First it was sharp objects, then liquids and gels and now it's lithium batteries that are gaining the scrutiny of airport screeners.

A new federal regulation, prompted by fires caused by overheated lithium batteries in laptop computers, prohibits airline passengers from packing spare lithium batteries in their checked luggage. The rule is effective Jan. 1.

The new rules allow two spare batteries either carried in their original retail packaging or in a zip top plastic bag inside a carry-on bag.

Lithium batteries are typically found in electronic devices such as laptops and video cameras. Batteries stored in electronic devices - including cameras, cell phones, and laptops - are still allowed in both checked and carry-on luggage.

The press release announcing this change is posted on the U.S. Department of Transportation's Web site.

The Australian government says it wants to take a second look at a $5.8 billion contract to buy 24 FA-18 Super Hornet jets from Boeing.

Super Hornet

The contract re-examination came after the Labor Party defeated the Liberal-National coalition in elections last month.

Former Australian defense minister Brendan Nelson had approved the contract, but his political opponents contend he failed to consult his military advisors before picking Boeing.

The Boeing contract's critics contend that the Super Hornet is outclassed by the latest Russian fighters that it contends are faster, more maneuverable and have greater range than the Boeing fighter. Several Southeast Asain countries have bought Russian fighters.

Boeing builds the FA-18 at its St. Louis plant.

Got a problem? If you're like the majority of Americans, you’ll go to the Internet for a solution.

In a report out this week, the Pew Internet & American Life Project says that for help with a variety of common problems, “more people turn to the Internet than consult experts or family members to provide information and resources.”

Among the 10 possible problems: dealing with a serious illness or health concern; making a decision about financing school or upgrading work skills; dealing with a tax matter; and changing a job or starting a business.

Those who had dealt with any the problems were asked where they went for help:

• 58 percent of those who had recently experienced one of those problems said they used the internet (at home, work, a public library or some other place) to get help.
• 53 percent said they turned to professionals such as doctors, lawyers or financial experts.
• 45 percent said they sought out friends and family members for advice and help.
• 36 percent said they consulted newspapers and magazines.
• 34 percent said they directly contacted a government office or agency.
• 16 percent said they consulted television and radio.
• 13 percent said they went to the public library.

These were the most-read business blog posts of 2007:

1. Ameriquest settlement claims due
2. Locomotive will take a Tideflats roadtrip Friday
3. New shops at Gig Harbor's Uptown
4. I-5 closed near Chehalis for at least 36 hours
5. Alaska's strategic retreat
6. Church's chicken draws crowds
7. Uptown Gig Harbor's first store opening
8. Cabela's: Been there, done that, no need to go back
9. Starbucks recall coffee mugs
10. Goldman Sachs buys piece of SSA Marine's parent company

Okay, here’s the deal. I spoke today with John Weymer, spokesman for the Puyallup Tribe, and he tells me the original press release was incorrect. WH Pacific, the Anchorage firm, has been hired to prepare a master plan. The firm is not doing the the specific design work for the site – on 50 acres of tribal land between Portland Avenue and the current casino along I-5 and the beginning of River Road.

Weymer said the agreement with WH Pacific is only about “how to utilize the property. They are not contracted to do design - it’s just a master plan.”

The tribe intends that the developed site will include, Weymer said, an elders’ center, youth center, community center, and justice center that will include a jail. The master plan will also include a site proposal – to determine a footprint – for a new casino.

Any construction is a few years away.

The doors close today for the last time at what's the oldest continually operating business on the Ruston Way waterfront, Johnny's Ocean Fish Co.

Johnny's

Pacific Seafood Group, the Portland-based seafood giant that bought the Johnny's operation two years ago, is pulling the plug on the Old Town fish market after 74 years in business.

The Old Town store manager, Debbie Goss, said the three-member staff is being transferred to Johnny's Dock Street store.

Johnny's manager Debbie Goss and employee Joey Fote

The business opened in 1933 as Ocean Fish Co. In 1975, Johnny's owners bought the business and added their name to the Ocean Fish moniker.

Goss said the seafood store has dozens of regular customers, some of whom have been patrons since the market opened.

"You should hear their stories," she said. "They talk about when clams were five cents a pound and when salmon sold for 10 cents each."

When Old Town was bordered by sawmills, shipyards and flour mills, fishing boats would pull up to the overwater market's back door to unload their goods, she said.

Goss' own daughter, Shannon, met her husband when they both worked at the seafood market.

The workers at the Johnny's branch learned of its imminent closure about two weeks ago and posted a public notice Sunday.

Closure notice

In addition to regulars who bought seafood for dinner, the small white clapboard store adjacent to the Old Town Dock was popular with Ruston Way walkers and joggers.

"They'd buy chowder in the wintertime and cold watermelon in the summer," said Goss.

The Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday that an Anchorage company – WH Pacific – has “won a contract with the Puyallup Tribe to work on the tribe's new casino in Tacoma, Wash.”

Under the contract, the story said, the company will provide master planning and architectural/engineering design services for “a 150,000-square-foot casino on a 50-acre site along Interstate 5.”

A 150,000-square-foot casino on a 50-acre site is a big deal. In fact, I received a press release on this a week ago and called Puyallup Tribe spokesman John Weymer. He said there were errors in the report, and that someone from the engineering firm would be in touch with me. The fellow never called.

I’ll be checking on this next week. Stay tuned.

The Associated Press reported today that the housing market "plunged deeper into despair in November," with sales of new homes falling to their lowest level in more than 12 years.

The wire story, quoting a Commerce Department report issued today,says new-home sales tumbled 9 percent in November from October to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 647,000.

That's the worst sales pace since April 1995.

We wrote Wednesday on a report – the S&P /Case-Shiller Home Price Index – that said home prices across the country had fallen, and that prices in Seattle were down 0.9 percent between September and October and down 0.2 percent from August to September. The only bright news there was that Seattle was one of only three areas in the country to see an increase in home prices over the past 12 months – up 3.3 percent.

The AP said the housing picture turns out to be more grim than anticipated, with many economists predicting sales to decline by 1.8 percent.

Only in the West did sales rise – by 4 percent In the Midwest, new-home sales plunged 27.6 percent in November from October. Sales dropped 19.3 percent in the Northeast and 6.4 percent in the South.

Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4 percent, the biggest annual slide since early 1991.
The median sales price of a new home dipped to $239,100 in November. That is 0.4 percent lower than a year ago.

Chelsea Heights, planned as a 78-unit condo project near Tacoma's Wright Park, will join Prium Companies' Hanna Heights as an apartment project when it debuts this spring.

The project at Sixth Avenue and J Streets is yet another victim of slowing condominium sales in downtown Tacoma and nationwide.

Chelsea Heights

Nearly 3,500 condominiums are available or planned in the downtown Tacoma market, according to a recent study by Tacoma real estate consultant J.J. McCament.

"With the downturn in the condo market, we have determined that it is our best interest to lease the 78 units as executive condominiums," said Prium chief operating officer Pete Ansara.

Tacoma-based Prium earlier this month pulled its mid-rise Hanna Heights project at Sixth and Fawcett Avenues off the condominium market and relaunched it as an apartment project.

Ansara said both Hanna and Chelsea Heights are being marketed as "executive condominium" rentals.

"Executive condomiums," he said, have more expensive features, granite countertops and hardwood floors, for instance, than typical apartment units.

Interest in leasing of both buildings has been encouraging, said Ansara.

"Without making formal announcements to lease the units, we have received a lot of interest," he said of the Chelsea Heights project.

At Hanna Heights, about one-third of the 35 units are leased. Prium expects all to be rented by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

At Chelsea, Prium says it is negotiating with a local business to lease the whole 20,000-square-foot ground floor. That floor is office and retail space.

Ansara said the strategy changes were undertaken to cope with the changing market.

"While the housing market has slowed, and the credit market is tighter, we have been very successful at adapting to the changes," he said. "Our diverse portfolio has allowed us to move very nicely with the tide."

The high-profile condos which Prium has planned and built represent a fraction of the company's holdings, he said.

"Our portfolio also consists of office, retail and apartments, all of which are doing very well in the 26 markets we serve," he said.

Prium is not the only developer that has shifted from condos to apartments. The North Carolina-based Landmark Group, for instance, said it plans build apartments, not condos, in a 300-unit development on Puyallup Avenue near Tacoma's transit center.

Landmark had originally planned affordable condos on the tract, the site of the former Spring Air mattress factory.

Portac, Inc., a lumber mill in Tacoma's Tideflats, is closing.

Gary Takahashi, the company's president, said Thursday that the mill is laying off its remaining 71 workers and will begin to shut down in February.

It's been a tough year for the company.

Last spring, Portac laid off about 50 people due to a shortage of logs to mill. The company mills large-sized logs into products such as beams and garage headers.

Takahashi said then that there was a shortage of large logs from nearby areas, such as Morton and Lewis County, to mill. Transporting large logs from farther away wasn't economically feasible, he said.

The number of mills in the Tideflats has dwindled over the years.

Pony Lumber closed in September 2006 due to changes in the country's lumber market.

I'm going to interview Takahashi this morning to get some better detail on the challenges facing Portac.

Look for the story in Saturday's paper.

Air Canada is experimenting with the next step in do-it-yourself check-ins with kiosks that spit out luggage tags for passengers to apply to their own bags.

The new tags are available at Air Canada check-in facilities in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Air Canada isn't the only pioneer in self-tagging. SeaTac-based Alaska Airlines tried and rejected passenger-applied luggage tags in its "Airport of the Future" design in Anchorage.

Alaska executives said passengers had no reluctance to printing their own boarding passes, but balked at printing and applying their own baggage tags.

They apparently feared they'd do it wrong and their luggage would end up in Anaheim when they flew to Anchorage.

Flights leaving Sea-Tac Airport this morning were generally leaving on time despite storm conditions in Chicago, Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis.

Those iffy weather conditions and pilot shortages have forced cancellations of hundreds of flights this holiday season nationwide particularly at United Airlines. United cancelled 168 flights nationwide Thursday.

This morning's Sea-Tac stats show only one flight cancelled in the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. time period, a United 8:21 a.m. flight to Denver. Other flights to Chicago and Boston were running late.

For the latest airport arrival and departure times, check Flightstats.com.

Just a reminder: The state’s minimum wage will increases 14 cents to $8.07 an hour starting on Jan. 1.

Washington’s minimum wage applies to workers in both agriculture and non-agricultural jobs, although 14- and 15-year-olds may be paid 85 percent of the adult minimum wage, or $6.86 an hour.

Each year, the Department of Labor and Industries recalculates the state’s minimum wage as required by Initiative 688, which Washington voters approved in 1998. The initiative requires the state to adjust the minimum wage according to the change in a national index covering the cost of goods and services needed for day-to-day living. That index rose 1.8 percent during the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2007.

