In a late-afternoon press release, Bellingham-based Horizon Financial Corp. – parent of Horizon Bank – announced an initiative of "strategic staff reductions."

The reductions are being made "(b)ecause of the challenges in the Pacific Northwest housing markets."

And because of those challenges, said CEO Rich Jacobson, Horizon expects "further pressure on our net interest margin, asset quality and profitability."

The reductions, which include unspecified "strategic reductions in other noninterest expense areas," target 27 full-time positions at all levels from line personnel to senior management. They are expected to result "in over $3 million in expense savings on an annualized basis."

Horizon is a $1.45 billion state-chartered bank with offices in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties, as well as in Puyallup and Lakewood in Pierce County.

Horizon stock closed down nearly 4 cents in Friday trading, to $5.07, and has seen a drop of 70.93 percent so far this year, according to Bloomberg.

A Lakewood business that already offers car washes, oil changes and espresso has added a service for canines to its repertoire.

Classy Chassis at 7432 Custer Road W., has added a self-service dog wash to its offerings.

The dog wash offers canine "parents" an elevated stainless steel tub equipped with warm water sprayers, dog shampoos and rinses and a powerful air dryer to improve Fido's appearance.

The dog wash includes a dog treat vending machine to reward you dog for his good behavior while undergoing his makeover.

Expect airline fares, which rose steadily this year because of higher fuel prices and a tighter supply of airline seats, to head downward next year, an industry analyst predicts.

Airline fares may drop as much as 12 percent next year because of the troubled economy and steeply falling fuel prices, predicts Vaughn Cordie, chief analyst with AirlineForecasts.

Cordie said he expects to see airline traffic dropping sharply in the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 as consumers and businesses cutback travel expenditures.

Airlines will use fare sales to attract more traffic, he predicted.

A defective part that helps hold the Boeing 737 together is causing a new headache for Boeing.

An aerospace industry Web site, fleetbuzzeditorial.com, reports that the company has discovered small parts called nutplates weren't properly treated to resist corrosion.

Nutplates are small metal strips with holes at either end that help tie the 737 structure together.

Those defective nutplates were installed in 737 fuselages by Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, Kan.

A Boeing spokeswoman, Vicki Ray, said the defective parts pose no immediate flight safety risk.

"Boeing has determined this is not an immediate safety of flight issue and is working closely with the FAA and the supplier to rectify the situation," Ray said.

The site said that thousands of the defective parts were used on fuselages awaiting final assembly at Boeing's Renton plant.

Those parts will have to be replaced before the fuselages can be assembled into a finished airplane.

This new bit of bad news comes after Boeing suffered an eight-week production shutdown because of a strike by its union machinists. Machinists returned to work earlier this week after approving a new contract.

Peter Haley/The News Tribune

The crowd of children was not interested in the speeches.

Good Samaritan officials and Puyallup politicians on Friday paraded up to explain the importance of the new MultiCare/Good Samaritan Play Park in the South Hill Mall. They spoke about the hospital’s work with the community. The kids stood politely, waiting until the ribbon was cut. But once the oversized scissors sliced their way home, there was a mad rush to the new playground inside the mall.

The play park, next to the Good Samaritan kiosk, thus becomes a place where parents can take a break and where children can play on the plastic creatures and bounce off the padded walls.

The facility opened with a party that included cheerleaders, clowns and a storybook princess who resembled Cinderella.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Joseph D. Corsell, assistant vice president of Cafaro Co., the South Hill Mall owner. “We’ve had a long-standing partnership with Good Samaritan and we like to work together in serving the community.”

The Good Samaritan Children’s Therapy Unit has an ark theme – there’s a gigantic ladybug, two huskies (but no cougars) and other animals – and space enough for scores of children.

“We thought it was important to have a theme that resonates with our clients,” Good Samaritan spokeswoman Susan Messier said.

The park was originally planned to open alongside a new health kiosk, but the plan wasn’t finished in time. Officials hope an expanded kiosk will open by the beginning of 2009, and will have more capabilities, such as sports physicals, on top of the vaccinations and flu shots that are already available.

The City of Tacoma's municipally-owned short line railroad, Tacoma Rail, has a new superintentent.

Dale King, director of rail services for Weyerhaeuser Co., will succeed former Tacoma Rail Superintendent Paula Henry, who left the Tacoma Rail job in March.
Alan Hardy, the railroad's assistant superintendent, had served as the 100-employee railroad's interim leader.

King will start his service with the railroad in December.

King’s experience at Weyerhaeuser includes managing 200,000 annual rail shipments in North America and supervising the operations of five short-line railroads that employ more than 140 people, said a news release from Tacoma Public Utilities, the city's utilities arm of which Tacoma Rail is a part.

King worked for the Federal Way-based forest products company since 1985. He previously worked for the Burlington Northern Railroad.

