Military projects ranging from transparent armor for drivers of Stryker combat vehicles to trauma training for military medical personnel will get an infusion of new funds in a bill passed by the House this week.

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, who helped obtain the money, said the projects will improve the readiness of local troops and improve their care and treatment.

Projects totaling some $25 million were included in the defense appropriations bill. They include:

$8.6 million for Washington State Air National Guard’s 262nd Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron to build a new cyber-warfare facility for use by the (IWAS) at McChord Air Force Base.

$2 million for the Stryker Situation Awareness Soldier Protection Package, to equip the Stryker vehicle drivers of Ft. Lewis’ 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, with transparent armor; Carapace, LLC, North Andover, Mass.

$200,000 for the Madigan Army Medical Center Digital Pen project to acquire digital pens that capture and upload writing electronically while also recording care in ink on paper to improve the process of recording and transmitting patient care information; ADAPX, Seattle, Wash.

$1.6 million for the Tacoma Trauma Trust - Madigan Army Medical Center Trauma Assistance Program to provide critical trauma training for military medical personnel, while providing essential Level II trauma treatment for South King, Pierce, Kitsap, and Thurston Counties and southwest Washington for both military beneficiaries and civilian residents; Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma General Hospital, and St. Joseph’s Hospital, Tacoma, Wash.

$4.4 million for the University of Washington’s Institute of Surgical and Interventional Simulation (ISIS) to upgrade existing facilities, expand their existing partnerships with Madigan Army Medical Center and VA Puget Sound, and explore ways in which surgical simulation can enhance the treatment and rehabilitation of soldiers; University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.

$3 million for the Oregon Biomedical Engineering Institute, for research on limb and tissue regeneration for battlefield injuries using bone marrow and stem cells; Oregon Biomedical Engineering Institute, Portland, Ore.

$1.6 million for million for Optical Neural Techniques for Combat/Post-Trauma Health Care with the potential to provide full restoration of hearing for injured soldiers; Aculight Corporation, Bothell, Wash.

$3.2 for Mobile Object Infrastructure Technology enabling the U.S. Army Intelligence Command (INSCOM) to continue research and development of solutions to network computing challenges, including bandwidth and information-sharing constraints; Topia Technology, Tacoma, Wash.

Smith also helped secure key funds for programs related to the Fort Lewis and the McChord Air Force Base military community including $56 million for buffer zones around the military installation and $40 million in impact aid for school districts that educated children in military families.

The Senate is expected to act soon on the bill, said Smith.

Tacoma Mall will raise the curtain on its newest addition, a 100,000-square-foot "lifestyle" section, Oct. 4 and 5 with entertainment, prizes and a fashion show.

That addition to the '60s-vintage mall will add seven new specialty stores, a new Nordstrom department store and a BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse to the mall's lineup of merchants.

The project, an addition to the mall's south side, is part of a multiphase updating to the mall structure. That renovation and addition project was announced in the spring of 2006 by the mall's owner, Simon Property Group. Simon, headquartered in Indianapolis, is the nation's largest publicly held real estate holding company.

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Delta and Northwest airlines moved a step closer to a merger today with shareholder approval of the deal at both airlines.

The merger now must clear Justice Department scrutiny before it can take place. Airline spokesmen said the merger will likely be consummated by year's end.

The joining of the two carriers will create the world's largest airline. The merged carrier will carry the Delta name and be headquartered in Atlanta.

The merger is likely to have only minor effects at Sea-Tac Airport. The carriers will consolidate ticket counters, gates and frequent flier clubs.

Major reductions in flight destinations are unlikely because the two carriers routes from Sea-Tac don't overlap.

The merger will give Delta new access to Northwest's Asian destinations. The airlines have said they won't close any of their existing hubs. Delta has hubs in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati and at New York's JFK Airport. Northwest's hubs are in Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis.

As the credit crisis pinches the availability of funds, Boeing says it may return to the aircraft financing business to help airlines whose access to credit is being restricted.

Randy Tinseth, Boeing's vice president of marketing, speaking in New Zealand earlier this week, said Boeing may provide financing for a small percentage of customers who need help.

"Before the issues you've seen over the last week, we'd recognized the potential for us to get back to financing airplanes so we had prepared to finance some in the second half of 2009," he told New Zealand media.

Boeing quit financing aircraft about two years ago.

Had everything gone as Boeing planned, 787 Dreamliner launch customer All Nippon Airways would be flying the revolutionary twinjet by now.

But the prototype of the plane has yet to fly, and the Boeing machinists who build it are in their 20th day of a strike.

Those issues now mean that ANA expects the delivery of its first Dreamliner in August of next year, some 15 months behind schedule.

ANA made that schedule revision announcement Wednesday.

To makeup for slow deliveries, Boeing is providing ANA with nine 767-300ER aircraft at bargain prices to stand in for the 787 while they're being built.

Of course, if the machinists' strike drags on for months more, expect that August time frame to slip again.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the strike is taking its toll on deliveries to Air Canada. That airline's CEO, Montie Brewer, said this week that the airline expects three 777 deliveries it had expected late this year and early next will be delayed.

The union strike has halted all work on Boeing commercial aircraft assembly lines.

The airline chieftain said he expects the airline to "manage through" the delays. The airline's 787s on order are expected to be two years late.