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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2021)
A13 B USINESS THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 p DOW 31,188.38 +257.86 BRIEFING Portland startup receives $20M Conversa Health, a Portland startup that helps health care pro- viders evaluate patients online, said Tuesday it has added $8 million to a $12 million investment an- nounced last summer. The 6-year-old com- pany has now raised $34 million altogether. That’s a large sum for an ear- ly-stage company, at least by Portland’s modest standards. Telehealth compa- nies have been booming during the pandemic, helping clinicians treat patients online. Conver- sa’s technology enables “digital triage” to evaluate whether patients need a phone or online consul- tation, or an in-person exam. Conversa employs 34 total, 22 of them in Port- land. CEO Murray Broz- insky works in San Fran- cisco, but Conversa says a number of top executives work in Portland. They include Chairman West Shell and Chief Strategy Officer Phil Marshall, the company’s co-founders. Builders VC and North- well Ventures led Con- versa’s latest investment round. p bendbulletin.com/business NASDAQ 13,457.25 +260.07 p S&P 500 3,851.85 +52.94 n p 30-YR T-BOND 1.84% ... CRUDE OIL $53.28 +.30 p p GOLD $1,865.90 +26.40 SILVER $25.73 +.45 Oregon sheds 25,500 jobs in first jobless rate increase since April BY MIKE ROGOWAY The Oregonian Oregon’s unemployment rate climbed to 6.4% in December, up from 6% the prior month. It’s the first increase in seven months as the state hunkered down amid a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections. The state shed 25,500 jobs last month, according to data out Wednesday from the Or- egon Employment Depart- ment, with the biggest losses in the leisure and hospitality sector. Gov. Kate Brown or- dered restaurants and bars shut down to indoor service in late November as the infection rate soared to unprecedented levels. “December’s job losses reflect the devastation COVID-19 continues to inflict on the lives and A MOVE THAT MAKES CENTS livelihoods of Oregonians. Ten months into the pandemic, Oregon has regained just 37% of the jobs lost in this reces- sion,” said Gail Krumenauer, economist with the employ- ment department. See Jobs / A14 California pot firms to get more banking services Keystone XL permit revoke by Biden Construction on the long disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline halted Wednesday as incoming U.S. President Joe Biden decided to revoke its permit. Biden’s Day One plans included moving to re- voke a presidential permit for the pipeline. The premier of the oil- rich Canadian province of Alberta called it an “insult” and said the federal Cana- dian government should impose trade sanctions if it is not reversed. The 1,700-mile pipe- line was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, pass- ing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. “Advancement of the project will be sus- pended,” the Calgary, Alberta-based company said in a statement. Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs, the majority unionized, will be elim- inated in the coming weeks. “We will begin a safe and orderly shut-down of construction,” he said. Markets hit records as hopes build Wall Street marked the dawn of President Joe Biden’s administra- tion with stocks rallying to record highs as hopes build that new leadership in Washington will mean more support for the struggling U.S. economy. The S&P 500 rose 1.4%, topping its previous all- time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nas- daq composite and Rus- sell 2000 index of smaller companies also notched record highs, powered by gains in technology, com- munications, health care and most other sectors. Biden, now the na- tion’s 46th president has pitched a plan to pump $1.9 trillion more into the struggling economy. Spiraling coronavirus counts and deaths have more workers applying for unemployment bene- fits and shoppers feeling less confident. — Bulletin wire reports Jae C. Hong/AP file Bundles of $20 bills are placed on a table as Jerred Kiloh, owner of the Higher Path medical marijuana dispensary, prepares a trip to Los Angeles City Hall in 2017 to pay his monthly tax payment in cash in Los Angeles. BY MICHAEL R. BLOOD • The Associated Press “Since California legalized cannabis, operators have faced significant struggles with banking and payment services, given the federal government’s continued ban on cannabis products.” — Statement from the California Cannabis Industry Association A California cannabis industry group announced Tuesday that it reached an agreement with a state credit union that will provide checking, wire transfers and other banking services for more marijuana companies, helping