The price of a gallon of regular gas broke another price barrier today in Tacoma.

Gas was selling for $3.49 a gallon at the ARCO station at Portland and Puyallup avenues today, reported Tacomagasprices.com.

Average prices in Tacoma weren't nearly so low, reported AAA Washington, but they continue to fall. Average price of that gallon of regular today was $3.754 in Tacoma, down .7 cent from Tuesday.

That Tacoma average is down 61.4 cents from the all time average high of $4.368 on June 22 this year.

Washington and Tacoma prices remain below the national average of $3.855 reported by AAA.

Crude oil prices rebounded somewhat today on news of lower gasoline inventories but they remained in the low $90 range after briefly touching $147 a barrel earlier this summer.

The Washington Department of Labor & Industries today proposed an average 3 percent increase in 2009 workers’ compensation rates. Average premiums paid to the state would increase by approximately two cents per hour worked.

“We are in times of economic uncertainty and we want to do what we can to keep businesses strong in Washington State,” said L&I Director Judy Schurke in a release this afternoon.

The primary factors affecting the change in rates were workers’ wages, up 5 percent in 2007, and the cost of health care, estimated to increase 5.5 percent in 2009, Schurke said.

Not all job classifications will pay higher rates. Among some of the proposed changes: mushroom farms, down 1 percent; sawmills, up 7 percent; construction project superintendents, down 13 percent; plumbing, up 3 percent; fruit packers, down 1 percent; newspaper workers, up 6 percent; bus companies, down 5 percent; airline ground crews, up 10 percent; furniture and appliance stores, unchanged; florists, up 8 percent; restaurant and tavern workers, up 2 percent; pet groomers, up 10 percent; dancers, down 12 percent.

For a full list of changes, click here.

Final rates will be adopted by the state following a series of public meetings. The nearest local meetings will be held in Tumwater on Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. at L&I headquarters, 7273 Linderson Way S.W.; and in Tukwila on Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. at the L&I office, 12806 Gateway Dr.

For move information, visit www.lni.wa.gov.

The nearly two-week-long Machinist Union strike is making its presence felt in the tourism business in Everett.

Tours of Boeing's Everett factory, the world's largest building by volume and the world's largest aircraft factory, have been suspended because of the strike.

The Boeing factory tour is one of the region's top tourist draws.

The company is substituting an alternate tour for the factory walk-through.

The alternate progam includes includes a movie in the Boeing Theater at the Future of Flight Aviation Center on the west side of Paine Field in Everett, a Boeing guided bus tour from the Future of Flight to the Flying Heritage Collection and a return bus ride.

The bus ride between the two attractions will allow visitors to view the flight line where Boeing jets are prepared for delivery. Estimated time for the experience is between 45 and 90 minutes.

No advance reservations are required, the company said. Admission is $7.50 adults, $4 for children under 15. Price includes admission to the Future of Flight gallery, Strato Deck and access to both The Boeing Store and the Future of Flight Store.

There are no height restrictions, and cameras are permitted on the alternate tour.

The fate of troubled American International Group is a matter of much interest in aviation circles these days because of the insurance giant's ownership of the world's largest aircraft leasing company, International Lease Finance Corp.

ILFC is one of the largest customers for both Boeing and Airbus.

The Federal Reserve Tuesday agreed to provided AIG with $85 million in loans in return for a nearly 80 percent ownership in the group.

The loan deal avoided the fallout that the failure of AIG would have caused in financial markets. AIG is a major insurer of bonds.

Some analysts believe that the financially healthy ILFC will be spun off or sold by AIG as it restructures its business. The company has orders for 102 aircraft with Boeing.

When striking union machinists return to work, they'll find the backlog of orders for two Boeing airliners has increased because of delays in the 787 Dreamliner project.

Flightglobal.com reports today that Japan Airlines will receive 11 new Boeing 767s and 777s in compensation for Boeing's delay in providing the airline the 787 Dreamliners it ordered.

No financial details were disclosed, but expect that Boeing is probably providing those aircraft at a healthy discount. There's also no word whether the planes will be sold to JAL or leased to them.

Leasing would help provide the airline capacity it will be missing because of delays in delivering its 787s without committing the airline to purchase the replacement aircraft.

The replacement aircraft will be provided JAL in 2010 and 2011. JAL will keep its order for 35 787s in place. It expects to receive the first of those late next year.

The 787 program is now more than 15 months behind schedule largely because of supplier problems.

The additional sales would bolster the 767 backlog, which has diminished to 48, keeping that plane in production while Boeing and Northrop Grumman-EADS continue their battle over the Air Force aerial tanker.

Boeing has proposed a militarized version of the 767 for the tanker replacement program. The Pentagon recently cancelled the competition for the tanker contract. It plans to restart the competition once a new president takes office.