The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners unanimously approved a $622.4 million budget for the Port of Long Beach during its meeting Monday.

Because of the heightened urgency to connect families to the internet, while most businesses and nonprofits struggled through the pandemic—many not making it through—Human-I-T thrived. Over the past year, the nonprofit expanded, opening a facility in Detroit, its first outside of California.

Unemployment in Long Beach decreased 0.2% in April from March, according to data released Friday by the California Employment Development Department. From February to March, the city’s unemployment decreased 2.4%.

When coronavirus swept across the globe in early 2020, Catalina’s tourism economy was decimated. Since 2014, the island getaway has consistently welcomed more than one million annual visitors. But last year, that number was cut in half to just over 500,000, according to Love Catalina Island, the island’s chamber of commerce and visitor’s bureau.

Construction is underway on a mid-rise residential building, but work may cause added stress to already-strained restaurant businesses just feet from the site, one restaurateur says.

After one of the most challenging health and economic crises in Catalina Island’s history, visitors are returning to the island for an outdoor getaway. From the water to the sky, adventurers are enjoying the fresh air and sunshine of island life. Unavailable through much of the pandemic, the island’s recreational offerings are booming, including kayaking, zip lining, a ropes course, tours and more.

Each of Long Beach’s commercial real estate markets—office, retail and industrial—were impacted by the coronavirus in different ways. For now, the office market has taken the brunt of the hit but the future of the retail market remains in question, according to industry experts. Meanwhile, the industrial sector was bolstered by the dramatic increase in online shopping brought on by COVID-19.

Long Beach-based beauty health company HydraFacial has merged with Miami Beach-based Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, to form The Beauty Health Company.

Electrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, announced this week that it is investing $25 million in Long Beach and Wilmington electric-vehicle charging infrastructure as part of its Green City program.

Six small satellites will be blasted into orbit during Long Beach-based Virgin Orbit’s first official mission next month, the company announced Thursday.