2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
BUSINESS & AG
Connect online to fresh Oregon-grown food
New web directory
lists 11 operations
in Eastern Oregon
The Observer
PORTLAND — Finding
locally grown fresh food
Oregon just became easier.
Oregon Taste, a public
service project of nonprofi t
James Beard Public Market,
announced the launch of
OregonTaste.com, a search-
able online directory of the
state’s locally grown fresh
food.
The website allows area
consumers to connect to
Oregon’s local fresh foods
and food businesses, pro-
viding a reliable source
for information on Oregon
food, food products, food
systems programs and food
events.
The directory initially
is focusing on Oregon’s
local producers that sell
fresh foods directly to con-
sumers. Listings include
sellers of fresh, local and
direct-to-consumer food,
Program
will help
landlords,
business
tenants
The Observer
SALEM — Local land-
lords with business tenants
behind in rents can get some
fi nancial help from the state.
Business Oregon
announced its Commer-
cial Rent Relief Grant Pro-
gram is accepting appli-
cations for grants to cover
outstanding lease payments
from small-business tenants
that are behind on rent due
to COVID-19. The grants
provide up to $100,000 per
each business tenant lease,
but not more than $3 million
for each landlord. And land-
lords must agree not to evict
the tenant for six months,
must waive any rights to col-
lect outstanding penalties or
interest, and cannot enforce
eviction clauses related to
the delinquent lease pay-
ments between March 1,
2020, and Feb. 28, 2021.
The Oregon Legisla-
tive Emergency Board allo-
cated $100 million to Busi-
ness Oregon for the program
to provide fi nancial assis-
tance to small businesses
and commercial landlords
undergoing hardships from
the pandemic. Round 1
grant applications close on
Monday, March 22, at 9 a.m.
“This new funding
comes at a critical time to
bring small businesses out
of accumulated debt caused
by the pandemic,” said
Business Oregon Interim
Director Chris Cummings.
“With improving COVID-19
numbers and us all doing
our part to curb the spread,
we can get businesses oper-
ating again. This program
lets them get going with a
little less weight on their
shoulders.”
Both the business tenant
and property owner will
need to participate in the
application process and sign
the grant agreement, but the
landlord needs to complete
the initial application.
The program has two
rounds.
The state will allocate
the fi rst 50 in the application
period that opened March
8. The remaining will be
processed in an additional
application period that will
open in late April.
“Unsuccessful (but eli-
gible) applicants from the
fi rst round will automati-
cally be considered in the
second round, as will any
new round two applicants,”
according to Business
Oregon.
This is the seventh
COVID-specifi c program
Business Oregon has imple-
mented to help businesses
navigate the impacts
of the pandemic.
Dick Mason/The Observer, File
Jan Marrs, co-owner of Almosta Farm at Cove, greets one of her Nigerian dwarf goats on
June 30, 2020. Almosta Farm is in the new online directory at OregonTaste.com, which
helps consumers connect to locally grown fresh food.
as well as information on
farmers, fi shers, ranchers,
roadside stands, u-pick
fi elds, farmers markets and
orchards.
The directory so far lists
11 ag-related businesses in
Eastern Oregon, including
Evergreen Family Farm in
La Grande, Almosta Farm
in Cove and Mountain Beef
in Enterprise.
Consumers can search
the directory for fresh food
producers across the state,
fi nd specifi c food products,
link to a producer’s web-
site and learn how to con-
nect with producers and
their products. In collabo-
ration with Oregon Farmers
Markets Association, the
website also provides con-
sumers links to the websites
of farmers markets across
Oregon.
Lori Warner, develop-
ment director for Oregon
Taste, said in the press
release the COVID-19 pan-
demic revealed how much
local food systems matter.
“The idea for Oregon
Taste was born out of this
increased need to connect
Oregonians to more local
farms and the foods they
create,” she stated.
Oregon Taste also soon
plans to expand the direc-
tory to include links to food
products manufactured
or processed in Oregon;
wine, beer, spirits and
other beverages created in
the state; and listings of
local food events. Future
plans include listings of the
state’s food-related non-
profi ts, agencies and food
organizations.
As a public service
project, the directory is
free to consumers as well
as local farmers and sellers
who want to appear in the
directory.
Organizations statewide
are collaborating with
James Beard Public Market
to help connect consumers
to Oregon-grown foods,
including the Oregon
Farmers Markets Asso-
ciation, Travel Oregon
Food Trail Program and
the High Desert Food and
Farm Alliance.
traditional medicine. She’s
also credentialed to prac-
tice at Wallowa Memorial
Hospital, although she does
not perform surgery, which
is not considered a part of
Oriental medicine.
“I work closely with a
lot of providers in the com-
munity, so if we think sur-
gery’s necessary, I can
refer (patients) to them,”
she said. “What I do is
preimpose surgery sup-
port and help with surgery
recovery.”
She emphasized that
her practice does not try
to replace traditional
medicine.
“Western medicine is
still absolutely needed,”
she said. “There are things
I can’t do — I can’t cure
cancer. I can’t fi x a failed
kidney. But can I help with
cancer support? Yes. Can I
help with nausea and other
side eff ects from chemo-
therapy? I can certainly
help with that.”
Kimball said most
insurance plans cover
treatment at her clinic,
including Medicaid. How-
ever, there’s still work to
be done to get Medicare to
cover it.
