Weekly roundup


Health care overhauls, local and national, Oregon lands another Amazon fulfillment center and Greater PDX economic summit gets underway.

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The annual Greater Portland Inc. economic summit is underway this morning at the Portland Art Museum. 

 

 

Check back later this afternoon for a recap of the event.

In the meantime, here are a few of the week’s top stories from around the state:

Oregon would be the hardest hit state if the latest Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act goes through, OregonLive reports.

Back at home, the linguistic battle over the referendum to repeal state health care taxes continues, according to the Portland Business Journal. Rep. Julie Parrish, a lead backer of the referendum, is fighting to include the word “tax”  instead of “assessment” in the ballot measure description.

Whimsical electric vehicle startup Arcimoto shares will begin trading today on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FUV. The company raised nearly $20 million dollars in a recent public offering, and aims to deliver the vehicles this year, the Bend Bulletin reports.

RELATED STORY: POWER LANE:  WILL ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN OREGON FINALLY GO MAINSTREAM?

Portland’s chances of landing Amazon headquarters are slim, but the ecommerce giant is expanding its fulfilmment center presence here.  The company announced the opening of a facility in North Portland next year.  The news comes on the heels of earlier announcements that the company would open fulfillment centers in Troutdale and Salem in 2018.

As Amazon grows, other retailers shrink.  Nordstrom announced the rollout of a new store model, to be stocked with everything (beer included) but clothes, according to CNBC.  The world of retail is devolving into food and technology.

Here at OB, we continue our wildfire coverage:

Our new business reporter, Caleb Diehl, asks the burning question:  What does containing a fire mean, anyways? Read the answer here.

Kim Moore delves more deeply into forest collaborations to impove forest health.  Read her article here.

Caleb also put together a roundup of Oregon housing market prices.  Homes around the state aren’t selling as fast, but prices are still rising.