Business

After scraping by on handyman jobs for a year, Bert Qintana figured he'd have to leave his wife and teenage son at their home near Taos,

Majid Bahriny and the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce celebrated the renovation of Mama Mia’s Ristorante Italiano located at 1360-B First St. in the Hecker Pass shopping Center in Gilroy. The restaurant has been in Gilroy for 12 years. Details: 847-8808 or www.mamamias.com.

Carmen Garcia of Gilroy has received a $1,500 scholarship from the Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter of the California Society of CPAs. Garcia is a student at Gavilan College. The chapter recently awarded a total of $41,000 in scholarships to 18 San Jose area students. Since 1999, the chapter has awarded more than $400,000 to students pursuing degrees in accounting and related subjects.

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage announced that Diane Baty, a sales associate in its Gilroy office, was named Realtor of the Year by the South County Realtors Alliance, a subsidiary of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors. Baty, who has been a Realtor for eight years, has served as the SCRA Gilroy tour director for the past three years. She was presented the Realtor of the Year Award – one of the organization’s highest honors – at the SCRA Inaugural Ball held last month at Fortino Winery. "Diane is an outstanding real estate professional and tremendously

The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Christine Guisiana, board members, ambassadors, staff and Chamber members celebrated a ribbon cutting event at Cigarland’s new hookah lounge – “Z Lounge” – Jan. 10 with owner Z-Jay Zayyat and his family. For the past few years, Cigarland has offered a large selection of premium cigars, international and domestic cigarettes, pipes, tobacco accessories, incense, T-shirts and gifts at two locations (Condit Road and Tennant Station in Morgan Hill). The owner has recently expanded the company’s offerings to include a hookah lounge at the 620 Tennant Station location and offers more than 50 exotic flavors to choose from. The Z Lounge is good for groups or parties and provides a VIP room plus Wi-Fi and five big screen TVs. Details: 782-2611 or cigarlandcali.com.

Chances are the Internet has changed something about your life. How you shop. How you stay in touch with school buddies or look for a job.

Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Christine Giusiana, board members and ambassadors, Mayor Steve Tate and their spouses celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting for The Crawfish House at their location at 16410 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill. Owners Angelica and Steve Pham and their family and friends treated this large group to an evening of delicious food featuring appetizers, main courses (crawfish, chicken wings and kebabs) desserts and beverages. The opening of this restaurant has been a dream of the owners for awhile.

A few days after the New Year’s holiday, clerks at the Dollar Tree store in the St. Paul, Minn., Midway neighborhood were busily setting up new displays celebrating Valentine’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday. Any remnants of the Christmas holiday season were long stowed away, and the bright new merchandise enticed shoppers anew.