A5
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2021
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BRIEFING
FDA OK’s 2 changes
to Moderna vaccine
The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration has
authorized two changes
to Moderna’s COVID-19
vaccine that can provide
extra doses from each
vial.
The agency said late
Thursday it approved
new vials from Moderna
that can contain up to
15 doses each, com-
pared with the original
vials designed to hold
10 doses. Additionally,
regulators said providers
can safely extract up to
11 doses from the origi-
nal 10-dose vials. Those
changes will be added
to instructions for health
care workers.
The dosing updates
should help bolster
U.S. supplies and speed
vaccinations as the
U.S. nears 100 million
inoculations against
COVID-19.
Moderna said in a
statement it plans to
begin shipping the new
15-dose vials in coming
weeks. The company
submitted updated data
to FDA showing how
much vaccine can be
extracted from each vial
using different types of
syringes.
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Oregon unemployment tax
relief bill gets warm reception
BY PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon businesses, busi-
ness lobbyists and lawmakers
from both parties blessed a
bill that would let some busi-
nesses defer part of their un-
employment payroll taxes and
pay a little less to a reduced
state trust fund in future
years.
House Bill 3389, which
the House Rules Committee
heard Thursday, also would
set the payroll tax rates for the
years 2022-2024 at 2020 lev-
els, which were determined
before the coronavirus pan-
demic resulted in a sharp eco-
nomic downturn a year ago.
When the state’s jobless rate
goes up, Oregon employers
pay higher unemployment
insurance taxes. Those taxes
help replenish Oregon’s un-
employment insurance trust
fund, which is used to pay
jobless claims.
According to Rep. Paul
Holvey, a Democrat from
Eugene and one of the key
lawmakers involved in its
drafting, the bill would allow
employers to defer $100 mil-
lion this year. Because of a
lower target for the state un-
employment trust fund, he
said, it would save them $2.4
billion in taxes over a decade.
Employees do not pay into the
fund.
“I think it’s something to
recognize that we are doing
what we can” for business,
said Holvey, a retired union
representative.
“We must be careful to
avoid unintended conse-
quences and understand that
our efforts here and the num-
bers are estimates.”
See Bill / A6
Changing times for
livestock sale barns
March hiring
accelerated to 916K
America’s employers
unleashed a burst of
hiring in March, adding
916,000 jobs in a sign
that a sustained recov-
ery from the pandemic
recession is taking hold
as vaccinations acceler-
ate, stimulus checks flow
through the economy
and businesses increas-
ingly reopen.
The March increase
— the most since Au-
gust — was nearly dou-
ble February’s gain of
468,000, the Labor De-
partment said Friday.
The unemployment rate
declined from 6.2% to
6%.
Even with last month’s
robust increase, the
economy remains more
than 8 million jobs short
of the number it had
before the pandemic
erupted a little over a
year ago. But with the
recovery widely ex-
pected to strengthen,
many forecasters pre-
dict enough hiring in
the coming months to
recover nearly all those
lost jobs by year’s end.
CDC: Vaccinated
people can travel
Add travel to the ac-
tivities vaccinated Amer-
icans can safely enjoy
again, according to new
U.S. guidance issued
Friday.
The Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Pre-
vention updated its
guidance to say fully
vaccinated people can
travel within the U.S.
without getting tested
for the coronavirus or
going into quarantine
afterward.
Still, CDC Director Dr.
Rochelle Walensky urged
caution and said she
would “advocate against
general travel overall”
given the rising number
of infections.
“If you are vaccinated,
it is lower risk,” she said.
According to the CDC,
more than 100 million
people in the U.S. — or
about 30% of the popu-
lation — have received
at least one dose of a
COVID-19 vaccine. A per-
son is considered fully
vaccinated two weeks
after receiving the last
required dose.
— Bulletin wire reports
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Oregon
Employment
Department
hopes to fix
phone mess
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
A year into the pandemic,
and the steepest economic fall
in Oregon history, placing a
phone call to the Oregon Em-
ployment Department remains
an onerous chore.
Jobless workers spend an
average of 70 minutes on hold
when calling the agency. Its
obsolete computers keep spit-
ting out automated letters in-
structing laid-off Oregonians
to call for help even though
they would likely get a much
quicker response online.
“We recognize that we need
to make it easier for people to
get in touch with us,” acting
Director David Gerstenfeld
said on his weekly media call
Wednesday. For the first time,
Gerstenfeld set a target date for
resolving the phone mess.
By the end of June, Gersten-
feld said the department aims
to answer 80% of calls within
15 minutes. And it aims to re-
solve 90% of online inquiries,
made through its “ Contact Us ”
form, within a week. Currently,
it resolves no more than 21%
of those online contacts within
seven days.
See Phone / A6
Nike wins in
court to halt
more sales of
‘Satan Shoes’
First batch of the
shoes by rapper Lil
Nas X have already
been sold, distributed
Buyers and sellers gather every Friday at the Chehalis Livestock Market.
George Plaven/Capital Press
BY ARON YOHANNES
The Oregonian
The rise of video
Forrest Mangan, region executive of-
ficer of the Livestock Marketing Asso-
ciation, said the rise of video auctions
is one example of how times and tech-
nology have changed the industry. The
association represents more than 800
local livestock auction markets and al-
lied businesses.
