Business Journal-Portland articles from February 2001

Business Journal-Portland archives from February 2001

The Numbers Game.(Colleges & universities)(Illustration)
February 2, 2001... The Numbers Game RECORD NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLED AT OREGON'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Fall 2000-2001, fourth-week totals ...

Insider Trading.(Illustration)
February 2, 2001... Insider Trading The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives Steven Laub Officer Lattice Semiconductor Shares to sell: 350,000 Share...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(Charles Schwab & Co. promoted Marcia Godsey to vice president)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... ADVERTISING Robley Marketing added Kim Fish as production manager. Respond2 Inc. hired Mark Simon as marketing vice president. Sasquatch Advertising added Holly Bowen as designer; Jake Baas as copywriter; and Chris Polak as art...

SLAPSHOTS.(Arthur Miller play)
February 2, 2001... Go see a Miller classic Stanley Cup An adept staging of the script that established Arthur Miller as a successful playwright, "All My Sons" visits some familiar Miller themes: guilt, complicity and the power of family ties. In the...

Home's where and what you are.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... That small, simple word is written large for me. Always has been. "Home." For a lot of people there is no question of it. It's a statement of fact Undeniable and unchanging. It's not where you live, it's where you're of. The Spanish have a word...

Less is better for all of us from this snack-food maker.(Frito-Lay Co.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... "There's always something newsworthy going on at Frito-Lay, where the fun and excitement never ends! [sic]"--quote from home page at http://www.fritolay.com. Frito-Lay America thanks you. Your corporate powers-that-be know your fried and...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Some bosses are trying to accommodate workplace flexibility To the editor: I run a downtown sales office for a hospitality organization. I've tried to run it as "flexible" as I can, but our customers have a habit of going home at 5...

Winners & Losers.(Portland General Electric Co.)
February 2, 2001... Portland General Electric PGE's energy-efficiency programs helped customers save as much as 6.2 average megawatts last year. While there's still a long way to go, those savings should continue to accrue year after year. In light of recent...

Local economy's mixed signals.(Freightliner Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The local economy is full of mixed signals these days. One one hand, we were given the bad news that Freightliner plans to lay off nearly 1,100 workers. That's nearly half of the company's local manufacturing work force. It's probably no...

AIRLINE MERGER FREEZE.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The Business Travel Coalition wants Congress to pass legislation that would block mergers among the nation's six largest airlines for a year. During that time, Congress should hold hearings on the impact of airline consolidation and the...

PRIVACY LEGISLATION.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The nation's largest high-tech trade association called for Congress to pass online privacy legislation that would preempt state laws. AeA said the legislation should require web sites that collect personally identifiable information to...

DEDUCTIBILITY FOR SELF-EMPLOYED.(Health insurance)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., introduced legislation to allow the self-employed to deduct 100 percent of their health insurance costs this year. Under current law, self-employed individuals can deduct 60 percent of their health...

PROGRAMS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.(Export-Import Bank of the United States)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Businesses with up to $5 million in annual credit sales are now eligible for small business credit insurance programs offered by the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The previous eligibility threshold was $3 million. The Ex-Im Bank also...

SBA WEB SITE FOR WOMEN.(Small Business Administration)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The Small Business Administration is bringing its Online Women's Business Center in-house after three years of management by the North Texas Women's Business Development Center. KENT HOOVER is Washington bureau chief for American City...

Colorado and Arizona lead the Western interior pack.(Brief Article)(Short Story)
February 2, 2001... Colorado and Arizona are the population leaders in the Interior West, and they're also the economic leaders. The two states have nearly 9.5 million residents between them. That's 58 percent of the people who live in this massive...

Business groups leery of proposed campaign reforms.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Business lobbyists expect campaign finance reform legislation to pass this year, but they say the 2001 version of the McCain-Feingold bill includes unconstitutional restrictions on issue advertising. In addition to banning unlimited soft...

Banking giants become J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Reflecting an intention to remain global players in the world of high finance, New York-based J.P. Morgan & Co. and The Chase Manhattan Corp. merged on Dec. 31. The new entity, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., is off to a rocky start in terms of...

Brothers join forces to create brawnier bank.(Firstar Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Last fall the Grundhofer brothers, Jack and Jerry, put their heads together and decided to combine the bank holding companies they each oversaw. With Firstar Corp.'s acquisition of U.S. Bancorp expected to occur by the end of March,...