For employers – or anyone wishing to decorate a wall with data – free minimum wage and worker rights posters are available from any L&I office or by calling 866-219-7321 or downloading from the L&I web site at www.Wages.Lni.wa.gov

One of Boeing's biggest 787 Dreamliner customers, Air India, is asking the company to compensate it for the delayed delivery of its first few aircraft.

Boeing says it is expecting to deliver the first 787 to Air India five months late.

Boeing originally had planned to deliver its first 787 to launch customer All Nippon Airways in May next year. But Boeing delayed that delivery by six months after problems developed in the new global network of plants building major sections of the new jet.

Air India is third in line to receive the 787.It was to receive its first plane in Spetember 2008. Now that plane is due for delivery in February 2009.

In December 2005, the airline ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft as part of a 68-Boeing aircraft order.

United Airlines has cancelled more than 600 flights during the critical holiday period, many of those flights going through the airline's Chicago hub.

But United's pilots' union says the root cause was not so much the weather as it is the airline's too lean roster of pilots.

The airline was forced to cancel flights because it had used its corps of pilots to fill in on flights earlier in the month when the weather delayed those flights and "timed out" the pilots originally scheduled to handle the flights. Federal rules limit pilots' duty hours.

"The weather wouldn't have mattered if they had enough people," Herb Hunter, a Boeing 747 captain at United and a pilots' union spokesman, tells the Chicago Tribune.

Another shipping line is leaving the Port of Seattle to come to Tacoma.

MOL - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines – ships are scheduled to call at Washington United Terminals docks in Tacoma next month, said Tara Hazarian, Port of Tacoma spokeswoman.

The Japanese shipping line currently calls at Terminal 5 in Seattle. That terminal is operated by Eagle Marine Services, a subsidiary of APL.

The Seattle PI reports that MOL was "frustrated waiting for APL to expand Terminal 5 by adding another berth and a couple of cranes, as its current lease with the Port of Seattle.

=> Read more!

The race to book airline orders by year's end entered the home stretch this week:

Boeing landed several orders as 2007 enters its final days:

* South Korean budget carrier Jeju Air expects to sign a contract Friday for five Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The aircraft are expected to be delivered beginning in 2011.

* Brazil's GOL announced orders for 40 more 737s from Boeing valued at $2.8 billion at list prices. That brings GOL's orders for the 737-800 to 161. Many of those aircraft are special performance editions of the 737 designed to operate on the short urban runways in Brazil's most populous cities.

* British Airways has finalized an order for 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The twin-aisle, new technology aircraft have a total list price of $4.4 billion. The airline also took an option for 18 more of the composite aircraft.

It isn't quite as widespread as Starbucks, but Emeryville-Calif. based Jamba Juice is quickly colonizing the world's shopping centers including one in Gig Harbor.

The company Thursday will open its 500th Jamba Juice company-owned store at 4709 Point Fosdick Drive NW in Gig Harbor. The store opens at 6 a.m.

Jamba sells blended fruit "smoothies" in retail stores throughout the country. The first five guests at the Gig Harbor store will receive $100 Jamba gift cards.

Microsoft thinks it’s found a way to make money off an old game title, Flight Simulator. The software company will be releasing an updated version of the game in January to aviation companies that cater to the U.S. military and other clients, according to BusinessWeek.

Here’s an excerpt of the BusinessWeek story detailing how it all came about:

It's the first time a major software company has entered the "serious"—or nonentertainment—games arena with a product to help other corporations build their own employee-training video games in-house via a simple, Windows-based program. And priced at only $799 per license, Microsoft ESP poses a cost-effective threat to smaller studios that develop custom games—at a cost of $500,000 and up per game—for corporations, hospitals, and the armed forces.

For years, companies such as military contractor Northrop Grumman had contacted Microsoft, asking if they could license the game engine for Flight Simulator. "Since the late 1990s, there have been ongoing inquiries to our game studio by various companies who ask, 'Can we use this for training? How can we make it do this or that?'" recalls David Boker, senior director of the Business Development Group at Microsoft's Aces Studio, one of Microsoft's game studios, where ESP and Flight Simulator were developed. But at first, Microsoft wasn't interested.

Sea-Tac's Alaska Airlines has tried dozens of remedies to improve its on-time performance: new passenger loading schemes, improved overnight aircraft maintenance, adjusted schedules among them, but the airline can't seem to improve its disappointing on-time performance.

Now, Alaska has borrowed a tactic from the National Basketball Association, a shotclock-like visual display that counts down the time remaining until a flight's scheduled departure.

That display, mounted at eight Sea-Tac gates and in the jet bridges, shows pilots, ramp and cabin crews how much time remains for them to get their pre-flight jobs accomplished if the plane is to depart on time.

Called the Ramp Information Display (RIDS), the system also displays the flight number and destination as well as the scheduled arrival and departure times on the three-by-eight-foot displays mounted on the terminal building. A smaller screen in the connecting bridge to the plane displays the same information for cabin crew members.

Plans call for RIDS to be installed at every gate on the C and D concourses at Sea-Tac, as well as Alaska Airlines' gates in the North Satellite terminal by next summer, the airline said.

Alaska also plans to install the screens at its other busy cities, Anchorage, Portland and Los Angeles.

Apparently, Kazahkstan isn't blaming Boeing for its depiction as a backward, unsophisticated country in Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Air Astana, an airline based in that former Soviet Republic, has announced orders for three Boeing 787-8 widebodies and six Airbus A320 single-aisle jets.

Deliveries of the aircraft will start in 2012, the airline, a joint venture of the Kazakh government and BAE Systems, announced today.

The airline took options to buy three additional 787s and three A320s.

The job placement and training programs at Tacoma Goodwill were accredited this month by CARF International. The organization issued the accreditation after visiting Tacoma Goodwill and reviewing its workforce development programs, according to a Goodwill press release.

CARF International had only one recommendation for improvement – beefing up procedures to respond to emergencies with at least annual drills. The release said Mike Werner, Goodwill safety coordinator, will be in charge of making such improvements.

This year, Tacoma Goodwill will help more than 4,200 people with education, job training and placement, according to the organization.
The accreditation is good through November 2010.

Sea-Tac Airport last week honored a three-month old boy, Ian Peyton, as its 30 millionth passenger of 2007.

That singular honor earned Ian a basketful of goodies from airport vendors and the airlines and a ride to the gate with his parents and siblings on an airport motorized cart.

The 30 millionth passenger is a good sign for Sea-Tac, for the airlines that serve it and for the companies that rely on airport passengers for their livelihoods.

The airport expects that by year's end some 31.1 million passengers will have used the airport this year, a new record.

For airline passengers, the new record is a mixed blessing. Greater numbers mean more flights to more destinations (Sea-Tac has added non-stop flights this year to Mexico City and Paris this year and plans to introduce service to Frankfurt and additional service to London next year.) But more passengers mean more crowded parking garages (the garage was virtually filled to the top on the busiest days this year), and more queues for check-in and security.

This year is the fifth consecutive year Sea-Tac has seen passenger traffic grow. The 9-11 terrorist attacks depressed traffic in 2001 and 2002.

Flightstats.com, the Portland-based, technology company that provides all manner of information about flight delays and flight status, has announced a new flight delay reporting system for airports.

The system monitors delays and cancellations at airports worldwide and assigns a "delay index" ranging from 0 to 5 for each major airport. Flightstats users can also check the status of individual flights.

For most of us, already locked into non-refundable tickets, the site won't help us get where we want to go any faster, but it will help us let our relatives know not to cast off for the airport when its likely our plane won't be there 'til midnight.

Yahoo! Travel has announced its list of top tourist destinations for New Year's Eve and neither Seattle nor Tacoma is on it.

No surprise there considering the places that made the list:

1. Las Vegas
2. New York
3. Boston
4. Orlando
5. Paris
6. Cancun
7. Miami
8. Honolulu
9. Manila
10.Sydney

Looks like two factors rule: abundant nightlife and warm weather.

The only city that puzzles me a bit is Boston, certainly not warm, and although not lacking in night life, its not in the same league as Vegas or the Big Apple.

I've marveled lately at the brilliance of the comfy chairs and TVs tuned to football games at Macy's and in the Nordstrom shoe department. A great spot for men who need a shopping break, allowing women to perhaps take a little more time -- exactly what retailers want them doing. And at Macy's the TVs are right at the entrance to the dressing room, allowing for a little sports on the male side of the equation and allowing for women to show off their outfits and not wonder where their guy has wandered off to.

Forbes has explored this phenomenon -- an attempt by the retail industry to get more of the time of the side of the pair who experts say influence almost all family purchases.

Here's an excerpt of the story:

Retail analysts say it's impossible to quantify the return on investment these lounges bring in. But the results speak for themselves. "Macy's has spent a fortune on their dressing rooms," says Howard Davidowitz , chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a national retail consulting and investment banking firm based in Manhattan. "It's an intelligent decision. The longer you keep a person in a store, the more you're going to sell them. It's just arithmetic. Bloomingdales sales are going up year over year. Sales in Barneys are up year over year. Sales in Bergdorf's are up year over year."

Recent studies show that even when women are not the actual buyers, they influence 90% of buying decisions in their household. Therefore, "The entire store has to be geared toward the female shopper," says Scott Kohno, managing partner at The Retail Element in Pasadena, Calif., a consulting firm that guides retailers on store layout and design.

You might remember that over the summer, a couple of lawyers embarked on the inevitable -- suing a Seattle upstart that rates those who litigate. The lawsuit was filed just days after Avvo.com, the lawyer-rating site, launched.

Lawyers get ratings from 1 to 10 based on a collection of information, including published articles and professional awards, and posts comments from clients and colleagues. Avvo also recently added a Q&A feature.

The case was dismissed last week, according to a release from the company.

In his decision, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said opinions expressed by the rating of lawyers is protected by the First Amendment.

I heard from Eric LeMay recently – he’s part of a consortium looking to buy the Tacoma Narrows Airport from the city, developing the site and putting some of the property on the tax rolls.

In October, Left Seat LLC Group sent Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson a letter of intent outlining some fundamentals of the deal – including a look at the criteria for finding an agreeable purchase price, details of the earnest money, contingency requirements and such.

So far, LeMay said last week, “We haven’t heard zilch.”

Well, Micheal Slevin, the city’s facilities manager, tells me that negotiations are continuing with Pierce County. “We’re waiting on the county,” he said. “We’ve had negotiations as close as last week. We’re hoping they will respond with an offer letter. We’re currently expecting it. We’re waiting on their response.”

Slevin said there are a few other private inquiries on the table, besides the one from LeMay’s group. The Peninsula Gateway has reported that a Peninsula parks group is also part of the county deal.

