The big deals, mergers and transactions of this month include new Intel plants and a new low-income apartment complex from nonprofit Macdonald Center.

The state’s long-suffering timber industry is shipping more logs than ever to China as prices in that market rise while others remain stagnant.

Harry & David wasn’t planning to move to cage-free eggs in the company’s bakery products, but the idea certainly fit the corporate strategy “to make the most natural, wholesome product possible,” according to VP Pete Kratz.

The first thing you notice at Aprisa Mexican Cuisine on SE Eighth Avenue in Portland is the pride the company takes in producing quality drive-through food from scratch. The next thing that grabs your attention is that it’s operated out of a shipping container.

The Port of Portland has seen a 36% increase in marine business so far in 2010, showing a positive trend for at least one area of business in Oregon.

Family-owned Langlitz Leathers keeps a low profile in its retail and production shop in southeast Portland. For more than 60 years it has constructed high-end custom biker apparel that has attracted a global market more than willing to pay over a thousand dollars to look like Peter Fonda, circa Easy Rider.

Portland-based Iberdrola Renewables has broken ground on a biomass energy plant in Lakeview that will bring much-needed jobs to an area with chronically high unemployment rates.

As bad as the job market has been for 2010, the capital-raising market has been surprisingly good, and this year’s finalists at Venture Northwest offered strong reasons as to why.

  All “latest” numbers are for September 2010 unless otherwise noted. Latest Month Previous Month Previous Year Annual Change EMPLOYMENT/BUSINESS LISTINGS Total employment State of Oregon, thousands 1,783.4 1,786.1 1,750.1 1.9% Total unemployment State of Oregon, thousands 196.3 203.5 201.1 -2.4% Unemployment rate Ore. civilian labor force, seasonally adjusted 10.6% 10.6% 11.0% -0.4 Portland/Vancouver MSA; … Read more

Applications for new Oregon corporations and limited liability companies fell 8.6% and 5.4% year-to-date in September.