A7
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2021
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The J.R. Simplot Co. is
building a liquid fertilizer
storage and distribution
facility in Baker City’s in-
dustrial park that is slated
to open in early spring.
The Simplot Grower
Solutions operation will
employ seven people
initially, with the poten-
tial to increase to about
a dozen workers, Josh
Jordan, senior manager
for communications and
public relations for the
J.R. Simplot, wrote in
an email to the Herald.
Based in Boise, Idaho,
Simplot is a major sup-
plier of frozen french fries.
The company paid
$235,620 for a 14.28-acre
parcel from Baker City in
the city’s 64-acre Elkhorn
View Industrial Park.
The facility is “part of a
longer-term plan to build
a permanent facility to
meet the needs of area
farmers, many of whom
grow potatoes that we
use at our processing fa-
cilities,” Jordan wrote.
The Baker City facility
will not produce fertilizer.
Simplot has two main
production plants, one
in Pocatello, Idaho, and
one in Rock Springs, Wy-
oming, that supply the
company’s more than 200
Grower Solutions stores,
Jordan wrote in his email.
CRUDE OIL
$52.34 -.51
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GOLD
$1,837.90 -7.00
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SILVER
$25.91 +.53
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EURO
$1.2132 +.0033
COVID-19 rescue plan
BRIEFING
J.R. Simplot builds
in Baker City
q
30-YR T-BOND
1.82% +.04
Dems push forward on $1.9T aid
BY LISA MASCARO AND
JOSH BOAK
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Dem-
ocrats in Congress and the
White House rejected a Repub-
lican pitch to split President Joe
Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19
rescue plan into smaller
chunks on Thursday, with law-
makers appearing primed to
muscle the sweeping economic
and virus aid forward without
GOP help.
Despite Biden’s calls for
unity, Democrats said the stub-
bornly high unemployment
numbers and battered U.S.
economy leave them unwilling
to waste time courting Repub-
lican support that might not
materialize. They also don’t
want to curb the size and scope
of a package that they say will
Mittened memes generate
over a million for charity
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential inauguration look benefits home state of Vermont
— Bulletin wire reports
Billy Calzada/The San Antonio Express-News via AP
Tobey King speaks to her crochet Bernie Sanders doll as the bidding continues on eBay on Tuesday in Corpus Christi, Texas. The doll
sold for $20,300, and all of the proceeds are being donated to Meals on Wheels.
BY LISA RATHKE • The Associated Press
A
bout those wooly mittens that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration,
sparking endless quirky memes across social media? They’ve helped to raise $1.8 million in the
last five days for charitable organizations in Sanders’ home state of Vermont, the independent
senator announced Wednesday.
The sum comes from the sale
of merchandise with the Jan. 20
image of him sitting with his
arms and legs crossed, clad in his
brown parka and wool mittens.
Sanders put the first of the
so-called “Chairman Sanders”
merchandise, including T-shirts,
sweatshirts and stickers, on his
campaign website Thursday
night and the first run sold out
in less than 30 minutes, he said.
More merchandise was added
over the weekend and sold out
by Monday morning, he said.
“Jane and I were amazed by
all the creativity shown by so
many people over the last week,
and we’re glad we can use my
internet fame to help Vermont-
ers in need,” Sanders said in a
written statement. “But even this
“Jane and I were amazed by
all the creativity shown by
so many people over the last
week, and we’re glad we can
use my internet fame to help
Vermonters in need.”
— Sen. Bernie Sanders
amount of money is no substi-
tute for action by Congress, and
I will be doing everything I can
in Washington to make sure
working people in Vermont and
across the country get the relief
they need in the middle of the
worst crisis we’ve faced since the
Great Depression.”
Sen . Bernie
Sanders,
I-Vt.,
attends
Presi-
dent-elect
Joe Biden’s
inaugura-
tion cere-
mony
Jan. 20 in
Washing-
ton.
Jonathan Ernst/
AP
See Memes / A8
University of California , Davis releases new walnut variety
BY SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
FOLSOM, Calif. — The University
of California , Davis, in partnership
with the California Walnut Board,
released a new walnut variety this
month.
Researchers say the new variety,
named UC Wolfskill, will enable grow-
ers to harvest earlier, lengthen the har-
vest season and improve efficiency.
The trees produce walnuts of the color
most desired by consumers, and early
tests show the trees perform better
than some other varieties when facing
the disease walnut blight.
