Four people have announced their candidacy for Port of Tacoma commission positions.

Commissioner Clare Petrich is running for a fourth term. She was first elected to the commission in 1995. Petrich has been the managing partner of Petrick Marine Dock, a moorage and industrial facility on the Foss Waterway, for 17 years. She is also the founder and owner of Dockmandu, a import shop that sells home and garden products.

Three people have announced plans to run for the seat being vacated by longtime port commissioner Jack Fabulich.

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I wrote a story for today's paper – and a blog post yesterday – regarding Attorney General Rob McKenna's plans for investigating the factors that influence gas prices.

I received several e-mails and phone calls from readers on the topic, so I thought I'd post some additional information.

This is the first, comprehensive study done by the state since 1991.

For those interested here's the link to that study, which was commissioned by the Legislature.

Company employees met for a noon luncheon today to hear that PCS Structural Solutions – an engineering firm with offices in Tacoma and Seattle – has chosen a new leadership team.

Craig Stauffer, a 14-year employee and principal in the Seattle office, has been named president. Brian Phair, a 13-year Tacoma veteran who has served as principal-in-charge of the firm's educational, correction and health-care work, is now vice president. Dan Putnam will remain as CEO.

The promotions are a result of a "significant ownership transition plan" that has been in place for five years, PCS said in a release.

Founded in 1966 and originally known as Chalker Engineers, PCS employs 60 people and has seen revenues increase 52 percent over the past three years. The firm specializes in engineering health-care and educational markets, and has worked on such projects as The Tacoma Dome, Washington State History Museum, University of Washington Tacoma, Union Station and the structural design of over $12 billion in K-12 construction in the Puget Sound area.

It's where all the smart kids go.

In survey results posted today, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that 36 percent of American adult Internet users consult the citizen-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia, and fully eight percent consult the site on a typical day.

Wikipedia is"far more popular among the well-educated than it is among those with lower levels of education," the survey says, reporting that 50 percent of users have earned a college degree, while 22 percent boast a high school diploma.

For a full look at the report, including an analysis of the site's popularity, visit http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/212/report_display.asp.

Not Amazon, Best Buy or Target.

Toyota’s Scion is the most recognized brand among online shoppers 35 years old and younger, according to an annual survey as reported at Marketing Daily.

Just four years old, Scion.com promotes artists and concert info, allows users to build and save their own Scion and can send a customer’s preferences to a local dealership to set up a test drive.

Chalk up more orders for Boeing in a week that promises to pump up the backlog for the Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.

To wit:

* Fifteen 787s for Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson's airline took options for eight 787-9s and purchase rights for 20 more Dreamliners. If Virgin Atlantic exercises all of its options and purchase rights, the order would be worth about $8 billion to Boeing. The 787 is key to Branson's new "green" strategy because of their fuel efficiency. The billionaire adventurer and entrepreneur has delayed deliveries of Airbus' superjumbo A380 until at least 2013 and is putting on hold orders for Airbus' relatively thirsty, four-engine A340. Branson and Boeing on that same theme announced a test using biofuels to operate one of Virgin's 747s.

* Twenty-three more 787 Dreamliners for Air Canada. The Canadian carrier exercised options on the nearly two dozen planes today raising its total 787 orders to 37. In the process, the airline cancelled orders for two Boeing 777s. In converting the options to orders, Air Canada became the largest North American customer for the 787. The Toronto-based airline also expects to take delivery of 16 777s by the end of next year. The Air Canada order is significant because the airline is shedding its long-range Airbus jets in favor of Boeings.

* Fifteen new generation 737s and five 787s from leasing company Aviation Capital Group. The deal is worth about $1.6 billion at list prices. ACG has 138 Boeings in its fleet. This week's order was the leasing company's first for the Dreamliner.

Remember when commuting from cities such as Kalispell and Walla Walla meant duck-walking down the aisle of a 19-seat, cigar-shaped airliner?

Those planes were largely replaced in the '90s by the 37-seat Bombardier Q200 airliners, at least if your favored airline was Horizon.

Now, Horizon plans to phase out the Q200s in favor of 76-seat Bombardier Q400s. Target date to replace all of those smaller twin-engine Q200s is now 2009.

To accomplish that feat, SeaTac-based Horizon Air announced late Monday that it is ordering 15 more Q400s from Canadian plane maker Bombardier and taking options for 20 more.

By mid-2009, the Horizon fleet will consist of just two kinds of aircraft: 48 turboprop Q400s and 20 jet CRJ-700s.

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