A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2021
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BRIEFING
Oregon Brewers
Festival canceled
The Oregon Brewers
Festival has been can-
celed for the second con-
secutive year because of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Art Larrance, who
founded the festival
in 1988, said the deci-
sion was made Monday
night to skip a second
year because, despite vi-
rus numbers dropping
and vaccines becoming
more available, there isn’t
enough time to get the
event organized. Port-
land’s signature gath-
ering of craft breweries
has grown to become
one of the largest on the
West Coast, attracting
over 50,000 attendees
annually.
“The brewers need
time to get their brews
lined up, and all the peo-
ple that help us need to
make their schedules,”
Larrance said. “You’ve
got to plan way out in
advance. You just don’t
go put one together in
one day.”
The festival had been
scheduled for July 28-31
at its venue for decades,
downtown’s Tom McCall
Waterfront Park along the
Willamette River.
Intel to pay $2.18B
after losing trial
Intel Corp. was told to
pay VLSI Technology LLC
$2.18 billion by a federal
jury in Texas after losing a
patent-infringement trial
over technology related
to chip-making, one of
the largest patent-dam-
ages award in U.S. history.
Intel infringed two
patents owned by closely
held VLSI, the jury in
Waco, Texas, said Tuesday.
The jury rejected Intel’s
denial of infringing either
of the patents and its ar-
gument that one patent
was invalid because it
claimed to cover work
done by Intel engineers.
The patents had been
owned by Dutch chip-
maker NXP Semiconduc-
tors Inc., which would
get a cut of any damage
award, Intel lawyer Wil-
liam Lee of WilmerHale
told jurors in closing ar-
guments Monday. VLSI,
founded four years ago,
has no products and its
only potential revenue is
this lawsuit, he said.
“Intel strongly dis-
agrees with today’s jury
verdict,” the company
said in a statement. “We
intend to appeal and are
confident that we will
prevail.”
Hackers in China
target Microsoft
China-based gov-
ernment hackers have
exploited a bug in Mic-
rosoft’s email server soft-
ware to target U.S. organi-
zations, the company said
Tuesday.
Microsoft said that a
“highly skilled and so-
phisticated” state-spon-
sored group operating
from China has been
trying to steal informa-
tion from a number of
American targets, includ-
ing universities, defense
contractors, law firms
and infectious-disease re-
searchers.
Microsoft said it has re-
leased security upgrades
to fix the vulnerabilities to
its Exchange Server soft-
ware, which is used for
work email and calendar
services, mostly for larger
organizations that have
their own in-person email
servers. It doesn’t affect
personal email accounts
or Microsoft’s cloud-
based services.
— Bulletin wire report
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BEST-PERFORMING CITIES REPORT
Bend falls from No. 1 spot to No. 13
BY MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
When it comes to economic
growth, jobs, wages and tech-
nological innovation, Bend
has lost some of its competitive
edge against other small-sized
cities.
That’s the conclusion of the
Milken Institute, which re-
cently published its Best-Per-
forming Cities 2021 report
analyzing the economic per-
formance of hundreds of cities
across the country.
Bend slipped in the report
from a No. 1 rank a year ago in
the category of Tier 1 small cit-
ies to a rank of 13.
The Best Performing Cities
Index uses an outcomes-based
set of metrics that includes job
creation, output growth and
wage gains, especially in high-
tech sectors, to evaluate the
performance of metro areas in
the United States.
Cities in the index don’t
have to be near Silicon Valley
to get a good rank; listed cities
are found across the country.
Ranking first in Tier 1 small
cities this year was Idaho Falls,
Idaho. The city ranked partic-
ularly high in short-term job
growth, which reached 4.7%,
the highest among cities of
similar size. Idaho Falls also
ranked high in natural ame-
nities, safety and a low cost of
living.
In its tier and city size, Bend
scored well in the five-year in-
dicators of jobs , third; wages ,
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Wave energy
testing project
moves forward
Operations and storage
Research vessel
Wave devices
under test
Devices will be 6
nautical miles from
shore (6.9 miles)
Cables bring
power to shore
and connect
to utilities
Electrical
and
controls
Visitor’s
center
Buried cable
back to shore
Sub sea pod
Research device
Via OSU
This illustration shows the layout and approximate location of the project to test the feasibility of generating energy from ocean waves.
