Portland & Keizer eyeballing additional telecom taxes without public vote By Pac-Tech Alliance, Both citing declining revenue from traditional wireline taxes the cities of Portland and Keizer have announced they are considering additional taxes on wireless telecommunications and other utilities without a public vote (even though voters have challenged or […]

Oregon Court of Appeals Upholds Claim of Negligent Failure to Investigate by P.K. Runkles-Pearson Stoel Rives LLP, Attorneys at Law In Steele v. Mayoral et al., the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that a plaintiff could take to the jury her claim that her employer had failed to prevent sexual […]

Numbers provided from Oregon Employment Department,

Latest Wells Fargo survey: expectations for increased revenues improve small business owner optimism Outlook also better for capital spending and credit availability From Wells Fargo Bank, Optimism among small business owners improved during October, driven by improved outlook for revenue, capital spending and hiring, according to the latest results of […]

Survey conducted by the Oregon Community Foundation Challenged by the recession, survey results show that nonprofits must take steps to contain costs and continue to serve their communities. In 2009, private donations have decreased by 50% while the demand for services has increased 12%. The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) surveyed  […]

By Tim Duy, Oregon Economic Forum Index highlights: •    The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators rose 0.1 percent in September to 84.4 from a revised August figure of 84.3.  The behavior of the Index remains consistent with an imminent end to the recession in Oregon; note that the […]

Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational Blog The Oregonian reports that Oregon state officials deliberately underestimated the cost the governor’s tax credit scheme to attract  “green” companies and to encourage “green” projects.  The Business Energy Tax Credits (BETC) are huge give-aways: Enterprises that don’t pay taxes (like nonprofits and government entities) can […]

AT&T Inc. has sued Verizon Wireless for their “There’s a Map for That” ads which is a direct counter to At&T’s “There’s an App for that” commercials.  See ad here.  AT&T states that the maps used are wrong because there is still coverage in areas where “3G” service is not […]

By Martin Medeiros Partner, Swider Medeiros Haver LLP The State of Oregon needs new direction in its leadership to reverse the downward trend in income statistics that began in 1980, the last year Oregon’s per capita was equal to or above the national average.  Not only is Oregon’s trend towards […]

Yesterday, Ford announced a $997 millon profit at a time when auto companies are suffering historic losses.  The Atlantic Wire charted five major reasons for their success. – Self Sufficiency (goodwill from not taking bail-out) – Cash for Clunkers – Solid Vehicles (wooing critics and customers) – Cutting Costs–But Not […]