“It’s not just a matter of you give us money and we give you an airport,” Slevin said. “I’m not saying they (Left Seat) will never have an opportunity to purchase the airport. We believe the transfer to the county is the best way. If we’re unable to do that, the next best will be to go with a private.”

The county didn’t return calls this week.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing how Washington Mutual Inc., the nation’s largest savings and loan, handled mortgages that were possibly based on inflated home appraisals, The Associated Press.

“We are voluntarily and fully cooperating with the SEC’s inquiry as well as the (Office of Thrift Supervision) and look forward to bringing the facts to both the regulators and public,” according to a company statement. OTS is the company’s federal regulator.
Shares of Seattle-based Washington Mutual fell 57 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $14.10 Friday. The company’s stock has traded between $13.99 and $46.38 in the past year.

SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment Friday.
Shares of WaMu have dropped about 65 percent since mid-September, following some dismal financial disclosures and a lawsuit filed in November by New York’s attorney general against one of its real estate appraisers, alleging the companies colluded to inflate home values.

“After spending a month and a half investigating these allegations, we can say with confidence that there has been no systematic effort by WaMu to inflate home appraisals,” the company statement said. “We take these allegations very seriously.”

The company’s chief legal officer, Fay L. Chapman, this week said she was retiring. Chapman, 61, will serve as a consultant for two years to help with the transition, and a WaMu spokeswoman said then that there was no connection between the company’s legal troubles and Chapman’s departure.

You'll soon be able to watch the Port of Tacoma commission's meetings on television and over the Internet.

The commission voted 4-1 to Web stream and televise its meetings. The approval came after some discussion over the cost and whether there’s much an audience for such programming.

“This is wonderful. This is exactly the direction we should be going in,” said commissioner Clare Petrich.

Commissioner Connie Bacon said a “cast of thousands and millions” won’t like watch the port meetings – but that’s not the point of making them available.

“Our interest is delivering it so that people who want to watch it can watch it. If you don’t want to watch it, don’t watch it,” Bacon said.

=> Read more!

It's been another big year for airplane manufacturers.

Boeing already has passed the order record it set last year, and Airbus is beating its own recrods.

At the start of 2007, industry observers figured there was little to no chance airlines would treat Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS to the same order frenzy the jet makers had enjoyed the previous two years, The Associated Press reports.

But both companies have proved the doubters wrong by each winning orders for more than 1,200 planes this year, with most coming from carriers in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, which have been expanding and upgrading their fleets.

Boeing, which had already surpassed a company order record it set last year, on Thursday added 67 planes to its final order update for 2007, boosting its total to 1,213.

Airbus SAS is expected to come out ahead, having logged 1,204 orders as of the end of November, the latest update available and well above its own record of 1,111 orders set two years ago. The Toulouse, France-based company is set to release its 2007 order total in mid-January.

=> Read more!

Happy Clams are on their way to Fife. So are Double Dolphins, Persian Princess, Phone Tag, Aztec Temple and Rich Little Piggies.

Such names are among the 850 new slot machines that will welcome players at at expanded Emerald Queen Casino beginning Sunday at 10 a.m. The 850 machines will bring to 3,500 the total number operated by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians – thus giving the Puyallups the highest number of machines of any tribe in the state.

The Fife location will house 1,500 machines while the facility near Portland Avenue will have 2,000.

Sunday’s opening will include 28,000 square feet of gaming space. Limited valet parking will be available in the new five-story parking garage, which casino head Frank Wright said will fully open for general parking as early as February. Another garage will open in the spring.

Two towers are also being constructed at the site, one housing offices, a fitness center and pool, and another that will house staff and public restaurants. The tower featuring the eateries should open early in 2008.

The new slot-machine area will be “comfortable, just relaxing with earth tones and soothing music, and no showroom,” Wright said. “I am the first one with low lighting levels. It’s also important to keep the ceilings low, close to the air conditioning. It gives you more of a relaxed feeling.”

The entire project is costing the tribe approximately $130 million. the general contractor is AECON Buildings of Lynwood. Merritt Architecture designed the facility, while BCE Engineers, AHBL Engineers and PCS Structural Solutions also contributed. Lead banks for funding were KeyBank and Bank of America, Wright said.

Starbucks may be going into Bulgaria next year, but they won’t be at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.

Brad Nelson, convention center food and beverage general manager, has given the coffee concession – which amounts to perhaps 200 pounds a month – to Starbucks rival Tully’s. The new brew should be in place by early next year.

Nelson cited “the customer service aspect, and the big thing was the going green, the compostable cups. That was the big key.” He said this week that Starbucks service fell short on a few occasions “when we needed some extra equipment, and they weren’t able to pull through.”

The Tully’s team, Nelson said, “were convincing. They had a good presentation.”
Also, he said he’d been in touch with his colleagues at food services company Aramark, which manages food and beverages at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.The Seattle center made a similar switch away from Starbucks to Tully's several months ago.

Tully’s would not comment on the move, with a spokesman saying yesterday that the company was in a “quite period” while it awaits a public offering of Tully’s stock.

Starbucks Regional Marketing Manager Martha Nielsen said earlier today, in a statement relayed through a public-relations firm, “It's very unfortunate that we were unable to come to contract terms with the Tacoma Convention Center but Starbucks Coffee Company remains committed to exceptional quality and the unique coffee experience.”

On Thursday the Port of Tacoma commission is scheduled to vote on a contract that would allow the agency to web stream and televise its meetings.

The initiative comes after a small, citizens' watch dog group, Friends of the Port, urged the port to televise its meetings earlier this year.

The commission will consider a $161,347 proposal from the San Francisco-based company Granicus, Inc.

The cost includes one-time equipment purchases, software purchases, training and ongoing program management and project support for one year, according to the port.

Granicus has teamed up with the Rainier Communications Commission/Rainier Media Center, which broadcasts meetings for several local governments, for the proposal.

Staff will provide more details of the contract Thursday. The meeting will be at 4 p.m. at the Port Business Center at 3600 Port of Tacoma Road.

Two Washington banks were listed as The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Wednesday released a list of “orders of administrative enforcement actions” that were issued for August.

The banks, 1st Security Bank of Washington in Mountlake Terrace and Twin City Bank of Longview, have both consented to the issuance of an Order to Cease and Desist by the FDIA.

They did so, the FDIC said in a release, “without admitting or denying the alleged charges of unsafe or unsound banking practices and violations of law and/or regulations.”

To view the full orders, visit: www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/enforcement/2007-08-07.pdf, or www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/enforcement/2007-08-06.pdf.

The world of Starbucks continues to grow. The Seattle-based coffee company plans to open shops in Bulgaria and Portugal next year.

The first Bulgarian store will open in the capital city of Sofia, and the first store in Portugal is expected to open in Lisbon, the Seattle-based coffee chain said on Wednesday.

The company did not specify when the stores will open in 2008.

Starbucks will work with joint-venture partners in Greece and Spain that help run the company’s coffee houses in several other European countries, The Associated Press reports.

Its Bulgaria stores will be operated with Athens-based Marinopoulos Group, Starbucks’ partner for stores in Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Switzerland and Austria. The expansion into Portugal will fall under Starbucks’ partnership with Madrid-based Grupo VIPS, which helps run stores in Spain and France.

Starbucks has more than 15,000 coffee shops worldwide, about 4,300 of them in 42 markets outside the United States.

Pierce County’s unemployment rate ticked up in November to 4.8 percent from 4.5 percent the previous month, most likely due to more people looking for jobs during the holiday hiring season.

“It’s pretty typical for the season,” said Paul Turek, Tacoma’s economist with the state’s Employment Security Department.

As the holidays approach, job seekers begin looking for seasonal work thus bumping up the unemployment rate even as hiring picks up, Turek said.

The county’s numbers are not adjusted for seasonal employment changes so they reflect changes such as holiday hiring. Seasonally adjusted county figures are not available.

The county gained 1,300 jobs over the month and 8,200 jobs over the year. The number of retail jobs jumped by 1,600 over the month.

Meanwhile the county’s construction and manufacturing jobs dipped from October to November. Construction jobs have increased over the year, but manufacturing remains down.

=> Read more!

The Today Show on NBC this morning asked that question and answered it by praising a Tacoma company's innovative bedding in a five-minute segment that included on-the-street interviews with loving couples.

Split the Sheets, headquartered in North Tacoma, produces a set of sheets split down the middle with cool cotton on one side and warm flannel on the other. Why? So couples with different body temperatures can share the same bed without one cooking while the other freezes.

The Today Show called bed temperature preference one of America's biggest bedroom gripes.

=> Read more!

Starbucks Corp. fell to the lowest in more than three years in U.S. trading after an RBC Capital Markets analyst downgraded the stock to "sector perform" and cut his price target by 15 percent.

The world's largest chain of coffee shops declined $1.10, or 5.2 percent, to $20.15, the lowest since May 2004.

Starbucks faces further "sales weakness, earnings-per-share risk and return compression," RBC analyst Larry Miller wrote Monday in a note. He lowered his stock-price target for the Seattle-based company to $22 from $26.

Bloomberg News reports:

Safeco Corp., the Seattle-based insurer whose policies are sold by independent agents, may repurchase as much as $500 million worth of shares.

The buyback equals 9.7 percent of outstanding stock as of Oct. 23, based on Friday's closing price, the company said today in a statement.

The insurer gained 75 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $55.51 at 11:49 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

U.S. property and casualty insurers are buying back stock at the fastest rate in at least two decades.

American International Group Inc., the world’s largest insurer by assets, announced a new $8 billion buyback on Nov. 14. Chubb Corp., the insurer of corporate boards and luxury homes, said Dec. 13 it may buy back as many as 28 million shares, worth about $1.5 billion based on the Dec. 12 closing price.

Safeco has repurchased 41 percent of its shares, at a cost of $3.1 billion, since 2003, the company said. The insurer has declined 11 percent this year, compared with the 8.2 percent decline of the 24-member KBW Insurance Index.

The career paths of thousands of commercial pilots changed dramatically late last week as President Bush signed into law legislation that changes the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 60 to 65.

That change had been sought for several years by most but not all pilot unions.

The change means longer careers for pilots. The change could provide some small relief from what's becoming a worldwide pilot shortage. It will allow healthy pilots to continue their careers for five years longer in the United States, a significant benefit for pilots who've seen their salaries and retirement pay cut substantially in recent years because of airline bankruptcies.

The new law also allows airlines to take advantage of the expertise its senior pilots have developed during their years in the cockpit.

The new rule has one proviso designed to address what some say is the increased risk involved in allowing pilots to fly at a more advanced age.

That rule requires that one pilot on international flights be under 60. On domestic flights, both pilots can be 60 or older.