“Dale’s business management expertise will complement the operations expertise that already exists in the Tacoma Rail management team,” said Tacoma Public Utilities Director Bill Gaines.

The salary range for the rail superintendent's job is $126,235 to $195,749 a year.

As superintendent, King will oversee a railroad with tracks stretching from the Tacoma Tideflats southward to Morton and Chehalis.

The railroad's structure includes three divisions. The Tidelands Division handles switching operations to Tacoma Tideflats industries and to the Port of Tacoma. The Mountain Division provides rail services on 132 miles of tracks that extend southward from Tacoma to a Port of Tacoma industrial park at Frederickson and to Morton, Centralia and Chehalis. The Capital Division provides rail services on three short segments of branch line track owned by BNSF near Olympia.

In recent years, Tacoma Rail has been in the front ranks of a civic effort to attract tourist passenger rail service from Tacoma to Mount Rainier on the former Milwaukee Road and Weyerhaeuser track between Freighthouse Square and Elbe.

That stretch of track, now owned by Tacoma Rail, has hosted three unsuccessful passenger operations, a steam train that halted operations two years ago, a dinner train operation that moved to Tacoma from Renton and a luxury tour train that used the tracks to the mountain as part of a national parks rail tour of the West.

Last summer, Tacoma Rail in conjunction with the Metropolitan Park District operated a "Train to Trek" that provided occasional rail service from Tacoma to the Northwest Trek wild animal park near Eatonville. That operation was fairly successful.

Tacoma Rail's yearly revenue is more than $18 million.

Gaines praised interim superintendent Hardy for his work calling him "one of the best operations people in the rail industry."

Tacoma Public Utilities conducted a national search to fill the Tacoma Rail superintendent position.

The developer of the billion-dollar Point Ruston project, on the site of the former Asarco copper smelter, has started marketing view homes at “Stack Hill,” site of the smelter’s old emissions stack.

The Ruston Town Council approved the final plat for Stack Hill on Oct. 20, freeing developer Mike Cohen to start writing purchase and sale agreements.

Stack Hill reclaims the property where the 562-foot Asarco smelter stack once stood. The structure was demolished in 1993 and the land has since been remediated under EPA supervision. The EPA released Stack Hill for construction in 2007.

Cohen’s plans for Stack Hill include 36 single-family homes. Twelve of the home sites already have been reserved, Cohen says. All 36 homes will be both Built Green and Energy Star certified through the Master Builders Association of Pierce County.

The first model home opened in September and has drawn an average of 20 to 30 visitors per day during open house weekends, Cohen said. A permanent sales office will
be located in a second model home, which is expected to be complete and fully furnished in November.

To learn more about homes at Stack Hill, visit www.PointRuston.com or contact Julie McBride at (360) 456-6307, ext. 16 or Julie@mcconstruction.com.

MSNBC came up with a list of the country’s top 10 healthiest grocery store chains today, and the list contained some surprises.

Whole Foods was at the top, as might be expected. Judges called the Texas-based chain “the Rolls Royce of healthy eating.”

Number #2 was less predictable: Safeway.

Safeway?

“Look closer and you’ll see a huge transformation going on,” the judges said. “They now have their own organic brands and a section of locally grown produce.”

Judges also praised Safeway’s online “Food Flex” program, which sorts through customers’ purchases and suggests healthier alternatives.

Trader Joe’s was highly praised but came in only #4, getting dinged for what judges considered a limited selection in most stores.

The complete list:

1. Whole Foods
2. Safeway
3. Harris Teeter
4. Trader Joe’s
5. Hannaford (165-plus stores in the Northeast)
6. Albertsons
7. Food Lion
8. Publix Super Markets
9. Pathmark
10. SuperTarget

MSNBC says it reviewed the country’s 35 largest food retailers in the survey.

Which were the least healthy?

MSNBC didn’t say.

Blame falling stock markets and a decline in consumer spending. That’s what Bellevue hospitality consultant Wolfgang Rood says in his review of September’s hotel occupancy rates.

Occupancy was down 3.4 percent statewide in September, Rood says. In Pierce County, the rate was down 2.2 percent. Only two areas – downtown Seattle, at 1.1 percent, and the Tri-Cities, at 0.9 percent – showed increases in the rates from September of 2007. Everett and Snohomish County saw the largest decline, down 17.9 percent.

Statewide, 78.8 percent of rooms were occupied during the month. In Pierce County, visitors occupied 72.9 percent of available rooms.

For the average cost of a room, the state marked a 4.6 increase to $142.99 in September. In Tacoma, the average cost was up 8.3 percent to $88.54. No other region reported a higher increase, while Bellingham and Southwest Washington both reported decreases.

Downtown Seattle saw the state's largest average cost, up 4.5 percent to $193.41. The average cost of a room was lowest in the Everett area, at $66.23.