Business Journal-Portland articles from May 2000

Business Journal-Portland archives from May 2000

KVO sold to 'PR firm of the decade'.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... KVO Public Relations, looking for an opportunity to continue growing, has been sold to public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard. After 17 years as a locally owned public relations shop with an emphasis on technology companies, KVO decided...

Clear Channel raises stakes in radio fight.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Clear Channel Communications Inc., which acquired one of the last available radio signals in greater Portland a year ago, is gearing up to put the FM station on the air by October. Located at 105.9 on the dial, KKLQ-FM will be the San...

Jacobsen: PGA tour to stop in Portland soon.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Golfer/businessman Peter Jacobsen has seen the future, and it includes a PGA Tour stop in Portland. Jacobsen, a 23-year golf tour veteran, believes a tour stop is a very real possibility with a natural transition lever: the current Fred...

Is style more important than size in new Nike Air Presto?(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Teens have always been a cash cow for Nike Inc., and with the introduction of its Air Presto shoe the Beaverton athletic giant is aiming squarely at that market. The Air Presto has generated industry buzz for months because of its...

PPS Foundation keeps on giving to pass school issue.(Portland Public Schools.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The Portland Public Schools' victory on last week's Measure 26-2 $78.3 million tax issue certainly marked a win for the district and its students. Perhaps the next biggest sigh of relief came from the Portland Public Schools Foundation,...

Powell's, union finally agree to something.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... It's one issue down, three big ones to go in the march toward a contract between Powell's Books and its union workers. Both sides said they've agreed to language in the "management rights clause" that defines areas in which Powell's will...

The Numbers Game.(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The Numbers Game PETER JACOBSEN'S 2000 PGA SEASON (Through May 14, 2000) Total Official Tournament Position score...

Insider Trading.(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Insider Trading The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives David Sharkey President Electric Lightwave Inc. Shares disposed: 2,454...

The school levy passed! The school levy passed!(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The school levy passed. The school levy passed. THE SCHOOL LEVY PASSED! Those four words, spoken to me by my lovely wife Monday morning, seemed too good to be true. I had to keep saying it over and over to myself. The school levy passed!...

Sonus/Sonic agreement to expand product line.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... * Sonus Corp. a Portland operator of hearings centers in the U. S. and Canada, has entered into a private label manufacturing agreement with Sonic Innovations Inc. Sonic will manufacture custom fit, digital hearing aids in addition to its...

First Insight Corp.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... * First Insight Corp., a Portland provider of technology-based solutions for eyecare practitioners, added two industry veterans to its management team. Mark Becker comes abord as executive vice president of business development. Becker, who...

Interactive Northwest Inc.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... * Interactive Northwest Inc., a Portland provider of specialized interactive voice services and speech recognition technologies, signed a partnership agreement with SpeechWorks International Inc., which provides telephony-based speech...

FEI Co.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... * Hillsboro-based FEI Co. reported that William Mooney its executive vice president and chief financial officer, is resigning from the company effective June 15. He is planning to return to Pittsburgh. There, Mooney will assume a similar...

Mentor Graphics Corp.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... * Mentor Graphics Corp. of Wilsonville unveiled QuickUse Part Request and Tracking System, designed to slash the printed circuit board part-request-to-fulfillment process by 30 percent while providing 6-Sigma quality. QPaRTS consists of two...

Self Enhancement Inc.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... * Self Enhancement Inc., a North Portland nonprofit, said that programs vice president Marshall Haskins, who also coaches the Jefferson High's state-championship basketball team, has resigned. Haskins reportedly tired of the double-workload...

Oregon Division of Insurance.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... * The Oregon Division of Insurance reports that it has fielded 75 new policy filings in response to a case that is changing the way insurance policies are worded. Insurers are seeking to change their policies after the Oregon Supreme...

Gov. John Kitzhaber.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... * A task force assembled by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has suggested tweaking the state's workers compensation system. The task force, composed of six Oregon labor and management leaders, said the state should "create fairer compensability...

JP Davis & Co.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... * JP Davis & Co., a Portland media reception creator, has another event: PressONE at SUPERCOMM 2000 in Atlanta. This reception-held exclusively for editors, writers, reporters, investors and industry analysts--will showcase the latest...

