Mitch Robinson, director of marketing and business operations at Tacoma’s Click! Network, wonders if anyone out there has information on his home. It’s at 1102 N. Fifth St., and will be a featured stop on this year’s Tacoma Historic Home Tour http://www.tacomahistory.org/TacomaHomeTour.html.

Robinson writes, “Our house was built for F. Garrett Fisher, who started Fisher’s Shoes which eventually became Stone-Fisher and then the Fisher Department store. The Fisher family had a controlling interest in the store until 1932. We have a few pictures of Garrett and one of the house, but I have really been trying to track down any relatives that might have old family pictures.”

Some of the relatives involved could be: Virginia Jeanie (Cushman) Fisher, Mrs. Wallace Mount, Allen G. Fisher, Dr. Ernest J. Fisher and Lou Fisher.

If you’ve got some information that would help make the tour of the Fisher-Robinson home more informative, please contact Robinson at boonrob@msn.com.

Hotel occupancy in the Tacoma area was down 0.2 percent in February, while the cost of rooms rose by a higher rate than in any other area of the state save one.

In February in Pierce County, 70.1 percent of rooms were occupied. Statewide, 65.3 percent of rooms were taken, for an increase of 0.3 percent over February 2007.

A room in the Tacoma area cost $84.74, which was 14.2 percent higher than the rate charged a year before. Bellingham led the state with an increase of 14.7 percent, increasing to $88.93. The statewide rate, $119.31, was up 4.3 percent.

Only in downtown Seattle did the average room cost fall, down 0.4 percent to $149.78, according to Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood.

Today began much the same way Tuesday and Wednesday did for hundreds of travelers at Sea-Tac Airport: more flight cancellations.

By 8 a.m. today, American Airlines had cancelled three flights, two to Chicago and one to Dallas-Fort Worth, and Alaska Airlines had cancelled a single flight to Oakland.

The problem was the same as on Tuesday and Wednesday: mandatory Federal Aviation Administration inspections of the two airlines' MD-80 aircraft.

Alaska is in a much better position than American because it has just nine MD-80s in its fleet. American has 300.

American says it will likely cancel some 900 flights systemwide today. That's on top of the 1,000 flights grounded Wednesday and 440 on Tuesday.

Alaska cancelled 25 MD-80 flights Wednesday on its system including seven at Sea-Tac. American cancelled seven at Sea-Tac too.

Because the pace of the inspection of wiring in the wheel wells of the planes is unpredictable, the airlines are waiting until a few hours before the flight to actually pull the plug.

Alaska was able to reaccommodate all of its temporarily stranded passengers Wednesday, but American did not.

It's offering passengers stuck overnight a $500 voucher for future travel plus reimbursement for meals and lodging away from home. Instructions on how to apply for that reimbursement and compensation are on American's Web site, www.aa.com.

American is also offering to reschedule without penalty any passengers who are or were scheduled to fly on an MD-80 from April 8 through April 11. Those fliers can reset their travel plans for any date through April 17.

Jobs? Try Orleans County, Louisiana. Wages? They’re up in Clayton County, Georgia.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is out with the latest nationwide data on employment and salaries. Orleans County leads the country’s 328 largest counties, with job growth up 8.6 percent in the third quarter of 2007 over the previous 12 months. (The nation’s average increase is 0.9 percent.) Clayton County leads for pay increases, up 23.9 percent. (With the country averaging a 4.3 percent increase.)

King County hit 4th place in the Top 10 among job growth, up 26,600 positions. Snohomish County marked 7th highest for percentage growth of employment, up 4.4 percent.

For wages, King County placed 7th with an $84 weekly increase – totaling an average weekly wage of $1,129. Kitsap County tied for 9th place in average weekly wage growth, up 8.3 percent.

In the overall results, the BLS shows Pierce County with a 5.4 percent increase in growth of the weekly wage – to $755 – while Washington’s average wage totaled $878 in the third quarter last year.