Weyerhaeuser Co. Chief Executive Officer Steven Rogel received compensation valued at $13.9 million in 2007, essentially unchanged from the previous year, as the U.S. housing market slump pushed the lumber and packaging producer to a loss in the fourth quarter, The Associated Press reports.

Rogel, who is also the company’s president and chairman, drew a base salary of $1.3 million last year, 1 percent more than in 2006, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

Most of Rogel’s compensation came from stock and options granted to him during the year. Weyerhaeuser did not disclose the total amount, but an Associated Press calculation values the stock and option grants at $12.5 million on the date they were granted, an 11 percent increase from a year ago.

Rogel did not receive anything under the company’s cash incentive plan, which awards executives based on the company’s financial performance. In 2006, he received $1.3 million under that plan.

Rogel also received $17,437 in above-market earnings on deferred compensation and $30,931 in other compensation, which included $18,862 for financial counseling and $11,025 in company contributions to his 401(k).

Israel's El Al Airlines reportedly is in talks with Boeing Co. to add to its fleet of 777 airliners.

According to reports from Israel, the airline wants to acquire four more 777-200 aircraft for delivery beginning in 2012.

El Al already has six 777s in its fleet which it uses for long-range service from Tel Aviv to the United States and Asia.

El Al is scheduled to accept delivery of two new single-aisle Boeing 737-800s this summer.

As part of its ongoing outreach to auto enthusiasts nationwide, the LeMay Automobile Museum will offer two of the collection’s cars – along with several others from related collections – for public viewing beginning this weekend at the New York International Auto Show.

The annual show is one of the nation’s most prestigious – and it helps that Candida Romanelli, the show director, is on the LeMay steering committee.

The LeMay exhibit, “Heritage and Horsepower,” will feature:
From the LeMay collection:
• 1994 Flintmobile – or “the Flintsones’s car;”
• 1927 LaSalle 303 Roadster (LeMay – America’s Car From the collection of board member Nicola Bulgari:
• 2005 Ford GT
• 1952 Buick Roadmaster Harlow Curtice Limousine
• 1936 Hudson Custom Eight Convertible Coupe
• 1934 Studebaker Commander Landcruiser
Other vehicles:
• 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt; 2008 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Spec B (Grand-Am); ABC Supply Dallara/Honda Indy Car Series car.

If you’re planning to visit, look for the LeMay in a 22,000-sq.-ft. space on the lower level, hall 1-E at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

If you're looking for a silver lining in the story of $3.50-a-gallon gas, you don't have to go as far as Dubai to see it.

Right here in Washington, passenger traffic on Amtrak's Northwest corridor trains, dubbed "Amtrak Cascades" by the quasi-governmental passenger rail transportation company, is setting new records.

Last year, ridership in the corridor that encompasses rail routes stretching from Eugene, Ore. to Vancouver, B.C. jumped 7.4 percent despite some rail equipment problems last fall that sidelined some of Cascades modern Talgo trains. Traffic on the four daily Cascades trains is up 13 percent in January and February, reports the Washington Department of Transportation's rail office.

According to the Washington DOT, which subsidizes some of the Amtrak service, 676,670 persons rode the Cascades trains last year.

Expectations for this year are even higher because of several factors:

* Gas prices cresting $3.50 a gallon and continuing to rise.

* The return of renovated Talgo equipment to the route. In addition to fixing the suspension cracks that sidelined the trains last fall, Amtrak and the Washington DOT have spent $10 million on interior renovations of the Spanish-designed high speed trains. The first of those trains goes into service this spring.

* An extension of a second daily train from its present northernmost stop in Bellingham to Vancouver, B.C. in mid-summer this year. Amtrak has had a morning train from Seattle to Vancouver for years. This service addition will add an evening train northward and a morning train southward.

Meanwhile, train service on the Coast Starlight between the Northwest and Southern California remains suspended while crews continue to remove a huge January mudslide that swept away tracks in the Oregon Cascades.

The slide carried away a quarter mile of Union Pacific track. Amtrak initially halted all Coast Starlight service but then reinstated service south of Sacramento, Calif. Amtrak bus service on the route south of Portland is also now available.

Union Pacific expects to restore the line, which carried 1,500 passengers and more than a dozen freight trains a day, either late this month or in April.