The March Sendai tsunami and nuclear catastrophe have provided an Oregon bottled water company with an opportunity to enter the Japan market — and stay for the long haul.

Since the mid 1990s, thousands of Oregonians — families, retirees, young adults — have forsaken the suburbs in favor of inner-city living. Now a new group, suburban homebuilders, are also jumping on the urban housing bandwagon.

ZeaChem is investigating ways to help Portland General Electric “green up” its Boardman coal plant with a biomass coal replacement made from poplar wood. 

Kirkman Group president David Humphrey says he prides himself on the purity of the food supplements his company makes in Lake Oswego and sells globally. So it bothered him profoundly to have to recall several products in December 2009 after learning they were contaminated with antimony, a toxic chemical. 

A partnership between the Coquille Indian Tribe and Perpetua Power Source Technologies will bring a new assembly and production facility to tribal-owned property in North Bend. The plan, which has been in development for a year, will also allow Perpetua to expand the manufacturing capabilities of its renewable thermoelectric technology at Corvallis company headquarters. 

Residential real estate is still looking to hit bottom.

  All “latest” numbers are for April 2011 unless otherwise noted. Latest Month Previous Month Previous Year Annual Change EMPLOYMENT/BUSINESS LISTINGS Total employment State of Oregon, thousands 1,796.3 1,782.5 1,764.7 1.8% Total unemployment State of Oregon, thousands 188.0 207.2 218.7 -14.0% Unemployment rate Ore. civilian labor force, seasonally adjusted 9.6% 9.9% 11.0% -1.4 Portland/Vancouver MSA; … Read more

A desert Middle Eastern kingdom looks to Oregon to help solve its food security issues and evolve its sustainability.

After a historic flameout, Bend’s economy is coming back to life on the strength of a fresh crop of growing companies and the enduring pull of its natural beauty.