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B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021
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BRIEFING
USDA walks back
ear tag mandate
The U.S. Department
of Agriculture announced
on Wednesday it is pull-
ing back on mandating
the use of radio fre-
quency identification ear
tags on cattle and bison
in interstate commerce.
It will instead use the
rulemaking process for
any future action related
to the proposal.
The agency’s decision
is a win for R-CALF USA,
which filed suit against
USDA over the agency’s
first attempt to mandate
the use of RFID ear tags
with an April 2019 notice.
Represented by the
New Civil Liberties Alli-
ance, R-CALF alleged the
mandate violates current
traceability regulations
that allow other forms of
identification.
“Today’s announce-
ment is good news for
cattle producers, as it
means the impend-
ing threat of a costly
RFID mandate is now
removed,” Bill Bullard,
R-CALF’s CEO, said in a
statement.
Until the agency takes
further action, cattle and
bison producers can con-
tinue to use metal or plas-
tic ear tags, brands, tattoos,
group/lot identification
and backtags authorized
under current law.
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NTSB seeks tighter
safety oversight
Federal safety officials
are making another push
for stricter oversight of air
tour operators and hot-air
balloon rides after several
deadly crashes in recent
years.
The National Transpor-
tation Safety Board on
Tuesday asked the Federal
Aviation Administration to
raise safety requirements
for the passenger-carry-
ing operations, which fall
under less restrictive regu-
lations than airlines do for
things such as pilot train-
ing and maintenance.
Some airplane and
helicopter tours oper-
ate under rules for “gen-
eral aviation,” a category
that mostly covers pri-
vate planes not used to
carry paying passengers.
Safety board members
said some of the opera-
tors exploit loopholes in
FAA regulations to avoid
stricter oversight.
— Bulletin wire reports
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Oregon bill would help movie theaters
BY KEVIN HARDEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
Movie theater owners across
the state who have spent a
tense year watching their rev-
enue drop to nearly zero hope
new legislation offers financial
relief.
A bill introduced March
16 by state Rep. Rob Nosse,
a Portland Democrat, would
fund state grants for movie
theaters hard-hit by the
COVID-19 pandemic shut-
down. House Bill 3376 pro-
vides the Oregon Business
Development Department
$8.7 million to create a grant
program for indoor movie the-
aters. Grants could be $50,000
per movie theater, plus $10,000
for each screen, if theaters have
more than two screens.
The House Committee on
Economic Recovery and Pros-
perity was scheduled to take up
the bill during an online pub-
lic hearing and work session
Thursday morning . The hear-
ing begins at 8 a.m. It can be
streamed at olis.oregonlegisla-
ture.gov/liz/2021R1/Commit-
tees/HERP/Overview.
Movie theaters in counties
with lower COVID-19 risks
can reopen with 50% capacity.
Most also can sell concessions
under updated state guidelines.
Members of the Pacific
Northwest Theatre Owners
Association approached Nosse
in the past few months about
providing some state financial
help. A handful of other states
and cities have provided sim-
ilar grant programs to theater
owners.
Nosse’s bill could give grants
to all theaters in the state, in-
cluding large chains like Cine-
mark and Regal. Nosse said the
bill could be amended to “just
focus on theaters that are small
and primarily locally owned.”
See Theaters / A12
Intel to build
new factories,
in wager on
manufacturing
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Manufactured
goods see slump
Orders to U.S. factories
for big-ticket manufac-
tured goods slumped
1.1% in February with de-
mand in a key sector that
tracks business invest-
ment also dropping.
Orders had been ris-
ing for nine consecutive
months, including a siz-
able 3.5% jump in Jan-
uary, according to the
Commerce Department.
The size of the drop
surprised economists,
though it is likely that
there was significant dis-
ruption from severe win-
ter storms that hit much
of the country last month,
on top of ongoing sup-
ply-chain problems.
The category that cov-
ers business investment
dropped 0.8% in February .
The transportation
sector fell 1.6% with de-
mand for commercial air-
craft, a sector plagued by
the huge drop in air travel
during the pandemic,
shooting up 103%. Con-
tributing was belea-
guered manufacturer
Boeing, which for the
first time since Decem-
ber 2019 booked positive
net orders. But orders
for autos and auto parts
slumped 8.7% .
CRUDE OIL
$61.18 +3.42
Caleb Jones/AP file
A man sits on a nearly empty Waikiki Beach in Honolulu in October. Tourists are traveling to Hawaii in
larger numbers than officials anticipated, and many are wandering around Waikiki without masks, despite
a statewide mandate to wear them in public.
Hawaii’s
dilemma:
Tourists bring much-needed money —
along with their own rules for masks
The Associated Press
HONOLULU — Tourists are traveling to Hawaii in
larger numbers than officials anticipated, and many are
wandering around Waikiki without masks, despite a
statewide mandate to wear them in public.
