A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
BRIEFING
IRS delays tax
filing due date
Americans will be get-
ting extra time to prepare
their taxes. The Internal
Revenue Service says it’s
delaying the traditional
tax filing deadline from
April 15 until May 17.
The IRS announced
the decision Wednesday
and said it would provide
further guidance in the
coming days. The move
provides more breathing
room for taxpayers and
the IRS alike to cope with
changes brought on by
the pandemic.
The decision post-
pones when individual
taxpayers must file their
return and when their
payment is due. The IRS
said taxpayers who owe
money would not face
any further penalties or
interest if they pay by May
17. The new deadline also
applies to individuals who
pay self-employment tax.
bendbulletin.com/business
Oregon says it will pay expanded
jobless benefits ‘without delay’
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
The Oregon Employment
Department said Wednesday
that most people receiving ex-
panded benefits through the
new coronavirus relief pack-
age won’t experience any de-
lay in payments as those pro-
grams kick in.
Payments will continue
“without delay for most peo-
ple,” said David Gerstenfeld,
the department’s acting direc-
tor. That includes most con-
tract workers receiving ben-
efits through the Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance
program and extended ben-
efits through the Pandemic
Emergency Unemployment
Compensation program.
However, Gerstenfeld
warned that some people who
had used up all their benefits
under those programs be-
fore Congress extended them
last week may have payments
interrupted while the em-
ployment department adapts
its computers to the federal
changes.
“It will take some additional
time there,” Gerstenfeld said
Wednesday on his weekly me-
dia call.
Oregon has paid $8.1 bil-
lion in jobless benefits since
the coronavirus pandemic be-
gan a year ago, though many
unemployed people have had
to wait weeks or months for
their money.
See Jobless / A12
PROGRESS SET IN MOTION
Pacific Power tries
lower-rate option
Pacific Power is launch-
ing a pilot program to the
first 25,000 customers to
lower their bills by shift-
ing use to off-peak times
for residential, commer-
cial and irrigation cus-
tomers in Oregon.
Serving Bend, Red-
mond, Madras and
Prineville, Pacific Power’s
Time of Use plan gives
customers control over
the price for energy de-
pending on the time of
use. Peak times of power
use, according to the
company, are from 5 p.m.
to 9 p.m.
The program allows
the power company to
manage the power grid
more efficiently and
make better use of low-
cost renewable power.
Customers have to sign
up for the program and
can access online us-
age tracking tools at
pacificpower.net/insights
to see energy use.
For more information
go to pacificpower.net/
tou or call 888-221-7070.
For the first year of enroll-
ment, Pacific Power will
guarantee that customers
don’t pay more than 10%
above what their bills
would have been under
standard rates.
Pacific Power provides
electric service to 90,000
customers in Central Ore-
gon and 770,000 custom-
ers in Oregon, Washing-
ton and California.
Home construction
tumbled 10.3%
Severe winter weather
in much of the country
pushed home construc-
tion down a sharp 10.3%
in February while appli-
cations for new construc-
tion fell by 10.8%.
The decline pushed
home and apartment
construction down to a
seasonally adjusted an-
nual rate of 1.42 million
units last month, com-
pared to a rate of 1.58
million units in January
when housing starts had
fallen 5.1%, the Com-
merce Department re-
ported Wednesday.
Economists are opti-
mistic that housing will
bounce back in coming
months, helped by ultra-
low mortgage rates and
rising demand by Amer-
icans who have been
cooped up for the past
year as the coronavirus
pandemic rages.
However, even with
the expected rebound,
the growth in housing
will likely slow from last
year’s sizzling pace given
a series of restraints from
a lack of building lots to
surging lumber prices.
— Bulletin wire reports
Business
owners ask
for more
time to pay
late rent
BY JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
The TeaScape Massage and
Teahouse in southeast Port-
land had been open just two
months last year when Oregon
ordered it and other massage
therapists to close in the early
days of the coronavirus out-
break.
Those restrictions eased a
couple months later, but only
about a third of TeaScape Mas-
sage’s clientele has returned.
That left the business with far
more in expenses than reve-
nue. Owner Miho Hatanaka
told Oregon lawmakers Tues-
day that her business is now
$25,000 behind on rent.
Oregon lawmakers allowed
the state’s moratorium on com-
mercial evictions to expire in
September but gave business
owners until the end of March
to repay their outstanding rent,
potentially preventing an on-
slaught of commercial evic-
tions over the last six months.
With that March 31 deadline
now looming, business owners
say they need more time.
See Rent / A12
Robots walk across the floor of the University of Michigan’s Ford Motor Co. Robotics Building on Friday in Ann Arbor.
Carlos Osorio/AP photos
Ford partners with University of Michigan on robotics research
BY COREY WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
ANN ARBOR, Mich. —
igit marches on two legs
across the floor of the
University of Michigan’s
Ford Motor Co. Robotics
Building, while Mini-Chee-
tah — staccato-like — does
the same on four and the yel-
low-legged Cassie steps delib-
erately side-to-side.
