Business Journal-Portland articles from December 2000

Business Journal-Portland archives from December 2000

Leatherman goes to Supreme Court.
December 1, 2000... The U.S. Supreme Court may review in February a $4.5 million lawsuit filed by Portland-based Leatherman Tool Group against Cooper Industries Inc. Leatherman has retained the services of Laurence Tribe, attorney and constitutional law...

Teaching the ways of work to special clients.
December 1, 2000... Last year, 21-year-old Charity Hess was already a single mother with two infants. Loaded with responsibility but free of job skills, Hess seemed destined to become a welfare statistic. Instead, she pored through business texts, learned to type,...

Mulvey leaves old job to join the Good Guys.
December 1, 2000... Walt Mulvey started 2000 as a leader of a local dotcom selling consumer electronics. He's ending it in the same role, but at a different company. Elbowed aside in the executive suite at Cameraworld.com, Mulvey left this fall to launch an...

Barnes taking a breather to mull his next startup.
December 1, 2000... Craig Barnes wants to take a breather, but it might be a short one. After seven years at the helm of Creativepro.com Inc. (formerly Extensis Corp.), the Portland company's enterprising founder and former CEO has stepped away from his...

Lessons learned from the YW's LearnLinks program.
December 1, 2000... There's something about this town I have a hard time getting used to. It's the way the good people seem to find each other and get the tough jobs done. Having lived in a number of places where expediency and greed usually dictated what got...

Inovise focuses on the heart while launching its business.
December 1, 2000... Dr. Ron Schutz believes that if Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney had been tested by the innovative Cardiovise software, his doctors would have discovered sooner he'd suffered a heart attack. Instead, it took several...

Danner boots up new center in Southshore.
December 1, 2000... Danner Shoe Manufacturing Co. is expanding its Portland headquarters by moving into Gresham's now fully leased Southshore Corporate Park. The company said part of the reason for the move is the need to keep up with the pace of internet and...

Pressure on Willamette mounts in takeover play.
December 1, 2000... * Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) commenced a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Portland's Willamette Industries Inc. (NYSE:WLL) for $48 per share on Wednesday Following completion of the tender offer,...

Medscape.
December 1, 2000... Medscape (Nasdaq:MDLI) announced that Cedars-Sinai Health System of Los Angeles--the largest nonprofit hospital in the western United States--has selected its digital health record (DHR) applications and services to assist in reducing medical...

Nike All Conditions Gear (ACG).
December 1, 2000... American Skiing Company announced plans to open the nation's first standalone Nike All Conditions Gear (ACG) retail store in the new resort village at the Canyons resort in Park City, Utah. The new Nike ACG store will be located in the Forum of...

Tektronix Inc.
December 1, 2000... Tektronix Inc. (NYSE: TEK), a test and measurement company, agreed to acquire the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) approved protocol analyzer product from Digianswer, a subsidiary of Motorola based in Nibe, Denmark. In addition, the...

etrieve Inc.
December 1, 2000... etrieve Inc., a Portland startup that makes wireless mobile office technology for retrieving e-mails, introduced a WAP-based solution that will allow users to receive office e-mail via text on their web-enabled phones. With the service, users...

Tripwire Inc.
December 1, 2000... Tripwire Inc., a provider of data and network integrity software, announced that Eugene Spafford, co-creator of Tripwire software, adviser to the company and professor of computer science at Purdue University received the highly regarded...

Unicru Inc.
December 1, 2000... White Amber Inc. signed a deal to use Beaverton-based Unicru Inc.'s recruiting technology on its web site. The Unicru web site and on-site technology will also be available to White Amber customers and suppliers to access a company's job...

CORRECTIONS.
December 1, 2000... CenterSpan Communications Inc. is suing Guilemot Corp. for $2.25 million held in escrow. An incorrect figure was reported in last week's edition. Contrary to last week's report, CenterSpan has not yet named its-new product.

Holiday season off to a mixed start for retailers.
December 1, 2000... Holiday sales are moving in contrasting directions for two online retailers located in Portland. Seasonal buying is off to a strong start for 800.com, said Greg Drew, chief executive for the e-tailer of home entertainment products. Sales...

