A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
BRIEFING
Laika studio plans
live-action film
Laika, the Hillsboro
animation studio owned
by Nike co-founder Phil
Knight, plans to make its
first live-action film.
Laika said Wednesday
it has acquired the rights
to “Seventeen,” the forth-
coming debut novel from
screenwriter John Brown-
low, and wants to turn it
into a live-action film.
The Oregon studio
has made five animated
movies, most recently the
comedy “Missing Link,”
which won a Golden
Globe for best animated
film. All five of Laika’s
films have been Oscar
nominees for best ani-
mated feature.
Laika didn’t say why it
wants to make a live-ac-
tion movie, but studio
CEO Travis Knight — Phil
Knight’s son — directed
“Bumblebee,” the latest
installment in the Trans-
formers franchise. That
wasn’t a Laika film; it may
be that Knight wants to
line up another movie for
himself or that he wants
to expand his studio’s
breadth.
The company laid off
56 employees last sum-
mer, blaming the corona-
virus pandemic for limit-
ing the number of people
that can work inside its
studio.
bendbulletin.com/business
State grants will cover missed
rent for over 2,600 businesses
BY JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
Oregon plans to pay the
outstanding rent of more
than 2,600 businesses and
then offer another round
of aid to businesses in need
next month.
Business Oregon, the
state’s economic develop-
ment agency, will distribute
nearly $50 million on April
12 to cover the missed rent of
a combined 2,609 commer-
cial tenants across the state,
according to spokesperson
Nathan Buehler. That’s pend-
ing the receipt and approval
of final documentation from
those tenants and landlords.
The grants will be paid di-
rectly to landlords to bring
their tenants current on rent
by covering outstanding rent
those tenants accumulated
from March 1, 2020, to Feb.
28, 2021.
The state offered grants of
up to $100,000 per tenant,
but the average grant request
was $19,159.
Eighty-four landlords
who applied for grants, 54
of whom are in the Port-
land area, indicated that they
had individual tenants who
owed more than $100,000
in missed rent, according to
Buehler.
See Rent / A12
Next generation of
spaceship readies
for flight testing
Amazon to bring
workers back
Amazon plans to have
its employees return to
the office by fall as the
tech giant transitions
away from the remote
work it implemented for
many workers due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
The company had
previously given its re-
turn-to-office date as
June 30, but questions re-
mained as to whether the
company would allow
some of its 60,000 Seat-
tle-area office employees
to continue working from
home part time.
The Seattle Times re-
ports the company told
employees Tuesday it is
planning a “return to an
office-centric culture as
our baseline.”
Home contract
signings tumble
The number of Amer-
icans who signed con-
tracts to buy homes last
month fell by the most
since last year’s virus out-
break sent the economy
into freefall.
The National Associa-
tion of Realtors’ index of
pending home sales tum-
bled 10.6% to 110.3 in
February, its lowest level
since May of last year.
Contract signings are
now 0.5% behind where
they were last year. Con-
tract signings are consid-
ered a barometer of pur-
chases that will take place
in the next two months.
Earlier this month, the
Commerce Department
reported that home con-
struction fell sharply,
slipping 10.3% in Febru-
ary due to severe winter
weather in much of the
country. Applications for
new building permits,
considered a good indi-
cation of future activity,
fell for the first time since
October.
Even though interest
rates have ticked up re-
cently, economists have
been optimistic that
housing will bounce back
in coming months. Rising
demand has been fueled
by Americans who have
been cooped up as the
coronavirus pandemic
drags on past the one-
year mark.
— Bulletin wire reports
Virgin Galactic
The VSS Imagine is the first SpaceShip III in the Virgin Galactic fleet. Virgin Galactic rolled out this newest spaceship Tuesday.
BY SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN • The Associated Press
V
irgin Galactic rolled out its newest spaceship Tuesday as the
company looks to resume test flights in the coming months at
its headquarters in the New Mexico desert.
Company officials said it will likely
be summer before the ship — de-
signed and manufactured in Califor-
nia — undergoes glide flight testing at
Spaceport America in southern New
Mexico. That will coincide with the
final round of testing for the current
generation of spacecraft, which will be
the one that takes British billionaire
and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Rich-
ard Branson to the fringes of space
later this year.
CEO Michael Colglazier said the
addition of the new ship marks the
beginning of Virgin Galactic having
a fleet that will one day be capable of
ferrying paying customers and scien-
tific payloads from spaceports around
the globe. The company is still aiming
for commercial operations to begin
next year following testing and a few
months of downtime for maintenance
and other upgrades.
Virgin Galactic has reached space
twice before — the first time from
California in December 2018. The
company marked its second successful
glide flight over Spaceport America
last June.
Virgin Galactic is one of a few com-
panies looking to cash in on custom-
ers with an interest in space. Jeff Bezos’
Blue Origin launched a new capsule in
January as part of test as it aims to get
its program for tourists, scientists and
professional astronauts off the ground.
The mirror-like finish on Virgin
Galactic’s new ship is as much about
aesthetics as it is about function. A key
part of the ship’s thermal protection
system, Colglazier said it also was cho-
sen so the craft could take on the look
and feel of its surroundings — whether
it’s on Earth, in the sky or in space.