For younger pilots, the new rule is a mixed blessing. Fewer retiring pilots will mean a slower move up the seniority ladder. Seniority is important among pilots because it governs not only their compensation but their ability to pick monthly flying schedules that they prefer.

At the two SeaTac-based airlines, Alaska and Horizon, the effects will not be large next year. Of Horizon's 700 pilots, 14 will turn 60 next year, said spokesman Mike Rose. At Alaska, about 50 of 1,500 will pass that mark, said spokeswoman Amanda Tobin-Bielawski.

Alaska's labor contracts allow pilots to retire at 60, said Air Line Pilots Association spokeswoman Jen Farrell. Neither the union nor Alaska knows yet how many of the 60-year-olds will choose to retire and how many will elect to continue their careers.

The price of gasoline led an increase of the Consumer Price Index in the Tacoma-Bremerton-Seattle area for November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.

The cost of gasoline rose 7.1 percent during the month, the Bureau said. For the past two months, the price is up 11.2 percent. Over the past year, gasoline prices have risen 29.5 percent.

Grocery prices fell 0.2 percent during November and show a 4.2 percent increase since 2006.

The cost of renting a home likewise fell 0.2 percent for the month, and marks a 5.8 percent increase for the year. Natural gas and electricity prices prices were unchanged in Novermber.

One of the businesses about to be displaced by Sound Transit – which has decided to drive trains across Pacific Avenue – has begun looking for a new home. Established in 1888, Star Ice & Fuel (405 South Tacoma Way) is perhaps the city’s oldest business in continuous operation.

“We’re looking for a site larger than the one we have now, and a building up to 50 percent larger,” said manager Richard Reisinger earlier today.

The company sells several varieties of ice (party, block, dry) and several types of fuel (heating oil, kerosene, propane, wood pellets, Pres-to Logs, coal).

“Sound Transit will take out our building and lower the hillside,” Reisinger said. “It’s hard to argue with eminent domain.”

He has yet to begin final negotiations with the transit board, but Reisinger expects to ask $10 million in compensation for lost land, buildings and equipment.

As to a location, he said the company has begun talking with real estate agents. “We’re looking between Nalley Valley and Fife. We may have to go out to the end of the Puyallup Valley.”

He said he would prefer to stay in Tacoma. “We’re a Tacoma business,” he said.

Some 8,750 Washington residents will be getting a Christmas check from within the next week courtesy of subprime lender Ameriquest and the state attorney general's office and the state Department of Financial Institutions.

The checks will total $9.9 million. That's Washington residents' share of a nationwide $325 million settlement of a nationwide $325 million settlement with Ameriquest. State attorneys general sued Ameriquest over alleged fraudulent lending practices the state officials say trapped homeowners in overpriced loans that they couldn't refinance.

The checks, averaging $1,130, have been mailed and will be arriving within the next week, said Attorney General Rob McKenna. The checks range from as little as $47 to as much as $7,950 depending on the circumstances.

More than 12,000 Washington residents were eligible to participate in the settlement. Some 70 percent of those residents who were mailed notices regarding the settlement filled out the required information and will receive settlement checks.

ACC Capital Holdings, Ameriquest’s parent company, announced on Aug. 31, 2007, that it was closing Ameriquest, no longer taking retail loan applications. At the same time, it sold Argent, its wholesale loan servicing unit, to Citigroup.

It often happens that I'll write a story that states I have attended a "breakfast meeting" and heard a speaker speak on one subject or another.

Rarely do I take the time to describe the actual breakfast. Well, I did a story today on a breakfast meeting yesterday, and rather than describe the breakfast in a thousand words, I thought I'd provide a worthwhile picture. Here it is:

SeaTac's Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air today announced they have signed a new codesharing agreement with Air France.

That agreement will allow Air France and Alaska and Horizon passengers to travel on some flights on each other's route networks using a single check-in and baggage check.

Air France passengers will be able to fly to 18 Alaska and Pacific Northwest cities aboard Alaska and Horizon flights connecting with Air France's new Paris-Seattle flight.

The three airlines have also expanded their frequent flier partnership allowing mileage earned on one of the airlines to be credited to the other airline's frequent flier program.

The Washington State Bar Association has activated a hotline for low-income residents needing legal help to recover from the recent flooding in Western Washington.

Families and individuals with legal problems caused by the recent flooding and who cannot afford their own lawyer can get free legal advice from volunteer WSBA attorneys.

Flood victims needing legal assistance, but who cannot afford an attorney are advised to call the Disaster Legal Services line toll-free at 866-519-7099 and leave a message. Attorneys willing to volunteer legal services for flood victims should also call the hotline.

=> Read more!

Dublin-based AWAS, an aircraft leasing company, announced orders today for 31 Boeing 737-800 airliners worth $2.3 billion at list prices.

Those orders advance Boeing orders for the year to 1,177 commercial airliners.

The 737-800 is a mid-sized version of the world's best selling jetliner, the 737. Equipped with fuel-saving winglets, the 737-800 can carry 170 passengers across North America without refueling.

SeaTac-based Alaska Airlines uses 737-800s for its new service from Sea-Tac to Hawaii.

Wilcox Family Farms should not have been named in a lawsuit accusing Costco of selling milk labeled as organic that actually was not, the company said today

If you recall Costco was sued by an Illinois resident earlier this week who claims the company sells milk it labels as organic, even though it comes from cows raised in conventional dairies. In the complaint, that milk was identified as Kirkland and Wilcox brands.

According to Wilcox, the company's milk is organic, and the plaintiff’s attorney in the lawsuit has acknowledged the mistake in naming Wilcox erroneously and has already agreed to file an amended complaint removing the Wilcox Family Farms’ name.

The lawsuit originally named Wilcox along with Aurora Organic Dairy. Wilcox does not do business with Aurora, nor has it ever, Chief Financial Officer JT Wilcox said.

A family-owned business, Wilcox Farms was started in 1909 and began dairy operations in 1961.

Horizon Air is bringing the colors of four Northwest Universities to its airplanes.

But with all the local rivalry how will Huskies feel getting on a plane painted with Cougar colors? Or (and much more important to me as a UO grad) how will Ducks feel getting on a plane painted in orange and black – the colors of Oregon State?

I guess we will find out next year when the airline paints four 70-seat CRJ-700 jets in university colors and marks.

The special themed planes will be created for Oregon State University, University of Oregon, University of Washington and Washington State University - at no cost to the universities.

=> Read more!

Amazon.com Inc. is close to an agreement to move to a new headquarters in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, people with knowledge of the talks said, Bloomberg News reports.

The company would be the main tenant in a 1.5 million square foot project under construction on four blocks in the area, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous. It’s being developed by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. and Bellevue, Washington-based Schnitzer West LLC.

=> Read more!

The Port of Tacoma Commission is temporarily changing its regular meeting time from 4 p.m. to noon beginning in January.

It's part of an effort to see if more people will attend a lunch hour meeting versus the afternoon time, said Rod Koon, the port's director of communications.

The commission will hold its meetings at noon through March. At that point, Koon said, the port staff and commission will assess whether to continue meeting at noon.

"It’s a new year," Koon said. "We thought we'd try something different and see how it works out."

The port has come under fire by a couple of citizens' groups in the past months for not being transparent.

A few people have noted that the 4 p.m. meeting time is during the work day – thus making it hard for some to attend.

The port is also exploring the cost of televising and Web streaming its meetings.

The meeting place will remain the same – Room 104 of the Port Business Center. The port commission's regular meetings are usually on the first and third Thursdays of the month. Study sessions are often on the second Thursday of the month.

The first meeting to take place at noon will be on Jan. 3, 2008.

A Foss worker reboards a tug boat after a walk on the log boom in this 1998 photo.

The mass of floating logs off of Marine View Drive is no longer.

The Foss Maritime Company has ended its log storage operation on the east side of Commencement Bay.

“We’re not leaving Tacoma,” said Paul Gallagher, the company’s operations manager. “We’re just making adjustments to our business and trying to more efficient.”

The company’s log storage business has dwindled as many of its customers – mainly mills and log brokers – have gone out of business, Gallagher said.

Since 1988 Foss has leased 50 acres of the sea floor and water from the Department of Natural Resources to use for moving and storing logs, which belong to Foss’s customers.

But the demand for log storage has declined. A decade ago the company counted 35 customers for its log business, Gallagher said. This year, they had one major customer left.

“At some point you have to make a decision,” Gallagher said. “Do you do something and continue to lose money on it?”

Foss said the remaining customer wasn’t willing to pay an increased rate – and the company decided that continuing the operation probably wasn’t worth it.

The log storage accounts for about 5 percent of Foss’s Tacoma business. The company primarily provides harbor and transportation services, such as assisting ships in and out of marine terminals with its fleet of tugboats.

The company continues to provide other services for wood products companies such as moving wood chips and assisting log barges.

=> Read more!

Make of these what you will: 1. An excerpt from a statement issued this morning by the Securities & Exchange Commission. 2. A statement, in its entirety, issued by the attorney for former Schnitzer Steel Industries chairman and CEO Robert Philip. 3. An excerpt from Schnitzer's Code of Ethics as adopted by the company board on Oct. 5, 2006.

(Note: A Schnitzer spokesman said this morning: "We’re not involved. There was a settlement that was announced some time ago when the company settled. It has continued to cooperate with the government." In October 2006, Schnitzer, which has an operation in Tacoma, paid more than $15 million in relation to government charges.)

=> Read more!

The Internal Revenue Service announced earlier today that taxpayers in Grays Harbor and Lewis counties are due some relief from filing deadlines.

Deadlines for affected taxpayers to file returns, pay taxes and perform other time-sensitive acts falling on or after Dec. 1, 2007, and on or before Feb. 6, 2008, have been postponed to Feb. 6, 2008. In addition, the IRS will waive the “failure to deposit” penalty for employment and excise deposits due on or after Dec. 1, 2007, and on or before Dec. 17, 2007, as long as the deposits are made by Dec. 17, 2007.

=> Read more!

Boeing posted just two new orders this week.

Both of those were from an unidentified customer or customers.

The company, however revealed the identities of several customers whose previous orders had been posted as unidentified.

Boeing identified 80 previously unidentified orders: GECAS (53 737s and two 777s), Babcock & Brown A/C Management (20 737s) and C.I.T. Leasing Corporation (five 737s).

Meanwhile, Airbus said it had more than four dozen orders this week.

The new Boeing orders bring the company's 2007 orders to a record, 1,146. But Airbus has more. They aren't saying now just how many.

In the Boeing order book, 737 have 651 orders this year; the 747 has 16; the 767, 36; the 777, 129 and the 787, 314.

Work could begin soon after the first of the year to arrest the steady but slow collapse of downtown Tacoma's historic Luzon Building.

