By John Ledger Associated Oregon Industries, Oregon’s largest business advocate Email AOI your Viewpoint. [email protected] On a 3-1 vote, the Senate Environment & Natural Resources Committee sent SB 105, a bill dramatically increasing maximum DEQ civil penalties, to the Senate Floor with a “Do Pass” recommendation.  Maximum civil penalties for […]

By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics In a recent post I compared bank loans to businesses in this recession with the pattern in past recessions. I couldn’t see anything that resembled a credit crunch.  I cautioned readers that those statistics did not include non-bank credit.  So I dug up the […]

Considering a Short Sale? Get Educated First Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors —Distressed properties are up for sale in the Portland metropolitan area more than they have been in the past, and while buyers may be tempted by potential bargain prices, they may also not be familiar with all that […]

Wells Fargo/Gallup Survey: Many Business Owners May Not Have Enough Green to Go Green By Wells Fargo, Although the majority of business owners say they are doing at least “everything that can be justified by cost” to help the environment, many say the economy has made them change their plans […]

Twenty-nine Alliance Members to Meet with Business Leaders in Shanghai, Beijing Portland Business Alliance, Portland, Ore. – On Saturday, 29 Portland Business Alliance members and business leaders will touch down in Shanghai for the start of a 9-day trade mission trip to China. The group will meet with Chinese business […]

Barran Liebman LLP Electronic Alert Unless another last-minute change is announced, employers must begin using the revised Form I-9 effective this Friday, April 3, 2009, for new hires and reverifications when an employee’s employment authorization has expired. Pursuant to amendments to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations, employers should note […]

By Traci Scott, BIZ Reporter, At a time when people are relying more on secondhand stores because of the economy, many thrift stores are not celebrating.  After an upsurge of highly publicized tainted toy recalls in the last few years, Congress has stepped in, passing the Consumer Product Safety Improvement […]

What’s on the Health Care Table to Keep $800 Million in Fed Matching Funds in Oregon By Betsy Earls Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s Largest Business Advocate The Current Program There are two distinct revenue streams in Oregon’s current program: a tax on the 25 largest hospitals (those with more than […]

By Bill Conerly, Businomics, Conerly Consulting LLC We all know there’s a credit crunch, right?  That’s the basis for the latest (March 2009) Treasury bailout proposal.  So I went looking for the evidence, just to prove to you skeptics that there really is a credit crunch.  I looked at business […]