Posts
COVID-19 Impacts on Oregon’s Breweries and Pubs
by Damon Runberg Regional Economist Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson, Klamath, and Lake counties damon.m.runberg@oregon.gov Last year was difficult for many types of businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered the way we engage the economy. Breweries and brewpubs had been posting slower rates of growth before the onset of the pandemic, but…
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Interview with Moneeka Settles, Program Coordinator of the SOU Innovation & Leadership Program
By Chris Cook, Capiche, capiche.us President and CEO of Capiche & Capiche Wine, Chris Cook is a leadership coach focused on happiness, culture, living your brand, and winery marketing & PR. She brings decades of experience in marketing and a love of entrepreneurship. INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY MELISSA L. MICHAELS, CAPICHE CONTRIBUTOR/STRATEGIC PARTNER, MICHAELS & MICHAELS…
Read MoreWho Benefits from the Housing Market?
By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis oregoneconomicanalysis.com One of the darker, underlying currents to the housing discussion is something along the lines that it’s the builders and developers who benefit the most, often described as exploiting or eroding our livability and quality of life. Usually this is couched…
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A few words from Jim – April 2021
The special report on Fire Victim Housing took me 2 days of interviews with 8 people that have been working very hard to find housing solutions for people that lost their homes in the fire. There is a lot going on and it’s a big story. I didn’t even get…
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Family-Owned and Pacific Northwest-Founded Peninsula Truck Lines Celebrates 70th Anniversary
From day one in 1951 when three family members started trucking between Seattle and Port Angeles, Washington, to today, it has been quite a ride. Peninsula operated in a heavily regulated industry with both rates and routes controlled by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.…
Read MoreA Few Words from Jim
March already!? This month marks the 1 year anniversary of working from home via zoom for millions of workers. Vaccinations are rolling out at a brisk pace now and with spring flowers blooming, our desire to be outside and away from the computer 24×7 is stronger than the typical spring…
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Local Innovation Lab prepares SOU interns to address disaster issues
from SOU News If you’re looking for a silver lining somewhere deep within the dual catastrophes of COVID-19 and last fall’s southern Oregon wildfires, look no further than the Local Innovation Lab. The collaborative project of Southern Oregon University and the Humane Leadership Institute is finding student interns and training them as…
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Fiber Optic Internet : A Conduit for Economic Transformation
By Bruce Arnold Who Will Stay? That’s a common refrain when parents, educators, employers and regional officials discuss the future of young people growing up in Southern Oregon. Increasingly, rural areas are losing young, talented people in search of opportunity and better employment prospects. The current reality is that 55…
Read MoreHunter Communications Awarded $19.2 Million in FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Funding to Boost Broadband Services in Oregon and California
Hunter to provide up to 1 Gbps symmetrical fiber broadband internet Hunter Communications (Hunter), the premier fiber-optic communications services provider in southern Oregon and northern California, has been awarded $19.2 million through the Federal Communication Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction. Hunter will deploy 100% fiber-optic broadband networks to offer up to 1…
Read MoreGo, Set, Ready
By Greg Henderson Luck resides at the intersection of preparation and opportunity. You and I have heard it a thousand times, but seldom say no to a bit of luck that may come our way. Too, bad. Undeserved luck is addictive and unreliable. COVID-19 is blamed for thousands of business…
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People’s Bank Announces Completion of Merger with Willamette Community Bank
By Press ReleaseKen Trautman, CEO of People’s Bank of Commerce Medford, Oregon – March 1, 2021 – People’s Bank of Commerce (OTCBB: PBCO), announced that effective March 1, 2021, it completed the merger with Willamette Community Bank. Ken Trautman, CEO of People’s Bank of Commerce, stated, “We are fortunate to have…
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March 2021 Oregon Economic and Revenue Forecast
By Mark McMullen and Josh LehnerOregon Office of Economic Analysis ECONOMIC OUTLOOK The cycle is different. The nature of the pandemic induced recession lead the economy into a severe shutdown essentially overnight last spring. Since then nearly every economic indicator has looked better than first feared. While the broad contours…
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