Wells Fargo acquires banks to fill territory.(National Bancorp of Alaska Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Not long after Wells Fargo & Co. completed its 1996 hostile takeover of First Interstate Bank, it sold off what had been the First Interstate Bank of Alaska. Last year, however, it returned to the Yukon, buying National Bancorp of Alaska....

Washington Mutual expands to new markets.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... While the nation's largest commercial banks ponder how to increase corporate lending and how to generate investment banking fees, Washington Mutual, a thrift, relies on other strategies. Consumer banking and residential mortgage lending are...

Analysts divided on how mutual funds will fare in 2001.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... If Wall Street was unkind to individual investors, it was downright brutal to mutual funds in 2000. After a banner 1999, when the stock market seemed to think the only way to go was up, the mutual fund industry saw its assets decline and...

KeyCorp's plans for restructuring wide-ranging.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 2, 2001... More customer fees. Better use of technology. A nationwide commercial mortgage company. A new bridge-loan fund. All of these are among the cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing initiatives outlined in KeyCorp's latest restructuring plan. ...

Most active Small Business Administration lenders.(ranked by total volume of SBA loans)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 2, 2001... Most active Small Business Administration lenders Ranked by total volume of SBA loans Rank last Phone Rank year Company fax ...

Largest SBA loans.(ranked by loan amount approved)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 2, 2001... Largest SBA loans Ranked by loan amount approved Rank Company Amount of loan SBA% 1 Bushwacker Inc. $1,569,800 36% 2 Sundial Rock Products...

Silicon Valley hotel provides showcase for Portland artist.(Toms Royal designs tables, tile for Joie de Vivre Hospitality Inc. hotel)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... DYOA Design's latest endeavor has proven to be yet another divergence into new territory. That new territory happens to be Sunnyvale, Calif., a Silicon Valley burb 20 miles west of San Jose. Though Silicon Valley is infamous for its lack...

Evolving without a net.(Tom Royal makes and sells artistic furniture, ceramics)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Toms Royal finds the market is willing to follow where his artistic muse leads In an era when much business is niche-focused and much art is reactive, Toms Royal wants to create a climate of evolution and proactivity. In some ways,...

Big banks, big change.(changes in banking industry)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Nation's largest banks are the best barometer Changing times means a changing banking industry which is being demonstrated nowhere more than among the nation's largest banks. Several factors are affecting banks, prompting mergers, asset...

Starbucks' grocery strategy looks like a winner.(sales increase at grocery stores)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Starbucks Coffee Co.'s aggressive campaign to capture space on the nation's grocery store shelves is quickly perking up the company's sales. The Seattle coffee giant's grocery store sales enjoyed triple-digit year-to-year growth throughout...

EXECUTIVE PROFILE.(Bill Crane)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Bill Crane PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Bill Crane Organization: Portland State University Title: Director of Development, School of Fine and Performing Arts What we do: PSU, with assets of $21 million, is serious about its...

United we sell furniture.(Smith Brothers Office Environments, Commercial Furnishings Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 2, 2001... The combined Smith CFI melds Portland's two Steelcase dealers When Smith Brothers Office Environments and Commercial Furnishings Inc. announced their plans to merge, the writing was on the wall. The bathroom wall, that is. In the...

Technology companies minimize expectations.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 2, 2001... It's earnings season. The time for local tech firms to wrap up fiscal year 2000 and to begin focusing on the challenges of 2001. Companies that did well in the fourth quarter of 2000 are expressing a mixture of caution and optimism about...

MEUSCAPE AND GM TEAM UP.(Medscape, General Motors Corp. alliance)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Medscape (Nasdaq: MDLI) and General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) announced an e-business health care alliance that aims to use Medscape's computer-based technologies to facilitate improvement in the quality of patient care by reducing medical errors...

A NEW LAB FOR LINUX.(Open Source Development Lab )(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... A new nonprofit lab for developers adding business capabilities to Linux and Linux-based software opened this week. The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) is supported by 19 sponsor companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM and NEC,...

Sustainable developers still face some barriers.(Portland's Office of Sustainable Development survey)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Last year, Portland's Office of Sustainable Development set out to gage the barriers developers were facing when trying to build "green" buildings--projects that are energy-efficient, high-performance, eco-sensitive and healthy. In...

