Regal Logistics of Fife is now the primary warehouse for toy company Spin Master Ltd., a deal that means a 20 percent increase in workforce.

The deal, announced Thursday, means Regal Logistics will handle storage and transportation for Spin Master toys coming directly from Asia. The company has 114 employees, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Development Board.

Spin Master, which a news release calls the fastest growing major toy company in North America, provides toys to Wal-Mart, Target and Toys "R" Us, among other retailers. The company, which has six offices from Toronto to Hong Kong, is known for toys such as Air Hogs remote-controller helicopters and Tech Deck small skateboards.

Regal Logistics was selected because it is easily accessible from the Port of Tacoma and Seattle, according to the release.

"Spin Master will benefit from Pacific Northwest ports' ability to move frieght more efficiently and cost-effectively and Regal's ability to offer better access to important Asian markets," Regal Vice President Garry Neeves said in the release.

Starting in January, Pierce County cancer patients at MultiCare won't need to cross the bridge for radiation therapy.

The Tacoma-based health system announced today that it will open Gig Harbor’s first radiation oncology clinic in at the first of next year.

MultiCare plans to install a Varian iX® Linear Accelerator on the ground floor of its Gig Harbor center. The system ofers patients "a precise, targeted dose of radiation to a tumor or lesion, which eliminates the side effects usually associated with radiation therapy," the company said in a release.

The MultiCare Regional Cancer Center recently became a network affiliate of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, adding five South Sound locations to the SCCA network, including the MultiCare Gig Harbor Medical Park.

The name was a bit confusing to pronounce, and now it’s changing altogether.

Carlson Wagonlit (wagon-lee) Travel is re-branding as Travel Leaders.

Beginning now and extending through next March, the eight Carlson stores in the Puget Sound area (Tacoma, Parkland, Puyallup, Lacey, Tumwater, Lakewood, Gig Harbor and Marysville) will switch signage and advertising over to the new brand.

”We’ve started using the name on our Web site, and we’ll officially launch at the Business Expo (Oct. 14) and at the World’s Largest Cruise Night (Oct. 16),” said Sonja Torres, marketing coordinator. “We’re keeping all of our branches. Our service isn’t going to change, but our name is changing.”

By adopting the new Travel Leaders brand, the agency joins the 500 U.S.-based Carlson Wagonlit franchisees that are likewise rebranding themselves as Travel Leaders.

“We are thrilled to be leading travel in a new direction,” said Alex Trettin, president of the Puget Sound Carlson branches, in a release today. “As our agency's name is transforming, we also look forward to transforming the experience of our clients using Travel Leaders' brand promise: 'When your journey includes us, you travel better.'”

Shares of Washington Mutual dipped below $2 a share today as investors question the company's future.

WaMu stock dropped 23 cents, or 10 percent, to $2.08, after earlier hitting a low of $1.75.

The company’s shares plummeted about 30 percent on Wednesday to a 17-year low of $2.32.

Here's what The Associated Press is saying:

"Wall Street’s edginess over the fate of major financial firms also was fanned by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s plans announced Wednesday to sell a majority stake in its investment management unit, spin off its commercial real estate assets and slash its dividend. The nation’s fourth-largest investment bank also said it lost $3.9 billion during its fiscal third quarter."

The company, like many others on Wall Street, has suffered from bad bets on mortgage securities and other risky assets and has seen its stock price drop about 90 percent this year.

Hoping to glean orders from Boeing's delays in delivering its 787 Dreamliner, Airbus has announced an enhanced version of its best-selling twin jet, the A330.

The new A330 model will have the ability to carry more weight than present models. That weight-carrying ability means the plane will be able to carry more fuel, increasing its range to be more competitive with the 787.

Boeing has yet to fly the 787 which is 15 months behind schedule. The company has more than 900 orders for the long-range super-efficient jet.

While the range of the new Airbus at 7,866 miles is still below the 9,200 miles that Boeing claims for the 787, Airbus is telling customers that Boeing's new plane will fall short of that range because of weight and efficiency miscalculations.

The longer-range A330 will be available in 2010.

SeaTac's Horizon Air will end a five-month experiment Oct. 5 providing air service between Seattle and Prince George, B.C..

Higher fuel prices and lower-than-needed patronage is bringing an end to the connection, said the airline.

Horizon had begun service on the 436-mile route between the two cities on May 1 after a local development group and the Prince George City Council agreed to provide revenue guarantees.

Those guarantees would go into effect if the average load fell below 61 percent of capacity. Dan Russo, marketing vice president at Horizon, told Prince George media that the average flight was about 30 percent full.

Horizon, citing an increase in fuel costs, had asked to increase the potential guarantee from a maximum of $400,000 to $750,000, but the city declined to increase the amount.

Tim McEwan, president of the local development group Initiatives Prince George, told the Prince George Citizen newspaper that upping the guarantee wasn't the proper step to take during difficult economic times.

"We decided to take the proposition that when you're in a hole, you stop digging and move on," McEwan told the paper.