Page 8A
Saturday, May 6, 2017
BUSINESS
arrested U.S. April jobs report points to a
healthy drop in underemployment
East Oregonian
Protesters could be
for trespassing on own land
HUNTINGDON,
Pa.
(AP)
—
Pennsylvania
landowners could face arrest
for trespassing on their own
property if they violate a
court order obtained by a
pipeline company.
The Gerhart family of
Huntingdon County has been
battling Sunoco Logistics’
Mariner East 2 pipeline.
They’re challenging Suno-
co’s use of eminent domain
to lay the $2.5 billion pipe-
line across a portion of their
27-acre property.
An order from a county
judge gives Sunoco the ability
to have the Gerharts or any
other protester trespassing on
the company’s right of way
arrested by law enforcement.
Sunoco called it an “emer-
gency measure” in response
to an ongoing protest that has
included sitting in trees on
the property.
The
350-mile-long
pipeline across southern
Pennsylvania that state
environmental
regulators
approved in February will
carry propane, butane and
ethane from the Marcellus
Shale natural gas formation
to an export terminal near
Philadelphia.
The Gerharts are among
a handful of landowners
challenging eminent domain.
Their case is before a state
appeals court.
The family’s attorney,
Rich Raiders, said Friday that
Sunoco has not yet started
construction on the Gerharts’
land. No arrests have been
made.
Ellen Gerhart and her
daughter, Elise Gerhart,
have been spearheading the
protest. Ellen Gerhart was
arrested last year after getting
in the way of tree-cutting
crews on the site, but charges
were later dropped.
“We’re seriously looking
at going to jail,” Elise Gerhart
told StateImpact Pennsyl-
vania. “I’m not the type of
person who lets injustice go
unchallenged, and neither
is my mother. What we’re
doing makes (Sunoco) show
their true face.”
The company said Friday
that it had “no other options”
but to go to court to enforce
its right of way.
“We hope it will not be
necessary for law enforce-
ment to take any action once
construction begins,” said
Jeff Shields, spokesman for
Energy Transfer Partners,
which merged with Sunoco
Logistics last week. “We
will continue to conduct
ourselves according to the
law at all times and we fully
expect those who oppose the
project to do so peacefully
and in compliance with the
law.”
BRIEFLY
Pot shop proposal could get
second life on Court Ave.
PENDLETON — Thur’s pot shop may
have found a new spot.
Bryson Thurman, the owner of Thur’s
Smoke Shop, is set to stand before the
Pendleton Planning Commission again
Thursday to request conditional approval to
build a recreational marijuana store at 1616
S.E. Court Ave., across from the old St.
Anthony Hospital site.
Thurman previously applied to build a
marijuana store on Tutuilla Road, but strong
neighborhood resistance caused him to
reconsider.
After some community members
appealed the commission’s decision to grant
use to Thur’s on Tutuilla, Thurman began
looking for an alternative location.
The commission will meet on Thursday at
7 p.m. in the council chambers at Pendleton
City Hall, 500 S.W. Dorion Ave.
Bank of Eastern Oregon
among top banks in state
HEPPNER — American Banker
magazine ranked three Oregon banks among
the top 200 community banks in the country.
Heppner-based Bank of Eastern Oregon
Bancorp is ranked 77 with 10.90 percent
average return.
Based in New York, the trade
publication’s list is based on average return
of shareholder equity from 2014-16. Banks
with less than $2 billion in assets were
eligible.
The other Oregon banks making the list
were Summit Bank of Eugene and Oregon
Bancorp of Salem. In addition, Baker Boyer
Bancorp of Walla Walla made the list.
Jeff Bailey, president and CEO of Bank of
Eastern Oregon, said they are pleased with
the recognition
“We find ourselves in the company of
some of the best run and most admired banks
in the nation,” he said. “This is testimony
to the dedication of our employees and the
tremendous support of our customer base.”
Bank of Eastern Oregon operates 14
branches and five loan production offices
throughout the region. For more information,
visit www.beobank.com.
Pendleton will talk RV lease
with local business owner
PENDLETON — A Pendleton man’s
year-and-a-half long quest to reverse an
industrial lease signed by the city has earned
him an audience in front of the Pendleton
City Council.
At a council workshop Tuesday, Gale
Marshall will try to convince the council
that the city’s lease with Queen B Storage
is creating unfair competition with his own
business.
The conflict started in November 2015,
when the council agreed to lease nine acres
of land to Queen B near Newly Weds Foods.
Queen B, a subsidiary of the Indiana-based
Horizon Transport, uses the land to store
vehicles that come from the nearby Keystone
RV Co. before they’re transported out of
town.
Marshall, who owns 24 acres of adjoining
land, said Horizon moved a bulk of its
business from his land to the municipally
owned property because the city’s $1,825 per
month lease rate is significantly below the
market rate. He questions why the city has
leased the land at all.