Hawaii’s “Safe Travels” program reported that about
28,000 people flew into and throughout the islands on
Saturday, the highest number of travelers in a single
day since the pandemic began, the Honolulu Star-
Advertiser reported Monday.
Before the pandemic, Ha-
waii had about 30,000 arrivals
daily. When quarantine rules
were put in place early in the
pandemic, arrivals plummeted
and the state’s tourism-depen-
dent economy tanked.
In October, state officials
launched a pre-travel testing
program that allowed visitors
to sidestep quarantine rules.
But travel remained slug-
gish until the second week
in March, when spring break
tourists started arriving in the
islands.
Travel company Pleasant
Holidays president and CEO
Jack Richards told the Hono-
lulu Star-Advertiser that the
agency’s bookings increased
30% over the last two weeks.
“We haven’t seen travel de-
mand for Hawaii this strong
for over a year,” Richards
said. “I thought we would
have a U-shaped recovery; it’s
V-shaped. January and Feb-
ruary were terrible, but we’ve
gone from zero to 150 mph in
two weeks.”
Hawaii News Now reported
that officials are receiving com-
plaints about visitors not wear-
ing masks. With a few excep-
tions, people in Hawaii are still
required to wear masks while
in public.
“I’m a believer that if you’re
outdoors, you can remove it,”
said Glenn Day, a visitor from
Indiana.
Visitors said rules in their
home states are different than
those in place in Hawaii.
“We carry our masks
around, and if we walk into an
establishment we’ll wear one,
and if people look like they’re
uncomfortable with us around,
we’ll put one on. But other-
wise, like I said where we come
from, people are really not re-
quired to wear them,” Wiscon-
sin visitor Larry Dopke said.
“I’m not wearing one right
now. I’m outdoors,” said Todd
Hasley who was visiting from
Idaho. “Boise city has an in-
door mask mandate. The rest
of the state has a mask recom-
mendation.”
Some lawmakers expressed
concern about a possible back-
lash from residents.
“I think we’re all going to
have to be prepared for a po-
tential surge in tourism,” said
Hawaii state Rep. Scott Saiki, a
Democrat. “I think we have to
be prepared because the public
may have a response to a sud-
den surge.”
Such a reaction could hinder
economic recovery.
See Hawaii / A12
When new Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger joined
the company during the winter, the chipmaker
was under growing pressure to give up on its
beleaguered manufacturing arm and outsource
advanced production to contract manufacturers
overseas.
A month into the job, though, Gelsinger said
Tuesday he is taking Intel in the opposite direction.
The chipmaker will spend $20 billion to build two
new factories in Arizona and will announce more
later this year. Instead of outsourcing advanced
production, Gelsinger said Intel wants to become a
leading contract manufacturer itself.
Even as he outlined a bold — and expensive
— new strategy, Gelsinger warned that Intel’s
revenue will be down sharply this year. He fore-
cast revenue of $72 billion, down 7.5% from
2020, due to shortages of key components.
Investors looked past that disappointing near-
term outlook in favor of Gelsinger’s long-term
ambitions. Shares jumped more than 7%, top-
ping $68, while he spoke.
“Intel is back,” Gelsinger said. “The old Intel is
now the new Intel as we look toward the future.”
Gelsinger said that Intel had been too timid in
exploiting a new manufacturing technology, ex-
treme ultraviolet lithography for its 7nm chips.
Intel has now embraced EUV, he said, and is
back on track with those new production tools.
See Intel / A12
Slower mail and
fewer office hours
are part of Postal
Service plans
BY ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
Associated Press
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday
announced plans to slow mail delivery standards
and cut hours at some post offices as part of a 10-
year strategy to stabilize the struggling agency.
Details of the long-awaited plan come at a time
of intense scrutiny on the U.S. Postal Service over
persistent delivery delays under DeJoy, a major
GOP donor who took over the agency last sum-
mer. The plan also includes a proposal to consol-
idate underused post offices, hinted at a potential
postage rate increase and detailed investments in
new delivery vehicles, among other things.
Facing an expected $160 billion in losses over
the next decade, DeJoy and postal executives
stressed the need to cut costs and modernize the
agency’s operations as its workload increasingly
shifts from handling letters to hauling more and
more packages.
“This is about the long-term viability of the
organization under the two missions that we
have that are legislated, that is deliver to every
house six days a week and be self-sustaining,”
DeJoy said. He announced the plans at a webinar
with other postal service officials.
DeJoy said the biggest change would be a re-
laxing of the current first-class letter delivery
standard of one-to-three-days to a one-to-five-
day benchmark. Postal leadership said the lon-
ger timeframe would apply only to mail going to
the farthest reaches of its network and that 70%
of first-class mail will still be delivered within a
three-day standard.
Democrats immediately criticized the plan.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it would under-
mine the mission of the agency. Sen. Gary Peters,
chairman of the Homeland Security and Govern-
mental Affairs Committee, warned it could harm
service for people who get prescription drugs and
financial documents through the mail.
See Mail / A12