The building's prospective redevelopers told the Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission that first they will temporarily shore up the structure at South 13th and Pacific Avenue. They then will erect a new steel and concrete structure inside to support the crumbling facade.

"The Luzon is in the active, but slow state of collapse," Tim Leiberman of developer The Gintz Group, told the commission.

The group plans to gut the interior, demolish part of the south wall and erect a new multi-story concrete core that will contain stairwells, new restrooms and storage areas. That core will support a new internal skeleton for the building as well as lend structural strength to a new office structure to be built to the south.

Oakland, Calif. developer Mike Bartlett, who had tried unsuccessfully to find a plan to redo the Luzon, is selling the structure to the Gintz Group.

He will retain ownership, however, of the open lots to the south where he plans to build the new office structure. A key to the Bartlett-Gintz deal is the new core structure, said Lieberman.

Once the new office structure is erected, the core structure will be hidden, he said.

The Luzon was designed as a bank building by the famed Chicago architects Burnham & Root. Over the years, the building has served multiple uses including an arcade and a Chinese restaurant.

The structure has been abandoned for years, and trees are growing out of its north wall.

The building's fire escape will be removed in the reconstruction effort, and a penthouse may be added to the building.

If Tacoma's downtown Brewery District is to become the home of a new 160-room hotel where the former Columbia-Heidelberg Brewery now stands, it will take a creative architect, a flexible owner and some out-of-the-box thinking from preservationists to get the job done.

That's the clear message that emerged from an initial exchange Wednesday night between Tacoma's Landmarks Preservation Commission and the developer and owners of the new hotel.

Hotel Concepts of Seattle rolled out its embryonic plans for a 7-or-8-story Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express on the brewery site at 2120 S. C St.

The group, which for now includes Gig Harbor investors who own part of the old brewery, wants to demolish the brewery's oldest buildings on the northern two-thirds of the brewery block. The '50s addition to the brewery, now under other ownership, would remain for now.

If the hotel is to gain the commission's favor preliminary discussions revealed Wednesday night, the hotel will have to:

* Blend with the scale and massing of the brewery area and the nearby historic district.

* Be designed with a facade appropriate to its historic setting, not to a freeway interchange.

* Possibly incorporate some of the iconic features of the brewery or at least include hints of its brewery-site history in its design.

At the same time, the developers said their needs include:

* Constructing the hotel within a budget that allows it to charge the modest rates typical to a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express.

* Comply in general with the design restrictions of the hotel chain.

Hotel Concepts principal Han Kim distributed a preliminary drawing of the proposed hotel, though Kim said the plans are still in the early conceptual stages.

That early drawing drew less-than-favorable reviews from commission members.

=> Read more!

Virgin America, the upstart airline that's a cousin to Sir Richard Branson's Vigin Atlantic Airways, is coming to the Puget Sound area.

The San Francisco-based airline announced today it will begin flights to Sea-Tac Airport from San Francisco March 18 and from Los Angeles on April 8.

The new airline will compete with SeaTac-based Alaska Airlines and United Airlines on those two routes.

Virgin America flies new Airbus A320s equipped with leather seats and in-flight entertainment systems. Alaska flies mostly new Boeing 737s equipped with leather seats but without inflight entertainment. Alaska, however, is considering offering free Internet service.

Virgin America will offer three daily flights to San Francisco to Seattle and three daily flights to LA from Seattle. On May 11, it will add a fourth LA flight.

November passenger traffic was up 7.6 percent at SeaTac-based Alaska Airlines and 10.5 percent for its sister airline, regional carrier Horizon Air.

The Alaska said its percentage of seats filled, its "load factor" also grew to 76.7 percent compared with 74.5 percent in November 2006.

At Horizon, the load factor fell slightly to 73.5 percent down from 73.6 percent in the same month last year. The drop occurred despite the increase in traffic because the airline's capacity increased faster than the increase in traffic.

Alaska's 11-month load factor, 76.3 percent, is still slightly below that of the same period last year, 76.7 percent.

Airport security authorities' three-ounce limit on carry-aboard liquids has led to many unhappy travelers who remember too late and must discard their liquids before passing through security.

There are ways to deal with the rule. Some airports, including Sea-Tac, offer easy alternatives that involve mailing those liquids home instead of packing them in your carry-ons. Or you could go back to the check-in counter and check your bag that includes the liquid.

Not recommended is the work-around taken by a German air passenger who chugged down a one-liter of vodka rather than surrender it to authorities.

The Associated Press reports the 64-year-old customer, who consumed nearly two pints of vodka in a short time at the Nuremberg airport Tuesday, nearly died of alcohol poisoning.

Remember that you're limited not only to three-ounces of each liquid but to three-ounce containers that must fit in a quart-sized zip-top clear plastic bag.

Recently on a trip to the Midwest, I listened to the alternatively threatening and pleading appeal from a traveler immediately in front of me in the security line. She argued that her expensive hair-care products, which she carried in eight-ounce containers, amounted to three-ounces or less liquid because she had nearly used them fully. It was an argument she lost.

Remember, too, the rule applies to gels and other semi-liquid preparations.

Costco was sued by an Illinois resident who claims the company sells milk it labels as organic, even though it comes from cows raised in conventional dairies. Bloomberg News reports.

There’s nothing organic about Costco milk marketed under the Kirkland and Wilcox brands, lawyers for Channing Hesse said in a suit filed Dec. 10 in Seattle federal court.

The milk comes from a dairy that’s violated several organic certification rules imposed by the Food and Drug Administration, according to the complaint.

Costco gets its milk from Aurora Organic Dairy, which agreed to stop labeling some of its milk as “organic” after the Agriculture Department threatened to bar Aurora from using the term, Hesse claims.

UPDATE: After I posted this story from Bloomberg, Aurora Dairy called me wanting to comment. Here's what spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele said in an e-mail:

We are confident these lawsuits are without merit because our consent agreement with USDA confirmed that our organic certifications have always been and continue to be valid. Therefore, our milk has always been and continues to be certified organic and allegations to the contrary are false.

These are the latest in a series of copycat lawsuits inspired by the false claims of “activist” groups engaged in a smear campaign against large-scale organic producers. To us, it is obvious that the “activists”' real goal is to limit the supply of organic milk and drive up the price paid by American families. This, too, would harm consumers and slow the spread of organic agriculture.

Aurora Organic Dairy prides itself on being a best practices organic producer. We strive to not only adhere to the organic regulations, but to go beyond them. Not only are our farms and facilities audited by USDA-accredited certifiers, but our customers are the largest retailers in America.

=> Read more!

Alaska Air Group's two Northwest-based airlines, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, sold more than 50 percent of their tickets on their Alaskaair.com Web site in October.

That's the first time since the two airlines pioneered Web sales of airline tickets in 1995 that they've sold more than half their tickets on the company site.

"I remember all of us high-fiving because we sold 50 tickts in a week over the Web," said Mark Guerette, director of Alaskaair.com, recalling the early days of Web sales.

Web sales are good for the airline's bottom line because they're less expensive than phone sales.

The two airlines have set a new goal of selling 60 percent of their tickets on the Web. That may be the practical limit, said Alaska executives because there will always be travelers who prefer the personal touch of travel agents or because corporations like to control their expenses by routing ticket purchases through an internal travel department.

Some airlines, such European discount carriers, have limited sales to Web purchases to keep expenses at a minimum, but most of those carriers are new to the business and are without a group of faithful passengers who like more personal ways of buying tickets.

From The Associated Press:

Microsoft Corp. said today it has acquired a United Kingdom online mapping company to enhance its existing Windows Live Web-based services.

The software maker did not say what it paid for Multimap, which provides street-level maps, travel directions and local information. Multimap also offers hotel and restaurant-booking services and builds private-label mapping tools for companies, including Hilton Hotels and Ford.

Microsoft said Multimap will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft as part of its Search and Virtual Earth teams.

“This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business,” said Sharon Baylay, a general manager in Microsoft’s online services group, in a statement.

Microsoft’s search engine gets fewer queries each month than No. 1 Google Inc. or No. 2 Yahoo Inc., but the company has said that improvements to its search engine this fall made its results just as good as Google’s. At that time, Microsoft also retooled the user interface of its own map-based local search site.

Washington Mutual Inc. will sell more shares of its stock to raise money to improve its finances, the company said today.

Shares dropped to their lowest point in more than seven years following the news. Shares were trading this afternoon at $16.08, down $1.34 or nearly 8 percent.

WaMu said it will sell 3 million shares of convertible preferred stock to raise about $2.9 billion, more than the 2.5 million shares for $2.5 billion it announced Monday — an amount some Wall Street analysts said was too low, The Associated Press reports.

=> Read more!

The storm that chewed a swath through Western Washington has created a shortage of rental cars in the area.

With their vehicles damaged or destroyed, sunk in mud or swept away by floodwaters, some drivers have opted to rent – during one of the industry's busiest times of the year.

The situation may ease by this weekend.

At the Budget Car & Truck Rental in downtown Tacoma, desk clerk Trisha Lunsford said earlier today that two vehicles – a Hummer and a Charger – were available for immediate rental. Other than that, reservations could be made for later in the week. “The airport ran out Monday” she said. “They were short 300 cars.”

The Budget distribution office secured some vehicles from the Tacoma pool, she said. Rather than blame the storm, she said the greater demand has come simply from holiday travelers.

=> Read more!

While the statewide hotel occupancy rate rose 3.8 percent in October, the rate in the Tacoma area rose 2.3 percent over the rate in 2006, according to Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood. The Sea-Tac and Southcenter area led the state, with their rate rising 7.8 percent.

Only Bellingham saw a decrease in room rental, down 2.2 percent.

In October, 68.2 percent of Pierce County rooms were occupied, Rood said.

The increase in the cost of a room in Pierce County rose 18.4 percent, leading all areas of the state. The average daily room rate in the area was $82.99, up from $70.08 in 2006.

Statewide, the average cost was $132.38, up 6.3 percent. Seattle hoteliers enjoyed the state’s highest average room rate, at $170.55, up 2.0 percent from 2006.

The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline is up a fraction in Tacoma today, but down both statewide and across the country.

The Tacoma average today is $3.147, up from $3.14 yesterday but down considerably from the pre-Thanksgiving $3.25 marked a month ago. This is, however, nowhere near the $2.503 posted a year ago today.

This station on Center Street seems to be bucking the average, with most stations in the immediate neighborhood posting in the $3.07 - $3.09 range.

Statewide, the average price today is $3.175, down a skosh from yesterday’s $3.179, according to AAA at www.fuelgaugereport.com.

As always, Bellinghammers found the state’s highest price, registered today at $3.283, while Bremertonians enjoyed the state’s lowest, at $3.137.

