Five former Pure Fitness clubs in Western Washington, two of them in Tacoma, have become LA Fitness Clubs.

Neither organization has said much about the takeover, why it happened and how the change will affect members.

An employee at the South Tacoma location said Pure Fitness members were receiving new membership codes. Pure Fitness members who are paying less than $29.99 a month for membership will have their membership restricted to the former Pure Fitness locations, she said. Those who want to upgrade and pay more dues will be able to use any LA Fitness location.

The clubs hours may be changing, she said, and there are plans to improve the club, but no major improvements will happen for at least six months.

A call to LA Fitness' corporate headquarters was greeted be an automated answering system. A message left on that system has yet to be returned.

Attempts to reach Pure Fitness executives in Arizona met with a promise to have one of the managing partners return the call. We're still waiting.

Consumers will soon know which of their local businesses are owned by veterans.

Gov. Chris Gregoire today signed into law a measure to create a list of veteran-owned businesses in the state and sticker to identify those businesses for consumers.

To be included on the list and receive a “veteran-owned” window sticker, businesses will submit an application to the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs.

The department will make the list of veteran-owned businesses available on its Web site, according to information from the governor's office.

They were the days of hot fudge and carhops, of jalopies and Big Bands. The teenagers would gather then at Busch’s, down along South Tacoma Way – Stadium kids on one side, Lincoln on the other. But times changed. The '30s became the '50s, '60s, the '80s, the Millennium. The carhops disappeared. New teenagers found new places. Nobody had time for root beer anymore.

Busch’s closed in 2001, then reopened, then then menu changed and so did the name. The character changed. The customers never came back. Wasn’t it a sports bar for 20 minutes? A nightclub? The names came and went. Those early teenagers joined AARP, and hot fudge wasn’t on their diet.

So now a new sign has gone up – there at Busch’s, at 3505 South Tacoma Way – there above the parking lot that has for so long been so empty.

“Closed for Demo,” it says.

Although daily room rates for Tacoma-area hotels and motels rose 7.8% in February, they remain the lowest in the state. The average area room rented for $66.74, while the state average was $113.81, said Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood on Monday.

Rooms in the downtown Seattle area posted an average of $147, while rooms in Bellevue marked $144.13. The cost of Bellevue rooms was up 18.2% over a year before, Rood said.

Seventy-two percent of Tacoma-area rooms were occupied in February, Rood said, up 10.8 percent from 2006. At 72%, the area had the state's greatest percentage of occupied rooms during the month. Spokane had the lowest quotient of occupied rooms, at 59.1%.

A Florida-based real estate investment trust is officially the new owner of Wild Waves, the Federal Way water park.

Six Flags, the park's previous owner, announced in January it would sell Wild Waves as part of a $312 million seven-park deal to PARC 7F Operations Corp.

PARC 7F sold the parks to Orlando-based CNL Income Properties, which then leased the parks back to PARC. CNL announced the completion of the sale today.

PARC's vice president of corporate development said in January that the sale will have little effect on Wild Waves.

The company will make some minor improvements to the park and revise some customer service policies to make the Wild Waves more family friendly, he said.

Subway plans to introduce deep-dish pizza at its thousands of locations in June. Despite its “Fresh Fit” campaign, the sandwich chain has been trying for 10 years to make a go of pizza, according to trade magazine Brandweek. At the core of the chain's healthy-eating image campaign: Jared Fogle and his ability to lose more than 200 pounds after putting himself on a diet of Subway sandwiches.

Here’s what the Brandweek story had to say:

Subway's addition of pizza is not without precedence. McDonald's has been testing pizzas off and on for years. Panera Bread Co. offers pies after 4 p.m. Dunkin' Donuts is testing individual pizzas at four locations; Dunkin' Deli locations also offer "Pizzettas."

"Pizza is the most competitive category in fast food," said Bob Sandelman, CEO at food service research firm Sandelman & Associates, San Clemente, Calif. "There are not only the chains, but also local competition from mom and pops and regional players."

Subway’s personal-sized pizzas will sell for $2.99 with another $1 charged for pepperoni, meatballs or sausage, according to Brandweek. But, hey, at least additional veggies are free.

Delta Airlines is once again considering changing its paint scheme, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The bankrupt carrier already has changed its paint scheme or livery three times in the last decade.

The idea is that the company wants to let its customers know that it's a
"new Delta" when it emerges from bankruptcy reorganization. The new scheme will reportedly retain the basic red, white and blue colors while bringing back a stylized triangular "widget" shape.

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