United Way wants results from donor agencies.
December 1, 2000... As part of its controversial reorganization, United Way of Columbia-Willamette is considering opening up its funding to a broader array of nonprofits, including government agencies that meet its new criteria. United Way spokesman Stacey...

Elmer's execs eager to pitch growth to Wall St.
December 1, 2000... Elmer's Restaurants Inc. this week announced record second-quarter earnings and a healthy increase in same-store sales. Now the company wants to use its healthy quarter to whet Wall Street's appetite. The Portland-based restaurant company...

TripleE is banking on eco-sensitive travelers.
December 1, 2000... Last week's global climate summit in The Hague, Netherlands, didn't produce a breakthrough agreement, but it did provide a Portland online travel firm with an opportunity to launch its environmentally progressive service. TripleE.com...

SEC puts Big Five firms under the microscope.
December 1, 2000... In a move to bolster confidence in financial auditing procedures, at least four of the country's Big Five accounting firms have agreed to a compromise deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require public companies to...

Retailers find they must give before receiving.
December 1, 2000... Bay Area retailers are having to gift-wrap new incentives and perks to lure in seasonal sales help in one of the tightest labor markets ever. Local retailers traditionally stock up on thousands of pairs of extra hands to deal with the busy...

E-tailers face the curse of empty shopping carts.
December 1, 2000... Imagine navigating the aisles of a store crowded with shopping carts full of merchandise abandoned by customers. The shoppers have left without buying anything. For e-tailers, this is more than an image. It's a real problem that looms...

Chris Coleman.
December 1, 2000... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Chris Coleman Title: Artistic Director, Portland Center Stage What we do: Portland Center Stage is the largest theatrical producing organization in this city. We bring live theater to Portland. We...

Flour Power.
December 1, 2000... Fisher Cos. will leaven media unit with mill sale proceeds Fisher Cos., a major force in Oregon broadcasting, soon expects to shed the flour milling business on which the venerable Seattle company was built. Exiting flour will allow Fisher...

Affordable downtown housing gets nice boost.
December 1, 2000... Downtown's "West End" neighborhood and affordable housing both scored as the Housing Authority of Portland announced it would move ahead with redevelopment of the aging St. Francis Hotel. The announcement was prompted by Oregon Housing and...

Voyager platform flying in orbit of major clients.
December 1, 2000... Beaverton's Corillian Corp. has teamed with Pricewaterhouse Coopers to collaborate on software development and systems integration for the financial services industry. As part of the agreement, PricewaterhouseCoopers will implement...

SEEING RED IN MICRO-CAPS.
December 1, 2000... Desiring a better measure of the performance of micro-cap stocks, Portland-based RedChip Review has devised its own index. The RedChip 2000 Index consists of 2,000 companies with market capitalizations ranging from about $50 million to a...

PAYING THE WIRELESS FREIGHT.
December 1, 2000... Portland-based PreNet Corp. is pushing a new form of tender, a card specially tailored to allow consumers to easily buy prepaid minutes on their wireless phone accounts. Founded in 1998, PreNet touts its PreCash Cards as superior to credit...

WEST COAST EXECUTIVE.
December 1, 2000... West Coast Bancorp has appointed U.S. Bank veteran Xandra McKeown as senior vice president of business banking. She will handle all West Coast business and commercial real estate activities.

Pharmacy board looks to legislature for teeth.
December 1, 2000... The Oregon State Pharmacists Association has revived controversial legislation that would give the pharmacy board the power to discipline the state's 4,000 pharmacy technicians. As it is, the pharmacy techs must register with the board, but...

HOSPITAL HAS BABY'S EARS ON THEIR CHARTS.
December 1, 2000... Taking a cue from Oregon hospitals, Southwest Washington Medical Center has begun testing all newborns for possible hearing loss. The Vancouver hospital kicked off the universal newborn hearing assessment program last week with a reception...

NEW FACE AT BLUE CROSS.
December 1, 2000... Ken Strobeck, assistant vice president of communications at Regence BlueCross BlueShield, is leaving after eight years to join the public relations firm, Conkling Fiskum & McCormick. Strobeck, a three-term state representative from...

BIOMED EXPERT COMES HOME.
December 1, 2000... Patrick Jensen, the co-director of Johns Hopkins Advanced Design Laboratory, is on leave to help Vancouver-based Alliance Instruments raise venture funding. Jensen may stay permanently. A Washington native, he believes he can apply Johns...

Lawyers stage food aid.
December 1, 2000... Oregon Lawyers Against Hunger reports that the group exceeded all expectations by raising $77,000 in its third annual fund-raising campaign. The funds go to Oregon Food Bank. The 2000 drive will help the food bank collect and...

Brownfields: next phase.
December 1, 2000... Drive past the corner of North Alberta and North Williams streets, and you'll see nothing more than a vacant, grassy lot. Behind the chain-link fence is a long history: a 41,000-square-foot, potentially contaminated lot--home at one time or...

Portland Brownfield Showcase takes eight projects.
December 1, 2000... Luther Jr. and Jackie Strong have been working for years on plans to develop property that has been in the family for decades--and contaminated even longer. With financial and technical assistance from the Portland Brownfield Showcase...

Grant Warehouse, Rose City among first projects.
December 1, 2000... Previous Portland Brownfield Showcase Initiative projects have incuded: * Grant Warehouse--A nightmarish collection of nearly 10,000 chemicals in immense vats, tiny vials, milk jugs and unlabeled jars housed in a Northeast Portland...

Showcase helps property owners.
December 1, 2000... Landowners interested in participating in the current round of clean ups with Portland Brownfield Showcase Initiative had to submit an application that included a summary on the proposed development with an explanation of how it would benefit...

'Environmental justice' as defined by the EPA.
December 1, 2000... Environmental justice, a term defined by the EPA, is a guiding principle for Portland Brownfields Community Advisory Committee. Here's how the showcase defines environmental justice: "Fair treatment for people of all races, cultures and incomes...

Multifamily and hospitality flagged FDIC concern.
December 1, 2000... A couple of months back when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. once again included Portland on its "watch list" of the 13 metro areas most vulnerable to commercial real estate overdevelopment, local property professionals were once again...

Commission nixes mixed-use library for Hillsdale.
December 1, 2000... Overriding arguments by Multnomah County Commissioner Diane Linn and Hillsdale community activists, the county Board of Commissioners voted last month to build a new Hillsdale branch library on the current site instead of relocating it to a...

Insurers and OSHA find it tough to get comfy with rules.
December 1, 2000... A dozen insurance companies have challenged OSHA's ergonomics regulation in federal court, the third major lawsuit filed by business groups over the new workplace requirement. Insurers allege the Occupational Safety and Health...

Clothier eschews labels.
December 1, 2000... The Barcelino store in Portland's Pioneer Place shopping center isn't the first men's clothing store that Sharam Sharei has opened. But it is one of the earliest locations in what Sharei hopes will eventually be a national Barcelino roll-out....

Low-risk ad campaigns that don't drain the wallet.
December 1, 2000... One of the riskiest undertakings for small businesses is the development of advertising materials and campaigns that are both cost-affordable and effective. Mega-marketers can employ the services of large ad agencies with their coterie of...

Insurance pro shares tips for cultivating customers.
December 1, 2000... Necessary evil. Andy Jacobson sells insurance. And for some reason, people don't avoid him. I wanted to find out why. Successful as an insurance salesman, then as a sales manager, Jacobson is now the owner of his own firm, Meridian...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
December 1, 2000... ADVERTISING Dodge Schmitgall Inc. added Tracy Adams as web designer. Ziba Design hired Mike Francis as intellectual capital manager. ARCHITECTURE Thompson Vaivoda & Associates promoted Joann Hermance, John Heili, RJ Johnson,...

CenterSpan inks deal with Moviehead.
December 1, 2000... Last week, a source close, to CenterSpan Communications said the company was about to get a lot closer to Hollywood. This week, the company announced a partnership with Moviehead Entertainment Inc. Moviehead isn't exactly Universal or...

No one can win if no one loses.
December 1, 2000... Just when we all thought that a sustained healthy economy was a good thing for the country, the presidential election from hell has jarred us back to a grim reality: that without fluctuating economy we can't elect a president. In the good...

Economy-class flights of fancy.
December 1, 2000... Everyone who travels by air has a cadre of stories about psychotic passengers and clueless flight attendants. On a trip from Washington, D.C., to Detroit a few years ago, the man on my right pushed away his meal tray, reached into his...

Quality-of-life benefits will snare elusive employees.
December 1, 2000... Oregon's labor market is tight We hear the common refrain: "'Anyone who wants a job has one, so it's tough to find qualified candidates." However, employers have within their reach a powerful, yet largely unused tool to attract and retain...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
December 1, 2000... Manager responds to our analysis of Rocky Mountain Steel and union To the editor: Regarding your three-part series about our company Rocky Mountain Steel Mills, I would like to respond that we intend to be here next year, 10 years,...

Top commercial property management firms.
December 1, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

Top commercial property firms.
December 1, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

A look at the region's Winners & Losers.
December 1, 2000... * Entercom The Portland radio group raised more than $73,000 for local children's charities during a 28-hour on-air auction. The beneficiaries are the Community Transitional School, Friends of the Children and Providence Child Center. The...

SLAPSHOTS.
December 1, 2000... Two thumbs up **** M. Night Shyamalan gives us another film that plays with the supernatural, but Unbreakable" is simpler, cleaner and more satisfying than "The Sixth Sense." Bruce Willis brings astonishing depth to his performance as...

Insider Training.
December 1, 2000... The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives Keith Barnes President/CEO Integrated Measurement Systems Inc. Shares to sell: 20,000 Share price: $17.38 Share value: $347,576 (*.) Estimated figure ...

SKB closing on major deals.
December 8, 2000... ScanlanKemperBard Cos.' flurry of recent property acquisitions could snowball this month with two signature West Coast deals totaling roughly $183 million. SKB is currently immersed in confidential late-stage negotiations to buy "a...

Clarity's picture comes into focus with United.
December 8, 2000... After a trial program, United Airlines has agreed to install video displays made by Portland's Clarity Visual Systems Inc. at its boarding gates throughout Chicago's O'Hare Airport. The order isn't huge, but it could presage nationwide...

Daria turning her back on TV to focus on radio.
December 8, 2000... It seems inconceivable that Dana O'Neill, who's made a career from her provocative attire and revealing cleavage as WB32's weather woman would give up TV. A thousand male hearts would break. But at least they'll still be able to hear...

Etrieve investors think big after second product debut.
December 8, 2000... Etrieve just launched the second part of its strategy, and a couple of well-known investors are waiting anxiously to see where the emerging wireless application market will take the company. Hillsboro-based etrieve, which launched its...

Jamba trys to juice its image after acquiring Zuka chain.
December 8, 2000... A year ago fans of Zuka Juice fruit smoothies saw the Zuka signs come down and Jamba Juice signs go up. Another corporate merger had struck, and Zuka patrons wondered what that meant for the stores, which whip up a variety of icy,...

PSU debuting three courses on real estate.
December 8, 2000... Portland State University will gauge student interest in a real estate curriculum by offering three courses to be taught by high-caliber real estate pros. The courses will begin Jan. 8 and could lead to a full-fledged real estate...

A tale of two newspapers: One prospers, one falters.
December 8, 2000... While The Oregonian is celebrating its 150th birthday this week, The O's counterpart news organization in Seattle is doing anything but celebrating. There, union employees have struck The Seattle Times and its Siamese twin, The Post...

Joyce's Odyssey: Nike, Fogdog and now adidas.(Tim Joyce)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... * Tim Joyce has taken a top executive post at adidas America. As executive vice president, Joyce will work closely with adidas America president Ross McMullin and will lead sales and retail operations. In this role, Joyce will oversee the...

Hollywood Entertainment Corp.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Hollywood Entertainment Corp. (Nasdaq: HLYW), owner of the Hollywood Video chain of video superstores, announced it has met its Dec. 5 amortization obligation under its bank credit facility Since Sept. 30, 2000, the company. has decreased its...

Electro Scientific Industries Inc.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: ESIO) contributed $40,000 to the Oregon Institute of Technology to endow a scholarship award. This endowment is in concert with the Armen Grossenbacher Memorial Scholarship given by Douglas Strain,...

WebCriteria Inc.
December 8, 2000... WebCriteria Inc., which provides clients with customer experience analysis, released benchmark data on purchasing apparel products online this holiday season. J. Crew came out on top in the rankings of each site's ease of use. Other sites...

OraSure Technologies Inc.
December 8, 2000... OraSure Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq/NM: OSUR) of Beaverton said that Edison Africa, its distributor for the OraQuick HIV detection device in sub-Saharan Africa, signed an agreement with the UCB Group of Brussels, Belgium, to act as a distribution...

Planar Systems Inc.
December 8, 2000... Planar Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: PLNR) and AllBrite Technologies Inc. have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Planar will acquire AllBrite Technologies, based in Poway, Calif. AllBrite is the leading supplier of flat panel...

Digimarc Corp.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Digimarc Corp. (Nasdaq: DMRC), the world leader in digital watermark technology and applications, has appointed executives from Macrovision Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics to its hoard of directors. The two companies recently invested a...

FEI Co.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... FEI Co. (Nasdaq: FEIC) said that leading semiconductor manufacturers have placed orders in excess of $20 million for its new 300 mm DualBeam system, the Expida 1265. Included in these orders is a multiple unit order from a global supplier of...

Medscape.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Medscape (Nasdaq: MDLI), a provider of digital health records and online clinical information, appointed Dr. Arthur Leibowitz as executive vice president for digital health partnerships. Leibowitz joins Medscape from Aetna-U.S. Healthcare...

U of P decides it's time for j-school's obituary.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... The University of Portland has voted to end its journalism major, sparking several student protests that went unheeded. The faculty senate voted last week to make journalism a track within the communications department, rather than a major....

Blazers owner Allen buys sports radio operations.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Paul Allen, the billionaire owner of the Portland Trail Blazers and owner of The Sporting News since February, and Vulcan Ventures president William Savoy flew to St. Louis about a month ago to hear a pitch. Sporting News CEO Jim Nuckols...

A new guard at state level.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Bob Dick, state manager for a Northwest timber association, once tried to get an appointment with state Lands Commissioner Jennifer Belcher. After six months, he gave up. "Communicating with Commissioner Belcher was exceedingly difficult,"...

Bay Area incubator in need of some help itself.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Idealab isn't letting its canceled IPO, investors' disenchantment with incubators or a string of dud dot-com investments deter it from expanding in the Bay Area. The Pasadena-based company, one of the first to focus on hatching startups,...

Net vet sounds off on the hot industry issues.(Brief Article)(Interview)
December 8, 2000... Rob Reid got his first real taste of the Internet in 1994 when he joined Silicon Graphics. He left two years later to write "Architects of the Web," a book chronicling the rise of the internet. After a short stint as a principal at 21st Century...

Puget Sound's fishing industry sails into storm.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... The Puget Sound-based fishing industry is facing dark squalls on many fronts. Unlike most of the industry's struggles in recent years, the current challenges have more to do with biology and the environment than with fights among groups of...

From venture hero to cash-burning question.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 8, 2000... Last year's recipient of the nation's second-largest venture capital round--$275 million--may have a date with the dotcom chopping block come third quarter 2001, some analysts said. Webvan Group Inc.'s stock price has been hovering around...

Tim Leatherman.(Leatherman Tool Group.Inc. )(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Timothy S. (Tim) Leatherman Organization: Leatherman Tool Group.Inc. Title: President What we do: World's leading manufacturer of high-quality pocket tools. Leatherman tools are sold in 80 countries...

Maximum coverage.(The Oregonian)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... Deep talent pool, marketing buoy The Oregonian's numbers When reports about a shooting at Springfield's Thurston High crossed the wires on the morning of May 21, 1998, The Oregonian newsroom mobilized its formidable resources. By...

Publisher's succession a puzzle for many.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... No one can talk about The Oregonian without the conversation drifting to Publisher Fred Stickel's eventual retirement. At 79, Stickel has been at The Oregonian's helm for 25 years. Who will succeed him? It's long been thought that...

Local agency puts the swank in Tiffany debut.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... If you happened to be one of the lucky ones to munch gift-box petit fours and hors d'oeuvres at last week's Tiffany & Co. opening, then you can send kudos to the Metropolitan Group. The Portland agency was hired by the internationally known...

DAVIS WINS WASHINGTON SQUARE.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2000... The Davis Agency has been picked for the new image campaign for Washington Square, after edging out agencies in San Francisco and Southern California. The Lake Oswego-based agency has been behind the lush TV, billboard and direct-mail ads...