Truck driving is one of Washington's most dangerous professions, accounting for 10 percent of the state's work related fatalities and $265 million in injury claims each year, according to a new state labor report.
The state Department of Labor and Industries released the Preventing Injuries in the Trucking Industry Focus Report on Thursday. The report, which covers 1997-2005, is an attempt to help employers reduce the hazards through detailing the dangers drivers face.
"Given the importance of trucking to our economy, everyone in the industry needs to be working to prevent workplace injuries," said Barbara Silverstein, the research director for the Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention, in a L&I news release.
The report also found that:

L&I has a tip sheet for the trucking industry available at http://www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research/Trucking/Default.asp

Ask a question, get an answer.

Thinking about how people are handling the nervous economy, I wondered if perhaps there's been an increase in insurance deductibles. If a policyholder increases the deductible amount, then the premium would go down - and I figured people might be looking for ways to lower premiums.

Not so – at least not yet.

I spoke with Karl Newman recently – he's president of the Northwest Insurance Council – and he said he'd poll his member companies in the state.

I heard back today. Newman's answer: "Our member company survey found that, so far, there is no trend toward insurance customers asking for higher deductibles. However, some did report more price shopping as customers compare prices with other companies to see if they can save money."

That answers that. Anybody else have a question? I'll be glad to ask around.

Leaders of Boeing Co.’s Machinists union called for a strike today after deciding a proposed labor contract the aerospace company called its “best and final” offer wasn’t good enough, The Associated Press reports.

They urged members to reject the offer in an upcoming vote.

Boeing had hoped the proposal, which provides added pay and incentives to workers over three years, would help it avert a labor standoff. The talks come as Boeing tries to keep up with a backlog of plane orders and avoid more penalties caused by production delays of its next-generation passenger jet, the AP reports.

The union has planned a news conference later Friday to explain details of the decision, said Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District Lodge 751.

A Boeing spokesman said the company was “extremely disappointed” by the union’s response.

=> Read more!

Michael D. Esher, airport and ferry administrator for Pierce County, reported today that work will begin Tuesday to realign the taxiway at Thun field.

Looker and Associates of Puyallup was awarded the $616,342 contract and expects to complete work by Oct. 15, the county said in a press release today.

The airport runway will remain in use for all but a short interval required to match asphalt in new sections of the taxiway.

Esher said the project will improve safety at the airport by creating more distance between the runway and taxiway at the north end of the field, and by enlarging the hold area for departing aircraft.

Pierce County purchased a small section of property from Northwest Cascade Inc. to allow the taxiway change to be made.

The project's total cost, including design, is $750,000, of which 95 percent is covered by a Federal Aviation Administration grant. The remainder is split between the Washington Department of Transportation Aviation Division and the airport's operating funds.

The FAA grant includes funds to install an emergency backup electrical system on the field.

Thun Field is located near South Hill at 16715 Meridian Ave. E.

The marathon Foss Waterway hotel project, which was originally proposed in 2003, was granted yet another extension and the developer says it has to be reinvented.

Now construction has been put off to May 20, 2009, more than six years, three extensions and multiple blueprint changes since the initial proposal. Under the new extension, the project needs to “optimize economic returns through needed redesign all within the context of an envelope that has existing permits and approvals.”

The Foss Waterway Development Authority granted the extension at a meeting Thursday evening.

=> Read more!

For those of you who can't get enough Facebook (including me), here's good news: Facebook, the movie, is in the works.

Aaron Sorkin, creator of television show “The West Wing,” will develop the project for Sony Corp., Bloomberg News reports.

Scott Rudin, whose past work includes Oscar-winning film “No Country for Old Men,” will produce the film, Sony Pictures spokesman Steve Elzer said in an e-mailed message.

The movie will focus on the early days of Facebook, a network that allows users to exchange pictures and messages, Elzer said.

Bloomberg reports that closely held Facebook attracted 132.1 million visitors in June, exceeding 117.6 million visitors at News Corp.’s MySpace, according to researcher ComScore Inc. in Reston, Va.

The office of State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is out today with a release noting various recent enforcement actions.

At the top – it turns out that “untrustworthy” is a real word.

In an unpublished Court of Appeals case from last year against insurance agent Jack Chandler, the court has ruled that Kreidler was correct to revoke Chandler’s license based on the fact that, according to the commissioner, Chandler “had shown himself to be untrustworthy in his sales conduct with elderly consumers.”

The court also agreed that Kreidler was correct in saying that Chandler “attempted to exploit senior citizens by using misleading marketing tactics to get them to buy reverse mortgages, living trusts and long-term care insurance.”

Kreidler revoked Chandler’s license in 2002, and Chandler appealed on the grounds that the term “untrustworthy” is unconstitutionally vague and subjective. The court disagreed and the State Supreme Court would not review the case.

“While this case took several years to reach conclusion, it was worth every minute. I am very satisfied with the result,” Kreidler said.

In enforcement actions taken by the commissioner in June and July:

• Willamette Dental was fined $30,000 with $10,000;
• Vision Services Plan was fined $29,500 with $17,750 suspended;
• United Church Foundation was fined $1,000;
• Panahou School was fined $350;
• Nationwide Home Warranty was ordered to stop doing business;
• Fremont Life Insurance Company had its license revoked
• Shawn L. Martinez, a public adjuster, and North Pacific Claims in Renton had their licenses revoked;
• Tamra L. Pratt and Pratt Insurance Agency in Belfair had their licenses revoked;
• Julie D. Lemery and Main Street Insurance had their licenses revoked (for demonstrating incompetency and being untrustworthy).

Let the lip-smacking anticipation begin. Sonic's first Puget Sound region drive-in restaurant will go up at the corner of 136th Street East and Meridian Avenue on South Hill.

This vacant corner at 136th Street East and Meridian Avenue will serve as the home for Sonic's first drive-in restaurant in the Puget Sound region.

J. David Orem, who owns the franchise rights in the region, said he will sign the lease agreement Friday.

When will it open? That will depend largely on how fast Pierce County approves the permits, said Orem, who plans to file his application as early as next week.

"We're readying all our drawings," said Orem this week while on the road to visit the new Sonic in Vancouver. "Once we get the permit, we'll be under construction for 90 days, then we'll open. (When the application's filed with) the folks at Pierce County who make the decisions with regard to building permits, it's out of my hands. If there was any way I could speed the process up, I'd like to open by Christmastime.

Otherwise, plan for early 2009.

=> Read more!

The ailing economy apparently has taken another tourism industry victim.

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, a luxury train that visits Mount Rainier National Park via Tacoma Rail tracks as part of a Northwest rail tour, is shutting down.

Notices on travel agent Web sites and in on-line travel bulletins said the Colorado-based rail operation's owner, Tom Rader, told employees that the trains would halt their journeys Thursday.

In a letter to clients, Rader reportedly told customers: "We are financially unable to continue operations."

Neither Rader nor agents for GrandLuxe were available for confirmation.

One of GrandLuxe's high end trains was in Eatonville today where buses were to take customers on a tour of Mount Rainier.

Tacoma Rail Interim Superintendent Alan Hardy said the rail tour operator has told Tacoma Rail it will store its train on Tacoma Rail tracks until it has more definite plans for the future.

=> Read more!

Oh, those patient Canadians.

Not any more.

A story in yesterday’s Toronto Globe & Mail outlined a survey saying Canadian shoppers aren’t likely to stand in line as much as they once did.

“Canadian consumers are abandoning their shopping carts, delaying purchases and leaving stores, public transit stops and restaurants in significant numbers,” the marketing research firm Maritz Research Canada said, offering the results of its online survey.

A large majority – 86 percent – of participants said they had walked out of a store frustrated and empty-handed because they were tired of waiting for service.

• 78 percent said they had walked out of a department store because of long lines;
• 40 percent have left grocery stores without buying;
• 50 percent have walked out of a medical waiting room;
• 54 percent have left a bank without conducting a transaction;
• 54 have walked out of a convenience store;
• 58 per cent gave up waiting in a fast-food restaurant;
• 64 per cent had abandoned waits for public transit.

Quantifying their tolerance, those polled said eight minutes was a reasonable wait in a grocery store, and that they’d likely leave after 15 minutes.

So I’ll ask you the same question.

How long are you willing to wait in line at a grocery store? How long before you leave without buying anything at a department store? Are there any stores that are especially good (or not so good) at making sure service is provided in a timely manner?

Please respond below. Thanks.

Vancouver, B.C. ranks fourth on Mercer Consulting's new list of the best cities to live in the world.

Our neighbor to the north earned 107.6 points on Mercer's ranking system that rates New York City at 100 points.

The Mercer index is designed to give international companies an idea of the environment into which they've sending their expat managers on overseas assignments.

The system, based on the results, seems to value highly such factors as political stability, personal safety, public services and health and sanitation.

Ranking first was Zurich with a rating of 108. Tied at second were Vienna and Geneva. Auckland held down fifth place.

Not surprisingly, Baghdad was the lowest city on the list with a score of 13.5.

The list heavily favored European and Canadian cities. The top five ranked cities in the Americas were all Canadian: Vancouver, Toronto, Ottowa, Montreal and Calgary.

Seven of the top cities worldwide were European. Besides the European cities mentioned above, the top ten included Dusseldorf (6th), Munich (7th tied), Frankfurt (7th tied) and Bern (9th).

U.S. cities fared relatively poorly. Top on the list was Honolulu at 28th followed by San Francisco at 29th, Boston at 37th, Washington, D.C. at 44th, Chicago at 44th (tied), Portland at 48th, New York City at 49th and Seattle at 50th. The survey rated 215 cities worldwide.

Olympia's iconic Olympia Brewery building and grounds are once more on the market.

The landmark brewery closed in 2003, and its then-owner, Miller Brewing Co., sold it to an investor. The brewery enjoyed a brief life as the home of a bottled water company, but has been unused since that venture failed.

California owner Barney Ng is asking a total of $40 million for the brewery and its grounds.

The 130-acre property in view of I-5 is being offered by the Olympia office of commercial real estate company Colliers International.

If the property fails to sell by Sept. 24, the parcels will be offered in a sealed bid auction beginning Oct. 10.

In the past, several shopping center developers have expressed interest in the property.

Alaska Airlines will commemorate the retirement of its last MD-80 airliner and its move to an all-Boeing 737 fleet Thursday with the unveiling of a new paint job on a newly-delivered Boeing 737-800.

The special livery will be applied only to a single 737-800 that is replacing the last of the airline's MD-80s.

Alaska isn't allowing any sneek peeks, but expect a paint scheme that somehow commemorates Alaska and Boeing's tight relationship.

Plane spotter and photographer Andrew Sieber captured the new plane on the ground in Seattle. You'll find his photos here on his Flickr page.

Photo by Andrew Sieber

Alaska moved away from Boeing to McDonnell Douglas in the '80s as it acquired MD-80s to replace its fleet of Boeing 727s. Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

But the airline moved back to Boeing in the '90s by acquiring 737s.

The airline accelerated the retirement of the rear-engined MD-80s in recent months as fuel prices rose.

The 737-800s that replace the MD-80s are as much as 20 percent more fuel-efficient. The new plane will join several others in the Alaska fleet with one-off paint schemes. Two of those planes are painted in a Disney design. One is a dark blue Alaska.com plane, and another is painted to resemble a salmon. It's called, for obvious reasons, the "salmon-thirty-seven."

Seattle luggage maker Tom Binh is one of the first companies to offer travelers a "checkpoint-friendly" laptop bag that allows air passengers to keep their computers stowed through security checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration earlier this month relaxed its rule requiring laptops to be removed from their bags for inspection if they were carried in so-called "checkpoint-friendly" bags.

The new rule allows travelers to keep their laptops zipped up if the bag has no zippers, clasps or other items that interfere with a clear x-ray view of the laptop.

The Tom Binh bag folds out to allow such a clear view.

The bags, made in Seattle, are available in three colors in ballistic nylon on the luggage-maker's Web site, www.tombihn.com

Midwest Airlines, which gained a loyal following in the nation's midsection with wider seats and warm chocolate chip cookies, is cutting back on one of its signature amenities to bolster revenues.

Midwest, which flies from Sea-Tac to Kansas City and Milwaukee, is adding additional seats to a majority of its rows on its Boeing 717s.

The airline will now have 12 rows configured with five seats across in a 3-by-2 configuration and 10 rows of four-across seats in its traditional 2-by-2 layout.