The other task of the engineers was
to create a new version that would be
easier to manufacture and to maintain.
“Obviously for us to take tens of
thousands of people to space, we need
a number of ships. But it really mat-
ters then how often can each of these
ships fly,” Colglazier said. “We expect
as we get going on this to see a much
quicker turnaround time and that re-
ally will help us grow the business.”
First, Virgin Galactic needs regula-
tory approval for the current genera-
tion and that means successful rock-
et-powered test flights.
The first powered test from Space-
port America was scheduled for De-
cember but computer trouble prevented
the spaceship’s rocket from firing prop-
erly. The ship and its two pilots were
forced to make an immediate landing.
The delay didn’t help stock prices.
Colglazier said while it’s important
to put points on the board and meet
market expectations, the company’s
focus is on safety at each step and the
decades ahead.
“I think this is moving as we want it
to move. It is stepwise — that is what
we want to do with human spaceflight,”
he said, “but you can also see the mon-
ument building. We’re excited for this
unveiling today and we’re excited for
May and we’re excited for the summer
to come.”
Billion-dollar record in cannabis sales
brings interest from Salem for a slice
BY ZANE SPARLING
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon recreational mar-
ijuana sales have climbed to
record highs, but some say
the industry’s woes also have
reached an apex. The difficul-
ties range from an unfavorable
federal tax code to a danger-
ous crime wave, wildfires and
cities and counties hungry for
a larger slice of the tax pie.
“Businesses are still strug-
gling,” says Kim Lundin, ex-
ecutive director of the Oregon
Cannabis Association. “High
sales don’t transfer to overall
industry success.”
But the marijuana mile-
stone — $1.1 billion in sales
in 2020, blowing past the
$795 million benchmark set
in 2019 — has started a battle
for cash at the state Capitol re-
gardless.
Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane,
has advanced legislation that
would allow cities and coun-
ties to bump their marijuana
sales tax from 3% to as much
as 10%. Another proposal au-
thored by Rep. Lily Morgan,
R-Grants Pass, would create
an internal wholesale tax on
any marijuana transported
across county lines.
The temptation to backfill
shrinking local budgets with
cannabis dollars is worrisome,
according to industry boosters.
“If you look at it holistically,”
said cannabis economist Beau
Whitney, “I think the Oregon
market is under duress.”
Tax fight
The new tax fight is largely
in response to Measure 110,
the voter-approved initiative
from last year that reallo-
cates a large share of pot rev-
enue away from schools, state
troopers and local govern-
ments in order to fund drug
treatment addiction services.
See Cannabis / A12
Paid taxes
on jobless
benefits?
Refiling is
not needed
BY JAMIE GOLDBERG
The Oregonian
Oregonians who paid taxes
on unemployment benefits do
not need to file amended re-
turns.
The state of Oregon and In-
ternal Revenue Service will
automatically adjust the tax
returns of individuals and fam-
ilies who filed their 2020 re-
turns before the passage of the
federal government’s most re-
cent coronavirus relief bill and
are now owed refunds from in-
come taxes they paid on jobless
benefits.
The American Rescue Plan,
which was signed into law on
March 11, allows taxpayers to
exclude up to $10,200 in un-
employment benefits from
their 2020 taxable income if
they have a modified adjusted
gross household income of less
than $150,000. For married
couples, each spouse is exempt
from paying income taxes on
the first $10,200 they received
in unemployment benefits.
The bill created the new tax
break at the federal level, and
Oregon is adopting the federal
standard.
The change is expected to
affect thousands of Oregonians
who already filed their federal
and state tax returns before the
relief bill went into effect.
The Oregon Department of
Revenue said last week that it
was still working out the details
of how it would process the cor-
rections but expected to start
adjusting returns this week.
The department recom-
mends that Oregonians who
have yet to file their taxes re-
view guidance from the IRS on
the new tax break. The dead-
line for filing 2020 income tax
returns has been extended by
both the IRS and the state of
Oregon until May 17.
Pfizer says
its vaccine
protects
younger
teens, too
BY LAURAN NEERGAARD AND
MATTHEW PERRONE
The Associated Press
Pfizer announced Wednes-
day that its COVID-19 vaccine
is safe and strongly protective
in kids as young as 12, a step to-
ward possibly beginning shots
in this age group before they
head back to school in the fall.
Most COVID-19 vaccines
being rolled out worldwide are
for adults, who are at higher
risk from the coronavirus. Pfiz-
er’s vaccine is authorized for
ages 16 and older. But vacci-
nating children of all ages will
be critical to stopping the pan-
demic — and helping schools,
at least the upper grades, start
to look a little more normal af-
ter months of disruption.
In the vaccine study of 2,260
U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15,
preliminary data showed there
were no cases of COVID-19
among fully vaccinated adoles-
cents compared to 18 among
those given dummy shots .
It’s a small study, that hasn’t
yet been published, so another
important piece of evidence is
how well the shots revved up
the kids’ immune systems.
See Teens / A12