THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021 A11
A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021
p
DOW
30,723.60 +36.12
q
BRIEFING
Two Western U.S.
livestock auctions
permanently close
Livestock auctions
Northern California and
Oregon have both an-
nounced they will per-
manently close their live-
stock auction yards.
The Shasta Livestock
Auction Yard, in Cotton-
wood, California, an-
nounced Tuesday it will
shut down its weekly Fri-
day sale for good after a
final sale Feb. 12.
General Manager Brad
Peek said the Shasta Live-
stock business plans to
continue and even ex-
pand its video sales and
direct farm-to-farm coun-
try cattle trade.
Located south of Port-
land, the Woodburn Live-
stock Exchange also plans
to close its animal auc-
tions this month.
Business managers
have decided to shut
down the livestock por-
tion of their business due
to the continual declining
head counts and rising
costs of doing business.
It will hold its last
sheep, goat and hog auc-
tion Feb. 15 and its final
cattle and poultry auction
Feb. 23.
bendbulletin.com/business
NASDAQ
13,610.54 -2.23
p
p
S&P 500
3,830.17 +3.86
30-YR T-BOND
1.91% +.03
p
p
CRUDE OIL
$55.69 +.93
GOLD
$1,832.20 +1.70
— Bulletin wire reports
SILVER
$26.88 +.50
p
EURO
$1.2025 +.0005
Daimler to spin off trucks, change name
Daimler Trucks North America headquartered
in Portland, has test track at Madras Airport
BY DAVID MCHUGH
The Associated Press
FRANKFURT, Germany —
German automaker Daimler
will split itself into two inde-
pendent companies by spin-
ning off its truck and bus divi-
sion, a move the company said
would give both the freedom
to operate more nimbly in a
fast-changing environment fo-
cused on zero-emission vehi-
cles and software.
The Stuttgart-headquartered
company said Wednesday that
a significant majority stake in
the truck business would be
distributed to current share-
holders, and that Daimler
would “at the appropriate time”
be renamed Mercedes-Benz,
the brand name under which it
sells luxury cars.
CEO Ola Kallenius said the
decision was made because
the businesses of making lux-
ury cars and heavy trucks and
buses “have very different
structures.” He said that two
companies each focused on
their core business would be
more flexible and make deci-
sions faster as they cope with
technological change.
“We are in a very dynamic
entrepreneurial environment,”
Kallenius said in a conference
call with journalists. “Speed
Matthias Schrader/AP file
An employee attaches an emblem in April as he works on a Mer-
cedes-Benz S-class car at the Mercedes plant in Sindelfingen, Germany.
of decision making... is some-
thing that can be enhanced in a
pure play structure.”
The truck and bus division
has more than 100,000 em-
ployees and makes Freightliner
trucks and Thomas Built buses.
It has manufacturing locations
CHEMEKETA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
DIESEL TECHNOLOGY
TRAINING CENTER OPENS
Kevin Ruby,
right, chair-
man and in-
structor at
Chemeketa
Community
College’s Die-
sel Technol-
ogy Program,
helps students
Daniel Wilske
and Luigy
Arellano reas-
semble a small
engine.
Suit settled over
unemployment
benefits
The Oregon Employ-
ment Department prom-
ises to be more timely
and more transparent
about jobless benefits
payments, and to be
accessible in more lan-
guages, under terms of a
pending settlement of a
class-action lawsuit.
The Oregon Law
Center filed the suit last
summer on behalf of 13
jobless Oregonians, amid
extraordinary delays in
paying jobless bene-
fits. The suit didn’t seek
monetary damages, but
aimed to compel the de-
partment to speed up
claims processing and to
do more to communicate
with workers who don’t
speak English.
“After I lost my job, I
applied for unemploy-
ment. I waited months for
benefits to begin without
knowing what was hap-
pening — I couldn’t pay
rent, and I really worried
about how it would af-
fect my daughter and I,”
said Lisa Exterovich, one
of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs,
in a written statement
Wednesday.
She said the Wednes-
day’s settlement com-
mits the department to
“paying people benefits
more quickly, working
to improve communica-
tions with those seeking
benefits, and providing
assistance to people who
don’t speak English.”
p
George Plaven/
Capital Press
BY GEORGE PLAVEN • Capital Press
BROOKS —
D
aniel Wilske has always been interested in cars and trucks. It was during high school that Wilske, 21,
really began tinkering under the hood. That led him to enroll in Chemeketa Community College’s new
Diesel Technology Program, where he plans to jumpstart his career as a mechanic.