The airline is renaming its roomier seats as Midwest Class and charging a premium of $25 to $75 per flight over economy fares for those seats. Those seats will have 35 to 36 inches between the rows while the narrower economy seats will have 32 inches of legroom.

Southwest Airlines' new wintertime flight schedule shows the profitable Dallas-based carrier trimming 196 flights from its daily schedule while adding only six.

Those schedule changes, effective Jan. 11, include cancellation of Southwest's non-stop flight from Seattle to Nashville and elimination of two daily flights between Sea-Tac and Chicago's Midway Airport. Two flights will remain on that routing.

The 190-flight decrease represents about 5.6 percent of Southwest's daily 3,400 flights.

Most major airlines are cutting flights during the slack winter travel season. Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King told the Dallas Morning News that the cutbacks would help the airline bolster its reserve fleet to cope with winter storms.

Southwest's Seattle-Nashville flight is the only nonstop flight by any airline between the two cities.

New Air & Tours Group, a fledgling Canadian airline, has picked Boeing's 737 Next Generation aircraft for its fleet, the company said today.

The Calgary-based airline originally had considered leasing McDonnell Douglas MD-80s for its fleet, but reconsidered when fuel prices soared.

Lease rates are low for the MD-80s, which airlines are retiring rapidly, but fuel consumption is high relative to Boeing's latest 737s.

New Air apparently plans to follow the model created in the U.S. by Allegiant Airlines, which has remained profitable by serving leisure destinations from smaller airports such as Bellingham. Allegiant's fleet is made up of MD-80s.

The 737NGs are about 20 percent less fuel thirsty than those planes and are used extensively by such successful low-cost carriers as Southwest Airlines and Canada's WestJet.

New Air plans to lease its first 737s rather than buy them.

A computer problem in a Federal Avaiation Administration center near Atlanta is creating flight delays throughout the country, CNN is reporting.

The center is one of two that processes airline flight plans.

The computer failures aren't affecting planes already in the air which have already filed flight plans, but it is preventing some flights from departing.

At Sea-Tac so far problems are minimal. Only two flights, a Delta flight bound from Sea-Tac to Atlanta and a Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas were reporting delays.

That flight was due to depart Sea-Tac at 12:55 p.m.. Its departure is now delayed until 1:30 p.m. according to FlightStats.com. During the 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. hour, only one plane among dozens scheduled for departure was late. A Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas postponed its departure by 20 minutes. It wasn't clear whether that delay was related to the computer issues or another problem.

Atlanta, the world's most heavily used airport, is reporting excessive delays, and US Airways hub at Charlotte, N.C. is reporting less severe problems.

Radar used to track flights in the air is functioning as normal, so the computer problems apparently aren't causing any safety concerns, said CNN.

Oil spill workers in Tacoma are back on the job today after a four-day strike against their employer, the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC).

The three MSRC workers, who maintain oil-spill response vessels, skimmers and booms in Commencement Bay, went on strike last week to protest what they said was illegal discrimination and intimidation by MSRC.

The Tacoma operation is one of only two in MSRC’s national network that is unionized.

Despite two years of negotiations, the workers and MSRC management have been unable to reach agreement on contract terms.

The workers complained that MSRC was punishing them for unionizing by refusing to let them participate in spill-response training exercises.

MSRC maintained that the training in question was for beginners in the field and that it was unnecessary for the experienced Tacoma crew.

Klete Freudenstein, one of the striking workers, said the strike served its purpose.

"We made our point against discrimination loud and clear,” he said. “Now we look forward to sitting down with MSRC, working out a first contract and working together to build a more effective response organization."

MSRC representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board wants public input on a plan to improve state employment.

A public forum to help design the state High Skills, High Wages plan will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at South Seattle Community College's Tech Center, Room TEC 129. The college is at 6000 16th Ave. SW in Seattle.

There will also be a video conference hookup at Tacoma Community College, Room 222 Building 28. A hookup is also available at Skagit Valley College, Building MV Studio A, Room #S161.

The High Skills, High Wages plan, which is updated every two years, identifies issues facing state employment and possible ways to strengthen the workforce. The state board is especially looking for business owners to give input on what they need, a WTECB news release states.

A draft of the plan created after a July meeting is available at http://www.wtb.wa.gov/Documents/HSHWDraftJuly2008.pdf.

The board said the plan started the Opportunity Grant program, which provides credits, tuition assistance or money for books for low-income students studying for "in-demand occupations" at a community or technical college.

Those who are cannot attend the meeting or a video conference can e-mail suggestions to mthompson@wtb.wa.gov.

Airports Council International has awarded Seattle-Tacoma International Airport its 2008 Environmental Achievement Award for its work in managing stormwater from the airport's expansion.

The airport worked with regulatory agencies, environmental and citizens groups to control stormwater runoff from its $4.2 billion airport improvement program that included construction of a third runway and a renovated central terminal and A concourse.

"The control of stormwater runoff is becoming a more critical issue as the Puget Sound region develops strategies for restoring the health of our waterways," said John Creighton, port commission president.

Winners in each category were selected by a three-judge panel based on the project's environmental benefits, innovation, effective implementation and cost-effectiveness.

For the construction of the third runway, the Port of Seattle, Sea-Tac's owner, restored lakes and streams west of the airport in a former housing area and channeled runoff to holding basins to control flooding and stream flow. The port also restored wetlands miles from the airport near the Green River to compensate for the loss of bird habitat near the runways. The airport deliberately created habitat near the airport that was not attractive to fowl because of the danger they pose to aircraft.

From now on, call it the Americraft ShowPlex.

The Western Washington Fair Association has sold naming rights to the $14 million, 123,000-square-foot fairgrounds exhibition center to Americraft Cookware – a manufacturer of stainless steel and aluminum pots and pans.

The Florida-based company sells its wares at fairs throughout the county, and customers may know the company for its Kitchen Craft and Healthy Gourmet brands.

The naming rights for the building, built in 2005, sold for $1 million to be paid over five years, the Fair Association said in a press release. The deal is the first sale of naming rights by the association, although Americraft has secured similar transactions with fairs in Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Arizona and Colorado.

Dave Hurley, Americraft chairman, said people who attend events including sewing shows, graduations or snowmobile expos “are looking for high quality cooking items for their kitchen. Putting the Americraft name on ShowPlex brings our products front and center.”

You won't have to wait in line to get a copy of the new Tiger Woods video game. Amazon.com Inc. is giving its customers release-day access to new video games.

The Seattle-based Internet retailer will deliver four new video games to customers on the same day they are released.

They include:
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Fable 2
Gears of War 2

Here's the catch: You gotta pay $5.98 to upgrade your shipping option for guaranteed delivery of these titles, according to a news release from the company. Amazon Prime customers will receive release-date delivery for free.

Booking your airline reservations too far in advance, may net you a higher fare, travel guru Tom Parsons warned over the weekend.

Parsons, CEO of BestFares.com, said that booking fares beyond six months in advance, contrary to conventional wisdom, could add hundreds of dollars to your costs.

That's because low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines doesn't post its schedule or prices more than six months or so in advance.

Since many airlines match Southwest's sometimes lower fares, they're unconstrained by Southwest's competition beyond six months ahead.

When Southwest recently posted its schedule and prices through March 6, other airlines rolled back their prices on competitive routes to match the Dallas-based carrier.

For instance, prices for a Seattle-to-Raleigh, N.C. roundtrip through March 6 are as low as $178. After that date, the last Southwest has posted, prices jump to a minimum of $464.

Airlines also may post sale prices, particularly during the slower wintertime travel season, as they see traffic softening.

Most of their competitors are forced to respond. Don't take Parson's advice to an extreme. Wait until the last minute on popular routes, and you'll pay double or more for one of the last seats available.

At least four Tacoma-area gas stations are selling a gallon of regular unleaded gas below $3.70 a gallon, TacomaGasPrices.com reported today.

Those low prices reflect the continuing plunge at the pump as summer winds down. AAA Washington reports average Tacoma regular gas prices now are $3.856 a gallon. That's seven cents below Tacoma prices on average a week ago.

The four stations reportedly selling gas below $3.70 today are: Fred Meyer at Meridian and River Road in Puyallup, $3.65; ARCO at Puyallup and Portland avenues, $3.69; ARCO at 10216 224th St. E, $3.69, and Costco, 1201 39th Ave. SW in Puyallup, $3.69.

Over the weekend, I was in California, traditionally a leader in high fuel prices, and gas even there had dropped below $4.

Nationally, the average price of unleaded regular is $3.681 a gallon. For bargain gas, go to South Carolina where the average gallon is available for $3.455, the lowest price in the country.

Travel to Alaska, if you've got some nostalgia for $4 gas. A gallon on average there costs. $4.583, says the AAA.

Diesel prices, while down from their highs, remain stubbornly over $4. The national average today is $4.291 a gallon.

In Washington, the average price for diesel is $4.508. In Tacoma, diesel is slightly lower at $4.476.

The gracious Rosario Resort on Orcas Island in the San Juans is for sale.

You’ll need to present a cashier’s for $250,000 in order to qualify for bidding at the auction - and you’ll likely need a lot more than that to buy the property.

The state Employment Security Department earlier today sent out a notice saying Rosario is closing and that 195 employees at the resort will be out of work by the end of October.

I called the resort general manager, Dan Dohner, for some more information.

The property includes 74 acres of land, plus a main resort with guest rooms, restaurants, meeting facilities, 35-slip boat moorage and additional space for moorage offshore. The site was developed in the 1970s, Dohner said, expanding the facilities of a mansion that was built in 1909 by Seattle Mayor Robert Moran.

Rosario is one of the island’s major employees, Dohner said, and it could well be that the new owner will continue to use the property for commercial purposes.

“A lot of people are sad, but a lot are excited about what it can be. This is another step of what Rosario is,” Dohner said. “The closure allows the new owner to take a breath, and figure out what to do.”

The resort closes on Oct. 20, and the auction will be held Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. at the resort. For further information, visit the auctioneer’s site here.

Boeing commercial airplane orders for the year reached 579 this week with the addition of two orders for 777 wide-bodied aircraft from unidentified buyers.

Those orders bring total 777 orders to 48 for the year. The twin-engine, long-range plane is the third most popular Boeing jetliner by orders this year.

The best-selling aircraft in Boeing's line-up this year is the 737 with 449 orders. Airlines have ordered more 737s this year through the third week of August than Boeing is producing in a whole year. At the present production rate of 31 a month, Boeing is building 372 of those twin jets a year. The backlog of orders for the 737 amount to six years' production at current rates.

The second most popular of Boeing's planes is the 787 Dreamliner with 78 orders this year.

Boeing's 747 and 767 have garnered two orders each this year.

Hybrid cars are all the fashion, and locomotive makers are building hybrid engines. Now, Seattle's Foss Maritime is about to put into service the world's first true hybrid tug boat.

Under construction at Foss's Rainier, Ore., shipyard across the Columbia River from Longview, Wash., the new tug is designed to reduce emissions by 44 percent.

The tug will be powered by electric motors driving its propellers. Those electric motors will draw their power from batteries and from generators installed in the boat.
The boat's main engines will kick in when full horsepower is needed.

In many ways, harbor tugs are well suited for hybrid drives because much of their time is spent at low power settings manuevering in the harbor or at idle while waiting for their next job.

The hybrid drive will operate from batteries at those low power demand times.

In addition to lower emissions and fuel savings estimated at 30 percent, the company, founded in Tacoma in 1889 and now headquartered in Seattle, says the new tug will cut noise pollution in the harbor where it operates.

Foss is seeking Green Passport certification for the boat from Lloyd's Register of North America, a maritime standards organization.

The tug will go into service in the Long Beach and Los Angeles harbors. The Port of Los Angeles is contributing $850,000 to the project, and the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners is contributing $500,000 as part of the two ports' initiatives to clean up air quality in the nation's busiest harbor.

New plans for renovation of downtown Tacoma's most prominent historic eyesore, the 1890 Luzon Building, call for it to be returned to its appearance 117 years ago.

Paint applied to its brickwork when it served as an arcade and home to a Chinese restaurant will be removed gently, and the bricks restored to their original appearance.

The only difference from the building's original facade will be a new elevator and mechanical core that will be built abutting the historic building to the south to stiffen and strengthen it against earthquakes.

Gintz Group project manager Tim Lieberman said Tacoma architect Jon Graves' design would replicate the building's as-new details down to minor cosmetic items. The Gintz Group, a Tacoma developer, acquired the building last year from Oakland, Calif., developer Mike Bartlett.

Those plans have been submitted to state authorities to help secure their approval of historic tax credits of up to 20 percent of the building's renovation costs, said Lieberman. If state officials approve, the building's application for federal tax credits will be forwarded to the National Park Service which grants federal tax credits if the building's renovation mets federal standards.

The Luzon is one of two remaining West Coast buildings -- the other is in San Francisco -- designed by famed Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and John Root. The two designed several pioneering Chicago high-rises. After Root died, Burnham designed Washington D.C.'s Union Station and many of the buildings at Chicago's Worlds Fair.

Lieberman said he expects the tax credit approval process to take up to 90 days. Once those tax credits have been approved, the developers will complete their financing and begin the project.

The project manager said finding financing has been challenging but the tax credits and a $1.65 million low-interest loan from the City of Tacoma will make what might have been a difficult project doable.

Bartlett tried several times to rehab the building, but the pieces never came together for him.

The Gintz Group plan calls for retail spaces on the Pacific Avenue and Commerce Street levels and four stories of offices above, one of which will be the developer's headquarters. The building, located at South 13th Street and Pacific Avenue, will be renamed the Burnham & Root Building.

The developer has shown the building to several prospective tenants including a bank.

"I warn those who want to see the building that they need to have a well-developed imagination to look past the collapsing floors to envision how the finished building will look," he said.

The Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau revealed its new logo and business plan this morning - and the message was: It's time to be accountable and get to work; that work is regional; and there are some great opportunities over the next few years.

I'll be speaking soon with TRCVB head Tammy Blount about some of the details, but two things stood out from today's gathering.

First, my favorite quote of the morning came from Bob Drewel, executive director of the Puget Sound Regional Council, who, while discussing unique features visitors might enjoy hereabouts, said, "Mount Rainier is a hard place to find anywhere else."

Second, the bureau released its new video - produced by PLU students Eric Wahlquist and David Horton. It's quick. Take a look here.

Rainier Connect is finishing up a deal to buy local Internet service provider HarborNet, the ISP owner said Thursday.

Ken Lombardi, who with his wife has run HarborNet for about 20 years, said is selling the company to the much larger Rainier Connect the make sure his customers have the best service possible. HarborNet customers had been asking about Internet phone service and bundle offers like those provided by much larger companies, and the small business couldn't support it. With Rainier Connect, HarborNet subscribers will have more options, Lombardi said.

"Being a pretty small company, we didn't have the capital to make it happen," Lombardi said. "We felt it was really important that these things were available to our customers."

A message left for a Rainier Connect spokesperson was not returned this afternoon.

Lombardi said HarborNet subscribers should not see a difference, and as it stands, no employees will lose their jobs. Lombardi would not say the cost of the deal or how many subscribers HarborNet has because the deal has not been finalized.

"Rainier Connect has bent over backwards to make sure our employees will be able to continue in this field if they choose," he said.

Lombardi said he has been anxious waiting for the deal to go through. He said HarborNet is "his baby" that he and his wife have put two decades of their lives into. He will stay on to make sure everything works out, and then find a different job. He said he is interested in helping communities set up wireless connections.

"I have high hopes that everybody is going to be happy," Lombardi said. "It's always been our primary concern to make our customers happy."

Rainier Connect began as Mashell Telecom Inc. and traces its roots back to 1910. It provides, cable, TV, Internet and phone services.

Thurston County investigators suspect arson in a Monday morning fire in the southern approach to Tacoma Rail's Nisqually River bridge at McKenna.

Alan Hardy, the municipally owned rail system's interim superintendent, said the damage cut the railroad's Frederickson-to-Chehalis line in half.

"We're not sure yet, but we think it was kids or vandals who set the bridge deck on fire," he said. If the fire proves to be arson, the FBI will enter the case, he said.

Fortunately for the railroad, the line gets relatively little use. Parts of the line are used for rail car storage by mainline railroads and others. The line connects at Tacoma on the north and Chehalis on the south to the BNSF main line, so none of those stored cars were isolated by the fire.

Damage to the wooden deck of the bridge approach amounts an estimated $20,000 to $40,000, said Hardy. The railroad is self-insured, so the repair costs may have to come out of its budget, he said. Some federal grants also may be available, he said.

=> Read more!

The long-planned Foss Waterway hotel is back again at the Thea Foss Waterway Development Authority asking for yet another extension of its planned ground-breaking date.

The hotel project on the near-downtown Tacoma Thea Foss Waterway has been repeatedly postponed over the last four years as its Seattle developers have redesigned to suit market and financing condition changes.

Previous Foss hotel design with condos

=> Read more!

American Airlines this week began airborne Internet service on a limited number of its Boeing 767 aircraft flying between New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami.

In doing so, it became the first domestic airline to move beyond the testing stage with Internet service.

A year ago, SeaTac's Alaska Airlines said it would be one of the first, if not the first, airline, to equip its planes with Web connections. That service has yet to materialize.

Alaska spokeswoman Marianne Lindsey said the service is still in the testing stage at Alaska.

Alaska's original schedule called for it to equip a plane last spring with Row44's satellite-based Internet service. But that installation has now been delayed until later this fall with installation across Alaska's fleet now set for 2009.

"If we had it up and running, we certainly would be bragging about it," said Lindsey.

Alaska has yet to decide how much it will charge for the service. American is charging $12.95 for its initial service which is available mostly on long, trans-continental flights.

American's Internet system uses cell towers to communicate with the plane. Alaska's uses satellites. The satellite system is more versatile because it will maintain Internet contact even over the remote areas and over the ocean where some of Alaska's flights go.

Other carriers that had hoped to get their Internet service running by now are also reporting delays. Southwest hopes to use the same system from California-based Row44 as does Alaska.

You had to know that Microsoft was annoyed by those Mac vs PC ads. Now the company is striking back.

Jerry Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen in Microsoft Corp's $300 million advertising campaign aimed at changing its image, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing people close to the situation.

Seinfeld, known for his eponymous television sit-com, will appear in ads with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and will receive about $10 million for the work, the report said.

The attempted image overhaul comes in the wake of Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads, which feature a nerdy PC guy getting upstaged by a hip Mac counterpart. Reuters reports.

The new ads, likely to debut on Sept. 4, is expected to use some variation of the slogan "Windows, Not Walls," the paper said.

For its new campaign, Microsoft also considered a range of other famous personalities, including comedians Will Ferrell and Chris Rock, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The words that come to mind are “ambitious” and “accountable.”

You could well add “strong.”

The Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau has a new logo and a new strategic business plan.
Mike Gommi, the bureau’s board chairman, and Tammy Blount, selected in January as executive director, will present the plan at a meeting Thursday morning at the Landmark Convention Center.
“We mean business,” Blount said Wednesday afternoon – after two weeks spent planning for the event and six months developing the plan.

“We stopped counting at 287 people, counting the number of people we talked to,” she said.
More than 150 people – including officials from various Pierce County cities and towns, and workers and managers involved in the tourism business – are expected at tomorrow’s gathering.

=> Read more!

When Lloyd Waterhouse founded his engine rebuilding company in downtown Tacoma in 1929, the combustible engine looked a lot simpler than its modern counterparts.

His company, Waterhouse Motors, now owned by Ed and Larry Davis, will auction off its inventory Thursday beginning at 10 a.m. and close its doors for good.

Ed Davis, reached at the office Wednesday afternoon, said the complexity of modern engines with a growing number of expensive parts made the remanufacturing business less and less profitable.

"Times are changing," Davis said. "The remanufacturing business is dying, and I didn't want to ride it all the way to the end.

At its peak, the company, at 2502 Commerce St., employed 22 people in engine and cylinder head remanufacturing, cast iron welding, crankshaft grinding and antique engine part sales, according to its Web site.

In its last days, with business declining, Waterhouse Motors employed 10, Davis said.He plans to look for a tenant to lease the commercial property.

Waterhouse, the company founder, sold his business in 1959 to Don Kress, who sold it to the Davises in 1978.

Abolins Inc. has been open in Tacoma for 40 years, becoming a landmark in the business community. But come Monday, the company may have to close its doors for good.

The audio-visual retailer and repair shop is hoping that a local company might buy its assets and keep the store on South 12th Street in business. If not, it will have to close and lay off its employees.

Operations Manager Michael Hall said the store just can't keep up with massive retailers, and the slouching economy has hurt sales. The business used to specialize in repairs of video equipment and other electronics, but cheaper production costs have meant people buy new instead of taking their cameras in to be fixed.

"It is becoming a throwaway world," Hall said.

President David Senner bought the company and moved it to its current location in 1988. Last year he told The News Tribune that the company employed 12 people and saw $7 million in sales annually.

But Hall said because the store is so small, it cannot buy in bulk to keep up with big chains like Best Buy and Costco. Also, the store handles state contracts, but the government has been cutting back, meaning a large drop in business.

"I am pretty sure we're going to close up shop, and I don't want that to happen," Hall said.

We Americans stand divided. Democrat vs. Republican. Red vs. Blue. McCain vs. Obama. Target vs. Wal-Mart.

BIGResearch, a consumer intelligence company, surveyed shoppers at several popular retail stores to find out who they would vote for, if the presidential election were held today.

The results? Wal-Mart, Kohl's and JC Penney shoppers prefer Republican John McCain. Macy's and Target shoppers prefer Democrat Barack Obama.

“Looking at such detail as how specific retailer shoppers are planning to vote in November provides valuable insights into the mood of shoppers/voters,” said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. “By understanding the political preferences of these voter groups, it’s indicative of socio-economic impact on political preferences and indecisions. Perhaps McCain should consider a bus tour through Walmart parking lots and Obama could use Target.”

Here's how the results broke down:

=> Read more!

Boeing and its largest union, the Machinists, sit down at the negotiating table Thursday for marathon negotiations leading to a "best and final offer" to be considered by union members Sept. 3.

The portents aren't good. The union wants to make up for what it considers ground lost in the last two contracts because of the ill health of the aerospace industry. And Boeing wants to tie increases in compensation to company performance and unshackle itself from its defined benefit pension plan for new employees.

"We haven't made as much progress as we had hoped," said Machinist Union District Local 751 President Tom Wroblewski. "Boeing needs to get serious with their offers and quit talking about takeaways," he said today.

The two sides have been meeting for months now trading proposals, but the negotiations at a SeaTac hotel are when things finally get down to hard negotiations.

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said the company is pleased with its new negotiations approach of starting substantive talks earlier and letting Boeing employees know more clearly what the company is seeking.

The fact that the statements surrounding the hotel talks seems louder this year, he said, is indicative of Boeing's efforts to roll out its major proposals to the union and Boeing workers before negotiators retreat behind closed doors.

=> Read more!

A friend of mine told me about a company called Stupid Prices that operates like an outlet store for big retailers including Costco. The name was a lot to live up to. How much of a discount would count as "stupid?"

I drove out to the store in Spanaway on Tuesday to investigate.

Check this out: A pair of Polo Jeans Co. capri pants that originally sold at Costco for $41.29 were $12.39.

A green Jones New York long sleeve T-shirt originally $23.09 was $6.93.

The company is based in Woodinville and has 13 stores including one in Federal Way on 314th and one in Spanaway at 176th and Pacific Avenue.

In the stores, most of the items have green tags, which means the price you pay is 50 percent below its original price. Sales tax is included.

Clothes are 70 percent off the original price.

The stores has lots of one-of-a-kind items such as a Kirkland set of stainless steel cookware that sold for $278.99 now selling for $139.49. The box was taped, and I didn't check to make sure all the pieces were in the box.

I found two Martha Stewart table cloths – one a 70 round and one a 52 x 70 – for $7.99, marked down from $15.99.

Some of the items have stickers that say "used." Some boxes had been opened and resealed. Some items weren't in the original packaging.

Stupid Prices sells televisions, lawnmowers, shoes, food, housewares, toys and lots more. You get seven days to exchange an item including clothes. The company offers a 30-day , 90 or one year warranty on select electronics, according to the store's return policy. All furniture sales are final.

More "Stupid Prices:"

A box of Annie's Honey Bunnies cereal for 69 cents. Sure it was past its "best by" date by two months but how bad can old cereal be?

A Dove rose and hearts truffle gift set – the kind you find in stores at Valentine's Day – for 99 cents. The original price: $2.84.

Alaska Airlines will bid goodbye to the last of its MD-80 aircraft this weekend.

The twin-engine, 140-passenger aircraft once dominated Alaska's fleet. But the airline in recent months has accelerated the planes' retirement and replacement with Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

The McDonnell Douglas, Long beach-built rear-engined planes served in Alaska's fleet for 23 years. The planes, however, are too fuel inefficient in the era of $3.50-a-gallon jet fuel.

The last two Alaska MD-80 flights will be from California to Seattle.

Flight 331 will depart San Jose at 7:50 p.m. Sunday, and Flight 363 will leave Sacramento at 8:20 p.m., the airline said.

Some passengers preferred the MD-80 to the 737 because of its 3-2 seating arrangement that meant there was only one middle seat for every row. The 737 has 3-3 seating with a middle seat on both sides of aisle.

Tired of unsheathing your laptop every time you pass through airport security?

Beginning this week, there's an alternative, the "checkpoint friendly" laptop bag.

As Transportation Security Administration administrator Kip Hawley told us last month when he was here at Sea-Tac, the TSA will allow travelers to keep their laptops in their bags. The catch? The laptops must be in so-called "checkpoint friendly" bags.

The idea of the "checkpoint friendly" bag is that it allows TSA screeners to see the laptop clearly on the security x-ray without the interference of belts, buckles or other equipment.

=> Read more!

United Airlines will eliminate free snacks for coach passengers on its domestic flights beginning Sept. 2.

The Chicago-based airline is also ending complimentary meals for business class passengers on domestic flights with the exception of certain transcontinental flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York.

And the airline also will end free meals in economy on flights to Europe from its Washington, D.C. hub.

All of those actions are spurred by the need for the carrier to shave costs in the face of burgeoning fuel bills.

"These changes are difficult, but necessary, and we do not make them lightly," the airline said in a memo to employees.

To compensate for the lack of free food, the airline plans to augment its offerings of buy-on-board snacks and meals.

United so far hasn't followed the example of rival carrier US Airways in charging for soda, juice and bottled water.

Ask me how I know it’s going to rain on Thursday. OK, don’t ask. I’ll tell you.

To celebrate its 51st anniversary, Seattle-based Brown Bear Car Wash will offer free car washes at its Northwest tunnel-wash locations. The washes will be of the “Bear Essential” variety and sure to wash off the dust of a hot summer.

Last year, in honor of the company’s 50th anniversary – according to a release I received today – the company gave away 19,000 of the automated washes.

“This is an opportunity to show our appreciation to our customers for their loyal patronage for 51 years,” said Brown Bear founder and owner Vic Odermat.

The washers will run from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday. You can see a complete list of Brown Bear’s 19 Puget Sound locations by visiting www.brownbear.com, or you can glisten your grime and find the shine in the South Sound at 10913 Bridgeport Way S.W. in Lakewood; or in Tacoma at 13204 Pacific Ave., 3002 So. 38th St. or 5950 6th Ave.

You might want to go to your favorite candy aisle and stock up – especially on Hershey products.

The Pennsylvania company said a few days ago that it has decided to raise prices on its kisses, bars and other confections by an average of 11 percent. The immediate increase was required, Hershey said, to offset “significant increases” in the cost of such raw materials as sugar, cocoa and peanuts, which are up as much as 45 percent since January, according to a Bloomberg News story.

The company also narrowed its earnings projections, saying per-share profit would come in at between $1.43 and $1.51 for 2008.

I called Pierson Clair, chief candyman at Tacoma’s Brown & Haley yesterday, to ask if the Roca family would be seeing similar increases.

Not yet, he said.

“We normally announce price increase in January,” he said. “We’re already sold for the year. We would look for a price increase after Jan. 1, 2009.”

Which doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t stop by for a Mountain Bar or two anyway. Just to be safe.

With airlines looking under every rock to discover fuel-saving ideas, a Gig Harbor company has invented a new kind of airport tow tractor it says will cut both emissions and fuel costs dramatically.

The battery-powered eTug draws power to recharge its battery packs from an ordinary 110-volt wall plug. On a full charge, the tractor can operate without another recharge for about eight hours in a typical airport environment, said eTug spokeswoman Susanne Elliott.

The tug can replace diesel or gasoline-powered tugs towing baggage carts, baggage loading belts and aircraft machinery such as portable air-conditioning and engine starting units, said Elliott.

The electric power pack creates zero emissions both outside on the airport ramp and inside the airport where the baggage is sorted.

eTugs

The cost of the electricity to power the tug is a fraction of the cost of diesel or gas used to power conventional airport tractors. The tug has minimal maintenance required, she said.

=> Read more!

European travel guru Rick Steves will speak at a free airport travel expo on Sept. 7 at Sea-Tac Airport.

Steves, an internationally known travel author and PBS television host, will share up-to-date advice on traveling and sightseeing in Europe. He'll also be available for book signings.

The travel expo, sponsored by Sea-Tac's restaurants, shops and service providers, will also include demonstrations on packing by an adventure travel expert and free food sampling from airport restaurants.

The event, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. will be held in the Gina Marie Lindsey International Arrivals Hall at the south end of the airport terminal on the baggage claim level. The arrivals hall is outside the security barrier.

Event parking is available for $2 in the airport garage.

A week after JetBlue Airways announced it will be selling a blanket and pillow set to its airline customers for $7, United Airlines has countered with free Heavenly Bed blankets and amenities.

The catch? It's a big one. The free Heavenly Bed blankets are available only on coast-to-coast non-stop service in business and first class.

Heavenly Bed is the trademarked Westin Hotels brand for the upscale bedding it uses in its hotels.

In addition to blankets, the amenities pack includes newly decorated lounges in United Red Carpet Clubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and at New York's Kennedy airport.

The first and business class travelers will receive white tea scented towelettes and mints and custom offerings on United's video players.

Now the downside -- the cost. Huge. Take the same pair of flights leaving Los Angeles for New York on Oct. 2 and returning Oct. 8. Cost in coach without the white tea towelettes and Heavenly blankets, leg room and better food: $551. In business class with the amenities: $2,595. In first class with even more leg room and even better food: $5,167.

For $5,167, I'd better get a Heavenly Bed, not just a blanket, delivered to my house -- on both coasts. They can keep the white tea towelettes.

Oil spill response workers in Tacoma are on strike to protest what they say is illegal discrimination and intimidation by their employer, the Marine Spill Response Corporation.

Three MSRC workers and a dozen union supporters began picketing on Port of Tacoma Road early Monday morning.
The workers say MSRC is punishing them for voting to unionize by refusing to let them participate in spill-response training exercises in Everett this week.

MSRC spokeswoman Judith Roos said the training is for entry-level employees and would be redundant for the Tacoma crew. “They are more senior and more experienced,” Roos said. “They have participated previously.”

The Tacoma MSRC employees voted to join a labor union – the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific (IBU) – in 2006, but they have not been able to complete contract negotiations with MSRC.

MSRC was not called to respond to a 100-gallon spill in Tacoma Monday. If they are asked to respond to a spill while on strike, they will immediately do so, said Klete Freudenstein, one of the striking workers.

“The environment is our number one concern,” Freudenstein said.

The economic downturn will have a silver lining for some travelers this coming Labor Day holiday.

Passenger traffic on U.S. airlines is expected to be down about a million travelers this holiday compared with last year. Those 16 million air travelers are expected to be about 5.7 percent fewer than the number who traveled in 2007.

Those new figures come from the Air Transport Association which said high energy prices and cutbacks in airline schedules coupled with rising airfares are responsible.

The decline is the first since 2002 when the effects of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were first felt on a Labor Day holiday.

More than 45.4 percent of the world's flying airliners were built by Boeing, a new survey shows.

Flight International's annual survey of the world's airlines shows Boeing rival Aibus in second place with 20.2 percent or 4,843 airliners. Boeing airliners total 10,906 in the world's fleets.

Canada's Bombardier was in third place with 10.4 percent or 2,511 planes. Brazil's Embraer is fourth with 6.6 percent of aircraft of 1,575 planes.

Other facts from the survey:

* The oldest aircraft in airline service on average are flying in Africa, where the average airliner is 20 years old.

* The youngest are in Asia where aircraft average just 10 years old.

* In North America, the average airliner is 14 years old.

* Boeing's backlog of unfilled orders exceeded that of Airbus by 83 planes.

* Production from Russian commercial airplane factories has slowed to a trickle. Of the 1,229 airliners delivered in the last 12 months, only 16 came from Russian or former Soviet bloc factories.

While some airports, particularly those in popular tourist destination such as Las Vegas, Honolulu and Orlando, are seeing a rapid falloff of airline flights this year, Sea-Tac expects to see seat availability drop only .6 percent.

Figures from the Official Airline Guide show gains in international routes while decreases and increases to major domestic destinations balance out to the negative side by a small margin.

New competition on the West Coast in particular is driving up the availability of seats both to Los Angeles and San Francisco. The number of seats available to Los Angeles is up 11.9 percent while the number to San Francisco is increasing 13.9 percent.

Virgin America, a new San Francisco-based carrier, began flying to those two destination this year from Sea-Tac. It's main competitor, Alaska Airlines, increased flights to compete.

Increased competition is also the story in the Seattle-Minneapolis market where seats available are up 21.5 percent. Alaska Airlines is inaugurating new service to the Twin Cities in competition to the established non-stop carriers, Northwest and Sun Country.

On the bottom end of the charter is Las Vegas where seats available to the gambling capital are expected to fall 11.5 percent this year. Other major decreases include Chicago and Houston, where hub carriers such as American and United and Continental are trimming redundancies from their schedules.

Tacoma gas prices continued their decline this week with the average for a gallon of unleaded regular hitting $3.926, down nearly four cents from last Tuesday.

And at one Pierce County station, Costco in Puyallup, regular was selling for $3.74 a gallon according to TacomaGasPrices.com.

On a statewide basis, fuel prices retreated again today with unleaded regular selling for $3.985 for a gallon. That's .7 cent less than Sunday's average.

Still Washington prices remain far above the national average, according to AAA Washington. Nationally, unleaded regular averages $3.741 a gallon today.

Highest average gas prices were in Alaska today at $4.571 a gallon and the lowest in Missouri at $3.506.

Ironically, Alaska is the source of millions of gallons of crude oil while Missouri's production in miniscule.

Among major Washington metropolitan areas, the lowest average gas prices were in Vancouver at $3.891 a gallon. The highest were in the Tri-Cities were regular sold for $4.056 per gallon on average today.

Jeffrey Braun Furniture, a furniture design and manufacturing company that recently moved from Seattle to Tacoma’s Theater District, is hosting an open house and grand opening next Thursday.
Braun started his furniture design and manufacturing company in Seattle six years ago. The Brauns relocated to 728 Broadway, Suite 2A, last December.
Jeffrey Braun Furniture isn't a retail store. It’s a showroom that demonstrates possibilities, with an assortment of furniture from the company's line, hundreds of fabric samples and a half-built chair that shows how the furniture is constructed.
The Brauns say their new location is proving to be profitable despite the shaky national economy. Ten of Braun’s designs were recently installed in the Paramount Hotel in downtown Seattle, and the company is currently working on a large condominium project in Denver.
Locally, Jeffrey and Lindsay are working with several interior designers and recently collaborated with designer Pam Sturgill to create three custom pieces of furniture for South Sound Magazine's 2008 Idea House.
Thursday’s grand opening will consist of an open house from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and an evening reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
For more information, visit www.jeffreybraun.com or call 253-627-1354.

The economic distress that has hit the economy and the airline industry in particular still hasn't reared its head at Sea-Tac Airport where passenger traffic is up 6.35 percent through July.

Translated into people, that's 1,130,147 more passengers who've used the airport this year so far than last year.

International travel in particular was up substantially, 12.69 percent, this year at the airport, Sea-Tac figures show.

More than 1.72 million international passengers moved through Sea-Tac through July compared with the same period last year.

Sea-Tac has added several new non-stop international flights in the last year to Beijing, Mexico City, Paris, Frankfurt, Prince George, B.C. and a third flight to London.

If you're looking for a business jet with the floor space of a two-bedroom condominium and the range to fly from Seattle to Athens non-stop, Boeing's got a new offering for you.

The Boeing Business Jet 3, or BBJ3, offers 1,120 square feet of floor space and some 6,250 miles of non-stop range.

The first of the BBJ3s rolled out Boeing's Renton plant this month and is now in Delaware where it is being outfitted with an auxiliary fuel system and a head-up instrument display.

The BBJ 3 is based on Boeing's largest commercial 737, the 737-900ER. After a two-month certification testing procedure, the first BBJ3 will move to a completition center for interior installations.

The first BBJ3 is expected to be delivered to an unnamed customer in 2009.

The cost of a BBJ3 can be as much as $80 million depending on the cost of the interior and custom features added to the plane.

As a commercial aircraft the 737-900ER can carry as many as 215 passengers in an all-economy configuration.

An order for 26 Boeing 737-800s from American Airlines fattened Boeing's 2008 order book to 577 planes this week.

That American order was six aircraft larger than American had previously revealed. The Fort Worth-based airline is in a rush to replace its fuel-guzzling MD-80s with more modern and fuel-stingy 737s.

The American order brings the 737 order total for the year to 449. The 737 is the most popular of Boeing's line of airliners.

The second most popular this year is the 787 with 78 orders. Following the 787 in popularity is the 777 with 46 orders and the 747 and 767 with two each.

At the current order rate through the first seven and a half months of the year, Boeing will net about 950 orders for the year, nowhere near the 1,400 pace of last year, but a very healthy year by historic standards.

The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed fining American Airlines $7.1 million after it allegedly allowed two airliners to continue flying after they developed autopilot problems.

The proposed fine also would punish the Fort Worth-based airline for failure to do timely drug testing of several employees.

American said it doesn't agree with the FAA regarding the circumstances that led to the proposed fines. It will talk with the agency soon to ask it to drop or reduce those fines.

The fines stemmed in part from faults with the autopilot systems of two MD-80 jetliners. After the faults were discovered, the airline allowed those planes to make a toal of 58 passenger flights before repairing the defects.

SeaTac's Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are waiving excess baggage fees for active military members traveling on orders, the airlines announced today.

The fee waiver now applies to up to three bags of 50 pounds or less and to military duffles of 70 pounds or less.

Alaska formerly had waived fees for the first two checked bags for military members. The airline charges its non-military passengers $25 to check a second bag except in the state of Alaska. The first checked bag is free on Alaska and Horizon, its regional airline affiliate.

"We realize soldiers may have more baggage than normal when traveling to or from an overseas deployment, and we want to accommodate and welcome them on Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air," said Gregg Saretsky, Alaska Airlines' executive vice president of flight and marketing. "It's a small thing we can do to thank the men and women of our armed forces for all they do for our country."

American Airlines recently suffered adverse public reaction after a story was published about a customer service agent making an active duty soldier pay excess baggage fees.

The Fort Worth-based airline has since waived bag fees for active military traveling on orders.

Boeing's three-year delay in delivering the first of four new aerial tankers to Italy is likely to cost Boeing a financial penalty according to Bloomberg News.

The company is negotiating with the Italian government over the size of that compensation, said the news service.

Boeing had promised to provide the first tanker to Italy in November 2005, but that delivery is now set for this November.

The second tanker's delivery is now projected to be 21 months late while the third and fourth planes are expected to be 16 and 12 months late.

The penalty payment to Italy will be the second Boeing has paid to customers. It agreed to compensate Japan last year for timetable slippage with the delivery of that country's first aerial tanker.

Boeing's performance on the Japanese and Italian tanker programs does not bode well for its competitive stance in its effort to win a U.S. Air Force contract to build 179 similar Boeing 767-based tankers.

Boeing rival Northrup Grumman-EADS has pointed out the Italian and Japanese delays as evidence of Boeing's unreliability on delivering on its promises.

The two companies are entering a third competition for the contract, estimated to cost the government about $35 billion.

The results of earlier tanker competitions, one favorable to Boeing and one favorable to Northrup Grumman-EADS, were thrown out because of Boeing's cheating in one instance and because of flaws in the competition in the other.

Vought Aircraft Industries has halted production of further rear fuselage sections of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner at its Charleston, S.C. plant.

The company, one of Boeing's principal partners on the 787, has shut down production because the 787's first delivery has been put off by some 15 months.

That delivery delay is rippling through Boeing's supply chain.

The Charleston Post and Courier said Vought expects production of the barrel-shaped components to be halted for several months.

Problems with incomplete work and parts shortage have delayed the first flight of the revolutionary twin-jet.

The first example of the 787 is now undergoing ground testing of its vital systems at the Everett final assembly site in preparation of its first flight now set for November.

Boeing has begun construction of the wing spar of the first of its line of new 747s at its Everett plant this week.

The wing spar is the backbone of the 747-8's redesigned wing. The 747-8 is the successor to Boeing popular 747-400 model.

Final assembly of the first 747-8 is expected to begin in Everett early next year. The first example of the new jumbo jet will be a freighter.

The freighter version has proven to be far more popular than the passenger version of the plane. Boeing has sold 105 747-8s, 78 of those are freighters.

The 747-8 will be larger than the existing 747-400 and will be equipped with the fuel-efficient engines developed for the 787 Dreamliner.

Lufthansa remains the sole airline to order the 747-8 passenger plane. Seven of the huge aircraft have been sold as executive aircraft. Delivery of the first 747-8F is scheduled to launch customer CargoLux at the end of next year.

As inflation climbed nationwide, prices in the Tacoma-Bellevue-Seattle also rose over the past two months. In a report out today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said overall consumer prices on the area rose 2.2 percent in May and June.

The cost of transportation, up 7.1 percent, and housing, at 1.7 percent, led the increase.

Gasoline was up 19.7 percent in the period and has recorded a 36.1 percent increase since the end of June last year. For the year, housing is up 5.7 percent in the region, led by the cost of rent, up 7.9 percent.

The cost of electricity advanced 11.7 percent over the past two months. The cost of natural gas was unchanged for the two-month period, and has declined 12 percent since the summer of 2007.

For the two months, food and beverages were up 1.4 percent – with groceries were ahead by 1.9 percent. The cost of meals eaten away from home was up 1.5 percent.

The cost of furniture, up 1.7 percent for the two months, dropped 4.4 percent from 2007, while the cost of medical care was down 1.1 percent for the two months and down 0.1 percent for the year, the BLS said.

Clothes were off 2.8 percent since April, but up 1.2 percent on the year.

Richard Lackey has been elected to the board of directors of Lakewood’s Northwest Commercial Bank, said CEO & President Kurt Graff in a release this week. Lackey previously served on the board of Cascade Community Bank.

At 57, Lackey, is a partner in the certified public accounting firm Shannon & Associates of Kent.

Lackey graduated from Michigan State University and serves as both a CPA and a certified financial planner.

The addition comes as Northwest Commercial plans a September launch of a branch in Auburn. The new store will be the bank’s first full-service branch since opening six years ago.

Lackey has served on the City of Kent budget committee and the Kent Public Market Development Authority board. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Kent and served on the club’s board of directors. Additionally, he was a founding board member of the Kent Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

He and his wife, Raquel, have two grown children and one grandchild. They make their home on Mercer Island.

Northwest Commercial Bank, formed in 2002 by a group of Lakewood area investors, reported total assets of over $70 million at the end of July.

American Airlines, working quickly to replace its fleet of fuel-guzzling MD-80s, has ordered six more 737-800 jets from Boeing.

The new order brings American's orders for the Renton-built twin jet to 36 next year and 40 in 2010.

American is retiring its McDonnell Douglas MD-80s to save fuel. The 737-800 uses 20 percent less fuel per passenger than the MD-80.

American says it is talking with Boeing about additional orders for the popular 737 to replace MD-80s retired to the desert. At the start of the current fuel price escalation, American operated more than 300 MD-80s.

Alaska Air Group's financial viability is ranked first among U.S. legacy airlines in a new study by aerospace publication Aviation Week.

The SeaTac-based airline holding company, parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, is ranked 15th among 32 legacy carriers worldwide in Aviation Week's financial evaluation.

That ranking puts it ahead of every other U.S. legacy carrier and above low-cost and regional U.S. carriers ranked by somewhat different standards.

The aviation publication's council of advisors gave Alaska a total score of 55.9. That's an aggregate of scores it earned on their evaluation's of the airline holding company's liquidity, fuel cost management, financial health, earnings performance and asset utilitization.

After falling to a low of $10.10 a share five weeks ago, Alaska shares closed Tuesday at $22.56 a share. The stock was down in early trading today. Airline stocks have been buoyed in recent weeks by falling oil prices.

Tops on the Aviation Week list was Singapore Airlines with a total score of 93.3. Second was Malaysian Airlines System and third was Spain's Iberia Airlines.

Among U.S. legacy carriers, Alaska was followed by Continental, American, Northwest, US Airways, United, Delta and Hawaiian.

In a separate ranking for low-cost and regional carriers, Allegiant was best among U.S. airlines followed by Southwest. Allegiant's total score was 55.5, and Southwest earned a 53.6 score.

Meanwhile among 21 aerospace companies, Aviation ranked The Boeing Co. third after Lockheed Martin and Portland's Precision Castparts Corp.

You may remember a power outage on the Tideflats July 3 that briefly cut power to some industries and caused an incident at U.S. Oil and Refining.

In that incident, oil sprayed over a small area from plant machinery coating some cars with petrol.

The accident happened when a straddle carrier at the Port of Tacoma's Pierce County terminal hit a power pole.

Now security footage of that accident from port security cameras has been posted on YouTube. Some members of the Longshore Union aren't happy with that posting, and the Port of Tacoma wants to know how its footage made it to the popular Web site.

The accident is being investigated by the terminal operator, and the parties involved, the terminal operator, the port and Tacoma Power are sifting through the details to find out who will pay for the damages.

"What's fortunate is that there were no major injuries to the straddle carrier driver," said port spokeswoman Tara Mattina. "But we're curious how that tape got on the Internet and we're investigating," she said.

Back to school shopping is a chance for parents to teach their kids about money management before classes start.

A study released by Visa Inc. states that 85 percent of parents surveyed say they talk to their child regularly about money management. One third of the parents with children younger than 18 talk to their kids about money management everyday. Also, 31 percent say they talk to them once a week. However, 16 percent report never talking to their children about using money wisely.

Visa suggests these tips, among others, for back to school shopping lessons:

Visa runs an online money management education program called Practical Money Skills For Life.

Do you use the back to school season to teach your kids money management? Let us know how by leaving a comment or sending an e-mail to brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com.

July’s labor statistics from the Washington State Employment Security Department take more head-scratching than usual.

Employment is up.

And so is unemployment.

“The overall image we’re getting is something of a muddled picture,” said David Wallace, acting chief economist at Employment Security Department. “There’s kind of a mixed signal going on.”

The state’s monthly report, released Tuesday morning, says that, on the whole, Washington added an estimated 3,300 non-agricultural jobs in July.

At the same time, the state’s unemployment rate in July was 5.7 percent, up from 5.4 percent in June.

What the numbers probably mean, Wallace said, is that more people are coming into the labor force, a combination of existing residents who were not previously looking for work and residents from other states, seeking a better economic climate.

Washington’s economy is improving slightly, he said, but not enough to accommodate all the new job seekers.

“It’s tough to tell which effect is stronger,” he said. “Even though our labor market not as ideal as it was a year ago, it’s still better than other places in the country.”

“More and more people in Washington have decided to look for work,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee, to explain why the unemployment rate increased even though the number of jobs went up.

“With fuel prices and other costs rising, families are looking for ways to increase their income.”

The total number of non-agricultural jobs in Washington in July was up 29,500 over the same time in 2007, a 1 percent increase. Nationally, year-over-year jobs declined by 0.05 percent for the past year.

Industries in Washington with the largest job growth in July were government, with 900 new jobs, retail, with 800 new jobs, and information, with 800 new jobs. The largest declines were in financial activities, and professional and business services, both down 300 jobs.

An estimated 189,300 people (not seasonally adjusted) were unemployed and seeking work in Washington in July, the report says.

I was poking around the Web today and ran across some sites with tips on how to save money shopping.

One site - WiseBread - talks about how to save money at Target.

In addition to the odd lot items that may be lurking among the regular merchandise and could be haphazardly stashed at the end caps, Target has a system for marking down their merchandise weekly:

Monday - Electronics, Kids Clothing and Stationary (Cards, GiftWrap, etc.)
Tuesday - Domestics, Women's Clothing, Pets and Market (food items)
Wednesday - Men's Clothing, Toys, Lawn & Garden, Health and Beauty items
Thursday - House Wares, Lingerie, Sporting Goods, Shoes, Music / Movies, Books, Decor and Luggage
Friday - Auto, Cosmetics, Hardware, and Jewelry

Tacoma-area gas prices are falling almost as quickly as they rose a month ago with low prices passing another milestone today.

Just two weeks after local gas prices fell below the $4 price at one station, another station is posting regular unleaded at below $3.80 a gallon.

The Valero station at 4602 North Pearl posted regular prices at $3.79 this week according to TacomaGasPrices.com.

Dozens more stations were selling regular below $3.90.

According to AAA Washington, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fell below $4 over the weekend. The average price now stands at $3.984 a gallon, down 1.3 cents a gallon from Monday.

Statewide, only Vancouver had lower gas prices than Tacoma, an average of $3.96 a gallon, AAA's survey said.

In the Seattle area, regular prices averaged $4.04 today.

With a statewide average of $4.049 today, fuel costs still have a long way to fall to match last year's at this time. Gas on Aug. 12, 2007 sold for an average of $2.881 a gallon in Washington.

The Boeing Co. has begun tests of the 787 Dreamliner's landing gear at its Everett plant this week.

The landing gear tests are the latest in a series of systems checkouts preliminary to the plane's first flight in November.

The 787's electrical and hydraulic systems have already been powered up for testing.

The gear swing tests gauge how well the landing gear retracts and extends. The 787 test aircraft is supported by jacks during the tests.

The plane's three landing gears are being tested individually and together, Boeing said.

Financial aid from Canadian and British governments to Canadian planemaker Bombardier Inc. faces U.S. government scrutiny to ensure it doesn't violate international trade regulations.

Bombardier plans to use loans from the Canadian government and the province of Quebec and from the British government to help finance the design and construction of its new C Series jets. Those two-engine jets will compete with Boeing's 737-700 series aircraft and with Airbus's A319.

"Washington will take a very careful look at the support announced by Canada, Quebec and the U.K.," Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, told Bloomberg News.

Bombardier C 130

The U.S. and European governments are currently engaged in a fight over alleged subsidies governments provide to Airbus and Boeing.

Bombardier, which now makes smaller regional jets and turboprops, plans to expand into the Boeing's and Airbus's traditional territory with the C Series. Canadian government sources are providing loans of $437 million and U.K. government sources are providing $137 million in loans to Bombardier.

Final assembly of the C Series will be in Quebec, and the wings for the plane are to be built in Northern Ireland.

Indian defense officials are moving closer to signing an order with Boeing for Renton-built sub-hunting aircraft.

Indian news sources says the $2.2 billion purchase of P-8I maritime reconaissance planes has cleared technical hurdles and now must pass muster before two more government committees.

The P-8I is a version of the U.S. Navy's P-8A submarine-hunting aircraft customized with equipment for the Indian Navy.

The P-8A is a militarized version of Boeing's 737 twin jet passenger plane.

The U.S. Navy has said it intends to order 108 of the planes. The first five test aircraft are being built on a special assembly line in Renton adjacent to the regular 737 assembly line. They will be equipped with search and detection equipment and weaponry at Boeing Field.

The Indian Navy now uses Russian-built IL-38 maritime patrol planes. Those planes have become outmoded.

Aerospace industry magazine Aviation Week says Boeing may bow out of the third competition to win an Air Force contract for 179 airborne tankers.

The company contends that new specifications for the tanker are biased toward the tanker built in part by European rival Airbus and that the time frame the Air Force has given to submit a new bid is tight.

Boeing won the first competition for that contract, but the deal was rescinded because Boeing admitted it cheated on the deal.

Boeing's chief financial officer admitted then he had discussed a post-retirement executive job for the Pentagon procurement officer while she was considering the deal.

The second competition named a consortium of Northrop Grumman and European Aerospace Defense and Space, parent company of Boeing rival Airbus, the winner of the $35 billion deal.

But Boeing protested that award, and in June the Government Accountability Office said the second bidding process was flawed. The Air Force agreed to hold a third competition.

=> Read more!

Boeing doesn't raid workers' pension funds to pay extraordinary executive pension benefits, the company said today.

That statement came in reply to a request from a union representing its engineering and technical workers about whether Boeing was moving some of its executive pension liabilities to the workers' pension fund in a way some companies did in a recent Wall Street Journal article.

"We don't make the kinds of transfers described in the Wall Street Journal article," said Boeing spokesman Tim Healy.

The Journal article, referred to in the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace's request, dealt with companies that transferred extraordinary pension obligations for executives to the the companyies' pension funds for lower-paid workers in some cases without providing additional funding.

The effect of those transfers were to provide tax benefits to the companies but weakening the pension funds for other workers.

The union, which represents some 21,400 technical workers at the aerospace company, asked Boeing for more information on its pension funds.

Healy said the union already has all of that information, though it may not know who to interpret it.

Boeing wants to shift new employees to a new kind of pension plan under which the company would contribute a defined amount of money to their retirement funds, but wouldn't be responsible for delivering a specific benefit to workers at retirement.

The union opposes such a plan. The union contract with Boeing expires on Dec.1 for Washington workers. It expires on Dec. 5 for workers in Kansas.

The New York Times reports that major retail chains are increasingly putting their flat roofs to use by installing solar panels. Among the retailers experimenting with the alternative energy source: Kohl's, Wal-Mart, Safeway and Whole Foods Market.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

The trend, while not entirely new, is accelerating as the chains seize a chance to bolster their environmental credentials by cutting back on their use of electricity from coal.

“It’s very clear that green energy is now front and center in the minds of the business sector,” said Daniel M. Kammen, an energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley. “Not only will you see panels on the roofs of your local stores, but I suspect very soon retailers will have stickers in their windows saying, ‘This is a green energy store.’ ”

In the coming months, 85 Kohl’s stores will get solar panels; 43 already have them. “We want to keep pushing as many as we possibly can,” said Ken Bonning, executive vice president for logistics at Kohl’s.

Macy’s, which has solar panels atop 18 stores, plans to install them on another 40 by the end of this year. Safeway is aiming to put panels atop 23 stores. And other chains, including Whole Foods Market, BJ’s Wholesale Club and REI, the purveyor of outdoor goods, are planning projects of their own.

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, has 17 stores and distribution centers with solar panels in operation or in the testing phase. It plans to add them soon to five more stores. People at the chain are considering a far larger program that would put panels and other renewable technologies at hundreds of stores.

“It’s going to be the Wal-Marts of the world that will buy these things over acres and make a difference,” said Roger G. Little, chairman and chief executive of the Spire Corporation, a Boston company that provides solar equipment.

Analysts are not sure how much power the rooftop projects could ultimately produce, but they say it could be enough to help shave total electricity demand. In many communities, stores are among the biggest energy users. Depending on location and weather, the solar panels generate 10 to 40 percent of the power a store needs.

If Wal-Mart eventually covered the roofs of all its Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart locations with solar panels, figures from the company show that the resulting solar acreage would roughly equal the size of Manhattan, an island of 23 square miles.

Alaska Airlines has resumed flying to Alaska cities after suspending operations there late Sunday and early today because of volcanic ash from an eruption in the Aleutian Islands.

Volcanic ash ingested into jet engines can damage the engines and lead to shutdown of those engines if the damage is extensive.

The airline canceled 44 flights to Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Adak, Anchorage and Fairbanks due to the ash from the Kasatochi volcano.

Those flights were to and from Seattle, Portland, Denver, San Francisco, Chicago and Vancouver, B.C.

Alaska is adding extra flights today to help some 5,200 passengers stranded by the earlier cancellations. August is peak tourist season in Alaska.

"We recognize these cancellations have significantly impacted our customers with travel plans to and from Alaska," said Glenn Johnson, Alaska's executive vice president of airports, maintenance and engineering. "These decision are guided by out commitment to safety, and we are making every effort to reaccommodate passengers whose flight schedules have been disrupted."

Seattle's Aviation Partners, the company that gave us those now-common blended winglets at the end of airliner wings, is experimenting with a new technology that promises to save even more fuel.

The company calls the circular, ribbon-like wing extensions Spiroid Winglets. Like the vertical blended winglets, they're designed to reduce the drag-creating vortexes at the end of airliner wings.

Blended winglets have demonstrated fuel economy savings of about four percent. Initial experiments with spiroid winglets have yielded 6 to 10 percent economy improvements.

One side benefit of the new winglets, says Aviation Partners, is the reduction of wake turbulence behind jets that can throw other airliners off course and can even cause crashes.

Sen. Patty Murray recently sponsored an earmarked $2 million federal appropriation to help fund that research.

Some of Sen. Murray's critics are calling the federal funding "pork," but the senator maintains the research will be worthwhile because it has the potential of saving millions of dollars in fuel costs.

Aviation Partners, which did initial testing several years ago, plans to resume testing this fall. Full development of the spiroid winglets could take four years, the company says.

The lower cost alternative to a passport, the U.S. Passport Card, may be used by employers to verify a person's employment eligibility, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today.

The State Department began issuing the passport card July 14. More than 350,000 people have already applied for the card. That backlog is expected to be cleared by the end of August.

The new card, more portable and less expensive that a booklet-style passport, is good only for international travel to and from the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda by land or sea. International air travel and travel to other countries requires a regular passport.

First time adult applicants pay $45 for the card. Minors are $35. Those with booklet-style passports can get a passport card for $20.

Regular passports cost $100 for adults and $85 for children. Renewals are $75. Both adult passports and passport cards are good for 10 years. Minor cards and passports have a five-year-life.

Here's a link for information about the cards.

Boeing Co. booked nine new passenger jet orders this week, raising its 2008 total to 551.

The new orders came from Azerbaijan Airlines which ordered two 767s and two 737-900ERs, from British Airways which placed orders for two 777s, from Delta Air Lines, which ordered two more 777s and one from an unidentified order for a single Boeing Business Jet, a modified 737.

The past week also saw the first 787 order cancellation. Azerbaijan Airlines canceled an order for the Dreamliner and substituted one for the 767.

Azerbaijan's 767 order was the first in 18 months for the twin-aisle jet.

Office vacancy rates in the Puget Sound area are among the lowest in the nation, new figures from commercial real estate firm Colliers International show.

While national downtown office vacancy rates in 2008's second quarter jumped from 10.9 percent in the year's first quarter to 11.27 percent in the second, Puget Sound downtown vacancies fell from 8.9 percent to 8.6 percent, the study showed.

The nation's highest downtown vacancy rates were in the Midwest and where St. Louis posted a 21.5 percent downtown office vacancy rate and Missouri's other metropolis, Kansas City, recorded a 20.6 percent vacancy figure. Dallas Fort Worth, Tex. was nearly those two cities' match with a 19.8 percent vacancy figure.

Charlotte, N.C., had the nation's lowest major city downtown vacancy percentage, 1.9.

Two other Northwest cities, Portland and Boise, posted below average downtown office vacancy rates. Portland's vacancies during the second quarter were 7.1 percent, and the Idaho capital showed an 8.2 percent vacancy rate.

Colliers figures for Seattle include all of the Puget Sound area's cities. The company doesn't publish separate figures for Tacoma or Bellevue.

Suburban offices unfilled with paying tenants amounted to 10.9 percent of the total Puget Sound supply still below the national average of 14.2 percent.

Titus Tool Co. Inc. will layoff 50 workers at its Kent headquarters beginning in November.

Titus is part of the multinational group Titus+Lama+Huwil. The Kent headquarters runs the U.S. operations, the company also has offices across Europe and in China.

The company builds hardware such as hinges and connectors for furniture. It isn't known if the Kent office is the only one affected.

Multiple messages left by a News Tribune reporter with a company spokesman were not returned. A state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification announced the layoffs this week.

More information on the company is available at http://www.titusplus.com/.

It only happens once a year and, if you have any feeling at all for the automobile, it’s one of the best shows around.

The LeMay Museum will host its the 31st annual LeMay Museum Car Show & Auction on Saturday, Aug. 30, both at the museum grounds – 325 152nd St. E. – and at the LeMay family grounds nearby.

Sponsored by AAA Washington, the event offers visitors the chance to see over 1,000 vintage, classic and specialty automobiles, trucks and motorcycles from the LeMay Collection, plus hundreds of local collector cars and other unique vehicles.

In addition to the cars, according to a museum press release out today, there will be numerous automobile-related vendor displays, a “movie car” display with photo opportunities available and an auction hosted by Mathers Inc. Auctioneers.

Museum members get free admission and non-member entry donations are $10 for adults, $20 for a family of 4, $5 for children under 12 and active-duty military.

Parking will be available off-site with free shuttle bus transportation between the parking lots, the Marymount Academy and the LeMay grounds. This is the only time during the year that the LeMay grounds are open to the public.

For more information, and the locations of the parking sites, visit www.lemaymuseum.org or call 253-536-2885.

The Thea Foss Waterway Authority is hoping that the Puyallup Tribe of Indians will come through with a $500,000 donation to build a park near the waterway's south end.

The authority needs additional funds to convert the present 3-acre Berg Scaffolding site on the waterway's east side near its head to a park dedicated to human-powered watercraft.

The authority already owns the Waterway Park land, but is short of funds to convert that acreage to a park, said waterway executive director Don Meyer.

The land was once considered as a site for a new Tacoma Children's Museum, but that plan died this spring after opposition surfaced from groups that thought the land should have more open, undeveloped space.

Azerbaijan Airlines today announced an order for two Boeing 737-900ER single-aisle jets and two wide-bodied 767-300ER passenger planes.

The 767s were the first passenger versions of that aircraft ordered since January 2007 when LAN Airlines of Chile ordered three.

The 767 order came at the expense of the order book for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Azerbaijan canceled an order for one 787 and substituted an order for one of the 767s.

The 787 production line is running 15 months behind schedule. For an airline needing mid-sized capacity sooner than Boeing can deliver the 787, the 767 is an alternative.

While neither Boeing nor Azerbaijan discussed prices, I suspect the ailine got a deal on the 767.

Azerbaijan still has orders for two 787-8s on the books.

A new survey of the ever-changing world of airline fees by Time Magazine rates US Airways the stingiest because it charges customers for nearly everything from bottled water to all checked bags.

US Airways, based in Phoenix, charges $2 for soda, juice or bottled water and $15 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second. Changes to bargain tickets are $150.

At the opposite end of the nine-airline list in Time was Southwest Airlines which still doesn't charge for checked bags or refreshments or flight changes.

The magazine didn't rate SeaTac's Alaska Airlines. But based on the standings, the airline would have been in the upper half of the list.

It charges $25 for the second bag, which all of the carriers did but Southwest, but has free pillows and blankets unlike #4 JetBlue, which charges $7 for a bedding pack.

Refreshments are still free, though the airline charges for meals on long-haul flights unlike #5 Continental, the only airline still offering free meals on domestic flights.

But Continental charges $150 to changes to non-refundable tickets, while Alaska charges from $25 (for same day as flight via the Web or check-in kiosk) to $100 for changes made through its ticket counters or by phone. Web ticket changes before the day of flight are $75.

I chatted with some people from Nordstrom yesterday about the new store under construction at the Tacoma Mall.

Here's what I learned: We will get a new restaurant called Cafe Bistro along with the store. The eatery will have a new menu and an open kitchen with a brick oven and sit-down service. Check out a photo on the company's Web site. That means we will be able to watch the chef prepare our sandwiches and salads, which will still be available. I also heard much about the white chocolate bread pudding.

Brooke White, vice president for corporate communications, said that on the day of the opening, Oct. 3 for those of you who don't already have it on your calendar, the store will have a "cosmetic beauty bash." White described it as a tailgate party for makeup. Anyone can stop by the store to get their makeup done and check out the new offerings.

Other things I learned:

The store will be 138,000 square feet. (The existing store is 131,000 square feet.)

It will have a saltwater fish tank.

It will have live piano music and an espresso bar.

On most days the naked pink concrete of downtown Tacoma's Tollefson Plaza attracts nary a person to its sun-bleached steps, and its water feature remains almost invisible from any distance beyond 10 feet.

That the plaza hasn't been successful is no secret. The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce hopes to change the plaza's vacant visage by holding a series of concerts and other events there this year.

Properly designed, an urban plaza can be a magnet for people of all ages. The opening of Kent's new Town Square Plaza shows how.

The Kent plaza at the corner of Smith and Second Avenue downtown, has proven a popular gathering spot this summer, particularly for kids looking for relief from summer heat.

The plaza features an interactive water feature whose centerpiece is a 12,500-pound granite sphere supported by a cushion of water no more powerful than a garden hose. The water acts as bearing for the five-foot diameter sphere allowing even kids to spin it in any direction.

The plaza also features smaller fountains on the periphery that empty into a system of drains built into the plaza surface.

Here's the scene on a recent weekday morning.

The fountain was a gift to the city from the Kent and Kent-Sunrise Rotary Clubs.

Discount food merchant Winco Foods is in the final stages of seeking permits to build a 94,000-square-foot store on the eastern edge of Sumner.

The store site at Washington 410 and 166th Avenue East is just east Riverside Ford's new showroom.

The City of Sumner is drafting up traffic mitigation and environmental conditions to allow the store and its 538-car parking lot to begin construction.

Ryan Windish, Sumner planning manager, said the traffic issues are likely to be more significant than the environmental ones for the 16-acre site.

If the permitting proceeds as scheduled, the store could open its doors next summer.

Winco is an employee-owned discount food chain with 61 stores in Idaho, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The Boise-based company has three stores in Pierce and South King County in Puyallup, Federal Way and Kent.

Surprise! We’re not losing ground.

According to a new report from the Washington State Employment Security Department, workers across the state earned 5 percent more in 2007 than they did in 2006, while inflation grew by 3.9 percent.

That means – on paper at least – the average worker made a year-to-year gain of about $472.

The industry with the highest average wages in Washington last year was “Information Services,” which includes publishing, broadcasting, Internet services and telecommunications. Workers there averaged $96,241.

Other top-paying industries included “Company and Enterprise Management,” averaging $86,943, and “Utilities,” averaging $73,740.

At the bottom? “Accommodation and Food Services” ($16,017); “Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting ($23,412); and “Other Services” ($24,387).
King County had the highest average annual wage in both 2007 ($56,217) and 2006 ($53,490).

Snohomish County was second-highest in 2007 ($45,448), with Benton County a close third at $43,786.

Thurston and Pierce counties ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

The 10 counties with the lowest average annual wages in 2007 were Okanogan, Douglas, Pacific, Asotin, Adams, Wahkiakum, San Juan, Lincoln, Skamania and Jefferson.

Further details by industry and county are available online, under Current Economic Conditions.

Cindy Crawford is starting a new chapter in her "Life Book."

Crawford, who worked for Weyerhaeuser in the '70s and returned in 2001, is one of the workers laid off at the company's Federal Way headquarters.

"I will land back on my feet," she wrote in an e-mail to The News Tribune. "As a widow with a dependent child (I) need to work for at least another 10-15 years. Perhaps I can now pursue my dream job?"

Crawford finished as an insurance administrator, and she wrote that her combined time at Weyerhaeuser puts her time there at more than 10 years, so she can draw retirement. But now she is optimistic to look for a job.

"I am sure there is another job for me," she wrote. "I come from the old school and stay with the job no matter what. ... I was taught that dependability, loyalty and commitment says a lot about a person's work ethics."

The company announced Wednesday it was laying off 1,500 workers, 1,000 in Federal Way because of a loss of $96 million in second-quarter earnings and a 17 percent drop in sales.

Crawford wrote that she wanted to retire from Weyerhaeuser, but not she's looking for another job.

"Pursuing a new job, meeting new people and having a positive effect on those I come into contact (with) make me look forward to this challenge," she wrote. "I think about it as a new chapter in my Life Book."

We want to hear from others affected by Weyerhaeuser's cuts. Comment on this post or send an e-mail to brian.everstine@thenewstribune.com.

Assembly of the fourth flight test Boeing 787 Dreamliner began today at Boeing's Everett plant, some five weeks later than planned.

A contract worker's mistake in drilling holes in the Dreamliner's center fuselage at Global Aeronautica in Charleston, S.C. was responsible for the delay.

Global Aeronautica spent those five weeks repairing the damage.

Those extra weeks weren't wasted, however. The time spent repairing the holes was also used to complete more of the wiring and plumbing on the fuselage center section.

That means less assembly time in Everett.

The Dreamliner program is already 15 months behind schedule largely because of supplier problems. The first flight for the 787 is set for November.

The sour economy and higher fares are taking a toll on passenger air travel this summer.

SeaTac's Alaska Airlines today reported passenger traffic was down 117,000 passengers in July this year compared with the same period in 2007. That translates to a 2.2 percent drop.

At regional airline Horizon Air, traffic dropped by 26,700 passengers last month compare with July 2007. That was an 11.7 percent decrease. Horizon and Alaska are owned by the same holding company, Alaska Air Group.

One bit of good news for passengers: those lower passenger loads meant a better likelihood of finding an empty seat next to you. The percentage of seats filled on Alaska with paying passengers in July was 79.7 percent, a drop from 83.4 percent in the same month last year.

On Horizon, the percentage of seats filled, the so-called "load factor," was 77.3 percent compared with 79.8 percent in the year earlier period.

Horizon is taking major steps to match its capacity with demand. The airline is retiring its 37-seat Q200 turboprop planes and selling off its 70-seat CRJ-700 jets.

When that fleet adjustment is in place, the airline will have 48 aircraft, all 74-seat Q400 turboprops, the most fuel-efficient in its fleet. Some of those reductions in flying affected the July figures. Available capacity was down 8.8 percent last month, the airline said.

A call center employee for Alaska Airlines and its corporate sister, Horizon Air, diverted payments for reservation changes to a personal account instead of the airlines'over a 22-month period, the airlines said today.

The 1,500 customers whose credit cards were affected were sent letters via first class mail Tuesday, the airlines said. A notice is being posted on the airlines' Web site.

Although the changes fees never reached the airlines, the customers won't be held responsible, the two air carriers said.

The airlines' holding company, Alaska Air Group, has notified law enforcement authorities of the credit card misuse and are cooperating in the investigation.

The airlines urged customers affected to review their accounts for unauthorized charges and order a free credit report as the companies specified in instructions on the Web notice. You can find those specific instructions here.

If customers have questions, they may contact the airlines at 800-401-5403 between 8 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

The world's largest pizza restaurant chain announced this week it will soon serve healthier pizzas, according to trade publication Brandweek. The home of the stuffed crust has dubbed the new pizzas "the Natural" for health-conscious consumers, according to Brandweek. Among the Natural's features: multigrain crust, organic tomato sauce and preservative-free toppings.

I'm all for getting food a little (or a lot) more healthy, but isn't a piece of pepperoni a piece of pepperoni? Not sure you can really make that part of a health-conscious meal.

Anyway, here's the rest of the story from Brandweek:

It will be introduced initially in Tampa, Fla., and Dallas in coming weeks, and rolled out nationally later this year.

Brian Niccol, Pizza Hut's CMO, said the new pie was a response to an emerging consumer need: the desire to eat pizza and still remain healthy. "That's why we're offering the Natural," Niccol said in a statement. "It allows us to stay on the cutting edge of food trends while delivering on the amazing Pizza Hut taste our customers expect and demand."

A campaign for the Natural includes TV spots, which will air across the country. One 30-second spot, titled "Loft," shows a chef named Elizabeth serving the new pizza at a tasting event. One customer takes a bite and declares: "This is like the best pepperoni I've ever had." "Look at this crust. Love multigrain," others exclaim. The spot concludes with the host professing that the pizza was actually created by Pizza Hut. Tagline: "So pure. So real. We had to call it the ‘Natural.'" BBDO, New York, handles.

As part of its "all natural" theme, Pizza Hut will box the new pie—which will retail for $9.99—using packaging made from 75% recycled material. Spending for the campaign was not revealed.

Pizza Hut is a subsidiary of Yum Brands, which owns 6,200 restaurants in the U.S. and 4,000 in other countries. The restaurant chain spent $244,719 on advertising last year and $67,633 through March of this year (excluding online), per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

A Folsom, Calif., waste company, Waste Connections Inc., announced today it is acquiring Pierce County's Harold LeMay Enterprises Inc., the Pacific Northwest's largest independent waster hauler.

The announcement of the sale comes some eight years after the death of the company's founder, Harold LeMay.

In addition to his business prowess, LaMay was best known as the owner of the world's largest private car collection. LeMay owned 2,409 vintage autos, trucks and other vehicles when he died in 2000.

A private, non-profit group is raising funds to build a museum near the Tacoma Dome to display his collection.

The sale is expected to close sometime in this year's fourth quarter according to Waste Connections.

Waste Connections provides garbage and trash collection, transfer and disposal services in secondary markets in the western and southern U.S. The company has 1.5 million customers in 23 states.

No acquisition price was disclosed. LeMay Enterprises had annual revenues of $100 million. It serves customers in Pierce, Grays Harbor and Thurston counties.

"This represents the single largest acquisition for Waste connections and solidfies our leading position in Washington," said Ronald J. Mittlestaedt, Waste Connections chairman.

The California company also announced that it has agreed with LeMay affiliates to acquire their interests in Pierce County Recycling, Composting and Disposal LLC. Waste Connections already is majority owner of Pierce County Recycling.

The last time I was in Starbucks to get a morning latte, I got a green receipt back with a stamp at the bottom indicating I could come back for an iced beverage in the afternoon for $2. It was part of a new promotion the company was trying in the Puget Sound area.

It seems that Starbucks is taking its promotion national. The coffee company said today that it is now offering its morning customers any iced grande beverage for $2 after 2 p.m.

The price is a big cut from the normal price of most grande-sized iced drinks. A grande iced latte, for example, costs about $4. To get the discount, customers must present a receipt from their morning Starbucks visit, The Associated Press reports.

The promotion was previously only offered in Seattle, Chicago and Miami. The company said it is taking it nationwide beginning today to answer consumers’ calls for more value at the chain, which has seen traffic drop as gas prices rise and consumer spending falters. It runs until Sept. 2.

=> Read more!

The Navy may accept Boeing's offer to accelerate by a year the initial deliveries of its P-8A sub-hunting aircraft.

The aircraft, based on the Boeing 737 commercial airliner and built in Renton on a special assembly line, could be delivered in production form to the Navy as soon as 2012.

Boeing is now building five test aircraft for the Navy to check out the airframe modifications and electronics in the new, two-engine patrol aircraft.

Boeing expects the Navy will buy at least 109 of the new planes and that other governments will buy dozens more.

The first production aircraft had been scheduled for delivery in 2013.

The Navy recently has had airframe fatigue issues with its present fleet of subhunters, Lockheed's P-3. Those issues would make it advantageous to accelerate production of the replacement aircraft.

US Airways has told Crain's Business News that it will likely join JetBlue Airways in selling passengers pillows and blankets.

JetBlue announced Monday it will sell the blanket and pillow sets for $7 to passengers. It will discontinue providing blankets and pillows free.

The blankets and pillows which passengers buy will be theirs to keep after the flight.

US Airways has been a pioneer in unbundling their services. The airline is planning to charge passengers $2 for soda, bottled water and juices aboard its flights.

US Airways flies to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Charlotte from Sea-Tac Airport.

Delta Air Lines says it will offer airborne Internet services on many of its flights beginning later this year.

The Atlanta-based carrier has contracted with Aircell to install air-to-ground Internet capability on more than 300 mainline aircraft.

The service will cost travelers who plan to use their laptops, smartphones or personal digital devices on board $9.95 for a trip of three hours or less and $12.95 for longer trips.

The Aircell system uses a network of cellphone towers to provide connections to the aircraft. Other carriers such as SeaTac's Alaska Airlines plan to use a different system using satellites to connect their passengers to the Net.

The satellite system is superior for airlines such as Alaska because it provides connections over the ocean and in remote areas where there are no cell phone towers.

Sea-Tac Airport's percentage of on-time arrivals in July ranked the airport 21st among major North American airports but kept it well above average for the continent.

According to Web site FlightStats.com, Sea-Tac's 77.21 percent on-time arrival status during August was significantly above the norm, 74.35 percent.

Leading the nation was Salt Lake City International Airport with 85.99 percent of its flight on-time.

At the bottom of the airports ranking were New York City's three airports: JFK with 54.79 percent of flights arriving on time. Runner up was Laguardia with 58.43 of flights arriving on time. New York's third airport, Newark in New Jersey, brought up the bottom of the list with just 60.23 percent on time.

M&M Olympus Hotel Limited Partnership of Bellevue agreed Monday to sell its ownership of the 49-unit affordable housing project in downtown Tacoma to the Korean Women's Association.

KWA Executive Director Lua Pritchard announced the signing of the purchase-and-sale agreement during Monday afternoon's meeting of the Tacoma City Council's Neighborhoods and Housing Committee.

The association, a multi-ethnic social services organization, had negotiated for more than a year to buy the 1909, seven-story vintage hotel.

Pritchard did not disclose the sales price but said her association would have 90 days to complete detailed structural, electrical and mechanical inspections of the building and tenant histories before closing on the sale.

"We’re praying we won’t find things we can’t deal with," she said.

She also noted that rather than purchase the building outright, the association would purchase the general partnership that owns it, which preserves valuable tax credits. Those credits, originally thought to last 35 years as long as the project remains a home for low-income tenants, only lasts through 2015, Pritchard said.

She also outlined the association's renovation and rental plans for the former-hotel-turned-low-income-housing project at 817 Pacific Avenue. The exterior will get an estimated $345,000 makeover, the interior rooms would get $325,000 worth of work and, depending on the organizations ability to get funding, a below-ground commercial floor under Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub could get a $200,000 upgrade and a tenant.

=> Read more!

This summer, Tollefson Plaza should have hosted a series of outdoor concerts, lunch markets, big-screen movie nights and other festivities.

That's what the City of Tacoma and Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce predicted in early December when they announced they had nearly finalized a contract that would grant the Chamber event-organizing responsibility.

Well, nearly nine months later, the two sides announced this afternoon they had finally finalized the deal. Really.

But don't expect any events soon.

First, the Chamber plans to pull together so-called stakeholders to find out what those folks want to see happen in the plaza. The Chamber still must recruit more corporate sponsors and hire an event planner. The City, meanwhile, has yet to order the tables, chairs and garbage cans intended to make the space more inviting.

=> Read more!

A second daily Amtrak train between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. will be ready to begin its daily run when U.S. and Canadian agencies work out the details of border security issues.

Scott Witt, Washington State Department of Transportation Rail and Marine Director, said state and Amtrak officials are meeting soon with Canadian Border Security Agency managers to iron out the details of border clearance for the train passengers.

"We're still saying we'll start service this summer. We just don't yet have a firm date," said Witt.

The second train will allow visitors to head northbound to Vancouver in the evening and return in the morning.

The main issue is who will cover the cost of providing extra border security agents to screen passengers arriving on the second train at 10:45 p.m. in Vancouver. That's past the border security agents' normal working hours.

An additional siding necessary to accommodate the train has already been built in Canada, and the train and cars are already available.

The nighttime northbound train, which leaves Seattle at 6:30 p.m. has been ending its journey in Bellingham because Canada was not yet ready to receive the second daily train.

The existing daily train to Vancouver now departs Seattle at 7:40 a.m. and arrives in Vancouver at 11:35 a.m.

The second train will leave Vancouver southbound at 6:40 a.m. and arrive in Seattle at 11:20 a.m.

Tacoma-area hotels led the state in the increase of occupancy rates in June, up 8.2 percent from a year ago. Statewide, the hotel occupancy rate fell 1.2 percent for the month. Only in Tacoma and downtown Seattle did rates increase, with Seattle showing an increase of 2.7 percent. Among other regions, Snohomish County saw the largest decline, down 13.1 percent.

In Tacoma, 78.8 percent of rooms were occupied in June, according to a monthly report by Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood. A year ago, 72.8 percnet of rooms were taken.

Tacoma and Pierce County hotels in June also saw an increase of daily room rates, up 10.3 percent to $87.93. Only Spokane and Eastern Washington hotels marked a higher increase, up 11.4 percent to an average of $112.52. Statewide, room prices increased 4.8 percent in June to an average of $138.16, Rood said.

SeaTac's Horizon Air was second among the nation's 38 airlines in on-time performance in July in a ranking published by Portland's FlightStats.com.

Horizon's sister airline, Alaska Airlines, ranked 11th on that list and third on the list that includes only major transcontinental carriers.

Horizon's 84.3 percent on-time performance was second only to Frontier Airline's 86.32 percent. Major airlines beating Alaska were Southwest with 83.42 percent of its flights on time and Northwest with an 80.4 percent on-time mark.

Just beneath Alaska was U.S.Airways. The Phoenix-based carrier had a 78.21 percent on-time record in July.

I just don't get tired of writing about falling gas prices. This weekend as I drove around Tacoma, I noticed more gas stations nearing the $4 mark.

AAA Washington reports that the average price of regular gas in Tacoma today is $4.069, down from $4.08 yesterday and $4.341 a month ago.

The 27 cent change in the price of a gallon of gas saves me $3.80 when I fill up my 14-gallon tank. That's enough to buy a vanilla latte at Starbucks. I hear they could use my business.

Meanwhile, oil prices continue to fall nationally. Today they dipped below $120 a barrel in another huge sell-off after Tropical Storm Edouard seemed less likely to disrupt oil and natural gas output in the Gulf of Mexico, The Associated Press reports.

“What this means is that we’re going to see some more relief at the pump. We’re probably looking at another 10 cents of downside in retail gas prices,” said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief analyst at Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J, in an interview with AP.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $3.69, or 2.9 percent, to settle at $121.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was crude’s lowest settlement price since May 5.

New York's JetBlue Airways says it will begin selling a pillow and fleece blanket set this week for use on its flights.

The set will replace the blankets and pillows JetBlue had been furnishing free of charge to customers.

Many other airlines have already eliminated the pillows and blanket from their aircraft to save the expense of handling and laundering the blankets and pillows.

For $7 JetBlue customers will receive a 10-by-12 inch pillow and a fleece blanket that are theirs to keep and a $5 gift certificate to Bed, Bath & Beyond.

The sets will be available from flight attendants.

The blanket sales are the latest changes in airline customer service strategy designed to save money and generate new revenue by selling services and items that formerly were free.

JetBlue flies to Long Beach in California and New York from Sea-Tac.

Three excursion boat operators have expressed initial interest in making Tacoma's Foss Waterway a base for South Sound operations once a new excursion dock is built on the Waterway.

That excursion dock is scheduled to be constructed this fall near the site of the Esplanade condominium and a proposed new boutique hotel on the west side of the Foss, said Don Meyer, the authority's executive director.

The pilings for 200-foot-long dock are already in place, and a low floating dock and a gangway to the shore are to be added this year. The project should be complete by year's end, said Meyer.

Excursion dock site

Designers are now reworking the plan for the final elements of the excursion dock to make it fit the budget of about $600,000, said Meyer.

Meyer said that the excursion boat operators told him they were interested in the possibility of setting up shop in Tacoma once the float was available.

Meyer envisions a charter-style operation with holiday cruises and corporate events, weddings and fund raisers on a Tacoma-based boat.

The presence of a boat and the crowds that it draws would enliven the mix of activities on the Foss and provide conventioneers an additional excursion choice.

With fuel prices so high, it no longer makes economic sense for excursion operators to bring their boats to Tacoma from Seattle for a single event.

Boeing stock closed today at $62.01, up 90 cents from the 3-year low it hit Thursday.

The stock, whose 52-week high was 107.15, has been on a steady downward slide for the last several months.

Analysts say two factors are behind the continuing slide, the threat of further airliner order cancellations as airlines encounter further financial turbulence and the threat of strikes this fall by Boeing two largest unions.

Those unions, the Machinists and the Society of Engineering Employees in Aerospace, warned earlier this week that they consider this year to be their turn to reap the benefits of Boeing's profitability.

The company, they complain, is not offering in negotiations what they consider to be sufficient rewards for their hard work.

Boeing says it has to think of its long-term competitive position.

Thus far this year airlines have canceled just 63 plane orders out of more than 3,600 planes still on order at Boeing. That amounts to more than six years of full production at Boeing.

Boeing won a single order from American Airlines this week for a 737.

That raises Boeing's order total for the year to 543.

The single-aisle 737 leads the Boeing 737 order book with 420 2008 orders. The 787 was second in popularity with 79 orders followed by the 777 with 42 for the year.

Not included in that tally is a new order for six 777s announced Thursday by British Airways. British is ordering the larger 777-300ER planes as a more fuel-efficient replacement for some of its four-engine 747-400 fleet.