“She’s a good variety. Give her a try,”
See Aid / A8
GAMESTOP
Brokerages
limit
trading,
sparking
outcry
BY ALEX VEIGA
The Associated Press
Another top
Oregon engineer
returns to Intel
Former Intel Vice Pres-
ident Sunil Shenoy is re-
turning to the company
as head of its design
engineering group, join-
ing newly hired CEO Pat
Gelsinger who is himself
coming back to Intel after
a dozen years away.
Intel has endured a se-
ries of manufacturing set-
backs over the past sev-
eral years, with repeated
delays to new genera-
tions of microprocessor
technology.
Those troubles corre-
sponded with upheaval
in the company’s exec-
utive and engineering
ranks, especially under
former Intel CEO Brian
Krzanich, who ran the
business from 2013 until
2018.
Shenoy left Intel in
2014 after 33 years with
the company.
At the time, he was
vice president of Intel’s
platform engineering
group in Hillsboro. He
starts his new position in
Oregon on Monday.
“His experience inside
and outside of Intel will
enable him to combine
the best of Intel culture
with an entrepreneur-
ial spirit and fresh per-
spective as we work to
strengthen the compa-
ny’s technical leadership
team and to coach and
develop a new genera-
tion of technical talent,”
said Bob Swan, Intel’s out-
going CEO.
provide desperately needed
money to distribute the vac-
cine, reopen schools and send
cash to American households
and businesses.
UC-Davis/capitalpress.com
UC Wolfskill, the new walnut variety.
said Charles Leslie, a UC Davis re-
searcher.
He grinned.
UC Wolfskill — named after the
Wolfskill family, who donated exper-
imental orchards to the university in
1934 — has been in development for
18 years.
In 2003, researcher Gale McGrana-
han crossed a Chandler, the most pop-
ular walnut variety, with a Solano wal-
nut, which is harvested earlier in the
year.
S]ince then, UC Davis researchers
have experimented with the seedlings,
grafted and propagated the trees and
worked with dozens of growers who
were willing to act as “guinea pigs.”
The research was funded by the Cal-
ifornia Walnut Board.
Now, nearly two decades later, re-
searchers say they’re excited to release
the new variety.
Joe Grant, research director of the
walnut board, told the Capital Press
having an earlier-harvesting walnut
will allow growers to spread out their
harvest season as evenly as possible.
“This enables growers and hullers/
dryers to have a steady flow of product
to handle, rather than being sporadic,”
he said.
Pat Brown, an associate professor
and nut crops breeder at UC Davis,
said consumers likely won’t notice a
significant difference in texture or fla-
vor; the researchers mainly designed
the variety to meet growers’ needs.
Robinhood and other retail
brokerages took steps to tamp
down the speculative frenzy
surrounding companies such
as GameStop, but the actions
only sparked more volatility in
the market and an outcry from
users of the platforms and
some members of Congress
who say small investors are be-
ing treated unfairly.
GameStop stock has rock-
eted from below $20 earlier
this month to close around
$350 Wednesday as a volunteer
army of investors on social me-
dia challenged big institutions
who had placed market bets
that the stock would fall.
The action was even wilder
Thursday: The stock swung
between $112 and $483 before
closing down 43.2% at $197.44.
Robinhood said Thursday
that investors would only be
able to sell their positions and
not open new ones in some
cases. Robinhood also required
investors to put up more of
their own money for certain
trades instead of using bor-
rowed funds.
Besides GameStop, Rob-
inhood said trading in stocks
such as AMC Entertainment,
Bed Bath & Beyond, Black-
berry, Nokia, Express Inc.,
Koss Corp., American Airlines,
Tootsie Roll, Trivago and Na-
ked Brand Group would be af-
fected by the new restrictions.
After the market closed,
Robinhood said it would allow
limited buying of those securi-
ties starting Friday.
The frenzy surrounding
shares of GameStop, AMC and
others has drawn in an influx
of investors with little or no ex-
perience trading stocks. That
poses a challenge for broker-
ages that cater to small inves-
tors, said Andy Nybo, manag-
ing director at Burton-Taylor
International Consulting.
“The brokers were forced
to take action because they
would be in the firing line if an
unsophisticated investor loses
money,” he said.
The surge in the use of stock
options fueled by individual
investors has some broker-
ages nervous and explains why
some have taken steps to re-
strict trading. The potential
issue centers on the possibil-
ity that a brokerage that isn’t
capitalized well enough could
run into trouble if a large num-
ber of investors suddenly lose
money on options trades that
don’t go their way.
Brokerages often lend inves-
tors money to make their trades,
and could be exposed to huge
losses if many investors are sud-
denly wiped out and can’t pay
back the borrowed funds.
Robinhood’s stated goal is to
“democratize” investing and to
bring more regular people into
investing.
See GameStop / A8