The Associated Press
“It’s huge. It’s the
first license of its
type to be issued
in the United
States.”
— Burke Hales, chief scientist
of the Oregon State University
PacWave South project
PORTLAND —
ederal energy regulators
have given Oregon State
University initial ap-
proval for a groundbreaking
wave energy testing facility off
the coast.
The PacWave South proj-
ect is designed to facilitate
and accelerate the develop-
ment of wave energy tech-
nology, which harnesses
the motion of the ocean to
generate electricity, Ore-
F
gon Public Broadcasting re-
ported.
Oregon is considered to
have a high potential for wave
energy generation — higher
by coastal area than Washing-
ton or California.
The Federal Energy Reg-
ulatory Commission issued
a license to the project on
Monday, but another review
period must pass before OSU
gets final approval.
See Energy / A12
second; and GDP growth ,
fifth.
But Bend fell in one-year
high-tech GDP growth —
158th in 2021 compared to 10th
last year — and short-term job
growth — 145th in 2021 vs.
16th last year. Bend also lost
ground in high-tech GDP con-
centration, from fifth to 31st.
See Bend / A12
Pendleton
restaurants
happy to see
loosened
restrictions
BY BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Ever since
local businesses shut down in the
state-mandated freeze in Novem-
ber, Rodney Burt, the co-owner of
OMG Burgers & Brew in Pendle-
ton, estimates that heating his out-
door seating area has cost about
$40 in propane each day. That’s
about $1,200 each month.
“You’re not raising any prices,
cutting any labor,” he said. “It’s just
another thing right out of your
pocket.”
Burt, who runs the restaurant
with his wife, Kimberly, said that
he had to lay off eight of his 20
employees when the freeze began.
It was the second time during the
pandemic he had to do so.
“It’s hard because they’re part of
your family, and you know they’re
struggling too,” he said, adding
that several of the employees laid
off in March 2020 didn’t receive
their unemployment relief checks
until August. “But you do what
you gotta do so you can keep it
going.”
Last week, when Umatilla
County was lowered from Gov.
Kate Brown’s extreme risk category
to high risk, allowing indoor din-
ing at limited capacity, Burt was
able to rehire his employees and
prepare for a weekend he said was
sure to be packed with eager cus-
tomers, who immediately came
calling as restaurants throughout
downtown Pendleton reopened on
Friday .
“Hopefully, things will stay open,
just like they were a year and a half
ago — summer of 2019,” he said.
“Rockin’ and rollin’, making lots of
money, all the staff’s making lots of
money. Everybody will be happy.
It’s going to be like that, I hope.”
Community support
Some Pendleton businesses said
they were able to get by steadily
throughout the most recent three-
month lockdown due to a steady
stream of takeout orders, finan-
cial support from groups like the
chamber of commerce, and the
support and encouragement in
the tight-knit community of Main
Street businesses.
See Pendleton / A12
Rent relief program to open
for Oregon small businesses
BY JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
Oregon small-business own-
ers who have struggled to pay
their rent during the corona-
virus pandemic can apply for
help from the state beginning
Monday .
Small-business owners with
100 or fewer employees will
be able to apply together with
their landlords for money to
cover outstanding rent through
the state’s new $100 million
commercial rent relief pro-
gram.
Landlords must complete
the initial application, but both
the businesses and property
owners need to participate in
the application process and
sign the grant agreement in or-
der to qualify for funding.
Business Oregon, the state’s
economic development agency,
is administering the program.
It will award grants of up to
$100,000 per business tenant
for a maximum of $3 million
going to each landlord.
The grants must bring the
business owners current on
their rent payments. Landlords
will also be required to sign an
agreement forgiving any out-
standing penalties or interest
and ensuring that their tenants
won’t be evicted.
See Rent / A12
A sign
shows
guidelines
for shop-
pers May
18. Small
businesses
that have
struggled
with rent
under Or-
egon lock-
downs will
soon be
able to ap-
ply for as-
sistance.
Carl Juste/
Miami Herald
file