This year’s ranking of the highest-paid public company CEOs in Oregon saw total compensation fall  0.4%, in contrast to last year’s 17.7% increase. The drop was the result of a 33% decline in overall bonus amounts.

Relatively cheap land, proximity to a railroad spur that will allow for efficient distribution of its gun safes and a welcoming environment fostered by Lake County officials attracted California-based Hall’s Safe Company to buy eight acres in the Lake County industrial park for its new manufacturing facility.

Desert Sun Holdings, a subsidiary of developer Desert Sun Development, has submitted plans to the city of Redmond for a proposed 40,000-square-foot, $4.5 million indoor motocross facility.

Rising housing prices in Central Oregon have caused a labor shortage in Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties.

The Port of Portland expects to receive a new post-Panamax container crane for its Terminal 6 container facility by 2008, with a $7.5 million grant from the Connect Oregon program to cover part of the $12.3 million project budget.

Planar Systems, a maker of monitors and industrial displays used in medical equipment, will expand into the digital signage and command-and-control-room visual system markets with the purchase of Wilsonville-based Clarity Visual Systems.

Lion Capital, a London private equity firm, expects to close its purchase of Salem-based potato-chip maker Kettle Foods this month.

Construction has begun at McNary Field to install security screening and add a modular building for passenger services in the hope of attracting commercial air service.

RealEnergy, a California-based company that develops on-site power systems for commercial buildings, hopes to begin construction this month on a manure-to-energy project at the Rickreall Dairy.

Reedsport OPT Wave Park filed an application with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this summer for a preliminary permit to test the feasibility of a wave park.