UNLUCKY BREAKS.
Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard Sony's sudden closure in April of its Springfield CD factory didn't just deal a blow to the plant's 277 workers, who all lost their jobs. It also gave a black eye to the enterprise-zone tax-break system - the corporate incentive program...

Council says panel can update Gateway zoning.
Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield City Council gave the green light to move forward on proposed changes to the city's campus industrial zoning, which would allow more commercial and office development in the Gateway business park. Councilors agreed to use...

County's unemployment figures climb.
Byline: Christian Wihtol The Register-Guard The Oregon Employment Department's June jobless report for Lane County bore scant good news Thursday, noting that the unemployment rate rose to 8 percent and the number of unemployed hit 13,965, up more than 3,000 people from a year earlier. ...

Brokers: Change in rules may help sell Sony property.
Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - Finding a buyer for the shuttered Sony plant, a hard task in today's soft economy, could be easier if rules governing the use of the massive building are relaxed. That was the message delivered to the Springfield City...

Candidates for governor address economy.
Byline: DAVID STEVES The Register-Guard BEAVERTON - They've been bombarding one another for days with attack ads, but under the steady gaze of two former governors and several hundred votes, Oregon's six major gubernatorial candidates spent Friday afternoon in a polite forum discussing how they would jump-start...

Cruise line explores Eugene-Springfield for call center.
Byline: Christian Wihtol The Register-Guard Cruise ship operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. may add Eugene-Springfield to its itinerary. In search of a spot to open a 300-employee reservations center, company executives have visited Eugene and Springfield several times in recent weeks, looking at sites in...

Company made millions in profits from land deals.
Byline: Christian Wihtol The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - Sony's bid to create a profitable CD factory in the Gateway area ultimately proved a flop, but the company has reaped millions of dollars in profits from a separate venture: buying and selling raw land near the factory. ...

Sony and Springfield: What went wrong.
Byline: Sherri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - On Jan. 18, 1994, local and state officials reveled in Springfield's good fortune as Sony announced it would build a $50 million, 300-employee factory here. "It really feels a little like Christmas today," gushed then-Gov. Barbara Roberts....

Philips Spins Off Optical Media Manufacturing.
Philips Components, a division of Philips Electronics NV, is merging its optical media components manufacturing operations with those of Ritek Corporation, a Taiwanese optical media products manufacturer. The new company will manufacture optical media components such as magneto-optical, CD-recordable, and CD-rewritable storage devices for Philips and other OEMs. Philips...

TDK DEMONSTRATES RE-WRITABLE DVD-DRIVES, UP CAPACITY.
TDK Electronics Corp says it has made a breakthrough in phase- change recording material that will lead to the development of a re-writable DVD disk capable of playback on DVD-Video players and computer DVD-ROM devices. TDK, which has its US base in Port Washington, New York, has been demonstrating...