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A federal judge has blocked California’s attempt to cut Medi-Cal rates to doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other Medi-Cal providers by 10 percent. U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday that prohibits the state from implementing the cut, which is part of a budget fix adopted by the California Legislature last March.

A certain segment of sales might be a good gig. Sales engineers make the most money in the Sacramento region at $109,780. That covers about 630 employees, according to an On Numbers analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received a record 99,947 charges of employment discrimination in fiscal 2011 and obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program and litigation, according to new data released by the agency. A total of 5.4 million individuals benefited from changes in employment policies last year due to EEOC enforcement programs.

The Sacramento region continues to lag behind the state and nation when it comes to job creation, new figures on online job postings show. The state and the nation gained job postings in January, while the four-county Sacramento area lost 400, according to the monthly online jobs report by The Conference Board.

Our Business Pulse Survey this week asked: Is the United States in decline? Out of 507 votes cast, a majority, 57 percent, voted to say yes, rules and taxes are killing our economy. Also on the yes side, a scant 2 percent voted to say our country’s military power is slipping.

Tom Horton, chief executive officer of embattled AMR Corp., told employees Wednesday that the company must reduce its employee-related costs by $1.25 billion per year if it is to emerge from bankruptcy a stronger company.

Wells Fargo's brand is now more valuable than Bank of America's. New ranking released Wednesday show Charlotte-based BofA dropped to third place in 2011 from first in 2010 in The Brand Finance Banking 500 rankings.San Francisco-based Wells Fargo improved to second place from third.

California will run out of cash on March 1 and will be $730 million in the hole a week later, said Controller John Chiang in a letter to state legislators. The “liquidity shortfall” Chiang describes will likely last about seven weeks, from Feb. 29 to April 13.

Quibbles and Bits — Time once again to sweep out some cyber cobwebs. I beg your indulgence.

Green is a new driving force behind business. Consumers want to be assured they’re making the right choices, even as companies meet standards. And now a study finds that companies that plug their emissions strategies saw a financial benefit when they saw stock prices rise.

The California Public Utilities Commission has fined San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Company $16.8 million for failure to conduct pipeline leak surveys. PG&E has 10 days to pay the fine to the state’s general fund from shareholder dollars or submit a notice of appeal.

The average educator in the Sacramento region makes an average of $54,630, or about $26.27 an hour. That covers about 63,830 employees in the sector of education, training and library occupations.

GenCorp Inc.’s effort to get a Folsom ZIP code for a part of its proposed residential development called Boroughs of Easton failed. The U.S. Postal Service turned down the company’s request for the Folsom name change, and the area will remain part of Rancho Cordova.

The long-awaited public draft of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, a first comprehensive systemwide flood plan, has been released, GEI Consultants Inc., lead consulting firm for the state Department of Water Resources’ FloodSAFE California Program, announced today.

The $50 million Powerhouse Science Center has landed another founding partner. Keller Group Office Environments, the Sacramento region’s largest office furniture dealer as ranked by the Business Journal, joins other community and business leaders in supporting the museum project.

Four Gold Line light-rail stations will be closed for construction work for the Green Line to the River District light-rail extension between 7 p.m. today and 4 a.m. Sunday.

Sierra Vista Bank earned $159,000 in 2011, up from a loss of $3.4 million in 2010. In the fourth quarter, the Folsom-based bank earned $64,000, up from a loss of $908,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Sierra Vista (OTCBB: SVBA) ended 2011 with assets of $80.5 million, down from assets of $88.7 the year earlier.

A federal grand jury Thursday returned an indictment charging two people in connection with mortgage fraud. Andrey Kim, 28, of Sacramento, and Sultanmurod Rashidov, 29, of Brooklyn, N.Y. were charged with mail fraud and money laundering the scheme that allegedly resulted in the loss of at least $180,000 to mortgage lenders.

A bill that aimed to create a government-run health care payment system fell short of votes needed to pass the California Senate on Thursday. Senate Bill 810, proposed by Democrat Mark Leno of San Francisco, failed to pass on a vote of 19-15, with some members of both parties in opposition.

Each week, we show you the top five companies from our Lists printed in our Friday paper. This week, we feature general contractors, ranked by 2011 revenue.