KGW
Thanksgiving Concert Helps Those In Need
KGW
Cassidy Quinn visits the Portland Adventist Community Services food pantry to learn about a concert you can attend just by donating canned food.
Portland Business Journal
Will Vinton is something of a figurehead when it comes to Portland’s creative economy.
The legendary 3D animator who coined the term “Claymation” and gave life to M&M’s and the California Raisins, also created something else in Oregon with lasting impact.
KGW
Talk Box: The minds behind the Portland Creative Conference
Portland Tribune
The Portland Creative Conference has been going for 25 years.
In the mid 1990s it was a place where you might see the California Raisins guys Will Vinton and Michael Brunsfeld (think wrinkly claymation) or an exclusive, big-screen clip of an unreleased Gus Van Sant film (pretty boys riding a 1960s Volvo through the desert.)
However, in 2015 the tools have become so cheap that any amateur can shoot a 4K video on a phone from a skateboard - and kick off a marketing campaign that evening. So people who are paid to be creative are having to find new ways to make their work stand out.
Portland has seen a boom in successful creative firms in the last five years: names such as Swift, Red & Co, Instrument, Roundhouse, Sq1 and Mutt Industries have joined Sandstrom, Sockeye, R2CGroup, and the huge, pulsating mothership that seemingly begat most of them, Wieden + Kennedy.
KGW
Project Runway winner Michelle Lesniak on the creative process of fashion design.
KGW
Eisner award-winner Brian Michael Bendis talks comic creative process
Pamplin Media
You might think that with all the new tools for available to makers and entrepreneurs, turning a bright idea into a product on store shelves would be really easy.
Cheap parts that can be FedExed anywhere, CAD (computer assisted design), 3D printing, crowdfunding, social media for marketing, and that whole Shark Tank, Silicon Valley, Consumer Electronics Show vortex that promises meritocratic success.
First off, we all know you can’t just throw up a Kickstarter and expect to be the next Coolest Cooler guy. Money talks, but sometimes it keeps stubbornly quiet.
Willamette Week
In 1990, Will Vinton wanted to attract more creative types to Portland—so he launched a conference, creatively titled the Creative Conference, which drew thousands of local and out-of-town entrepreneurs for an annual weekend of lectures through the 90s. It was partially selfish, admits the Academy Award-winning animator, who coined the term Claymation.
"I liked building my studio in Portland, this smaller area that wasn't considered a hotbed for such things," Vinton said. "We wanted to give back to that community, and to build a bigger talent pool that we could tap into."
Portland Tribune
The Portland Creative Conference has been going for 25 years.
In the mid 1990s it was a place where you might see the California Raisins guys Will Vinton and Michael Brunsfeld (think wrinkly claymation) or an exclusive, big-screen clip of an unreleased Gus Van Sant film (pretty boys riding a 1960s Volvo through the desert.)
However, in 2015 the tools have become so cheap that any amateur can shoot a 4K video on a phone from a skateboard - and kick off a marketing campaign that evening. So people who are paid to be creative are having to find new ways to make their work stand out.
Portland has seen a boom in successful creative firms in the last five years: names such as Swift, Red & Co, Instrument, Roundhouse, Sq1 and Mutt Industries have joined Sandstrom, Sockeye, R2CGroup, and the huge, pulsating mothership that seemingly begat most of them, Wieden + Kennedy.
Creativity itself is in flux, or at least the creative services industry which tries to churn it out in industrial quantities.
The Wall Street Journal
Tens of thousands of consumers nationwide who bought insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act could face a tough choice this fall: swallow higher premiums to stay in their plan, or save money by switching? WSJ's Louise Radnofsky joins Simon Constable to discuss.
Hundreds of thousands of consumers nationwide who bought insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act will face a choice this fall: swallow higher premiums to stay in their plan, or save money by switching.
USA Today
When Anna Duleep went shopping recently for 2015 health coverage on the Connecticut insurance exchange, she was pleasantly surprised to find a less expensive plan.