City manager Robb Corbett has argued
that the city’s lease rate is comparable
to other industrial parks in the area and
suggested that Marshall might be over-
charging his tenants.
The council will meet at 7 p.m. at the
council chambers in city hall, 500 S.W.
Dorion Ave.
———
Business briefs are compiled from staff
and wire reports, and press releases. Email
press releases to business@eastoregonian.
com
L i t t le
By CHRISTOPHER S.
RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON — A
burst of hiring in April
provided a reassuring sign
for the U.S. economy and
reduced a broader gauge
of the job market’s health
to its lowest level since the
recession began nearly a
decade ago.
Employers
added
211,000 jobs, more than
double the weak showing
in March, the Labor Depart-
ment said Friday . The
unemployment rate dipped
to 4.4 percent, a 10-year
low, from 4.5 percent in
March.
Taken as a whole, the
April jobs report suggested
that American businesses
are confident enough in
their outlook for customer
demand to keep adding jobs
briskly despite a slump in
the January-March quarter
when the economy barely
grew.
The jobs report “does
increase our confidence that
the soft patch in the first
quarter is over,” Michael
Gapen, an economist at
Barclays Capital, said in an
email to clients.
In an encouraging sign,
the number of part-time
workers who’d prefer
full-time jobs has reached
a nine-year low. That
trend suggests that many
employers are meeting
rising customer demand by
shifting part-timers to full-
time work. During much
of the economic recovery,
the number of part-timers
remained unusually high —
one reason why steady job
growth didn’t produce sharp
gains in pay or consumer
spending.
The shift toward full-
time work has also helped
reduce a measure of under-
employment that includes
people who aren’t counted
as unemployed: They are
the part-time workers who
want full-time jobs as well
as people who have given
up their job hunts.
This broader figure
reached 8.6 percent in
April, the lowest point since
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
In this Nov. 20, 2015, photo, a UPS employee works
inside the company’s Worldport hub in Louisville, Ky.
On Friday the U.S. government issues the April jobs
November 2007, just before
the recession officially
began. In 2009, it had
topped 17 percent.
That broader measure of
underemployment has been
cited by President Donald
Trump and his advisers as a
more accurate gauge of the
job market’s health than the
unemployment rate.
So far, the job market
under Trump closely resem-
bles the one Barack Obama
presided over. This year,
employers have added an
average of 185,000 jobs a
month, matching last year’s
pace.
In his first 3½ months,
Trump has sought to put
his imprint on the economy.
A deputy White House
spokeswoman,
Sarah
Huckabee Sanders, said
falsely at a briefing for
reporters Friday that job
growth in April occurred
“especially” in industries
where the president has
focused: Coal mining,
construction and manufac-
turing. In fact, those three
sectors accounted for less
than 6 percent of April’s job
growth.
A representative of the
White House, contacted
later by The Associated
Press, said that Sanders had
misspoken.
Some of the job market’s
scars from the Great Reces-
sion have yet to heal. The
proportion of Americans
who either have jobs or are
looking for one dipped in
April to 62.9 percent from
63 percent. While that figure
has improved over the past
18 months, it remains well
below the prerecession
level of 66 percent.
Economists don’t expect
that figure to get much
better. With the vast baby
boom generation retiring
and younger Americans
more likely to stay in high
school and attend college,
fewer Americans will likely
work or seek work in the
foreseeable future.
Friday’s jobs report
makes it highly likely that
the Federal Reserve will
resume raising short-term
interest rates when it next
meets in mid-June. Inves-
tors have estimated the
likelihood of a June rate
hike at 83 percent.
Beyond hiring, the
economy is showing other
signs of health: Sales
of existing homes have
reached the highest point in
a decade. And a survey of
services firms this week —
including restaurants, banks
and retailers — showed that
they are expanding steadily.
Average paychecks did
grow more slowly in April,
increasing 2.5 percent over
the past 12 months, below
March’s
year-over-year
gain. Companies may not
yet feel much pressure to
raise pay to find or keep
the workers they need.
Typically, employers feel
compelled to pay more as
the number of unemployed
dwindles. In a strong
economy, hourly pay gains
tend to average around 3.5
percent.
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D a r l i n gs !
This special section will be fi lled with photos of and
messages for adorable little darlings from Umatilla County.
Families will want to keep this special keepsake for
their child and family for years to come.
PUBLISHES:
June 28, 2017
DEADLINES:
June 15, 2017
Olivia,
t.
I loved you from the very star
heart.
my
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rac
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,
You stole my breath
un.
beg
just
has
er
Our life togeth
.
You’re part of me, my little one
Love, Mom
Send in, or drop by, a
full color high resolution
photo, your child’s name
and a message to
your child today!
Little Darlings
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