Nationwide, the price of a gallon of regular fell below the $3-mark today, to $2.995, down from $3.003.

Tax payments in the Nov. 11 – Dec. 10 2007 collection period grew faster than expected despite weaker home sales and slower employment growth. Collections this month were $84.3 million (5.5 percent) higher than the estimate.

The variance, however, is overstated due to a change in the timing of property tax payments and to an unusually large audit payment. Adjusting for special factors, collections this month were only $10.5 million, 0.7 percent higher than expected. Revenue Act (sales, use, b&O, public utility tax) payments were $22.7 million higher than expected for the month, although real estate excise tax payments continue to weaken and were $10.1 million below the estimate.

=> Read more!

It's taken nearly 14 years from conception to completion, but major paving of Sea-Tac Airport's third runway is now done.

Most of that time was consumed with planning, hearings and legal battles over the runway, but construction and environmental mitigation activities have taken more than three years.

The third runway project still has some 11 months until planes will start landing because of the need to complete taxiways, navigational aids and lighting.

The 8,500-foot-long, 17-inch-thick concrete runway was designed to give the airport more capacity during times of reduced visibility.

Because the airport's two parallel runways are too close together to allow simultaneous operations during bad weather (about 44 percent of the time says the airport) the airport's capacity is diminished by half now during inclement conditions.

Sea-Tac's third runway paving when it began last summer

The third runway, which was built on a towering embankment of fill west of the airport's western-most existing runway, will allow near-simultaneous operations during low visibility conditions.

With the costs of acquiring hundreds of homes, building the huge embankment and cleaning up streams and lakes in the area, the cost of the project at last count was about $1.2 billion. Airlines and their passengers will pay the cost of the project through fees and passenger facility charges.

More news out of Washington Mutual that business isn't looking so good sent shares down in trading this morning.

Shares of the nation’s largest savings and loan slid more than 8 percent a day after it said it would close offices, lay off more than 3,000 workers, slash its dividend, set aside up to $1.6 billion for loan losses in the fourth quarter and seek to shore up its finances with a $2.5 billion convertible preferred stock offering, The Associated Press reports.

WaMu has not yet priced its offering, but increasing the total number of company shares will dilute their value for existing stockholders. WaMu shares fell $1.78 to $18.10 early Tuesday.

When WaMu does price the sale, it may have to do so at less than favorable terms, if the other recent deals are any indication.

A block near the University of Washington Tacoma campus that has been a brewery site for more than a century may soon get a more contemporary use.

The owners of the old Heidelberg Brewery at 2102 S. C St., have applied for a demolition permit for the building complex.

The owners are expected to reveal their plans for the site at a Landmarks Preservation Committee meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Tacoma Municipal Building.

Previously, the owners have talked of building a hotel and perhaps some retail spaces on the site.

The brewery complex is a mix of buildings constructed between 1932 and 1954. When the brewery completed its second production line in 1954, the brewery was the largest west of the Mississippi River and north of San Francisco.

The brewery over the years has had a succession of owners from the original Columbia Brewing Co. to G. Heileman Brewing Co., its last beermaking owner.

In the intervening years, the brewery was owned by the Heidelberg Brewing Co., Carling Brewing Co. and Carling-National Brewing Co.

Heileman closed down production in 1979 when it also bought Seattle's Rainier Brewing Co. because the company had excess brewing capacity.

Over the years, the brewery produced a variety of beers and non-alcoholic beverages during Prohibition. Among the beers: Alt Heidelberg, Columbia, Old Pilsner, Columbia Ale, Atlas, Carling Black Label and Carling Ale.

During Prohibition years in Washington, 1916 to 1932, the plant produced soft drinks, Birch Beer, Chocolate Solidier, Blue Jay, Green River and Orange Kist. The company, which renamed itself, the Columbia Bottling Co., also brewed a "near beer," Colo.

When World War II began, the company deemphasized its Germanic beers and substituted beers with patriotic themes such as Liberty and Columbia.

Since the brewery's closure in 1979, parts of the building have found various uses: warehouse, tire recapping plant and at one time, an ill-fated ethanol production plant.

Shopping as a work assignment is usually fun. Unless you are shopping for a Nintendo Wii. Then it's just sad.

I visited five stores yesterday and struck out five times. No Wii for me.

Today I'm going to do a bit more sleuthing - calling stores to see when they get their new shipments in and employing this little thing I like to call The Internet.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you see a Wii let me know.

kelly.kearsley@thenewstribune.com

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner's first flight and production schedule remains unaltered despite nagging problems with parts shortages and incomplete major subassembly work.

That was the word early this morning from Boeing Commercial Airplane Group President Scott Carson and the 787 program's new leader, Pat Shanahan.

Pat Shanahan, 787 vice president and general manager

Carson and Shanahan delivered their quarter update on the program just eight weeks after Shanahan replaced Mike Bair as head of the program.

Carson reconfirmed that the first 787 will fly late in the first quarter of next year, that the first 787 will be delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways late in 2008 and that the company will deliver a total of 109 aircraft to airline customers by the end of 2009. That is the same schedule the company announced this fall when it delayed the first flight and first delivery by six months because of production issues.

Shanhan said he has reorganized the program, putting more emphasis on supplier relations and production issues while ending design work on the 787-8 version of the plane.

Carson said the company has seen "very steady progress" in solving the issues that led to the delays.

Among the positive signs:

* The company and the Federal Aviation Administration have agreed on 100 percent of the standards that will be used to judge whether the 787 is ready to enter commercial service. That agreement is the first time that Boeing and the federal agency have agreed on all testing standards before the flight tests begin.

* "Power-on" for the new plane is now scheduled for late January. That step is a significant milestone in getting the plane ready for its first flight.

* The major composite structural components produced by Boeing's major partners are being produced well and generally without flaws.

* Boeing's Italian partner, Alenia, is now producing the 14th horizontal tail and fuselage barrel. That horizontal tail, which is as large as a 737 wing structure, passed its structural strength test.

* The plane's flight control and systems software is essentially complete and is being tested daily in the company's flight simulator. That software had been one of the items lagging behind.

* The second 787, which will be used for static strength tests, is moving down the assembly line in Everett along with the third aircraft, the fatigue test aircraft.

But for all the glowing reports, issues remain to be solved, said the Boeing executives.

Among them:

* "Traveled work." That's work that was scheduled to be done at the major suppliers' plants before they delivered their major subassemblies such as the wings, fuselage, cockpit and tail to Boeing in Everett for final assembly. The amount of such work that now must be completed at Everett by Boeing workers is decreasing.

* Parts shortages remain, but Boeing is working with suppliers to see that those shortfalls disappear. The company now is better tracking critical parts delivery to see that the parts are delivered directly to the place where they will be installed. If, for instance, fasteners were to be installed at Vought's plant in Charleston, S.C., but were not available when Vought shipped the part to Everett, Boeing now has the missing parts delivered directly to Everett.

* Weight of the completed airplanes remains an issue, but Boeing says it is systematically reengineering some parts of the 787 to reduce weight to target levels. Weight is critical because overweight aircraft can't meet guarantees for fuel economy, performance and payload.

Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management, the world's fifth largest aircraft leasing company, announced orders today for 20 Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

At list prices, those aircraft are worth $1.5 billion. Boeing had previously reported those sales on its order sheet for the year as being from an unidentified buyer.

With the Babcock & Brown order, Boeing has sold more than 4,300 next generation 737s and more than 7,400 737s of all models. The company's backlog of unfilled 737 orders now amounts to some 1,800 aircraft.

With the new order, Babcock & Brown will own more than 125 Boeing 737 next generation aircraft.

Flush with earnings, Boeing's board today announced a 14 percent increase in the quarterly dividend.

The dividend will be 40 cents a share for the fourth quarter compared with 35 cents for the same quarter last year.

The dividend is payable March 7, 2008 for shareholders of record on Feb. 8. For the year, the total dividend will be $1.60 a share.

The increase is the fifth increase in the last five years.

The nation's three credit bureaus recently announced that they will provide consumers with the opportunity to freeze unwanted access to their credit history.

But before you sign up, the Attorney General of Washington says there are some things you should know.

First, each bureau has different procedures to request a freeze, according to the AG's office. Some older adults may want to wait until September 2008, when a new state law takes effect that allows anyone older than 65 to freeze access to their credit files for free.

Unless you are an identity theft victim, you'll pay $10 to each of the bureaus to freeze your credit now, the AG's office reports.

The Attorney General has put together a Web site to help consumers with credit freeze questions. Consumers who don’t have Internet access can also call the office’s Consumer Resource Center hot line for information at 1-800-551-4636.

=> Read more!

I've been charged with writing a story about where to find a Nintendo Wii.

It's already a talker in the newsroom. I've been regaled with stories of staffers looking for Wiis (in all the wrong places) and not finding a one.

I'm headed out this afternoon to search for myself. So readers, any tips or hints on where or when I can find a Wii?

E-mail me at kelly.kearsley@thenewstribune.com or comment on this post.

Northwest Airlines announced today it will launch daily Seattle-London service beginning in June.

Northwest is the first U.S. carrier since Pan Am to fly the non-stop route from Sea-Tac Airport to London's Heathrow Airport versus British Airways since Pan Am left the airline business.

The new service means the Puget Sound area will have six daily non-stop flights to Europe, British and Northwest to London, Air France to Paris, Northwest to Amsterdam and SAS to Copenhagen and Lufthansa to Frankfurt.

Several days a week that rises to seven because British operates a second flight to London. Lufthansa's service was announced recently. It won't begin until next spring. Air France's Paris service began last summer.

British will hold an advantage over Northwest on the route because it offers hundreds of connecting flights to other European cities and other cities around the world from its Heathrow hub.

British, however, has been the target of complaints and a class action lawsuit in recent months because of its labarinythine terminal setup in London and its huge lost luggage problem.

A Tacoma man and his wife are lead plaintiffs in a suit that alleges the airline lost hundreds of thousands of bags for days and weeks on end and failed to make an effective effort to track them or find them.

Northwest announced the new service in Seattle at the same time it announced new non-stop London Heathrow services from its hubs at Minneapolis and Detroit. British Airways recently announced plans to abandon its London-Detroit service because of low patronage. Northwest enjoys a higher likelihood of filling planes because of its extensive network of domestic feeder routes centering on Detroit.

Northwest will use a 298-seat Airbus A330 twin-jet on the route. The flight will depart Seattle at 10:05 p.m. and arrive the next day in London at 4:15 p.m. The return flight departs London at 6:30 p.m. and arrives in Seattle at 8:55 p.m. the same day.

There’s a new ice cream in town, and it’s got a familiar sort of name: Kool Kreme. It’s a cousin of Krispy Kreme, and Tacoma has the prototype outlet at 4302 Tacoma Mall Blvd.

