2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021
Reboot your budget
to prep for reopening
MILLENNIAL MONEY
COURTNEY
JESPERSEN
NERDWALLET
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press, File
In this March 10, 2021, photo, a woman strolls along the beach under rain clouds in Seal Beach, California. Rain-
storms grew more erratic and droughts much longer across most of the U.S. West over the past half-century as
climate change warmed the planet, according to a sweeping government study released, Tuesday, April 6, 2021,
that concludes the situation in the region is worsening.
RAINS
Continued from Page 1B
said UCLA meteorologist
Daniel Swain, who writes
a weather blog about the
West and was not part of
the study.
The fi ndings were pub-
lished in the journal Geo-
physical Research Let-
ters. Researchers from the
USDA and University of
Arizona collected daily
readings from 337 weather
stations across the western
U.S. and analyzed rainfall
and drought data to iden-
tify the changing patterns.
Other parts of the region
that saw longer and more
variable droughts included
the southwest Rocky
Mountains, the Colorado
Plateau and the Central
Plains.
The rainfall study is in
line with data that shows
climate change already is
aff ecting the planet.
“Climate models project
that the American South-
west is very likely to expe-
rience more frequent and
more severe droughts,”
said William Anderegg,
a University of Utah biol-
ogist and climate scien-
tist. “This study and other
recent work demonstrates
that this dry down has
already begun.”
The weather station
data that was used in the
study represents “the gold
standard’ for an accurate
understanding of changes
being driven by climate
change, said Christopher
Field, an earth systems sci-
entist and director of the
Stanford Woods Institute
for the Environment.
States in the north-
western U.S. were largely
spared from the acceler-
ating cycles of drought. The
researchers observed total
annual rainfall amounts
and shorter intervals
between drought in Wash-
ington, Oregon, Idaho and
portions of Montana, Wyo-
ming and the Dakotas.
That’s consistent with
predicted changes in
weather patterns driven by
climate change in which the
jet stream that brings mois-
ture from the Pacifi c Ocean
shifts northward, they said.
NOAA
Continued from Page 1B
the species.
“Some people misun-
derstand this,” Milstein
said. “They feel that the
biological opinion should
guarantee recovery.”
Recovery means the
species is secure enough
not to become threatened
or endangered again, Mil-
stein said.
Populations must
be genetically diverse
enough to not be subject
to inbreeding and main-
tain their resilience, espe-
cially considering climate
change, he said.
Breaching the dams
would benefi t the fi sh in
the long term, the BiOp
found, but would also
impact the environmental,
socioeconomic and cul-
tural aspects of river
operations.
The preferred alter-
native calls for making
changes at the dams to
icture cruising your car deep into
2021 and never glancing in the rear-
view mirror. Vaccines, travel and
a hope of normalcy are fi nally on the
horizon.
With so much to look forward to in the
future, it’s understandable to not want to
look back.
But returning to typical day-to-day life
will be a transition. And from a fi nancial
standpoint, you’ll want to assess your past
budgeting behavior to prepare for more
normal days ahead.
P
Review past and current spending
Last year’s spending didn’t look like
2019. And 2021 won’t look like either
2020 or 2019. But you’ll need this his-
torical insight to inform your future
spending, especially as you start rein-
troducing expenses that used to be ordi-
nary, like concert tickets, plane tickets
and so forth.
Some people’s spending decreased
dramatically last year (either from
necessity or choice). But others faced
comparable expenses, says Molly
Laughter, certifi ed fi nancial planner and
founder of Laughter Financial LLC in
Dallas, Texas.
Remember that jungle gym for the
kids to play on in the backyard? Or the
Xbox for long nights of playing video
games? They may have been great ways
to keep you occupied and comfortable at
home, but now you’ll need to fi nd a way
to balance these newer expenses with
your past spending on the activities you
hope to return to.
Since many of us are already taking
a close look at our fi nances right now as
we fi le taxes, Laughter suggests using
this opportunity to review year-end
fi nancial summaries from your credit
cards and bank accounts.
Size up each category. How much did
you spend? Was it worth that amount?
Would you want to continue spending
that much?
Associated Press, File
The Ice Harbor Dam near Burbank, Washington, is one of four dams on
the lower Snake River. Many factors are considered in salmon recovery
plans, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries
spokesperson says.
improve passage and con-
ditions for salmon and
other fi sh listed under the
Endangered Species Act.
Fish are responding
positively in many places
to improvements in hab-
itat, Milstein said, with
increases in survival and
productivity.
“The challenge with all
things salmon is to try to
measure the benefi ts of
improvements in habitat
when there are all sorts
of other factors aff ecting
salmon, from ocean con-
ditions to snowpack,”
he said. “Combining all
these variables paints a
complicated picture that
makes it diffi cult to tease
out the narrow benefi ts of
any one factor.”
Play favorites
Ever since COVID-19 became part
of our vocabulary, there’s been talk
that life would never return to normal.
Laughter anticipates your future
spending will be a “new normal.” Sure,
you may introduce dinners out — and
possibly even a trip — to the mix, but
expect to continue paying for quar-
antine life staples like deliveries and
at-home activities.
According to Vid Ponnapalli , CFP
and owner of Unique Financial Advi-
sors based in Holmdel, New Jersey,
“There is going to be a paradigm shift
SALEM — Oregon
OSHA announced it has
fi ned a Medford coff ee
shop $9,250 and a Grants
Pass $17,900 for COVID-19
violations.
The state workplace reg-
ulator sanctioned Forage
Coff ee Company for three
violations of on-the-job
safety standards to pro-
tect workers from the coro-
navirus disease. In one
violation, which Oregon
OSHA called said the busi-
ness committed willfully,
the business potentially
exposed employees to the
virus by allowing indoor
dining, despite require-
ments that such capacity be
kept to zero to curb trans-
mission of the disease.
The company also came
up short in implementing
two safety measures that
help reduce the risk of
COVID-19 in the work-
place: facial coverings and
physical distancing.
Oregon OSHA initiated
its inspection of Forage
Coff ee in response to mul-
tiple complaints about
the business. During the
inspection, Jacob Terando,
an owner of Forage Coff ee,
said customers entering
the establishment in
November 2020 during
the statewide two-week
freeze knew of the restric-
tion against indoor dining,
but he left it up to them to
decide. The freeze allowed
only takeout.
And Gold Miner
Restaurant in Grants Pass
faces fi nes totaling $17,900
for violating two standards
for protecting employees
from COVID-19.
Oregon OSHA fi ned the
restaurant $100 for failing
to follow Oregon Health
Authority requirements to
ensure all workers inside
the establishment wore a
source control device, such
as a mask.
In the other infrac-
tion, the employer will-
fully continued to poten-
tially expose workers to
the virus, according to the
press release from Oregon
OSHA, despite a public
health order limiting the
capacity of indoor dining
to zero in an “extreme
risk” county. That resulted
in the $17,800 penalty.
The citation resulted
from an inspection in
response to multiple com-
plaints and a referral from
the Josephine County
Public Health Depart-
ment. The inspection doc-
umented Gold Miner
Restaurant was allowing
indoor dining on or about
Feb. 14 and continuing
to do so afterward until
March 12.
Josephine County
during that time was in the
extreme risk category for
transmission of COVID-
19. On March 12, the state
lowered the county’s risk
level to “high.” During the
Plan for future goals
Life hasn’t returned to normal by any
means. But for many Americans, the
prospect of getting a vaccine is mere
weeks or months away. Use the time
between now and then to prepare for
what’s to come.
Laughter says to think of it like
advance notice.
“The vaccines aren’t getting out as
quickly as we’d like,” she says. “So start
your clock.”
Begin setting aside a certain amount
monthly to accomplish a goal when it’s
all said and done.
For example, if you want to travel
again by a certain date, use the next few
months to funnel funds into a desig-
nated savings account. If your student
loan payment is on hold, make a plan for
how you’ll strategically spend those extra
funds in the meantime. And prepare for
that added bill when it’s reintroduced.
Whatever fi nancial decisions you
make, remember, whether we’re in a
pandemic or not, the fundamentals of
fi nances don’t go away.
Spread your money between things
you need, things you want and savings.
Your allocations may change, but “the
name of the game is the same as it was
before — budgeting, budgeting, bud-
geting,” Ponnapalli says.
Here’s to better days and better bud-
gets ahead.
———
Courtney Jespersen is a writer at
NerdWallet, the personal fi nance website
that provided this column to
The Associated Press.
Mobile Service
Oregon OSHA fi nes coff ee shop,
restaurant for COVID-19 violations
The Observer
with respect to how budgeting in the
future will be compared to how it was
pre-COVID.”
This new balance means you’ll need
to play favorites with your fi nances.
After all, you can’t keep up the amount
you’ve been dropping on at-home enter-
tainment and food deliveries while also
upping the amount you spend on indoor
dining and live shows. It just won’t all
fi t in the budget. Select the expenses
you benefi t from most.
To make the necessary adjustments,
Laughter suggests looking at the big
picture. Don’t get too caught up in spe-
cifi c line items. (For example, if you’re
spending 25% less on grocery orders,
you don’t have to redirect that exact
amount to dinners out.)
Instead, once your needs and savings
are accounted for, set a dollar fi gure you
can aff ord each month for discretionary
expenses, then spend it on whatever you
want. You may never add back in some
things you used to spend money on.
As Ponnapalli says, we’ve all fi gured
out new ways to spend less money and
still have fun.
Dropping thousands of dollars on
concert tickets may not feel worth it
anymore when you compare it with
watching a (much cheaper) livestream
at home.
Outstanding
Computer Repair
inspection, the restaurant’s
owner, Nancie Bowers,
said she was aware that
allowing indoor dining
during the extreme risk
period went against work-
place health requirements.
Oregon OSHA Admin-
istrator Michael Wood
imposed a $17,800 pen-
alty for the willful viola-
tion, according to the press
release. The amount is
twice the minimum pen-
alty for such a violation.
Employers have 30 days
to appeal citations.
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