A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2021
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BRIEFING
Tahoe ski resort
faces lawsuits
The widow and a friend
of a skier killed in an av-
alanche at a Lake Tahoe
ski resort last year have
filed separate lawsuits ac-
cusing the resort of neg-
ligently rushing to open
the slopes in unsafe con-
ditions for a holiday week-
end that’s typically one of
the season’s busiest.
Cole Comstock, 34,
of Blairsden, California,
was killed and his close
friend, Kaley Bloom, was
seriously injured when
they were swept up in the
avalanche on an Alpine
Meadows ski run on Jan.
17, 2020 — the Friday
before Martin Luther King
Jr. Day.
Bloom and Cole’s
widow, Caitlin Raymond,
seek unspecified dam-
ages from Alpine Mead-
ows on accusations of
negligence, gross neg-
ligence and breach of
contract.
“While we cannot com-
ment on ongoing litiga-
tion, January 17, 2020,
was a devastating day for
our team at Squaw Val-
ley Alpine Meadows, and
we continue to share our
deepest sympathies with
the family and friends of
those affected,” Alex Spy-
chalsky, a spokeswoman
for both of the neigh-
boring resorts, said in an
emailed statement.
Alaska ordered to
pay $3.2M in suit
A jury ordered Alaska
Airlines on Monday to pay
$3.2 million to the family
of a 75-year-old disabled
woman who died four
months after falling down
a Portland International
Airport escalator.
KGW reports the fam-
ily of Bernice Kekona, of
Spokane, Washington,
was traveling from Ha-
waii to Spokane in June
2017 with a connecting
flight in Portland. She was
disabled with an ampu-
tated leg.
At the Portland airport,
while trying to get to her
connecting flight, she fell
down an escalator, result-
ing in significant injuries
that led to her death, ac-
cording to the lawsuit that
alleged the airline contrib-
uted to her injuries.
In a statement, the Se-
attle-based airline said:
“We’re disappointed in the
ruling and are evaluating
next steps. There is no
more important responsi-
bility than the safety and
wellbeing of our guests,
whether they’re in our
care or the care of a ven-
dor.”
U.S. consumer
confidence rises
U.S. consumer confi-
dence rose again in Feb-
ruary as an accelerating
COVID-19 vaccine push
provides hope for Amer-
icans who have lived
through a year of unprec-
edented restrictions.
The Conference Board
reported Tuesday that its
consumer confidence in-
dex rose to 91.3, up from
88.9 in January.
Despite the improved
vaccination rollout, con-
sumers are more optimis-
tic about current condi-
tions than they are about
the near future. The pres-
ent situation index, which
is based on consumers’
assessment of current
business and labor mar-
ket conditions, rose to 92
from 85.5 last month.
But the expectations
index — based on con-
sumers’ near-term out-
look for income, business,
and labor conditions —
ticked down slightly to
90.8 this month from 91.2
in January.
— Bulletin wire reports
Riff Cold Brewed
COVID brings changes
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin photos
Paul Evers, Riff Cold Brewed CEO and co-founder, displays some of the company’s products at the production facility in Redmond on Monday.
Riff leaves Bend taproom; Stoller Wines moves in
BY SUZANNE ROIG • The Bulletin
O
Riff Cold Brewed employee Deb Sindayen processes coffee at the production facility
in Redmond on Monday.
Hawaii affordable
housing guidelines
could include
$1 million homes
ne of the main reasons Riff Cold Brewed had a tap-
room was to develop new flavors and new products
and solicit customer feedback in a real-time setting.
Doing hands-on research and development requires
a volume of customers that hasn’t been achievable in the middle
of a pandemic where businesses are restricted on the number of
customers they can serve indoors. The forced closures and so-
cial-distancing requirements imposed to control the spread of
the COVID-19 virus proved to be too much to keep open the
cold brew taproom in The Box Factory on NW Arizona Avenue.
Beginning Feb. 12, Stoller Wines took over Riff’s space and the
remaining three years on the lease. Riff will continue production
and distribution direct to consumers and in grocery stores.
“We decided that the taproom wasn’t serving the brand, and
we decided to get out of the lease because it was too much time
and energy to run to keep in the guidance,” said Paul Evers,
co-founder of Riff Cold Brewed, formerly of TBD Agency and
Crux Fermentation Project. “Our forecast at the start of 2020
was continued growth and then COVID hit. That has led to sig-
nificant ongoing challenges.”
See Riff / A12
Drug executives
Court arguments
heard over
Eastern Oregon
transmission line
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HONOLULU — Affordable hous-
ing guidelines set by a Hawaii state
agency could rate two-bedroom
homes costing $1 million as afford-
able for some households eligible
for government-subsidized housing.
The guidelines established by the
Hawaii Housing Finance and Devel-
opment Corp. were aimed at help-
ing developers produce affordable
housing, the Honolulu Star-Adver-
tiser reported.
There is little likelihood devel-
opers could produce and sell $1
million homes to satisfy an afford-
able-housing condition under state
and county requirements typically
tied to projects receiving zoning
changes, development bonuses and
fee waivers.
“These formulas get to be so
crazy that they get to be above mar-
ket price,” said Kenna StormoGip-
son, an analyst with the Hawaii
Budget and Policy Center. “Their
guidelines clearly need revamping.”
Household income, family size
and interest rates are primarily used
to compile annual housing afford-
ability tables.
See Hawaii / A12
BY MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
By the end of March, Pfizer and
Moderna expect to have provided the
U.S. government with a total of 220
million vaccine doses, up sharply from
the roughly 75 million shipped so far.
“We do believe we’re on track,”
Moderna President Stephen Hoge
said, outlining ways the company has
ramped up production. “We think
we’re at a very good spot.”
Opponents of a 300-mile transmis-
sion line in Eastern Oregon claim the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s
approval of the route across its prop-
erty violated federal laws.
The Stop B2H Coalition — which
is challenging the high-voltage power
line between Boardman and the
Hemingway substation in Idaho — is
asking a federal judge to overturn the
BLM’s permission for the project.
Among the transmission line’s crit-
ics, the agriculture industry has raised
concerns about the project taking
prime farmland out of production
and impeding farm practices.
The agency didn’t comply with the
National Environmental Policy Act
by selecting a preferred route and a
variant in 2017 that were different
than what it had analyzed in a draft
environmental study, according to the
coalition.
The newly chosen route is prob-
lematic because it’s only a half-mile
from La Grande, runs across an in-
tact portion of the Oregon Trail, and
passes near ecologically sensitive ar-
eas, critics say.
See Vaccines / A12
See Line / A12
John Locher/AP file
Certified medical assistants prepare doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at
a vaccination center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in Las Vegas on Jan 22.
Big jump in vaccine
supply is coming soon
BY MATTHEW PERRONE
AND LAURAN NEERGAARD
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — COVID-19
vaccine makers told Congress on
Tuesday to expect a big jump in the
delivery of doses over the coming
month, and the companies insist they
will be able to provide enough for
most Americans to get inoculated by
summer.