Tacoma Business Center this week celebrated both its own reopening at the downtown campus of Bates Technical College and the grand opening of the Women’s Business Center.

The Tacoma center assists – free of charge – people who are either starting a business or who require counseling on matters concerning an existing business.

Agencies housed at the center include SCORE, Small Business Development Center, Community Capital Development and the women’s center.

For more information call 253-680-7770, and look for a full story about the operation in a News Tribune business section article later this month.

Hiring activity in the West and South will be the strongest in the country in the second quarter, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey released today.

Thirty-four percent of employers in the West and 31 percent in the South plan to increase their staff levels compared to 26 percent in Northeast and 24 percent in the Midwest, the survey reports.

The compensation portion of the report bodes well for employees. More than a third of employers say its harder to retain workers right now compared to one year ago.

Fifteen percent of 6,800 workers say they are actively pursuing a new position, according to the survey and 50 percent said that though they are not looking, they'd be open to a new job if one came along.

To keep employees, employers reported increasing salaries, upping bonuses and adding opportunities for flexible hours, telecommuting or job sharing.

New figures from Alaska Air Group are good news for Alaska frequent fliers and disappointing news for the company.

The good news for Alaska Airlines was that its overall traffic increased .5 percent in March. The not-so-good-news was that the airline's capacity grew faster than its traffic. That capacity to carry passengers grew by 2.3 percent.

The result that's potential good news for Alaska customers, is that the airline's planes were less full in March than they were in the same month a year ago. The airline's "load factor," the percentage of seats filled with paying passengers, decreased from 78.2 percent in March 2006 to 76.8 percent in 2007. That translates to better seat selection possibilities, more capacity to handle passengers whose flights are canceled and more seats available for frequent flier awards, if the airline choses.

Less full planes also puts pressure on the airline to lower prices.

Alaska isn't alone in seeing its load factor drop. One of its main rivals in the Northwest, Southwest Airlines, reported its load factor dropped from 75.5 percent in March last year to 73.3 percent in March this year.

Alaska's regional sister airline, Horizon Air, said its load factor dropped to 71 percent in March compared with 75.6 percent in March last year. Traffic at the airline dropped .3 percent while capacity grew 6.3 percent.

MultiCare Health System has named two new executives to its leadership team.

Lester Reed, MD, has been named vice president of medical affairs. He will oversee medical and clinical operations at Allenmore, Tacoma General, and Mary Bridge Children's hospitals. He first came to MultiCare in 2001 and left in 2004 to become a clinical director for a government health agency and clinical professor of medicine in New Zealand. He returned in 2005.

JoEllen Vanatta, RN, has been named vice president and chief nurse executive. Vanatta has been administrator of Allenmore Hospital since coming to MultiCare in 2001. She has served as interim chief nurse executive since 2006, and served in a variety of nursing leadership roles throughout her 30-year military career.

Reed and Vanatta will report to MultiCare Health System Chief Operating Officer George J. Brown, MD.

Lester Reed

JoEllen Vanatta