A5
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2021
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BRIEFING
2 accused in fraud
for COVID-19 loans
Two men are accused
of converting for per-
sonal use more than $2.2
million in loans meant
to help small businesses
during the coronavirus
pandemic.
Andrew Aaron Lloyd,
50, of Lebanon, and Rus-
sell A. Schort, 38, of Myrtle
Creek, are charged with
wire fraud, bank fraud and
money laundering in fed-
eral court in Eugene.
The FBI investigated
after receiving informa-
tion that the men fraudu-
lently obtained Paycheck
Protection Program loans,
which were authorized
by the federal coronavirus
relief act.
Between April 7 and
May 8, financial records
showed both applied for
and received at least three
loan payments using three
different entities, totaling
more than $2.2 million, ac-
cording to a criminal com-
plaint filed in court.
Consumer credit
at best in 5 months
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U.S. loses 140,000 jobs, first
monthly drop since spring
BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON — U.S.
employers shed jobs last
month for the first time since
April, cutting 140,000 posi-
tions, clear evidence that the
economy is faltering as the
viral pandemic tightens its
grip on consumers and busi-
nesses.
At the same time, the un-
employment rate stayed at
6.7%, the first time it hasn’t
fallen since April.
Friday’s figures from the
Labor Department depict
a sharply uneven job mar-
ket, with losses concentrated
among restaurants, bars, ho-
tels and entertainment ven-
ues, many of them affecting
low-income employees, while
most other sectors are still
adding workers. Still, the na-
tion has nearly 10 million
fewer jobs than it did before
the pandemic sent it into a
deep recession nearly a year
ago, having recovered just
56% of the jobs lost in the
spring.
The pandemic will likely
continue to weaken the econ-
omy through winter and per-
haps early spring, and further
job losses are possible in the
coming months. But many
economists say that once
coronavirus vaccines are more
widely distributed, a broader
recovery should take hold in
the second half of the year.
See Jobs / A6
A new face for the
WILLAMETTE
— Bulletin wire reports
PEOPLE ON
THE MOVE
Lake Oswego Review
Officials try to draw tourism to ‘clean, safe’ Oregon river
BY COREY BUCHANAN • Lake Oswego Review
While Heather King saw more people
to other destinations like the Mackenzie or
John Day rivers.
flock to the Willamette River in the
“It is a beautiful river. It’s a river you
summer than ever before due to the
can take overnight trips on and never
COVID-19 pandemic, the deputy director
see another boat on the river depending
for the Willamette Riverkeeper nonprofit
on the trip,” King said. “People just don’t
organization said the waterway can
think about it as a place to go.”
sometimes be an afterthought compared
Capital Press
The Western bumble bee.
New OSU
program is
nation’s 1st
native bee
inventory
BY SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
U.S. consumer borrow-
ing rose 4.4% in Novem-
ber, its strongest showing
in five months, led by
gains in auto and student
loans that offset a drop in
credit card borrowing.
The Federal Reserve
said Friday that the rise
represented an increase
of $15.3 billion, the best
showing since June. Bor-
rowing had risen $4.5 bil-
lion in October.
Consumer borrowing
is closely watched for
indications of the will-
ingness of households
to take on more debt to
support their spending,
which accounts for 70%
of U.S. economic activity.
• Standard Paint and
Flooring
in Bend
has
hired
Melissa
Sori-
ano and Soriano
Ana Du-
pont,
who will
join the
sales
team.
• Derma-
Dupont
tology
Health Specialists added
Samuel Christensen
and Lindsey Clark.
Christensen will care for
patients’ skin health in
Bend, Redmond, and
Eastern Oregon loca-
tions, and Clark will
specialize in skin cancer,
medical dermatology
and aesthetics.
• Kathleen Cody has
been
selected
by the
High
Desert
Edu-
Cody
cation
Service
District
as its executive director.
Cody comes to the or-
ganization with more
than 25 years of experi-
ence in nonprofit lead-
ership.
• Megan Burgess has
been named president
of the board of directors
at Bethlehem Inn. In
addition the Central Or-
egon organization that
serves the situationally
homeless population
named Mike Bonetto
as vice president, Kevin
Link as secretary and
Jill Craveiro as trea-
surer.
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See Willamette / A6
CORVALLIS — Oregon is
the first state in the U.S. to create
a Master Melittologists program
that trains volunteers to become
bee experts and use that knowl-
edge to preserve and catalogue
bees native to the state.
A melittologist studies bees.
Oregon State University mod-
eled its new program after its
Master Gardener program.
The program teaches vol-
unteers to locate, identify and
preserve the more than 620
species of native bees in Ore-
gon, many of which are polli-
nators, in a database called the
Oregon Bee Atlas.
The program expands
knowledge about the natural
world, but it also has practical
applications. Researchers iden-
tify bees experiencing declin-
ing populations, and knowing
more about native bee species
has enabled growers to boost
crop yields.
It has also produced unex-
pected benefits. Volunteers
looking for bees inadvertently
stumbled across invasive spe-
cies, which may help stop their
spread.
“Volunteers have been com-
mitted to producing the best
museum-quality specimens
possible. The people attracted
to this program are super pas-
sionate, super capable,” said
Lincoln Best, lead taxonomist
for the Oregon Bee Atlas.
Collecting specimens isn’t
easy.
To become Master Melittol-
ogists, volunteers receive a year
of training covering bee biol-
ogy, how to prepare collections
and plan trips.
“We were looking for people
we could train to be entomol-
ogists in their own right,” said
Andony Melathopoulos, OSU
Extension’s pollinator health
specialist, who runs the pro-
gram.
Melathopoulos tries to make
it fun. The act of putting iden-
tification on a bee is called “de-
terminating,” so Melathopou-
los recently awarded one of his
volunteers the “Determinator”
award.
See Bee / A6
More virus aid on the way for small businesses
BY JOYCE M. ROSENBERG
The Associated Press
Jae C. Hong/AP file
Victor Flores, 66, sweeps the steps of his Los Angeles gift shop Dec. 16.
The Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department are
reviving the Paycheck Protection Program.
NEW YORK — For Nancy
Sinoway, a second coronavirus
relief loan would increase the
chances that her dressmaking
business will survive.
“I could use it for market-
ing, for new samples. I could
use it as a lifeline,” says Sino-
way, who designs and makes
dresses for occasions like wed-
dings and proms. She was
flooded with order cancella-
tions starting in early March
as the virus spread and large
gatherings and events were
abandoned.
Sinoway got a Paycheck
Protection Program loan in
May and used it to pay her
three employees. But the loan
money fell far short of what
she needed to maintain her
Port Washington, New York,
shop. She was forced to close it
and move the business into her
home.
Millions of business owners
like Sinoway are about to get
help. The Small Business Ad-
ministration and the Treasury
Department are preparing to
revive the Paycheck Protection
Program five months after its
first two rounds of funding
ended.
In the latest round, busi-
nesses that received loans last
year will be able to borrow up
to $2 million as long as they
have no more than 300 em-
ployees and suffered at least a
25% drop in quarterly revenue.
First-time borrowers with no
more than 500 workers will be
able to borrow up to $10 mil-
lion.
The loans, which can be for-
given, will have five-year terms
and carry an interest rate of
1%.
The SBA will initially accept
only applications submitted by
community financial institu-
tions, lenders whose custom-
ers are minority-owned and
economically disadvantaged
businesses.
See Aid/ A6