Store manager Ramon Hizon says it's a popular product – so far.

It’s a stand-alone brand established by ICON LLC of Seattle. Gerard Centioli, ICON CEO, said today that he expects to roll out Kool Kreme to his other 11 Western Krispy Kreme stores beginning next year. There’s also a chane that other Krispies around the world may take to the idea.

The kicker isn’t the ice cream itself – it’s a 4-percent-butterfat blend – but rather the toppings for the sundaes and ingredients for the shakes. Think fresh raspberries - in December. Fresh blackberries, fresh strawberries. Yes, Centioli said, it’s expensive, but when the harvests come in next summer, the prices he pays should moderate.

He did the introduction in the winter rather than the summer to give the idea a chance to develop, and a chance for his workers to train.

Along with the berries, there’s hot fudge, caramel and butterscotch, plus various syrups and other fruits including pineapple. The jimmies are there, plus selected smashed bits of candy bars – Snickers, Butterfinger, Heath and Junior Mints. (The Junior Mints aren’t working out so well, as they tend to become gooey, but that’s what this testing period is meant to reveal.)

Two-topping sundaes go for $2.59, cones for $1.79, shakes for $2.49 and $2.89, and floats for $1.89. There’s also a “Frenzee,” similar to a DQ Blizzard, that runs $1.89.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is out today with its quarterly state banking profiles - and the industry in Washington looks stable.

Total assets of 98 FDIC-insured institutions are up to $72.74 billion from $64.03 billion a year ago. The median return on assets for those 98 was 1.18 percent, unchanged. Net interest margin fell slightly to 4.79 percent form 4.95 percent.

The median cost of funding earning assets rose to 3.50 percent from 3.10 perent. Past-due and nonaccrual loans is up to 0.68 percent form 0.59 percent a year ago.

Residential real estate loans (measured as the medial percentage of Tier 1 capital) was down to 79.2 percent from 85.6 percent. The commercial and industrial loan concentration was 109 percent, down from 114.9 percent.

Levitz, the low price furniture company known for its "You'll love it at Levitz" slogan, announced in an ad in today's newspaper that the five stores in Western Washington were going out of business. The Tacoma Levitz is located at 2402 84th St.

The New York-based company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 8, citing a heavy debt load and the recent credit crunch, which cut off its ability to borrow more cash.

The 76-store chain sold the right to conduct the going-out-of-business sale to another company. Other Washington locations include Silverdale, Tukwila, Bellevue and Lynnwood.

The ad says that everything in the store is 20 to 50 percent off. No word on how long the liquidation will last.

Bloomberg News reports that the Nov. 8 filing in New York represented Levitz’s third bankruptcy filing. Secured lenders are owed $32.6 million while trade creditors have $40.7 million in claims. Holders of second lien convertible debentures are owed another $22.7 million.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce has launched a sponsorship drive to raise $65,000 to help fund a new event coordinator and some operations aimed at filling downtown's Tollefson Plaza with all manner of activities.

Join as a founding member ($10,000 and up) and your company gets a voting seat on the management committee that oversees plaza activities. You also get your company name and logo on promotional materials and an event Web site.

Join as a sponsoring member ($7,500 to $9,999) and you'll get the same logo privileges and a non-voting seat on the committee.

As a supporting member ($5,000-$7,499) you'll get the logo privileges.

=> Read more!

In today's column, I wrote about a civic debate over where Tacoma's official Christmas tree and tree-lighting ceremony should take place. Now, you can log on to www.thenewstribune.com and vote.

One faction wants to keep the tree in the same location where it has stood for the last 61 years – in front of the Pantages Theater at South Ninth Street and Broadway.

Another faction wants to relocate the tree to Tollefson Plaza at South 17th Street and Pacific Avenue.

Add your comment here, then cast your vote on The News Tribune home page. Look for the "hot button: online poll."

Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest chain of coffee shops, recalled 167,000 Chinese-made mugs that pose a burn hazard because their plastic handles can detach when the container is filled with a hot liquid, Bloomberg News reports.

Starbucks received 23 reports of the handle breaking off from its Fusion Coffee Mug, the Seattle-based company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said today. Nine people reported “minor burns,” the agency said in a statement.

Starbucks will give consumers a full refund and offer them a free drink when they return any of the recalled Fusion Coffee Mugs. The 14-ounce cups, which came in two varieties, have a stainless-steel base and were sold from February through November for $11 each.

One style with a “Starbucks Coffee” stamp was offered nationwide, while the other with the original company logo could only be purchased in Seattle. Starbucks rose 20 cents to $22.85 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The shares fell 35 percent this year, heading for its worst annual stock decline.

We had a real estate forum here at The News Tribune today (more on that later). And after the event I chatted with Don Meyer, executive director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority, about the hotel down on his waterfront. He said the developers met on Wednesday to discuss the configuration and the pricing of the residential units that will be built above the hotel.

The developers had planned to build high-end, pricey units to go with the upscale hotel and help make the project profitable. But the slowing in the downtown condo market may mean that they change the prices or design of those units. Meyer said we will know more soon. The hotel will be built next door to The Esplanade, a 176-unit condominium and retail project on Dock Street.

To catch up on what's happening with the hotel, read John Gillie's last story.

The Department of Labor & Industries is alerting homeowners not to take shortcuts when hiring a contractor to make repairs.

Upfront homework can protect homeowners against contractors who take the money and run, or do a poor job and won’t come back to fix the problem.

At www.Contractors.Lni.wa.gov ,homeowners can find out whether a contractor is registered with L&I and whether that contractor has any current claims against his or her bond.

Contractors are required to:
• Register with the state;
• Carry a minimum of $250,000 of liability insurance;
• Obtain a $6,000-$12,000 bond, depending on the type of contractor. A customer or supplier can make a claim against a contractor’s bond when the contractor didn’t finish a promised job, did the job improperly or didn’t fully pay for supplies or labor.
• Provide you with a “Notice to Customer” disclosure statement if your project is over $1,000.

The Web site also provides also a checklist to follow when hiring a contractor to make repairs.

L&I also reminds homeowners that tree-removal services are now required to be registered as contractors with the state.

This winter, the Continuing Education Department at Pierce College will offer a four-session business-basics seminar, “New Business in a Box.”

The series of four evening classes will explore four critical elements every small business owner needs: business management basics, marketing and advertising, expenses and cash flow, and business planning.

Total fees for the classes come in at $204.

=> Read more!

I guess someone had to go and ruin Christmas. Who knew it would be Microsoft.

The Associated Press reports that Santa (who is powered by Microsoft software) may have been, um, having inappropriate conversations with kids.

Here's the story:

Microsoft quickly shut down Santa Claus’ Web privileges after it found out the automated elf it created for instant messaging with kids was talking naughty, not nice.

Last year, Microsoft encouraged kids to connect directly to “Santa” by adding northpole@live.com to their Windows Live Messenger contact lists.

The Santa program, which Microsoft reactivated in early December, asks children what they want for Christmas and can respond on topic via instant messaging, thanks to a bit of artificial intelligence.

Microsoft’s holiday cheer soured this week when a reader of a United Kingdom-based technology news site, The Register, reported that a chat between Santa and his underage nieces about eating pizza prompted Santa to bring up oral sex.

One of the publication’s writers replicated the chat Monday. After declining the writer’s repeated invitations to eat pizza, a frustrated Santa burst out with, “You want me to eat what?!? It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else.”

The exchange ended with the writer and Santa calling each other a “dirty bastard.”

=> Read more!

You still can't get to Portland on Interstate 5.

Water is covering the road and the Washington Department of Transporation reports that the highway is closed from exit 88 near Grand Mound (approximately 20 miles south of Olympia) to exit 68 (11 miles south of Chehalis).

And you may not be able to get through before the weekend. I-5 is expected to remain closed for several days, DOT reports.

The interstate, which carries about 54,000 vehicles a day through that area, still remained under 6 feet of water in places, The Associated Press reports.

Engineers must inspect the road for damage before any portions can reopen, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said. She made no pledges, but said officials hoped to get at least one lane moving in each direction as soon as possible.

Labor Ready continued its acquisition of specialty staffing companies with the purchase of PlaneTechs, an aircraft maintenance staffing provider headquartered in Chicago.

Labor Ready, based in Tacoma, bought PlaneTechs for $50 million in cash, according to a news release issued today.

"The acquisition of PlaneTechs continues our diversification strategy within blue-collar staffing and adds a new element of growth and specialization to our skilled trades services," said Labor Ready CEO Steve Cooper.

"PlaneTechs delivers an innovative approach to the flexible workforce requirements of the aviation industry, and we believe the demand for skilled technicians and mechanics will continue to grow," Cooper said.

PlaneTechs President Ian Rollo will continue to lead its operations. Rollo has 19 years of experience in the aviation industry, the majority within aircraft maintenance staffing, the news release reported.

Labor Ready plans on changing its name to TrueBlue, Inc. on Dec. 18.

The name change, executives have said, is to encompass the range of companies now under the Labor Ready including Spartan Staffing, CLP Resources and PlaneTechs.

For 2008, the PlaneTechs acquisition is expected to produce total revenue of approximately $70 million in revenue and $0.06 of diluted earnings per share.

This from The Associated Press:

Jones Soda Inc.’s chief executive and founder, Peter van Stolk, will step down from the top spot at the end of the year, the premium soda maker said in a statement late Tuesday.

Van Stolk, who is also chairman of the board, will temporarily be replaced by two board members as the company searches for a permanent successor.

The Seattle-based company did not say why van Stolk is stepping down, but the announcement comes after the company posted a third disappointing quarter in a row.

Jones Soda has also been hit by several shareholder lawsuits claiming executives and board members pushed up the share price, then sold stock before poor first- and second-quarter earnings reports caused the price to plunge. The company has denied the claims.

Steve Jones, who most recently served as chief marketing officer for The Coca-Cola Co. and as chief executive of that company’s Minute Maid line, will replace van Stolk as CEO.

Scott Bedbury, CEO of Brandstream Inc., a brand development consulting company, will take over as chairman.

Van Stolk will remain on the company’s board.
Shares of the soda maker jumped 41 cents, or 6.9 percent, to $6.35 today.

C.R. Roberts wrote a story today trying to figure out what to do with the set of pasta sauces that the city has hidden in a vault.

We want to know what you think. Vote on how the community will get a taste of this piece of Tacoma history. Should they be served at downtown Tacoma's convention center or inscribed on public art in Tollefson Plaza?

We'll post the results later this month.

Storm-related tips and information for consumers from the NW Insurance Council:

If you have Flood Insurance, your damaged property is covered up to the policy limits you purchased under the National Flood Insurance Program.