Oregon Steel to appeal ruling favoring union.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Oregon Steel Mills' labor-related troubles are continuing to mount. Now, an administrative law judge in Denver has ruled that the Portland company in December 1997 unlawfully refused to reinstate nearly 1,000 steelworkers who went on strike...

NW Natural to alter its Wall Street approach.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... NW Natural is urea of being ignored by the investment community. The Portland-based natural gas company thinks it has a stock price and profile out of line with its strong financial performance, and will implement a three-pronged strategy...

Old Town building sold for $1.2M.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The $1.2 million sale of a former casket warehouse on Northwest Fifth Avenue is more evidence that Old Town has decidedly risen from the dead. With plans to develop 100,000 or more square feet of office and parking space, Venerable...

Flir Systems board dismisses CEO Stringer.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The turmoil at Flir Systems Inc. has claimed another victim, and this time it is the firm's chief executive officer. The company announced Wednesday morning that Kenneth Stringer was no longer chief executive officer and would be replaced...

Creative group hires director.(Oregon Creative Services Alliance)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... First, came its home. Now, the Oregon Creative Services Alliance has its first executive director. The nonprofit organization last week hired Jeanette Pilak, an arts and culture management consultant from Portland, after conducting a...

CEO Barrett likens Intel to 'an elephant in a tutu'.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Keep an eye on the internet if you want to know the direction being traveled by Intel Corp. Intel CEO Craig Barrett, in Portland last week to give the keynote address at the Oregon Technology Fast 50 awards event, said Intel's strategy...

NW time-share subsidiary not feeling crunch yet.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Time-share resort operator Sunterra Pacific Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., has so far dodged a financial crisis that could swamp its parent company, Sunterra Corp. of Orlando, Fla. Cash-starved Sunterra Corp. cut its operating costs May 22 by...

On-Site Accounting fills clients' recruiting needs.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... On-Site Accounting is, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the fastest-growing private companies in Oregon. In a recent interview, company president Hank Heath cited On-Site's clearly defined strategy and--as would be expected from an...

House still has hopes to bury the 'death tax'.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The House is expected to vote on legislation to phase out the federal estate tax the week of June 5. Congress passed similar legislation last year as part of a $792 billion tax cut, but that package was vetoed by President Clinton. A...

CALIFORNIA TOPS HIGH-TECH JOB GROWTH.
May 26, 2000... America's high-tech workforce grew by 1.2 million workers from 1993 to 1999, with California, Texas, Virginia, Colorado and Georgia leading the way in job creation. This explosion in high-tech employment, documented in a new report by...

SBA TARGETS ASIAN AMERICANS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The Small Business Administration agreed to work with the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development to increase business opportunities for Asian Americans. The outreach effort is part of SBA's program to help...

U.S., EGYPT 10 INCREASE TRADE.
May 26, 2000... While China gets all the headlines, the United States is quietly working to increase trade with other countries. SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez traveled to Egypt this month to launch a partnership to "jump-start" the growth of small...

Bobbie Dore Foster.
May 26, 2000... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Bobbie Dore Foster Title: Executive editor Organization: Skanner News Group What we do: We publish two weekly newspapers, the Portland Skanner and the Seattle Skanner, and we have FM radio...

Why isn't Phil happy?(Foreign factory flap aside, Nike's in pretty good shape)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Foreign factory flap aside, Nike's in pretty good shape Six months into 2000 and Nike's already had a full year of controversy. Consider the ongoing Phil Knight/University of Oregon feud over the school's participation with the...

Oregon is 4th nationally in high-tech job growth.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Maybe the Silicon Forest is pretty healthy after all. Local tech observers expressed some concern about the vibrancy of the local scene last year when Tektronix Inc. sold off two of its businesses and shrank to a fraction of its former...

Whole-health movement attracting grocers, too.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Its more man me meat. Shoppers are turning more to their supermarket for answers to alternative foods, herbs and other whole-body health questions, so it makes sense that grocers want to learn more about filling that need. Portland's...