INSTANT GRATIFICATION.(Opus Northwest L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... In a matter of seven months, Opus Northwest was able to crack open some Sunset Corridor top soil and tilt up a three-story Class A office building next to congested Highway 26. Though fast-tracked, tilt-up office projects are more...

DEEPTHROAT ON FAIRVIEW VILLAGE.
February 2, 2001... In recent real estate columns, I have shared readers' thoughts about the success of innovative mixed-use projects such as Fairview Village and Orenco Station. Despite the sprawl-deterring, quality-of-life boons these developments foster, there...

FOND FAREWELL.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... After roughly 18 months of covering development and growth for The Business Journal, this will be my final real estate column. Whether you are thanking high heaven for this development or not, I tip my hat to you for reading every once in a...

WB32 opts for Fan Girl for Daria's replacement.(Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... A former Fan Girl has been hired to replace Daria O'Neill as WB32's weather girl. Lisa Hughes, who is clearly cut from the Daria mold, started Jan. 29 with her WB counterpart, Richard Nunn. She went solo Feb. 1. Hughes stood out from...

KATU SEARCHES FOR NEWS DIRECTOR.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... There are at least two finalists for news director at Channel 2. Final interviews were being conducted last week by station manager Jan Allen and general manager Jim Boyer. They hope to pick someone as soon as possible since February Sweeps...

KOTK OPTS FOR WILD LIZ.(NBG Radio Network Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Former Miami radio host Liz Wilde has only been in Portland two weeks but is already raising eyebrows with her plan to party with Dennis Rodman. Known as the "talk diva," Wilde is hosting a St. Patrick's Day party with former NBA bad boy...

GUY POWER TURNS OFF ROME FANS.(Jim Rome)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Some Portland listeners--of the female persuasion--are not so thrilled at AM 620's shift toward men. Loyal Jim Rome fans, who followed him in last week's move from 920 The Fan, are a bit put off by ads referring to Rush Limbaugh's erection and...

VCs may hold back in 2001.(Venture capital companies)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The year 2000 took off like a rocket for the venture capital industry, but history will remember it as the year the bubble burst. The new year isn't looking that great either, industry experts say. After two years of plush investment...

Apple finds itself fine-tuning the business plan.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... For years, Apple Computer Inc. has emphasized its ethereal qualities, casting itself .as a deus ex machina for the creatively inclined, a tool for '60s-style revolutionaries and a stylized declaration of nonconformity. Time-to think...

Pixelworks makes future move with acquisition.(Jaldi Semiconductor Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Pixelworks Inc. capped its strong earnings report this week with an announcement of a strategic investment in a Canadian semiconductor company. Jaldi Semiconductor Corp. is a privately held startup in Toronto, Ont., and employs 27...

GST's new owners cut jobs at Vancouver telco.(Time Warner Telecom)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Less than a year after GST Telecommunications filed for bankruptcy, approximately 380 jobs have been eliminated. And by the end of the third quarter of this year, an additional 140 jobs are expected to disappear. Littleton, Colo.-based Time...

Florida firm readies area mall, fulfills state Treasury contract.(Regency Realty Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... A Florida real estate company is hard at work in, and on behalf of, the state of Oregon. And the work has nothing to do with swamp land. Regency Realty Corp., a publicly held owner of retail centers across the country, is currently...

Company says it's not hurting after shelving IPO.(Emerald Solutions Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Emerald Solutions' executive team saw the handwriting on the wall last spring and began cutting costs in anticipation of not moving forward with plans for an initial public offering. Now company officials say they are confident that their...

Public market proponents narrow their search.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... A publicly funded task force has identified three possible sites for a downtown Portland public market and is expected to recommend a specific site in May. At that time, Portland City Commissioner Charlie Hales is slated to go before the...

Sustainability leads fund to strong performance.(Portfolio 21)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Though down in the waning months of 2000, Portland-based Portfolio 21 announced Jan. 25 that it outperformed both the S&P 500 and Morgan Stanley World Equity Index last year. P21, the only U.S. mutual fund with a global emphasis on...

OSM ends 2000 with declining sales and losses.(Oregon Steel Mills Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Oregon Steel Mills sees a potential bright side to the energy crisis that contributed to a 2000 that will go down in the record books as the company's worst year since going public. Although high energy costs hit OSM hard, the company...