However, flood, mudslide and landslide damage are typically excluded from standard Homeowners and Business owners insurance. Those who want coverage can purchase a Difference in Conditions policy through a surplus lines carrier. Mudflow, defined as a moving river of mud, is also excluded from standard policies. Coverage for mudflow is available from the NFIP.

• If your home, apartment or business has suffered damage that exceeds your deductible amount, call the insurance company or agent who handles your flood insurance policy right away to file a claim.

=> Read more!

My column Wednesday will describe a holiday season billboard created for LeRoy Jewelers and The Art Stop, 940 Broadway in Tacoma, by JayRay, a communications consultancy and advertising agency.

But a separate billboard (seen above), which I won't mention Wednesday, includes the photograph of an award-winning jewelry design crafted from the mind of Steph Farber, owner of LeRoy Jewelers.

The fantasy cut purple amethyst pendant won "Best In Show" at the recent Pacific Northwest Jewelers Association's annual jewelry design competition. Next month, Farber will ship the piece to New York for entry into the Jewelers of America's national design competition.

=> Read more!

Office holiday parties are more than a chance for a free meal on the company – but now an opportunity to schmooze your way to the top.

At least according to a news release I received today titled "Holiday ‘Office Party Parlay’ Strategies Foster Upward Career Mobility."

Oh yes.

"Strategic networking at holiday office parties can be a career boon," the release reports and author and business coach John McKee can tell you how.

Now I can hear some of you saying "But I don't want to be that guy." And I like you for it.

Still for others who are curious, here's McKee's tips on how to rocket to career success with an eggnog in one hand and a Christmas present for your boss in the other.

Determine the objective. In advance of an event, expert “schmoozers” think through what the best possible outcome would be relative to career growth. Think through a few realistic scenarios of how you might work toward achieving your objective.

Debrief your guest. As important as it is for you to know who the “important people” are at an event, the same holds true for your guest. The person you have chosen to accompany you to a business function, and how they behave, reflects directly on you – whether positively or negatively.

Early bird special. Arrive at the event early. Make a point of speaking to and thanking your boss and the host of the party, introduce your guest, and generally spread good tidings.. Show your humanity and connect on a different level before things really heat up.

Presence pays…literally. Generally speaking, great schmoozers are interesting and entertaining to those around them, and exude self confidence. It’s imperative to present a comfortable demeanor– however “important” or intimidating the other person may be. Appearing at ease during a time when others are feeling anxious or uncomfortable will make you look more like a “natural leader,” thus making yourself a stand out.

Maintain your visibility. The location where you are situated should be highly visible. Stand in a place that is approachable - not behind chairs or the kitchen door where there is high traffic.

=> Read more!

Don't worry - that construction at the former Busch's Drive-In along South Tacoma Way is not demolition.

It's part of the ongoing refurbishment of the facility, which is still on schedule to open Feb. 1 as "Water Concepts," an upscale showroom from the folks at Tacoma's Rosen Supply Co.

After hearing from a colleague that the building was being taken down, I spoke with Devin Rosen, who said the facility - complete with working whirlpool, steam room and sauna - is nearing completion.

And that "For Lease" sign out front concerns office space inside the building - but that may be a moot point, Rosen said, as a tenant could sign a contract as early as this week.

Here's what the site looked like Monday afternoon.

The Department of Labor and Industries on Monday formally adopted 2008 workers’ compensation rates that were proposed in September, increasing premiums by an average of 3.2 percent.

L&I has published the 2008 rates online, and will notify individual employers of their specific rates in mid-December.

To view the full rate schedule, visit the site.

L&I Director Judy Schurke said the increase is necessary to partially cover wage and health care inflation. L&I held statewide public hearings on the increase in October and November.

The increase, which will bring in an additional $58 million in premiums next year, is an average for all Washington employers. Individual employers could see their rates go up or down, depending on their recent claims history and any changes in the frequency and cost of claims in their industry.

The rate increase follows a 2 percent decrease in average premiums this year and a current partial rate holiday in the second half of 2007 that is saving employers and workers $315 million.

Puget Sound Energy today filed a request to increase electric and natural gas rates in late 2008. This request, according to the utility, would allow the recovery of large investments made in energy infrastructure in 2006 and 2007, and also help to recover costs related to higher operating and power-supply expenses.

If approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, the general rate case filing would raise PSE's average electric and natural gas rates by 9.5 percent and 5.31
percent, respectively, effective Nov. 1, 2008. A WUTC general rate case review typically takes up to 11 months as the commission
thoroughly examines utility operational costs and revenues before issuing a decision.

"We are asking the commission to allow us to recover the investments we have made and will continue to make in our pipes, wires and power supplies to provide the service our customers have come to expect," said Eric M. Markell, PSE CFO and executive vice president in
charge of rates and regulation.

The PSE request would annually provide an
additional $174.5 million in electric revenue and $56.8 million in natural gas revenue.

If the rate case is approved by the WUTC, a typical household electricity bill (based on 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWhs) of electricity) would increase 11.66 percent, or $10.65 a
month. A typical natural gas bill (based on 68 therms), would increase 5.6 percent, or $4.60 a month. This would make PSE's average monthly
electric residential bill $101.91 and the average monthly natural gas residential bill $86.68.

The Washington Department of Transportation reports that its closing both directions of I-5 between mileposts 68 (11 miles south of Chehalis) and 88 (near Grand Mound about 20 miles south of Olympia) due to stream and river flooding.

The department expects the closure will last at least 36 hours.

This from an WSDOT e-mail I just received:

While conditions are changing rapidly, we expect that the closure will last at least 36 hours. It is likely to last longer.

We are working with a variety of sources to provide information to passenger vehicles, freight, transit, businesses and others affected by the closure. We are also teaming with the Washington State Patrol and Washington National Guard to assist drivers.

This is the first complete freeway closure due to flooding in this area since 1996, the department reports.

Here's the possible detours if you are headed that way:

•From the Seattle area: Seattle to Portland drivers will follow I-90 to Yakima and then south on US 97 to west on Oregon’s I-84 to Portland.

•Other detours include US 12 over White Pass to Yakima. Commercial vehicles over 10,000 lbs. GVW are not allowed on State Route 7, from US 12 between Tacoma and Morton.

Brodsky's Uniforms and Equipment is now open in its new location along South Tacoma Way.

If you recall, the shop used to be under the Park Plaza South garage in downtown Tacoma. But that building is getting a remodel that meant the uniform supplier had to go. (Dan Voelpel wrote a story about it last year.)

The shop, now located at South Tacoma Way and Pine Street, sells uniforms for police, fire and EMS workers. The company opened its new spot in mid November.

I chatted with Vice President Jerry Jaffe this afternoon and he said the new place is nice.

"Moving is never a lot fun," he said. "But we like the new location. There’s parking. And it’s at a busy intersection."

Jaffe said the company spent a lot of time notifying customers about the move through e-mail and on invoicing. But some customers still call asking for directions.

The move may allow the company to reach customers that it never has, Jaffe said.

"We’re going to be adding nurses uniforms and scrubs because the (new) location is better for that," he said. "We never thought being downtown that the nurses would walk through the rain to get to us."

This from The Associated Press:

CASHMERE, Wash. — Washington state’s wine grape crop, second only to California nationwide, was a record 127,150 tons this year, an industry group reported.

Favorable weather and an increase in plantings brought a 5.5 percent increase in the harvest of cabernet, merlot, riesling and other varietals, Executive Director Vicky Scharlau said.

“Mother Nature smiled on Washington state once again this year and provided an ideal climate for grapes,” Scharlau said. “She provided us with a fast start, a slow middle and a long finish to produce a vintage to remember.”

The quality of the grapes also was strong, growers said.

“The grapes got as ripe as we wanted and the color was really good for the reds. The wines are going to be really good,” said Scott Williams, winemaker at Kiona Vineyards & Winery on Red Mountain near Benton City.

=> Read more!

Congratulations to the Association of Student Accountants at the University of Washington Tacoma - which successfully sponsored a seminar Friday morning at the convention center. The title of the event may seem a bit obscure (“Transparency and Accountability: The Role of Structured Investments and Off-Balance Sheet Financing in the Global Credit Crisis”), but the message was anything but.

Some 200 people - students, faculty, financal professionals - attended. The speakers included Michael Phillips, chairman of of Russell Investment Group; William Schenck, Wells Fargo senior vice president of commercial banking; Ken Nelson, SVP at US Bancorp; David Gorretta, of Deloitte & Touche; and Gregory Noronha, finance professor at UWT.

Topics ranged from credit default swaps and debt security to subprime resets and the worries that accompany some commercial paper. The morning began with a short introduction by Cong. Adam Smith, who said the meeting would be dealing with “an incredibly important topic.”

Among a few quotables:

Phillips: “You cannot regulate yourself out of a moral hazard.”
“Some lawsuits are going to be going on. It’s very, very muddy”
“Don’t blame this on subprime. This is a leverage problem, an illiquidity of assets problem.”
“The good news is – the U.S. is no longer the engine for global growth.”
“We need to reduce the amount of influence we have in the world.”

Nelson: “Liquidity will be a priority for the next several years.”
“Sound credit analysis is coming back into style again.”

Noronha: “When things start to go bad, we wind up with a not-pleasant situation, to put it mildly.”

Schenck: “We have not seen the full effect of this crisis.”

By Dan Voelpel
Business columnist

Santa won’t be the only omniscient mortal watching to see if you’ve been naughty or nice in Federal Way next year. The cops will have an eye on you too. Make that 25 eyes.

From their squad cars, patrol officers will have Wi-Fi control over 25 video cameras strategically mounted throughout a 1-square-mile zone around The Commons, Federal Way’s regional shopping mall.

Why? Plenty of naughty people hang out there. Nearly 25 percent of all crime in Federal Way happens in that smallish zone, according to police statistics.

Blame it, mostly, on imported punks.

Video Surveillance Demo
When: Tuesday, Dec. 4, 10 a.m.
Where: Macy’s courtyard inside The Commons at Federal Way
What: LenSec Corp. will show how Federal Way police officers can monitor video cameras from their patrol cars and, hopefully, respond more quickly to crimes in progress.

“Unfortunately,” according to a police analysis obtained by The News Tribune, “because of its location, Federal way has become a junction for criminal activity. The Federal Way Police Department has recognized that out-of-town criminals victimize businesses in the city and then utilize the immediate access to the freeways and/or transit for a convenient escape.”

=> Read more!

The snow from Saturday had melted, the Sunday afternoon rain took a break and even the wind cooperated tonight as Santa lit this year's version of Tacoma's Christmas tree - as provided by Fort Lewis and decorated with the help of Tacoma Power and the Tacoma Fire Department.

Here's a first look: