The Biz Buzz

The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.

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Got something to say? Here's the place to say it. We welcome your comments on what's going on in business in the South Sound that we should be discussing, reporting or analyzing here on our blog or in the pages of The News Tribune.

Contributors

Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.

C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.

John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.

Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.

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Get the most up-to-date news, insights and analysis of Tacoma, Pierce County and South Puget Sound business.
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
Posted by John Gillie @ 05:03:35 pm

Hundreds of airport-related jobs are available today at Sea-Tac Airport's Spring Job Fair.

Those jobs range from pilots and airport managers to rental car shuttle drivers, cooks and ramp workers.

The fair will be held in the airport's arrival hall at the far south end of the baggage claim area. Booths staffed by employers looking for new workers will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Those employers are looking not only for seasonal and part-time workers but also for full-time employees.

If you park in the airport's garage, bring your ticket with you to the job fair for validation.

If you can't make it in person, go to the airport's Web job site at www.airportjobs.org for a complete list of jobs and how to apply for them.

That list is available year-round, not just during the job fair.

Categories: Aerospace
Posted by Kelly Kearsley @ 04:06:36 pm

Tacoma-based Labor Ready witnessed a decrease in its first-quarter revenue and profit, the company reported today.

Labor Ready provides temporary workers for manual labor, light industrial and skilled construction trades.

The company's revenue dipped 2.3 percent from $297 million in the first quarter of last year to $290 million this year. Profit slipped by 9.8 percent to $10.3 million this year compared to $11.5 million last year.

While the numbers for quarter were down, they still exceeded the company's expectations, said Derrek Gafford, Labor Ready's executive vice president and chief financial officer. The company had anticipated revenue to slip by 5 percent.

=> Read more!

Categories: General, Labor
Posted by C.R. Roberts @ 02:56:40 pm

Taxpayers who were unable to e-file their tax returns Tuesday using Intuit Inc. software products have until midnight on April 19 to file their returns, the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday.

Potentially up to several hundred thousand last-minute tax filers were affected by company server problems on Tuesday evening, and they or their accountants may have been unable to electronically file returns. Intuit confirmed Wednesday that those problems had been resolved, and the company was successfully accepting e-file returns on Wednesday.

The company said affected taxpayers and tax professionals include those using “TurboTax,” “ProSeries,” “Lacerte” and Intuit’s Free File offering, “TurboTax Freedom.”

The IRS will not apply late filing penalties to taxpayers who were affected by this problem.

Categories: General
Posted by C.R. Roberts @ 12:20:10 pm

Just because they’re meeting strangers online, don’t think teenagers aren’t getting the heeby-jeebies. So go some results in a report on the online presence of teens – released today by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Among the findings:

• 63 percent of of teens who maintain online profiles believe that a motivated person could identify them by the information publicly provided.
• 55 percent of online teens have profiles at social networking sites, and 66 percent of them say their information is restricted in some way.
• Of those whose profiles can be accessed by anyone, 46 percent say they have given “at least some false information.”
• For those who have profiles, 82 percent have posted their first names; 79 percent have posted photos of themselves; 49 percent have provided the name of their schools; 29 percent have given an e-mail address; 2 percent have offered their cell-phone numbers.
• 23 percent of those with profiles say it would be”pretty easy” for someone to fully identify them from the profile; 36 percent say it would be “very difficult.”
• 32 percent of online teens (and 43 percent of social networkers) have been contacted online by strangers.
• 7 percent of online teens and 23 percent of those who have been contacted by a stranger online say they felt scared or uncomfortable because of an online encounter.

For more information on the Pew project visit www.pewinternet.org

Categories: General
Posted by John Gillie @ 12:16:11 pm

It was a dark day for the Boeing Co. on March 12, 2003 that the company's stock closed at a 21st century low, $25.15.

Who would have guessed that a little more than four years later, the stock would be reaching all-time highs?

At the market's close today, Boeing was trading at 93.88 a share, up $3.43 a share from Tuesday's close and $1.64 more than its previous high water mark set in late February this year.

In 2003, the invasion of Iraq was just eight days away, and Boeing was still laying off hundreds of workers each month in an attempt to match its plane-building capacity to its dwindling order book.

Today, the company is buoyed by the record sales of its 787 twin-jet, a record 544 even before the plane makes its first flight and two years of record commercial aircraft orders.

Boeing is a strong favorite in the $40 billion contest to build a new generation of aerial tankers to equip the Air Force, and the company was the sole bidder for 20 new fighters for the South Korean Air Foce. That project could bring the company $2.5 billion in new sales.

Meanwhile, Airbus is in disarray laying off 10,000 workers, selling plants and attempting to solve wiring problems on its A380 jumbo jet.

Kudos to those with the foresight to buy Boeing when it sold in the mid-20s. Your faith is being rewarded.

Categories: Aerospace
Posted by C.R. Roberts @ 11:56:42 am

Rainier Pacific Financial Group, parent of Tacoma-based Rainier Pacific Bank, on Wednesday posted first-quarter earnings nearly 39 percent above quarterly earnings a year ago. Net income for the first quarter was up 38.6 percent, to $890,000, while dividends rose from 11 cents per share to 15 cents.

Revenue was $8.6 million for the quarter, compared to $8.4 million in 2006. Assets rose $3.9 million from the end of December to $906.6 million, and total loans were $638.5 million compared to $595.7 million for the first quarter of 2006. Net charge-offs were $157,000 for the quarter, compared to $206,000 a year ago.

John Hall, Rainier president and CEO, said he was pleased at the progress toward improving earnings and with the continued “strong credit quality exhibited by our loan portfolio, and the growth of our core deposits during the first quarter.” He said the bank will focus on improving efficiency and profitability during the remainder of 2007.

Categories: Banking
Posted by Kelly Kearsley @ 09:21:38 am

Pierce County added 2,000 jobs from February to March and 4,800 over the year, according to Employment Security Department information released Tuesday.

The numbers are not adjusted for seasonal changes in employment such as holiday hiring.

Industries that witnessed growth including trade and transportation, construction and business and professional services.

To see the full report and numbers from around the state go here.

Categories: Employment/Workplace