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.

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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.

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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.