UO E-clips, Oct. 3

Vancouver agency AHA! has a Yahoo! moment (The Oregonian): AHA! and Yahoo! Was this summer's combination really a surprise big enough to require such exclamation? Probably not, especially in this time of tumult. After all, Vancouver's AHA! has forged a reputation in California's Silicon Valley for strategic communication and effective writing, prompting Yahoo! officials in Sunnyvale, Calif., to contact the local agency for its services. ... That kind of spending has historically trended downward when times are tough, says Patricia A. Curtin, public relations professor in the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication.

'At least a mild recession' in the forecast (The Oregonian): The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators fell again in August, suggesting the state's economy "will likely suffer from an extended period of weakness consistent with at least a mild recession." The index, compiled by UO economics professor Tim Duy, measures several key elements of the state's economy. "Sustained weakness in the UO Index is consistent with an ongoing recession in Oregon," Duy wrote in the August report, issued Thursday. The state's jobless rate climbed to 6.5 percent in August, and rising unemployment claims are one of several factors pulling down the index. In addition, Duy wrote, orders for capital goods fell sharply in August and erased what had been a bright spot among several gloomy indicators.

Report says Oregon land-use plan is working (Daily Journal of Commerce): A new report by the Institute of Natural Resources at Oregon State University says Oregon is on track in regard to effectively protecting farm and forest lands and controlling urban sprawl. Prepared at the request of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, the report combined findings from 50 to 100 studies performed at academic institutions since 1973, when Oregon’s land-use plan was first instituted. Researchers from OSU, Portland State University, the University of Oregon and the U.S. Forest Center partnered on the analysis, which will be submitted this month to the Big Look Task Force; it will then report on the analysis to the 2009 Oregon legislature. Among the findings, the report found that Oregon’s land-use system has been effective in preserving its agricultural land base, revitalizing downtown areas and decreasing racial segregation, and increasing the use of non-motorized transportation, as well as personal income and retail activities in urban growth boundaries. Problem areas include concerns about local government compliance and the permitting of farm and non-farm dwellings on resource lands, increased vulnerability to natural disasters within UGBs and a lack of real citizen involvement.

Law for poor didn't cause meltdown (Dallas Morning News): Accomplished Googlers can probably find the original talking points off which dozens of conservatives made essentially the same case: The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 caused the financial crisis. For example, a Wall Street Journal editorial lumped CRA together with far more plausible causes of the meltdown. This liberal-inspired law, it complained, "compels banks to make loans to poor borrowers who often cannot repay them." ... "These institutions no longer had to make subprime loans to low-income people," Mark Thoma, an economist at the University of Oregon told me.

Do "recession-proof jobs" exist? (KVAL 13 News): Across the country, the number of people getting unemployment benefits is the highest it's been in seven years, according to new data released by the Labor Department. So is there such a thing as a recession-proof business? One University of Oregon economist doesn't believe so, but there are some industries weathering the economic crisis better than most. So you've just been laid off. Now you're looking for a stable career during an economic mess.

Veto has UC program begging for survival (San Jose Mercury News): The up-and-down saga of the University of California's labor-studies program is down again after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut its funding in a last-minute veto. Last week's line-item cut from the state budget has employees at the politically charged program's UC Berkeley and UCLA institutes begging UC President Mark Yudof for survival money. A UC spokesman said Thursday that the university is trying to find a way to keep the institutes open this year. ... At the University of Oregon, for example, support generally has been strong, said Bob Bussel, director of the school's Labor Education and Research Center, which also has strong union ties. But continuing support is always a question, he said.