Morning Roundup


PDX is No. 1 and Port executive director explains why container service isn’t the be all, end all. Plus: a push for public marijuana use. 

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We all have stories about why we love the Portland airport: the carpet that feels like coming home, the familiar Portland brands lining the terminal concourse. So today’s news from Travel & Leisure comes as no surprise.

PDX ranks top — again. For the fifth year in a row, Travel & Leisure named Portland’s airport the best in the U.S. The high flying PDX is also the subject of our July/August cover story. Check out our article, The New Aerotropolis.

Speaking of PDX, as we all know, the Port of Portland has a new leader in Curtis Robinhold. Robinhold talks to the Portland Tribune about his leadership vision.

Is public marijuana use in Oregon’s future? A bill to allow smoking lounges died in committee, but advocates are still pushing for legal venues. At least one loophole, the party bus, is already being exploited, the Register Guard points out.

Microsoft is shutting down its Wilsonville plant. The plant produced the Surface Hub touchscreen. About 124 employees will lose their jobs as a result. The Portland Business Journal has the story. 

Jantzen Beach has a new owner. Kim Realty Corp. purchased the popular mall for $131.8 million. The New York firm says apartments and office space may be in the center’s future. Read the story from the Oregonian.

Bend pharmaceutical plant gets $5.5 million upgrade. The investment at Patheon comes just before the company is officially sold to Thermo Fisher Scientific. The Bend Bulletin has more.

OB Original Blog: Groups call on city council to address Portland’s parking crisis. Neighborhood groups are putting pressure on Portland’s City Council to introduce long awaited parking reforms. But as OB Research Editor Kim Moore reports, a lack of unified voice from the business community could further delay solutions.