A8 The BulleTin • Friday, april 30, 2021
Star Wars
Recovery
Continued from A7
Continued from A7
These changes are among
several ways the state’s health
protocols are altering how
theme park fans experience
their favorite attractions.
The state guidelines that al-
lowed theme parks to reopen
this month include rules that
are designed to reduce the
time parkgoers spend doing
things in close proximity to
strangers, such as standing in
queues or inside poorly ven-
tilated areas. For that reason,
the rules limit the parks’ over-
all capacity and require that
all queues be outdoors and
that indoor rides last no longer
than 15 minutes.
Over the last couple of de-
cades, major theme parks such
as Disneyland and Universal
Studios Hollywood had leaned
the opposite way, investing
heavily to make rides’ long lines
more tolerable by moving them
indoors. That protects visitors
from the weather and creates an
opportunity to fill the space with
entertainment to enhance the
theme of the ride.
The parks “spent millions of
dollars and thousands of hours
designing all the stuff in those
queues,” said Martin Lewison,
a business administration pro-
fessor and theme park expert
from Farmingdale State Col-
lege in New York.
Now, where possible, the
parks are shortening or elim-
inating the indoor queues in-
stead of shortening the rides.
At Universal Studios Hol-
lywood, which also reopened
this month, one of the most
popular rides — Harry Potter
and the Forbidden Journey —
takes place primarily inside
what resembles the enchanted
Hogwarts castle. During the
indoor queue, parkgoers stroll
past statues of wizards and lis-
ten to dialogue coming from
moving paintings, animated
creatures and 3D projections.
To reduce the time spent
inside, Universal Studios is
sending visitors into the queue
in what Senior Vice President
of Operations Scott Strobl de-
scribed as “pulses” of 15 to 20
people at a time, with short
breaks in between.
In March, employers added
916,000 jobs — the biggest
burst of hiring since August.
Meantime, retail spending has
surged, manufacturing output
is up and consumer confidence
has reached its highest point
since the pandemic began.
“We are seeing all the en-
gines of the economy rev
up,” said Gregory Daco, chief
economist at Oxford Eco-
nomics. “We have an improv-
ing health environment, fiscal
stimulus remains abundant
and we are starting to see re-
bounding employment.”
For all the U.S. economy’s
gains, it still has a long way to
go. More than 8 million jobs
remain lost to the pandemic.
And the recovery remains
sharply uneven: Most col-
Rent
Continued from A7
However, it could take up
to two months for those land-
lords to receive the money as
local public housing authori-
ties finalize the grants.
The state approved the
grants despite a rocky rollout
to the program and techni-
cal issues with the online ap-
plication portal that initially
prevented landlords from
submitting required docu-
ments with their applications.
lege-educated and white collar
employees have been able to
work from home over the past
year. Many have even built up
savings and expanded their
wealth from rising home val-
ues and a record-setting stock
market, which has rocketed
more than 80% from March
of last year.
By contrast, job cuts have
fallen heavily on low-wage
workers, racial minorities and
people without college ed-
ucations. In addition, many
women, especially working
mothers, have had to leave the
workforce to care for children.
A major reason for the
brightening expectations
is the record-level federal
spending that is poised to
flow into the economy. A $1.9
trillion package that Presi-
dent Joe Biden got through
Congress in March provided,
Applications for the first
round opened in February,
but the technical issues led to
major processing delays.
Those technical issues
forced the state to delay the
second round. Applications
for the second round open at
10 a.m. Thursday and close at
5 p.m. May 17. Landlords can
seek funding to cover 80% of
outstanding rent accumulated
between April 2020 and May
2021. The state plans to make
$70 million available during
the second round.
Lynne W. Haley
of Prineville, OR
Opal I. Wonser
of Bend, OR
June 18, 1926 - April 10,
2021
Arrangements:
Autumn Funerals of Red-
mond is honored to serve
the family. 541-504-9485
Memories and condolenc-
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the family on our website
at www.autumnfunerals.net
Services:
A graveside service will
take place at Eagle Point
National Cemetery in Ea-
gle Point, OR on Thursday,
May 6, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
Aug 1, 1936 - April 26,
2021
Arrangements:
Autumn Funerals, Bend
541-318-0842 www.au-
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Services:
Graveside services will be
held on Tue., May 4 at 1
PM at Pilot Butte Ceme-
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OBITUARY DEADLINE
Call to ask about our deadlines
541-385-5809
among other rescue aid,
$1,400 stimulus payments to
most adults.
The Federal Reserve’s ul-
tra-low interest-rate policy,
designed to encourage bor-
rowing and spending, has
provided significant support,
too. In fact, the economy is
expected to expand so fast
that some economists have
raised concerns that it could
ignite inflation.
As more business restric-
tions are lifted and more peo-
ple venture out to shop and
eat out, companies that serve
them are benefiting. McDon-
ald’s, for example, posted a
sharp jump in revenue last
quarter — even surpassing
the same period in 2019, long
before the pandemic flattened
the economy. Likewise, most
major tech companies have
reported impressive earnings.
Bees
Continued from A7
“Then the 80,000 honey
bee colonies in (Oregon)
don’t have a lot to go to.”
According to the Califor-
nia Farm Bureau, beekeepers
statewide are worried about
diminishing food sources.
Experts say it’s import-
ant for bees to have access to
late-blooming plants through
August when the landscape is
dry and brown.
Jacob, the beekeeper, said
he’s prepared to do what-
ever it takes to feed his bees
through the drought, includ-
ing feeding syrup. But this
is expensive, and when bee-
keepers across the sector do
so, it can drive up hive rental
costs for farmers.
Tucker Pyne, owner of the
Lucky Elk Farm in Rogue
River, is one farmer Jacob
works with. Pyne runs a small
organic farm producing hemp,
vegetables, fruit and meat.
Pyne uses cover cropping
systems — a rare practice in
the hemp sector, according to
experts. He said his primary
goal is to enrich his soil, and
supporting pollinators is just
a secondary benefit.
“The main reason why I use
cover crops is to build organic
matter in the soil,” Pyne said.
Pyne uses several cover
cropping methods: rotating
fields, inter-seeding directly
into his crops and planting
in the aisles. His cover crops
include sunflowers and buck-
wheat, which bloom through
August.
“It provides tremendous
food for pollinators, and
it’s beautiful — very Insta-
gram-friendly,” he said.