It might pay to know your local sales tax rate – literally, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Some shoppers may save money on sales tax due to a change starting July 1 on how the tax is collected on shipped and delivered goods.

Beginning next month sales taxes on items that are shipped or delivered will be based on where the customer receives the product instead of the point from which it was shipped.

The Department of Revenue points out that knowing your local sales tax rate could save you money if that rate is lower than the rate where the store or its warehouse is located.

For example, if an Olympia resident buys a couch and the couch is shipped from the retailer’s Kent warehouse then the appropriate sales tax rate would be the 8.4 percent rate for Olympia, rather than the 9 percent applicable in Kent.

The sales tax rate for Tacoma residents is 8.8 percent, according to the Department of Revenue's Web site.

But in some unincorporated areas that rate can be lower, said Mike Gowyrlow, Department of Revenue spokesman.

To calculate the rate for your area, go here.

The change in how the state collects sales tax was required for Washington to join a nationwide effort to standardize the way each state taxes goods, the DOR reports.

“We want the public to be aware of these changes, which in some cases will mean lower sales tax rates,” Revenue Director Cindi Holmstrom said. “We’ve been working hard to educate businesses on the change and want to make sure consumers know about it too.”

The July edition of Travel+Leisure magazine features a patriotic cover story about "50 Fabulous U.S. Travel Ideas" – one for each state.

Coming in at No. 6, Tacoma, Wash. Why?

"Because of the incandescent beauty of Tacoma's colored glass," the magazine touts.

Travel+Leisure's write-up on Tacoma includes an image of a glass pear blown by artist Jesse Kelly and available to purchase at the Museum of Glass gift shop.

"This once industrial city has become an international destination for glass art. The birthplace of acclaimed glass designer Dale Chihuly, Tacoma is home to not only the Museum of Glass, but also galleries, shops, and a few unexpected spots that have embraced the medium.

"At the new Hotel Murano, each of the 21 guest floors honors a different artists (from Australian Cobi Cockburn to Chihuly), and rooms are filled with one-of-a-kind handblown pieces."

Prium Companies redesigned its building planned for the Foss Waterway. Now, it's ground floor is actually on the ground, rather than built up on a pedestal of stairs.

When Prium Companies won approval recently from the Foss Waterway Development Authority to switch from a mostly residential building to a mostly office building, it required a redesign.

This week the FWDA released these images of the waterside view and the view from I-705. Credit the work to BCRA's architectural team:
· Stuart Young, principal-in-charge
· Gail Merth, senior architectural designer
· Rich Gardner, senior project manager

The original design had the building's ground floor built upon a pedestal similar to Thea's Landing, the retail/residential building a few lots away.

The mix of textures on the exterior should give Prium's building a distinctive look compared to other mixed use buildings on the Foss.

Expect construction to start next spring.

Nineteen Northwest airports are at risk of losing some or all of their air service during the current airline financial crisis, a new study says.

The study by the Business Travel Coalition lists those airports among 150 U.S. airports that could see diminished travel choices.

Sea-Tac Airport and Portland International Airport were not among those the BTC listed as being at risk.

The BTC said high fuel prices and slackening demand for air travel is putting flights in jeopardy.

The study listed Spokane, Tri-Cities, Bellingham and Yakima in Washington, Eugene, Medford and Redmond in Oregon, Boise, Idaho Falls and Sun Valley in Idaho, Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell and Missoula in Montana and Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau in Alaska among the airports at risk.

Some cutbacks have already occurred. Bellingham has lost Delta Airlines service to Salt Lake City and Yakima has seen its second daily flight to Salt Lake City, shut down and then reinstated twice this year.

Somewhat strangely, the study doesn't mention Butte, Montana, from which Horizon Air is withdrawing service, and such smaller cities as Wenatchee and Walla Walla in Washington and Coos Bay and Pendleton in Oregon.

Airport consultant Michael Boyd, who advises smaller airports about attracting and keeping service, was critical of the BTC report.

"In this current ariline planning environment, and in light of the capacity cut-backs already announced, reporting to the world that some airports will lose at least some service is about as intuitive as predicting snow to fall in a blizzard," he said.

"But telling the media in some communities that their airport is facing near-catasptrophe and potential loss of all air service, based only on the supposition that airlines could fail, and without hard analytical analysis of specific service, revenues, yields and hub-flows, cannot be regarded as hard forecasting. It borders on Chicken Little," he said.

The BTC said it used several factors to evaluate airport potential airport service cutbacks including the proximity of other airports, the impact of airline mergers, prior fluctuations in air service, the mix of leisure and business travelers, service by at-risk carriers and media reports.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has ordered two Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the airline announced today.

The list price of the two-engine, Renton-built 737-800 is $75 million.

The new orders come in addition to orders from the Bangladeshi carrier in April. The airline then announced orders for four 777-300ER extended range aircraft and four fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliners.

The airline plans to create an all-Boeing fleet.

A Tacoma law firm that specializes in plane crash litigation has filed suit on behalf of four Honduras plane crash victims.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by the Tacoma law firm of Herrmann Scholbe late Wednesday, claims the pilot of a TACA Airlines plane used poor judgment in landing an Airbus A320 during poor weather at an airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras May 30. Five people were killed in that accident.

According to the suit, the pilot made two approaches to the difficult airport at Tegucigalpa. He aborted the first landing when he emerged from the clouds halfway down the short, 5,300-foot runway.

He landed the aircraft on the second try despite having little more than half of the rain-soaked runway remaining to stop the aircraft, the suit claims.

"The plane overshot the runway and then crashed into a ravine where the fuselage cracked into three pieces as it finally came to a rest straddling the street below," claims Tacoma attorney Charles Herrmann.

Three passengers died and two students in cars on the street were killed.

International law allows passengers to file suit in any of several venues including the country in which the tickets were purchased, in the country where their final destination is located and in the country where they live regardless of their citizenship. The plane was due to fly to Miami after leaving Honduras.

Herrmann's firm also represents four other plaintiffs who will file suit in Honduras.

Herrmann has represented clients in numerous air disasters during the last quarter century. His firm first gained a reputation by representing the families of passengers of Korean Air Lines flight KAL 007 shot down by a Soviet MIG over Sahhalin Island in 1983.