Asa Properties pays $12.5M for Twin Oaks Center.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Nestled in the Hawaiian islands, there is a family-run corporation called Persis Corp. Once owning newspapers in Hawaii, Washington and Tennessee, Persis made its mark--and money--in the journalism business. Right around the time "The...

ASA PROPERTIES, INC.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Seattle and San Francisco. Last week, it bought Beaverton's 10-building, 161,000-square-foot Twin Oaks Business Center and Tech Center for $12.5 million. The flex office and light-industrial campus was sold by Bedford Property investors,...

LETTING THE DEAL GO DOWN.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... If you thought the last "Deals of the Week" segment was a tad stale, and if you were peeved about a two-week lag for the real estate column, your forbearance is about to be rewarded. Here are highlights from a horde of hearty deals spanning...

It's "Four".(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Seven days a week with PJP Ed Ellis, president of Peter Jacobsen Productions, was talking casually with gallery members at last year's two-day Fred Meyer Challenge when one of them fired a searing question. "What, exactly, do you...

Jacobsen walks us through his fields of green.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Peter Jacobsen's rep among golf reporters is that he's a good quote. He's funny, knows and analyzes the inner and outer games of golf as well as anyone this side of Ken Venturi, and he can be compellingly honest. Jacobsen's schedule is...

23 years of tee time for Jacobsen.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Peter Jacobsen's pro golf career began in 1977. The first of his six tour victories came in 1980, at the Buick-Goodwrench Open. His best season: 1995 when he tallied back-to-back wins in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Buick...

Adding meat (puppets) to Jacobsen's daily swing.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... I've heard a lot of Peter Jacobsen stories. Everyone in town knows him. Everyone in town loves him. I'd originally wanted to write a comprehensive profile piece on Jacobsen. Doing so would require spending a lot of time--say, a golf...

Nike Golf aims for the 18th hole with a new line.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Mike Kelly prefers not to use the word "elite" when talking about golf. Instead, Nike Golf's Kelly suggests "authentic." And making inroads into club shops--where authenticity is key--is the challenge for the 150-person Nike Golf...

A brother tees off and tells all about new Nike ball.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... In the story The Princess and the Pea, a clearly sensitive young woman finds she simply cannot sleep. Her unhappy wakefulness is all due to a bothersome pea located several flights beneath her, under her tower of mattresses. While the...

Woodburn Golf Club: It's the "people's course".(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Woodburn Golf Club is, more than anything, a people's course. No tee times are required. Everyone is welcome. Players simply show up and--on the honor system-- drop their $3 for a round of nine, or $4 for 18, into a slot on the side of...

Top 25 toughest area golf courses.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Top 25 toughest area golf courses Ranked by slope rating for back tee Rank last Rank year Company phone 1 1 Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, ...

Teva Footwear paves the way for kayak craze.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Even in paddle-crazy Portland, it was a strange sight. Van after truck after RV were parked along Southeast Ninth Avenue, all sporting one or two-- sometimes even five or six--colorful kayaks on their rooftops. From inside the old barn...

Keeping kayaking afloat.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... For Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe, its business is being built slowly, one paddler at a time. Not that the Portland company doesn't appreciate an occasional windfall, such as playing host to the recent nine-day, five-location kayaking...

No room for ADA regulation in Eastwood's wild west.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Becky Ogle, a disabled rights activist from Bethesda, Md., parked her wheelchair outside the House Judiciary Committee's hearing room to confront the movie star Clint Eastwood after he testified in favor of modifying the Americans with...

Old World countries learn to embrace New Economy.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... While in London on a European speaking trip, I was able to see how the Old World is dealing with the New Economy and some of the changes that are occurring. The London Times talks about the challenges Lionel Jospin, France's socialist...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... ARCHITECTURE Tom Gibbons joined WPH Architecture as an architect. Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects promoted Jeff Myhre to principal. MCA Architects hired Lora Bennett, Sally Kavanagh, Michael Payne and Todd Rivers as intern...

We can't rest on our levy laurels.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... We are extremely proud of the role our local business community played in the passage of Measure 26-2, the levy to support the Portland Public Schools. The fight to pass the critical levy, which will fund 170 teaching positions, was an...