Puget Sound web development firms facing time of turbulence.(Chase Bobko Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Web development firms may be facing the toughest test yet in the industry's short life. Like the big public companies in their field, the local designers and builders of web sites are feeling the effects of a contracting sector. "The...

Pixelworks looks good at year's end.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Among earnings reports released this month, Pixelworks Inc.'s stood out. The 4-year-old integrated circuits company had a good year in 2000. It had its best earnings quarter ever in Q4 2000; it announced two important new sales; and it...

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... In last week's article on Senju Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Oregon Health Sciences University, the names of Senju's director of research laboratories and senior research associate were misspelled. The names are correctly spelled Mitsuyoshi...

Seedling Technologies Corp.(acquisition of Southernplanet.com Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Seedling Technologies Corp. (OTCBB: BGHT) announced the acquisition of Southernplanet.com Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction. Southernplanet will now become a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Seedling. The company provides businesses...

Medscape.(4th quarter)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Medscape (Nasdaq: MDLI), the leading provider of digital health records and online health information, announced that it expects fourth-quarter 2000 revenue to exceed $17 million, a 15 percent increase over the previous quarter, when the...

InFocus Corp.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... InFocus Corp. (Nasdaq: INFS) reported fourth-quarter revenue of $224.1 million and earnings per share of 29 cents before merger-related expenses, which exceeded recently revised fourth-quarter expectations. Fourth-quarter revenue of $224.1...

All-day sports network could come to town.(Action Sports Network to be launched by Portland Trail Blazers in conjunction with ESPN)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The Portland Trail Blazers are planning to launch their own 24-hour sports cable channel this summer by teaming with the ESPN Network to share programming. The so-called Action Sports Network's round-the-clock schedule will include Blazers...

Family-friendly can meet with corporate approval.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... I don't know if you've ever worked for the regional operation of a national company, but I have done so several times. The view in the local office is usually that the Big Bosses are insensitive to our needs and only talk to us face to face...

Obie Media picks up more transit contracts.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... * Obie Media Corp. (Nasdaq: OBIE), a leading provider of out-of-home advertising products and services in North America, announced that it has been awarded contracts to be the exclusive provider of transit advertising services in Vancouver,...

FEI Company.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... FEI Company (Nasdaq: FEIC) reported fourth-quarter and FY 2000 results under both the company's historical accounting method and the SEC-mandated new method. Using FBI's historical method, the company reported record bookings of $117.8 million,...

Portland schools' foam trays could end up in Wilsonville.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... While Portland touts itself as one of the nation's more eco-progessive cities, its public schools are sending 40,000 dirty foam food trays to the Arlington landfill every day. The district was sending its foam trays to an out-of-state...

Safeway's commitment spurs West End project.(in downtown Portland, Oregon)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... Plans for a $100 million-plus makeover of three West End blocks are gaining momentum, spurred by Safeway Inc.'s commitment to occupy a new, two-level store in downtown Portland. On Feb. 14 the Portland Development Commission is scheduled to...

Web developer prospers by offering client value.(WebNW)(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
February 2, 2001... Pete Chiboucas has seen a lot of web developers come and go since he started his web development firm in his living room in 1995. But his firm, WebNW, has survived and thrived by offering clients good value for a host of services. Today,...

Arts groups band together to push arts and creativity.(Arts for Learning coalition to promote arts education in Oregon schools)
February 2, 2001... Seven arts and educational organizations have joined together to instill arts-based learning into all areas of education in Oregon schools. And some local business leaders are giving the effort an enthusiastic endorsement. Led by Young...

Brewery Blocks snag initial two tenants.(redevelopment program)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2001... The Art Institute of Portland and Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc. have signed deals to move into the "Brewery Blocks," the development taking place along West Burnside. There are five other potential tenants including the Seattle...

Truck maker's woes spread.
February 9, 2001... Freightliner's woes are reaching beyond the production floor and into the executive suite. According to various sources familiar with the company's plans, the Swan Island heavy-truck maker has eliminated 731 white-collar jobs over the past...

Evergreen's move had little to do with channel.
February 9, 2001... Global economics apparently drove shipping operator Evergreen America Corp. out of Portland. But the Port of Portland maintains it wasn't global economics but a stalled channel-deepening project that drove Evergreen out. Port officials...

Credence makes investment in bigger Hillsboro facility.
February 9, 2001... Despite a slowdown in the semiconductor industry, high-flying Credence Systems Corp. is looking at expanding its Hillsboro manufacturing facilities. The Fremont, Calif.-based company, which makes testing equipment for the semiconductor...

Data center rivals make major push in Portland.
February 9, 2001... The data center blitz has come to Portland. Data centers--those highly secured, dust-free, air-conditioned warehouses of metal racks piled high with web servers, strung through with thick ropes of multicolored telecom cable--are springing...

What do you do when the boss wants to play short?
February 9, 2001... Do you see wonderful stories everywhere you look sometimes? I know I do. But then I've always loved stories. As the long-suffering people who have to come in constant contact with me know, I love to tell them. Now I want to tell you a few....

Moonstruck plans to hit the market with expansion play.
February 9, 2001... Moonstruck Chocolates is about to spring out of its box of truffles for another go at retail expansion. The Portland chocolatier, tucked for years into a tiny storefront on Alder Street, is opening a half dozen stores this year, including...

Pioneer Place losing a large tenant in May.
February 9, 2001... Williams-Sonoma, the stylish purveyor of high-priced cookware and furnishings, will move its downtown Portland store this spring to a larger, more visible space but will leave behind a big hole in Pioneer Place. Parent company...

Insider Trading.
February 9, 2001... The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives Ronald Burkle Director Kroger Co. Shares to sell: 2,000,000 Share price: $23.76 [*] Share value: $47,515,800 Leslie Vadasz Director Intel Corp....

Success rewarded as Labtec sells for $125M.
February 9, 2001... * Logitech Intl. (NASDAQ: LOGIY) of Fremont, Calif., agreed to purchase Labtec Inc. (OTC BB: LABT), a Vancouver, Wash.-based provider of high-technology and other peripherals and accessories for computing, communication and entertainment. The...

TransCore Inc.
February 9, 2001... TransCore Inc. acquired Portland-based DAT Services and its international EuroDAT operations from Jubitz Corp., the privately held transportation services company. DAT Services is a business-to-business e-commerce company, specializing in...

Oregon Trail Financial Corp.
February 9, 2001... Oregon Trail Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: OTFC) the holding company for Pioneer Bank, a Federal Savings Bank, announced that the company earned $116,000, or 3 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. This compares with $642,000, or 18 cents...

Symatrix Technology Inc.
February 9, 2001... Symatrix Technology Inc. a provider of information system products and development services, acquired the consulting services firm Advanced Information Solutions Inc. (AIS) of Lake Oswego. The acquisition continues the company's strategy of...

Wells Fargo & Co.
February 9, 2001... Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), San Francisco, launched Wells Wireless this week. The service enables consumers and small business customers to access online financial services through wireless web-ready Sprint PCS phones and Palm VII devices...

ABC Technologies.
February 9, 2001... ABC Technologies appointed Don McDougall president and chief operating officer. McDougall has more than 30 years of experience in the software and computer industries. Most recently, he has been president and CEO at Decision Dynamics Inc. in...

Metro One Telecommunications Inc.
February 9, 2001... Metro One Telecommunications Inc. (NASDAQ: MTON), a provider of enhanced telecom services, reported revenue for the fourth quarter of 2000 of $47.7 million, up 86 percent from 1999 fourth-quarter revenue of $25.7 million and up 11 percent from...

Timberline Software Corp.
February 9, 2001... Timberline Software Corp. (Nasdaq:TMBS) reported lower fourth-quarter revenue and profits than in the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $13.7 million, a decrease of 10 percent from $15.1 million for the same...

Erickson facing touchy situation with hostages.
February 9, 2001... Friends and relatives of three Erickson Air-Crane Co. employees taken hostage in Ecuador last fall rallied Wednesday in front of the Oregon-based business. Tensions have heightened since another American hostage, Ron Sander of Sunrise...

Environmentalists say RIS&G treatment isn't fair.
February 9, 2001... Ross Island Sand & Gravel seemingly is bypassing the environmental review process for a proposed mining operation in Klickitat County, and that's not fair, say local environmental groups. Friends of the Columbia Gorge and two Northwest...

Neville & New nab TMT Development's retail leasing business.
February 9, 2001... TMT Development has hired Neville & New Real Estate Services to handle all its retail leases for 12 buildings, including Fox Tower. TMT, the development company owned by theater owner and developer Tom Moyer, owns properties in Salem,...