A7
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2021
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DOW
32,862.30 -153.07
BRIEFING
Summit Medical
changes its name
Summit Medical
Group has changed its
name to Summit Health.
The name change
is part of a rebranding
effort that comes at a
time when health care
attempts to be more
streamlined and more
patient-centric, accord-
ing to the company.
As a group, Summit
Health in Central Oregon
is a multispecialty physi-
cian group with 130 pro-
viders in primary care,
urgent care and more
than 30 medical special-
ties and services.
Summit Medical
Group was formed
through a partnership
between Bend Memo-
rial Clinic and Summit
Health Management in
2018.
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Precision Castparts loses labor ruling
Warren Buffet firm has
a plant in Redmond
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Precision Castparts welders
won a victory before a federal
appeals court this week, poten-
tially clearing the way for them
to organize — more than three
years after the Oregon workers
voted to unionize.
The Portland company re-
fused to bargain with the 100
welders and challenged their or-
ganizing effort, arguing that their
work was too closely integrated
with the rest of the company to
constitute a distinct union.
The National Labor Rela-
tions Board disagreed, finding
that Precision Castparts had
committed an unfair labor
practice. Precision Castparts
challenged that decision in
court, losing its case Tuesday
before the U.S. Court of Ap-
peals in Washington, D.C.
The union, the International
Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers, said
Thursday that with the appeals
court’s ruling in hand it will
send a demand letter to the
company and hopes to begin
negotiating a contract.
“It’s been a long battle for
these guys,” said Billy Ander-
son, an organizer for the na-
tional union. “Hopefully, we
can move forward and they
can respect the wishes of the
welders out there.”
See Castparts / A8
New pho restaurant
opens in Pendleton
Portland firm
raises $20 million
Act-On Software said
Thursday it has raised
$20 million, the Portland
marketing technology
company’s first new cap-
ital since 2014.
Act-On’s technology
helps online marketers
tailor their messages
and efforts to specific
market segments. The
company employs 155,
125 of them in Portland.
Thursday’s funding,
a mix of debt and new
investment, comes from
prior investors, com-
pany founder Raghu
Raghavan and a new
investor, Beedie Capital.
Act-On says it will use
the money to improve
its products and expand
its own marketing.
Founded in 2008,
Act-On has now raised
$82 million. Its last
round seven years ago
brought $42 million
amid an upswing in Or-
egon software entre-
preneurship. It was the
largest investment of its
kind the state had seen
in a decade.
U.S. jobless claims
rise to 770,000
The number of Ameri-
cans seeking unemploy-
ment benefits rose last
week to 770,000, a sign
that layoffs remain high
even as much of the U.S.
economy is steadily re-
covering from the coro-
navirus recession.
Thursday’s report
from the Labor Depart-
ment showed that job-
less claims climbed from
725,000 the week be-
fore. The numbers have
dropped sharply since
the depths of the reces-
sion last spring but still
show that employers
in some industries con-
tinue to lay off workers.
Before the pandemic
struck, applications for
unemployment aid had
never topped 700,000 in
any one week.
A total of 4.1 million
people are continuing to
collect traditional state
unemployment bene-
fits, down 18,000 from
the previous week. In-
cluding separate federal
programs that are in-
tended to help workers
displaced by the health
crisis, 18.2 million Amer-
icans were receiving
some form of jobless aid
in the week of Feb. 27,
down by 1.9 million from
the week before.
— Bulletin staff
and wire reports
Lam Ha adds broth to a pho dish while pre-
paring orders at his restaurant, Haven Pho, in
Pendleton on March 4. Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
BY BEN LONERGAN
East Oregonian
P
ENDLETON — When a sandwich shop
went out of business last year, Lam Ha
saw the space as the perfect location for
a restaurant dream more than a decade in the
making.
Ha’s dream came true earlier this month
when he opened Haven Pho, a Vietnamese
restaurant in Pendleton.