ease what has been an obstacle for many businesses. Most Americans live in states where cannabis is legally available in some form, and broad legal mar- ijuana sales began in California in 2018. But there’s been a problem when it comes to banks: Many don’t want anything to do with money from the cannabis industry for fear it could expose them to legal trouble from the federal government, which still considers marijuana illegal. As a result, many marijuana companies in California’s multibil- lion-dollar market have been left to do business largely in cash, making them appealing targets for crime. Under the partnership, the Cali- fornia Cannabis Industry Associa- tion said its members will gain ac- cess to banking services through the California-based North Bay Credit Union. “Since California legalized canna- bis, operators have faced significant struggles with banking and payment services, given the federal govern- ment’s continued ban on cannabis products,” the group said in a state- ment. See Banking / A14 q EURO $1.2107 -.0018 Just before Trump left, Hammond Ranches got permit BY MAXINE BERNSTEIN The Oregonian In one of his last acts before leaving office, outgoing Inte- rior Secretary David Bernhard on Tuesday granted Hammond Ranches Inc. a 10-year grazing permit, curtailing any potential administrative appeals in the face of vehement opposition from environmental advocacy groups. “It’s great news they’ve is- sued the final decision and issued the grazing permit to the Hammond family,” Alan Schroeder, the family’s attorney told the Capital Press. “The fact it’s been restored will cer- tainly stabilize this livestock operation that’s been around for 50 years.” In February 2014, the fed- eral agency rejected the Ham- monds’ renewal application, citing the criminal convictions of father Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven Hammond for setting fire to public land. Paul Ruprecht, the regional Nevada-Oregon director of Western Watersheds Project, said the granting of the permit just before President Donald Trump leaves office “puts poli- tics before land stewardship.” “It is outrageous — although sadly predictable — that the Trump administration has reached down into the Burns Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management and seized control to make sure they could give the Hammonds preferential access to public lands,” Ruprecht said in a pre- pared statement. The environmental protec- tion group contends the re- newed grazing will harm sage- grouse habitats in the region and increase invasive weeds and the likelihood of destruc- tive fires. “It’s clear that the Bureau of Land Management was told by on high to get this done before the Trump Admin- istration leaves tomorrow. It’s corruption, down to the fact that they raced through the weekend to get this rub- ber-stamped before the inau- guration.” The U.S. Bureau of Land Management had proposed on New Year’s Eve returning grazing rights to Hammond Ranches for 10 years, citing among other reasons their “ex- tensive historic use” of the al- lotments and what the federal agency characterized as their “past proper use of rangeland resources.” Susie Hammond, the matri- arch of the Hammond family, said Tuesday afternoon, “Well, we don’t have any cows on it yet, so we’ll see.” Asked about the timing of the permit just before Trump is set to leave office, she added, “You don’t suppose that was strategic?” See Hammond / A14 Jorden Cove natural gas terminal plans hit snag BY GILLIAN FLACCUS The Associated Press PORTLAND — Plans for a major West Coast liquified natural gas pipeline and export terminal hit a snag Tuesday with federal regulators after a years long legal battle that has united tribes, environmental- ists and a coalition of residents on Oregon’s rural southern coast against the proposal. The Federal Energy Regu- latory Commission ruled that energy company Pembina could not move forward with the proposal without a key clean water permit from the state of Oregon. The U.S. regu- latory agency gave its tentative approval to the pipeline last March as long as it secured the necessary state permits, but the Canadian pipeline company has been unable to do so. It had appealed to the com- mission over the state’s clean water permit, arguing that Or- egon had waived its authority to issue a clean water certifica- tion for the project and there- fore its denial of the permit was irrelevant. But the commission found instead that Pembina had never requested the certification and that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality “could not have waived its authority to issue certification for a request it never received.” See Gas / A14 OPB file photo A view of Coos Bay from a spot where the Jordan Cove LNG terminal will be excavated, if approved by regulators.