“I just like working on motors,” Wilske
said. “I would like to travel around and fix
machines for contractors.”
On Feb. 1, Wilske and his lab partner,
Luigy Arellano, worked together to re-
assemble a small Kubota engine, using a
penlight and rubber mallet to align the
crankshaft. The pieces fit like a 3D puzzle,
while bolts and sockets clinked gently on
the metal table.
Wilske and Arellano are part of the first
group of students in the diesel program at
Chemeketa.
The college spent five years developing
the curriculum at its campus in Brooks,
about 10 miles north of Salem, before
classes began in January.
Kevin Ruby, program chairman and
instructor, said the two-year degree com-
bines classroom and hands-on training
to prepare students for an entry-level po-
sition as a diesel mechanic. Each student
will also work a summer internship with
companies like Daimler Trucks North
America and Papé Machinery, learning to
service and repair heavy equipment.
See Diesel / A12
all over the world, including
in Ohio, Germany, Brazil, and
Portland, where the headquar-
ters of Daimler Trucks North
America is . The company has a
test track at Madras Airport.
Engines are made at the De-
troit Diesel facility in Redford,
Michigan. The division had
revenue last year of $48.1 bil-
lion for trucks and about $5.6
billion for buses.
One reason for the spinoff
is that the auto business and
the truck business are pursu-
ing different technologies as
they seek to reduce vehicle
emissions. The luxury car busi-
ness is bringing out new bat-
tery-powered models, while
the truck business is investing
in hydrogen fuel cell technol-
ogy.
OREGON | POPULATION
GROWTH IN 2020
For the
first time,
deaths
outnumber
births
MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Oregon’s population growth
has been slowing for several
years, but in 2020 the state hit a
remarkable milestone – deaths
appear to have outnumbered
births for the first time on re-
cord.
That’s according to Josh Leh-
ner, with the Oregon Office
of Economic Analysis. Falling
birth rates and an aging popu-
lation had Oregon on track to
have births outnumber deaths
at some point — Lehner had
been projecting 2025 — but
COVID-19 upended things.
There were about 200 more
Oregon deaths than births in
2020, according to preliminary
state numbers. That’s close
enough that Lehner cautions
a final tally may ultimately re-
verse the finding.
And if the coronavirus pan-
demic recedes in 2021, births
will again outnumber deaths
— at least for some period of
time. But Oregon’s birthrate
is at a 30-year ebb, among na-
tion’s lowest.
By the Oregon Health Au-
thority’s official tally, 1,649
Oregonians died for reasons
directly related to COVID-19
from March through Decem-
ber last year.
That’s 4.1% of the nearly
40,000 deaths Oregon recorded
overall in 2020, but COVID-19
accounts for a significant share
of the 7% increase in the total
number of Oregon deaths for
the whole year.
The number of Oregon
deaths in 2020 increased twice
as fast as in 2019, and was the
sharpest increase in at least 21
years.
COVID-19 in Oregon
Select pharmacies will receive vaccines starting next week
JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
Select Oregon pharmacies
will begin offering COVID-19
vaccines to eligible Oregonians
next week under a new distri-
bution program.
The federal government will
ship about 1 million vaccine
doses directly to 6,500 phar-
macies across the country as it
launches the first phase of the
Federal Retail Pharmacy Pro-
gram, White House officials
announced Tuesday. Pharma-
cies can begin vaccinations at
no cost as soon as Feb. 11.
The White House is work-
ing with 21 national pharmacy
partners and networks of in-
dependent pharmacies repre-
senting over 40,000 pharmacy
Oregon’s share of doses will go to Costco, Health Mart Pharmacies and Albertsons
Companies, which includes Albertsons and Safeway stores. Until now, most vaccines have
been administered at hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and special vaccination sites such as
the Oregon Convention Center.
locations nationwide, although
not all partner pharmacies will
receive doses during the pro-
gram’s first phase.
Oregon’s share of doses will
go to Costco, Health Mart
Pharmacies and Albertsons
Companies, which includes
Albertsons and Safeway stores.
Until now, most vaccines have
been administered at hospitals,
clinics, nursing homes and spe-
cial vaccination sites such as the
Oregon Convention Center.
Jill McGinnis, a spokesman
for Albertsons, said the com-
pany anticipates approximately
11,500 doses will be shipped
to 115 Albertsons and Safe-
way pharmacies across Oregon
next week, with roughly 100
doses going to each location.
See Vaccines / A12