Families ease work-travel woes.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Parents in search of work-family balance may occasionally scour bookstores for business or psychology books to help solve their time management and value issues. If their issue is work-related travel and its effect on family life, they...

Telecom buildings will remain in high demand for years.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... I enjoyed reporter Brian Back's Real Estate column, "Telecom Hotel Hot Spots," printed in the May 5 edition of The Business Journal. I thought I would share some knowledge and observations, regarding the subject. Just remember the old saying,...

A look at the region's Winners & Losers.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Will Vinton Studios Who says NBC has a lock on must-see TV? The animation department of Will Vinton Studios saw two of its shows, "The PJs" and "Gary & Mike," get picked up by new networks. "The PJs" is heading off to WB, while "Gary &...

Saltimbanco: as good as circus gets.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Cirque du Soleil has premiered in Portland, and it's better than anything you've seen in a big top. Even the Saltimbanco tent itself, set up south of the Marquam bridge, is impressive. Inside, the excitement of the show is surreal and...

Golf's favorite son.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Pro golfer Peter Jacobsen is hard act to follow on the course, and in his other life--managing professional sporting events. In Portland, Peter Jacobsen is known as the best golfer who ever came out of the city. He's won six...

A new owner for Big Pink.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 19, 2000... After nearly a year on the selling block, Portland's largest downtown office building has connected with a buyer. Seattle-based Unico Properties Inc. recently signed a contract to purchase "Big Pink," the 42-story U.S. Bancorp Tower...

Wrinkle warrior takes crusade to male faces.(eb5 Corp.)
May 19, 2000... Robert Heldfond never meant to make a wrinkle cream. But he did mean to capitalize on it. Tradition at Heldfond's company, eb5 Corp., has it that the Portland pharmacist in the 1940s simply concocted a greaseless base for a variety of...

GST's board rejected three earlier offers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 19, 2000... GST Telecommunications Inc. may have passed up several chances to avoid a fire sale. Instead, it gambled on a turnaround, and lost. Now, it is being sold through bankruptcy court for far less than it might have realized even as recently as 10...

Doctor: 'Repressive' bosses at OHSU persecuted critics.(Statistical Data Included)
May 19, 2000... For the second time in two weeks, an Oregon Health Sciences University doctor has filed suit against the school administrators, charging that he was harassed for objecting to university policy and was forced to retire. Dr. William...

Not all are buying spiel that streetcar will help businesses.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... By next summer, grabbing a bite to eat or doing some lunch-hour shopping will get a little easier in Northwest Portland for people working downtown. Or for that matter, anyone with access along the $53.3 million, 44-block Portland Streetcar...

New owner to adopt some of Nature's ways.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... Inspired by the performance of its Nature's Northwest stores in Portland, natural foods grocer Wild Oats Markets Inc. said it will boost the size of Wild Oats stores and add more conventional groceries to them. The Boulder, Colo.,...

Jean DeMaster's passion molds downtown YWCA.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... When the YWCA hired Jean DeMaster as its executive director a in July 1998, I was skeptical of the choice. There was nothing wrong with DeMaster's credentials. In fact, they were (and are) impeccable; no, incredible. She has been one of...

Oregon tech jobs pay well above all others.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 19, 2000... * Oregon's high-technology industry added 26,800 technology jobs to the state's economic base between 1993 and 1998, according to "Cyberstates 4.0: A State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry," This analytical report was...

Wells Fargo & Co.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... Wells Fargo & Co. unveiled the online Wells Fargo Resource Center for Small Business Owners. The integrated destination site offers internet banking and bill payment and will link small businesses with services, both online and off, designed...

S3 Inc.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... S3 Inc., a Vancouver-based digital audio maker, and Musicland Stores Corp., the nation's leading specialty retailer of home-entertainment software products, will collaborate to distribute the third-generation of Rio digital audio players in...

Supertracks.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... Supertracks of Portland will partner with several leading online retailers in the U.S. and Canada to sell digital music downloads. Supertracks has signed agreements with BestBuy.com, CD Plus.com CDNOW, Chapters Online (Chapters.ca), HMV.com,...