Video auctions are another avenue
for larger producers to market their
livestock, Mangan said. Rather than
transporting large lots of cattle to the
sale barn, they are instead filmed on the
ranch. The footage can then be broad-
cast virtually anywhere, as well as on-
line, inviting buyers from across the
country and around the world.
Nike has obtained a tempo-
rary restraining order against
the company that collaborated
with artist Lil Nas X to sell “Sa-
tan Shoes,” a pair of modified
Air Max 97s decorated with a
bronze pentagram and a drop
of real human blood.
A U.S. District Court in New
York granted Nike’s request
this week against streetwear
company MSCHF, preventing
the company from fulfilling the
rest of its orders for the shoes.
Nike filed a lawsuit against the
company Monday.
The black and red shoes,
which also feature a Bible
verse, Luke 10:18 – “I saw Sa-
tan fall like lightning from
heaven” — were created as a
collaboration between the rap-
per and the streetwear brand
to coincide with the release of
his music video “Montero (Call
Me By Your Name).” Nike,
headquartered near Beaverton,
quickly distanced itself from
the release.
Nike said the shoes were
likely to cause confusion or
cause fans of Nike to believe it
worked with MSCHF to create
the shoe, Nike said in the com-
plaint.
Nike also once again men-
tioned that despite its signa-
ture Nike swoosh being on the
shoe, the company was not
involved in the creation of the
sneaker and does not endorse
them.
MSCHF released a limited-
edition drop of 666 pairs of
the rare sneakers, which sold
out in less than a minute. They
were priced at $1,018 a pair.
See Sale barns / A6
See Nike / A6
BY GEORGE PLAVEN • Capital Press
CHEHALIS, Wash. —
uction day at the Chehalis
Livestock Market begins with
a flurry of activity behind the
scenes, as hundreds of cat-
tle from area ranches arrive at the sale
barn adjacent to Interstate 5 in south-
west Washington.
Once at the loading dock, the an-
imals are ushered into a hydraulic
squeeze chute, where veterinarian Jason
Humphrey pierces their ears with elec-
tronic identification tags and gives vac-
cinations, if needed. The cattle are then
sorted and placed in holding pens.
Alongside the auction ring, long-
time customers sit on reclining chairs
and sofas, trading gossip and renewing
friendships. Next door, the restaurant is
open, serving cheeseburgers, fries and
coffee.
“We have a strong connection to
the community,” said Brenda Balmelli,
whose husband, Dave, bought the Che-
halis market in 1986 with business
partner Joe Parypa. “Most of our cus-
tomers are small farms, with five to 25
head they raise per year.”
That community connection, how-
ever, is becoming more difficult to sus-
tain, Balmelli said. Fewer cattle, rising
costs and the emergence of new tech-
nology are putting a strain on small sale
barns.
When they first started, Balmelli
said, it was common to sell 200-plus
dairy cows, 100 feeder cattle and 300
slaughter animals at the weekly auction.
Now, they typically sell 15 dairy cows,
150 feeder cattle and 150 slaughter an-
imals.
At the same time, Balmelli said, they
have kept their commissions the same
to remain competitive, while costs such
A
as labor, insurance and repairs have tri-
pled over the last eight years. The inter-
net has also made it easier for ranchers
to sell their livestock direct to buyers
online, foregoing the sale barn entirely.
Despite the difficulties, Balmelli and
other market owners around the nation
say they are optimistic about the future
of livestock auctions. Balmelli said it
remains the one venue where there is
true price discovery, while providing a
social gathering place unique to rural
America.
“We feel this loyalty to our customers
and our employees to stay in this busi-
ness as long as we can,” Balmelli said.
“We love what we do.”
Two auctions close
Already in 2021, two sale barns
on the West Coast closed their doors
within weeks of one another.
Woodburn Livestock Auction in
Oregon and Shasta Livestock Auction
Yard in Cottonwood, California, both
announced their closures in February.
Brad Peek, general manager of the
Shasta market, said the decision to halt
regular Friday auctions was difficult but
necessary. The sale barn was opened in
1961 by Peek’s father, Ellington Peek,
and is a major part of his family’s legacy.
“Obviously, it’s sad,” Peek said. “We
are friends with our customers, num-
ber one. It’s going to be some inconve-
nience for them.”
In 1989, Ellington Peek co-founded
Western Video Market, getting into the
business of video livestock auctions.
Since then, Brad Peek said the company
has grown steadily, marketing cattle
and lambs.
Western Video Market now holds a
dozen sales every year — six in Cotton-
wood, and six remotely in places such
as Nevada, Wyoming and Nebraska.
The company sells close to 350,000
head of cattle annually, Peek said.
“We need to focus on that part of our
business,” Peek said. “It’s growing, and
highly successful.”
Meanwhile, cattle numbers at the
sale barn had been dwindling since the
1990s, dropping from 150,000 per year
to between 60,000 and 80,000 per year.
The last in-person sale at Shasta
Livestock Auction Yard was Feb. 12.
The last sale at Woodburn Livestock
Auction was Feb. 23. That property is
now up for sale, according to owners
Tom and Mary Elder.
In a statement, the Elders said they
decided to shut down the livestock por-
tion of their business “due to the con-
tinual declining head counts and rising
costs of doing business.” They will con-
tinue to hold online-only machinery
sales.