A grand opening was held
this week for the four-story,
$75 million, 134,000-square-
foot complex. Three floors
house classrooms and re-
search labs for robots that fly,
walk, roll and augment the
human body.
On the top floor are Ford
researchers and engineers and
the automaker’s first robotics
and mobility research lab on a
university campus.
Together, they will work to
develop robots and roboticists
that help make lives better,
keep people safer and build
a more equitable society, the
school and automaker an-
D
The four-story, $75 million, 134,000-square-foot complex has three
floors that house classrooms and research labs for robots that fly,
walk, roll and augment the human body.
nounced Tuesday.
“As we all drive and use
our vehicles and go about our
day-to-day lives, I’m sure all
of us have moments in our
day where we could use a little
help or a little assistance,” said
Ken Washington, Ford’s chief
technology officer.
“We are going to be work-
ing on drone technology,
walking robots, roving robots,
all types of robots in this facil-
ity and the ways in which they
can make people’s lives better,”
Washington added. “And we’ll
do it in a way that addresses
questions and fears around
safety and security. The more
people see how these robots
can interact with society and
interact with humans, the
more comfortable they’ll get
with them.”
The building on the uni-
versity’s Ann Arbor campus
brings together researchers
from 23 buildings and 10 pro-
grams into one space. Those
working on two-legged disas-
ter response robots can test
them on a 30-mph treadmill
studded with obstacles or on
a stair-stepped “robot play-
ground” designed with the
help of artificial intelligence.
Biomedical engineers are
looking at developing lighter,
more stable prosthetic legs.
Ford engineers are exploring
how upright Digit robots can
work in human spaces.
“We want them to be able
to operate in realistic situa-
tions. … You get out in the
real world where there’s roll-
ing, twigs,” said Jessy Grizzle,
the Robotics Institute director.
“There’s rocks. There’s boul-
ders. There’s holes that you
can’t see because the grass is
cut flat, and then you want
your robots to respond well
and stay upright just like a hu-
man would.”
See Robotics / A12
Melinda
Gates says
government,
philanthropy
need unity
BY GLENN GAMBOA
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Philan-
thropy is in a unique position
to speed global change, but
government action is necessary
to implement it, said Melinda
Gates, co-chair of the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Philanthropy can often
take risks,” said Gates, speak-
ing at the Bloomberg Equality
Summit. “They can try inno-
vations that sometimes work
and sometimes fail. They can
look for new solutions. They
can help us collect the data. But
ultimately, it’s always up to gov-
ernment to scale up these in-
novations to create a change.”
Gates, whose foundation
has donated more than $2
billion to fight the spread of
COVID-19, said the devel-
opment of the coronavirus
vaccines is a prime example
of how philanthropy and gov-
ernment policies can work to-
gether.
See Gates / A12
Oregon FFA officers reflect on year of chaotic tenure
BY GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Under normal circum-
stances, the 2020-21 Oregon
FFA state officer team would
have traveled thousands of
miles around the state last fall,
leading workshops and meet-
ing with fellow “blue jackets” at
more than 100 local chapters.
Of course, 2020 was far from
a normal year.
The coronavirus pandemic
forced high schools to adopt
remote learning, thwarting
in-person gatherings. For FFA
officers like Grace Adams and
Jenna Wallace, that meant
finding new ways to connect
with their peers.
“I think it was hard at first,”
Adams said. “We came to the
realization that our team was
going to have a unique expe-
rience that nobody else could
relate to.”
Adams, of Dayton, was
elected Oregon FFA president
during last year’s virtual state
convention in March, and Wal-
lace, of Hermiston, was elected
vice president. Nobody could
have predicted then just how
long the crisis would last, or
how disruptive it would be.
As the first day of the 2021
convention began Tuesday —
which was also streamed on-
Adams
Wallace
line — Adams and Wallace
reflected on their team’s un-
precedented tenure, how they
were able to adapt and ulti-
mately prevail through difficult
times.
“Instead, we thought more
of how can we make this bet-
ter? What can we do to move
onward?” Adams said. “I think
we’ve grown the most, because
we faced a lot of struggles.”
Rather than hitting the road
for their regular leadership
tour, the six-member Ore-
gon FFA state officer team
was forced to hunker down
for three months, living in the
dorms at Oregon State Uni-
versity in Corvallis. Every day,
they would arrive at Strand
Agriculture Hall on campus to
facilitate workshops with stu-
dents online via Zoom.
The challenge, Adams said,
was figuring out how to make
the presentations engaging and
interactive over a computer
screen. They made use of video
clips, chat features and break-
out rooms, encouraging mem-
bers who might already feel
burned out with online classes
to participate.
“Traditionally, in order to
get them engaged, you’d do
something hands-on or turn to
a partner. We couldn’t really do
that,” Adams said.
Adams joked the team has
now perfected the art of the
“awkward Zoom conversation.”
In addition to daily workshops,
the team also held four virtual
leadership camps for chapter
officers, with several hundred
students registered for each.
See FFA / A12