To get the savings, the substitute math teacher had to change from for-profit giant Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to a fledgling carrier she'd never heard of. Still, Duleep, 37, liked saving $10 on her monthly premium of about $400 and knowing that her new plan, HealthyCT, is a non-profit governed by consumers. She also liked that all her doctors participate. "I just figured, 'why not change?'" she said.
OPB
The Oregon Insurance Division will announce new prices for all the health plans available on Oregon’s exchange, Friday.
That’s important because it’s the first time insurance companies have set prices with the benefit of a year’s experience — and with the knowledge of competitors’ prices.
A couple of years ago, as health insurance companies prepared for the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Ralph Prows set up a new company — The Oregon Health Co-Op.
The idea was to start a company run by customers.
Portland Business Journal
Oregon's Health CO-OP has grown its membership five-fold since last year to 10,000 members.
The growth stems from one big factor: Dr. Ralph Prows', the health plans' president and CEO, noted that much of the CO-OP's growth was driven by the popularity of its new "Select Network" plans, which cost about 4 percent to 5 percent less than broad network plans.
They were designed with an eye to lower-income consumers who make a little to much for Medicaid but qualify for federal subsidies, Prows said.
insurancenewsnet.com
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- When the federal government authorized the creation of Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (co-ops), their hope was that the new organizations would spur innovation, create competition, and give consumers greater say. In Oregon this hope has been realized through Oregon's Health CO-OP, who recently elected three of its own members to the organization's board of directors. This truly non-profit health insurer, who uses its profits to reduce premiums, add services, or pay back it's federal ACA loans, continues its push the health insurance industry in new directions, by giving consumers greater voice and control in the governance of health insurance (see also Oregon's Health CO-OP).
Portland Business Journal
Oregon's Health CO-OP has pushed the enrollment deadline back to midnight on New Year's Eve, for anyone who missed the Dec. 15 cutoff for continuous coverage.
"There are so many questions about open enrollment," said Dr. Ralph Prows, CEO of the health plan. "Extending the deadline is another way of being a resource for people who aren't quite ready, who are busy with the holidays or who simply missed the deadline. The extra time takes stress out of the equation."
AM Northwest
They're a different kind of health insurance-- run by Oregonians for Oregonians! Ralph Prows, MD, of Oregon's Health CO-OP joined us to share a few of the things that set them apart from all the others. Dr. Prows says they are the only health insurance plan that allows you to have a Naturopath as your Primary Care Doctor. Their Simple Plans are just that-- simple, without co-insurance or deductibles, only a set co-pay. But best off all, they'll pay you up to $300 per year to take an active role in your health by choosing a doctor, taking a health risk assessment and participating in educational challenges.
Oregon Live
Days into Oregonians' first use of Healthcare.gov, reviews are generally good, though the federal health insurance exchange is not without glitches and challenges, according to agents, insurers and consumers.
In the week before open enrollment began Nov. 15, and to a lesser extent today, the federal exchange's browse function has displayed some inaccurate information about certain individual health plans sold in Oregon, insurers and federal officials confirmed.
KGW Portland
A local company has a fascinating plan for capturing bike pedal power to purify water.
"It's proven technology. We know it works," said Amy Doering Smith, the CEO of Safi Water Works.
The Portland startup has created a bicycle aimed at helping the 600 million people in the world who don't have access to clean drinking water.
"We want to reduce the number of people who die from water related illnesses – more than 3 million people die every year," Doering Smith explained.
The bike delivers pedal power to a battery which fuels an ultraviolet bulb.
Oregon Live
About 80,000 Moda Health members who buy their own insurance will see their monthly premiums climb an average 10.6 percent next year, while many other insurers are dropping their rates to compete.
Insurance rate decisions were issued by the Oregon Insurance Division Thursday and announced today, showing a tighter range of premiums in the individual market for people not covered by employers or Medicare.