Still, demand for the
integrated health care she
off ers is growing.
“It’s amazing the
demand there is for a
diff erent form of health
care, so I have grown
exponentially in four
years,” Kimball said.
“I have grown because
people want something
diff erent than just a pill.
They want something dif-
ferent than surgery. They
want more wellness.
They want more natural
medicine. They want an
alternative. I think that’s
why our business has
grown as much as it has.”
CLINIC
Continued from Page 1B
the hormones, they calm
down the nervous system,
they release your body’s
own natural endorphins
— it’s kind of like taking
a pain pill, only naturally
— and it gets the body
to establish a whole new
stasis.”
She said the tiny needles
are smaller than a human
hair and about 100 could
be fi t inside a standard
hypodermic needle.
“You don’t feel them
when they go in — some-
times you can feel a tiny
little bit of a pinch, but for
the most part you don’t feel
anything,” she said.
She studied for 10 years,
primarily at the Oregon
College of Oriental Medi-
cine in Portland, which she
said emphasizes “a more
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Jamie Kimball, a practitioner of acupuncture and there
non-traditional medical services, shows an acupunc-
ture needle — which is smaller than a human hair — at
her clinic, Eagle Cap Wellness, in Enterprise. The clinic
moved to a new location in January 2021.
medical-based approach
where we take what we do
and can integrate it with
other providers.”
SETTLE
In Wallowa County,
she said, she’s developed
a good working relation-
ship with practitioners of
STATE, NATION BUSINESS NEWS
Continued from Page 1B
Man pleads guilty in
$12M grass seed fraud
Dynamic Service Fire and Security
and sought class-action status for the
suit, according to a complaint fi led
Dec. 6.
The state, per the settlement,
agreed to use a diff erent pot of
money to pay grants to up to 1,252
non-Black applicants that sought
funding through the program before
Dec. 8, 2020.
An independent third party will
determine how much money those
newly eligible will receive.
According to the agreement, the
applicants must meet the fund’s
race-neutral criteria and adequately
demonstrate fi nancial loss related to
the coronavirus.
According to the settlement
agreement, the independent party
issuing the funds would apply the
same criteria — except for racial
self-identifi cation — the Oregon
Cares Fund had in awarding claims.
Not all claims will qualify for
an award, according to the court
document.
By agreeing to the settlement,
the court document said, neither
side is admitting guilt. The state is
settling to avoid “complex, costly
and time-consuming litigation and
the likelihood of success on the
action’s merit.”
PORTLAND — A former
manager of a Washington-based
company that produced and sold
grass seed and turfgrass to inde-
pendent Oregon growers has
admitted to mislabeling, pyr-
amid and real estate investment
schemes that defrauded customers
and netted him more than $12
million.
Christopher Claypool, of Spo-
kane, Washington, pleaded guilty
Monday, March 15, to conspiring
to commit wire fraud and money
laundering during his fi rst appear-
ance in federal court in Port-
land, The Oregonian/OregonLive
reported.
Prosecutors will seek a
four-year prison term for the
52-year-old if he follows the con-
ditions of his pre-sentencing
release, including paying $8.3
million in restitution plus unpaid
taxes.
Prosecutors said the various
schemes ran from about 2015
through August 2019. Claypool
had worked for Jacklin Seed Co.
at its headquarters in Liberty
Lake, Washington.
Federal prosecutors said Clay-
pool’s schemes include packaging
seed varieties with false and mis-
Netfl ix tests password-
sharing crackdown
NEW YORK — Netfl ix is
testing a way to crack down on
password sharing.
The popular streaming ser-
vice has been using popups to ask
some users to verify their account
via email or text, or to “verify
later.”
“If you don’t live with the
owner of this account, you
need your own account to keep
watching,” the screen reads,
according to Streamable.com,
which fi rst reported the test.
The test comes as streaming
services proliferate and more
people share passwords and ser-
vices. Netfl ix confi rmed the test,
but did not say how many people
were part of the test or if it was
only in the U.S. or elsewhere.
“This test is designed to help
ensure that people using Netfl ix
accounts are authorized to do so,”
the company said in a statement.
On the most basic plan, which
costs $9 monthly, users can only
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Barbie’s friend Ken
celebrates 60th birthday
Ken is turning 60, two years
after his best friend Barbie did.
Mattel launched a reproduc-
tion of the original Ken doll on
Thursday, March 11, to com-
memorate his 1961 debut. That
slender doll with blond felt hair
wears a red bathing suit and
comes with red sandals and a
yellow towel. Over the years,
Ken’s body type, hair textures
and fashion choices have become
more diverse.
The company said it is working
with several fashion designers
to celebrate Ken’s birthday and
showcase him as an infl uencer.
The designs will be viewable on
Instagram with the handle @
BarbieStyle.
The original, clean-cut ’60s
version of Ken became much
groovier over that fi rst decade.
— Associated Press
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stream on one screen at a time.
The most popular plan, which
is now $14 monthly, allows two
simultaneous streams; the $18
premium plan allows 3.
But there has never been a
limit on sharing an account when
you aren’t streaming at the same
time.
leading labels, embezzling more
than $12 million while posing as
a foreign sales partner and con-
spiring with a travel agency in
Spokane to infl ate costs of his
international travel.
lesschwab.com
HERE TO
HELP