Roasting went up, replacing the Polly’s logo that has graced the Belmont Shore coffeehouse for more than four decades.

For nearly nine decades, McCarty’s Jewelry has served the Belmont Shore community, a historic run set to end sometime before the end of the year.

The Long Beach Quarterly Economic Forum returns for its second installment with a virtual event Thursday, Nov. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon.

“It’s a Brooklyn-style, date-night pizzeria,” Stebbins said. “The kind of place you can go for a nice salad, a pizza, and a bottle of wine on a date, or with your family, or to hang with a bunch of friends. The type of pizzeria I’ve always gravitated to.”