“I planned this like 10 years ago,” he said.
Ha, who came to the United States from
Vietnam roughly 20 years ago, developed a
love for restaurants while working at his sister’s
Vietnamese restaurant in Arlington, Texas, and
set out on a journey to own one of his own.
Despite his interest in restaurants, Ha has
owned and operated nail salons since he
moved to the region more than a decade ago,
and ran a nail shop in Walla Walla, Washing-
ton, before opening Pendleton Nails across the
parking lot from his new restaurant about a
decade ago.
When a location opened up near his nail
salon, Ha said he moved quickly to secure the
spot and began renovating the space in Sep-
tember . Ha chose to name the new restaurant
after his 5-year-old son, Haven.
“I looked for a spot, but some were too big
or too small,” he said. “Because this place is
close to the nail shop, I can go back and forth.”
Ha said he has wanted to open a Vietnam-
ese restaurant in Pendleton for the better part
of the last 10 years because he wanted to bring
Vietnamese food and culture to the people of
Pendleton.
“I want to open up Vietnamese food so the
local people can try different things,” he said.
Ha said when he first moved to town a lack
of Vietnamese food inspired him to want to
open a restaurant, and while Pendleton’s din-
ing options have diversified some since then,
Ha’s desire to run a restaurant never faded.
When putting together his menu, Ha said
he wanted to stick with what he considers
staples of Vietnamese cuisine — pho dishes,
steamed rice with pork or chicken, and egg
and salad rolls.
Since opening his restaurant, Ha said it has
stayed busy with dine-in and takeout orders.
The dining room was buzzing with people on
the evening of March 4, as customers ventured
in to try the new place to eat. One customer
joked with Ha that she had come by to get her
nails done while picking up a to-go order.
As customers filed through, Ha and his
staff worked diligently to fill orders as steam-
ing bowls of pho and egg rolls were carried to
tables.
“It’s been busy and tiring,” he said.
Ha said the restaurant is currently open
seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. for
takeout and dine-in service.
While business is steady, Ha said he has
had to remain optimistic amid the pandemic
and COVID-19 restrictions. With restaurants
across the country closing due to the pan-
demic, Ha said he keeps focusing on the end
of the pandemic to stay motivated.
“I think the pandemic is going to go away,”
he said. “Hopefully, everything is going to go
fine.”
Hot housing market fuels a Bill seeks to regulate
rise in homeowners’ equity kratom products
Mortgage equity gains
$26,300 on average
BY ALEX VEIGA
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The
red-hot U.S. housing market
is paying off for many home-
owners, even those who aren’t
looking to sell their homes.
On average, homes with
a mortgage gained $26,300
in equity in the last three
months of 2020 versus a year
earlier, according to real es-
tate information company
CoreLogic. That average gain
is the highest since 2013, the
firm said.
CoreLogic said homes
with a mortgage account for
about 62% of all U.S. prop-
erties. Taken together, the
home equity for those proper-
ties surged to more than $1.5
trillion, an increase of 16.2%
from a year earlier.
The surge in homeowners’
equity can potentially make a
positive impact on borrowers’
finances; for one thing, it cre-
ates a buffer against potential
financial hardship, such as job
loss. And homeowners could
opt to put some of the gains
to use, giving a boost to the
economy.
See Equity / A8
BY LIZZY ACKER
The Oregonian
A bill in the Oregon Legisla-
ture would create regulations,
including labeling and a min-
imum age requirement, for
products containing kratom.
Pronounced in various ways,
Kratom is the name of a tree
in the coffee family, found in
Southeast Asian countries such
as Indonesia and Thailand.
Traditionally, the leaves were
chewed or made into tea to
help people stay alert and pro-
ductive.
Some substances in kratom
work on the opioid receptors
in the brain.
In recent years, extracts
from kratom leaves have be-
come a popular herbal remedy,
which users say can help with
pain, fatigue or opioid with-
drawals.
See Kratom / A8