PR Services Inc.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... PR Services Inc., a Michigan public relations and marketing communications firm, was hired by Taco Time International Inc. of Eugene to create a public relations campaign for the Mexican fast food chain. Taco Time has more than 400 locations...

Medscape Inc.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... Shareholders of Hillsboro-based MedicaLogic Inc. and Medscape Inc., a provider of authoritative health and medical information on the internet, overwhelmingly approved the merger of the two companies at special meetings held earlier this...

Multacom.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 19, 2000... Multacom, a bandwidth provider based in City of Industry, Calif., completed its second round of private placement funding for its national and international internet backbone network. Multacom recently completed its private placement funding...

Credence Systems Corp.
May 19, 2000... Credence Systems Corp., a Fremont, Calif. manufacturer of automatic test equipment for the semiconductor industry won a follow-on multiple Quartet system order from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Korea. Samsung is using the Quartet testers for...

Key Technology Inc.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... Key Technology Inc., a Walla Walla, Wash. leader in process automation equipment primarily for the food processing industry signed a definitive agreement to acquire Farmco Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Redmond. Farmco...

Kaiser Permanente.(Brief Article)
May 19, 2000... Kaiser Permanente released DASH-Sodium, a study observing the effects of salt on blood pressure. The study conducted at its Center for Health Research in Portland, confirmed earlier research which showed that reducing salt intake has a direct...

New owner will move Macheezmo to airports.
May 19, 2000... The future of Portland's Macheezmo Mouse restaurants lies in airport concessions, said pending-buyer Creative Host Services Inc. San Diego's Creative Host announced May 15 that it signed an agreement to buy Macheezmo, a fast-food company...

Firm to go public without an IPO.
May 19, 2000... Portland-based Storepartners.com is in the process of acquiring a Denver-based shell company as part of a complex maneuver that could result in the local company going public without the expense and time of an initial public offering. At...

Vinton's 'PJs' finds a new home.
May 19, 2000... Two prime-time animated shows produced by Portland's Will Vinton Studios have found new homes at different networks. The WB Network picked up "The PJs" for its third season, snapping it up from Fox Broadcasting. It plans to air the...

Willamette Week won't buy The Rocket after all.
May 19, 2000... City of Roses Publishing, the owners of Willamette Week, has backed out of an estimated $1 million deal to buy the Portland and Seattle Rocket newspapers. Mark Zusman, one of three partners in City of Roses, said they called The Rocket...

In search of billions, Williams backpedals.
May 19, 2000... Are you one of those drivers who hates it when your knees crash into the car dashboard as you slide behind the wheel? Well, who doesn't. Some automakers understand your pain and are now promoting new adjustable pedals as the latest must-have...

For GST, bankruptcy became only way out.
May 19, 2000... As time was running out on GST Telecommunications Inc., its interim chief executive officer made it clear during an interview that GST's huge debt-load could force it to seek the protection of bankruptcy court. "I don't necessarily...

PDC to give PSU $5M for some future land.
May 19, 2000... The region's business, education and political communities have joined forces in hopes of securing big funds for Portland State University. Portland Mayor Vera Katz has called for the Portland Development Commission to allocate $5...

Wholesale, manufacturing survey reports strong April.
May 19, 2000... A local arbiter of industry performance has released its monthly ratings and the numbers, for-the overwhelming part, look good. The National Association of Purchasing Management--Oregon's April 2000 Economic Activity Report, which...

Farmers, techies work together on China deal.
May 19, 2000... The agriculture and technology industries may seem like strange bedfellows, but the politics of the China trade deal brought them together. Nine associations representing the two industries formed the Agriculture High Technology Alliance...

TRADE DEAL SAILS THROUGH CONGRESS.
May 19, 2000... Supporters of the China trade deal point to the passage of the African-Caribbean Basin Initiative as evidence that Congress realizes the importance of opening more markets to American products. The bill (H.R. 434), which liberalizes trade...

TOURISTS LOVE CALIFORNIA.
May 19, 2000... California jumped ahead of Florida in 1999 as the most popular state for overseas travelers, the Commerce Department reports. Last year California hosted 6.2 million overseas travelers, compared with more than 5.8 million for Florida. New...