Previous 12 months about this time, we introduced on a task to appear at the difficulties confronting downtown Portland following (we’d hoped) the top of the pandemic and protests. That venture, “Downtown in Distress,” integrated reporting on homelessness, the temper of downtown inhabitants and the problems for retailers, as effectively as final results from an impartial poll.
The delta and omicron variants threw a wrench in expectations for a speedy return to usual in 2021. And just a week in the past, far more lousy news. A longtime retailer, Margulis Jewelers, declared it was closing its landmark downtown keep.
“Customers are hesitant to appear downtown to shop,” proprietor David Margulis claimed in a news release. “Employees select not to work downtown.”
It’s crystal clear that far more than two decades into the pandemic, Portland has considerable economic challenges. And The Oregonian/OregonLive continues to invest in organization reporting.
“We’re mobilizing around a target to go over all facets of Oregonians’ fiscal lives, from the outcomes of the point out and national economic system, to searching for goods and providers, to housing, personal finance, and work life,” explained Elliot Njus, who qualified prospects our Business enterprise & Economy staff.
Njus beforehand lined authentic estate/housing, transportation and other subjects. Most just lately, he led the enhancement of podcasts for our newsroom.
Coverage of two big firms in our space falls to veteran business enterprise reporters Mike Rogoway and Jeff Manning.
Rogoway is Oregon’s indispensable read through for news about Intel, one of the state’s biggest non-public employers. At the start of the pandemic, he practically singlehandedly birddogged the complications the Oregon Work Section had acquiring jobless gains to Oregonians.
With politics reporter Hillary Borrud in 2020, he broke the story of how Oregon’s failure to waive a week’s hiatus ahead of advantages started out would expense Oregonians more than $100 million in federal aid. The governor swiftly vowed to eliminate the “waiting week.”
Rogoway, who has a master’s of company administration from College of Washington, also covers technological innovation, software program and similar businesses. He keeps an eye on rising enterprises as perfectly, these kinds of as Dutch Bros, the generate-via espresso chain that experienced its first public offering past calendar year.
Manning handles Nike, as perfectly as associated providers and the intersection of sporting activities and organization. He also studies on health treatment firms and specializes in investigative operate with an eye towards white collar criminal offense.
Jamie Goldberg, who experienced protected the Portland Timbers/Thorns and the Portland Path Blazers for us, transferred to enterprise when athletics shut down at the start off of the pandemic in 2020. She has put in the previous two yrs masking the unemployed, the plight of tenants and landlords, and the struggles and successes of little businesses.
Goldberg, who has a master’s degree in journalism from College of California, Berkeley, is also a breaking information editor element of the week.
An additional relative newcomer to the workforce is Jayati Ramakrishnan, who joined The Oregonian/OregonLive in 2019 from the Hermiston Herald. She commenced on the breaking information group but now covers transportation and housing. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon College of Journalism and Communications.
Just this month, we’ve extra even additional reporting firepower. Kristine de Leon addresses retail, tiny enterprise and other small business tendencies for us, such as her the latest explainer on why gasoline prices fluctuate so a great deal depending on which Oregon county you are in.
De Leon was pursuing a Ph.D. in microbiology in advance of catching the reporting bug. She gained her master’s in journalism from University of Southern California. She is qualified in info evaluation, coding and web progress, which will serve her very well as she explores business enterprise and economic trends.
When I started out at The Oregonian in 1983, the Company division, like the rest of the newsroom, was predominantly staffed by gentlemen. What couple of gals reporters we experienced ended up largely in the capabilities division, producing for the Residing segment. It’s terrific to have a team of Enterprise reporters with these kinds of various lifestyle encounters, views and interests.
The team’s perform is supplemented by other reporters, these types of as Ted Sickinger, who addresses forestry and utilities Borrud, who stories on point out government and politics and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, who is on the Portland Metropolis Hall defeat.
We know curiosity in business enterprise matters is potent. We can see that as a result of the huge quantities of folks who examine articles or blog posts on OregonLive and adhere to us on social media (On Twitter, @OregonianBiz has the 2nd greatest pursuing following our major account). You can indicator up for our Oregon Business enterprise Insights publication at oregonlive.com/newsletters.
The Oregonian/OregonLive’s staff still left our downtown offices and went to remote work March 17, 2020. This spring, we be expecting some journalists will return to our offices together Southwest First Avenue and other people will go on to get the job done remotely. I hope to see our reporters and editors back traveling to workplaces, covering occasions, and meeting resources for espresso experience to confront, just as typically as we utilized to. I’m searching ahead to paying a lot more of my time in our downtown newsroom once more.
Notice: Longtime Oregon civic chief Gerry Frank was questioned to compose a column for The Oregonian back again in 1988. His column, named “Friday Surprise” following the Meier & Frank product sales by that identify, appeared in the A segment for quite a few yrs.
More a short while ago, in the capabilities portion, his
well-known regular monthly column highlighted Oregon vacation and eating potential customers for readers. Frank died March 13 at age 98. We know viewers will miss his informative recommendations and insights, as will we.