Seattle-Tacoma International Airport closed its longest runway early today for a long-overdue rebuilding.

The runway, parts of which date from the airport's 1947 opening, will be completely rebuilt and equipped with modern lighting and safety systems. Among those safety systems will be a light system that provides airline crews with visual "stop" and "go" signals before they guide their aircraft across the runway to reach the terminal or more distant runways.

The opening of the airport's $1.1 billion third runway in November enabled the airport to shut down its oldest and longest runway.

The 11,901-foot-long runway is the easternmost of the airport's three runways. The remaining two north-south runways are 9,426 feet and 8,500 feet long.

The runway will be under construction through the summer. Its reopening is set for September.

A Tacoma man, John H. Min, lived a lavish lifestyle while raising more than $6 million from investors in a fraudulent investment scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged today.

Min bought a $70,000 Mercedes luxury car, sent his children to private schools and took elaborate vacations using the proceeds of the alleged scam, the government claimed.

Min focused on churches and their members and senior citizens as potential investors while claiming that his Dime Financial Group benefited charitable groups in developing countries, charging documents claimed.

He told potential investors that he was able to generate extraordinary rates of return by using his expertise in foreign exchange markets, the SEC claimed.

Attempts to contact Min were unsuccessful this afternoon.

In court filings in a civil case filed by some of his investors in Pierce County Superior Court, Min declared that his investors were made fully aware of the risks of currency trading.

Their losses, he said, were caused by many of the same global economic developments that have caused major banks and financial institutions worldwide to report huge investment declines.

Min said that he believes that the evidence will show "that I had no intention to defruad or misrepresent anything, and it always my hope and desire that we could provide real benefits to our customers."

"This case serves as an unfortunate reminder that investors need to be wary of possible fraud schemes even when the person offering the investment appears to be part of a humanitarian, religious or other community of trust," said Marc Fagel, Director of the SEC's San Francisco Regional Office.

"Min also illicitly used investor funds to bankroll a failed film venture about evangelical churches, and to pay expenses relating to the operation of the fraud. When Min did actually invest the funds, his trading record was abysmal. He lost more than $5 million on the Forex market, according to the SEC's complaint," the government claimed in a news release.

Min has also been charged in federal court with criminal violations in connection with the same conduct.

Seattle-area home prices were down 15 percent in January compared to the same month a year ago, according to data released today.

At the same time national home prices sank by the sharpest annual rate on record, and the pace continues to accelerate. There were a handful of battered metro areas where price declines slowed, The Associated Press reports.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 major cities tumbled by a record 19 percent from January 2008. It was the largest decline since the index started in 2000. The 10-city index dropped 19.4 percent, also a new record.

All 20 cities in the report showed monthly and annual price declines, with 13 posting new annual records. Prices dropped by more than 10 percent in 14 cities.

"There are very few bright spots that one can see in the data," David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee, said in a prepared statement. "Most of the nation appears to remain on a downward path."

In the Cleveland, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Washington D.C. metro areas -- all ravaged by foreclosures -- annual price declines eased somewhat. Meanwhile, six cities, including Seattle, Charlotte, Minneapolis and New York, showed smaller price declines in January compared with December.

From The Associated Press:

Microsoft Corp.'s digital encyclopedia, Encarta, might have pushed its printed competitors off the shelves in some homes. Now Encarta itself has fallen victim to changes in technology, made all but obsolete by the likes of Web search and Wikipedia.

Microsoft said it will shut down the online version of Encarta in October and will discontinue sales of the PC software by June.

Encarta was first sold to computer users as a CD-ROM-based encyclopedia in 1993. Critics questioned some of Microsoft's editorial decisions, including the fact that Encarta's dictionary had a photo of Bill Gates and not one of John F. Kennedy. But the electronic knowledge base was an early example of the advantages of digital content over the printed word. Encarta was quickly searchable, and could pack more images, plus video and sound.

Encarta gained a further edge over bound volumes in the early days of the Web because it could pull down updated content while its printed competitors' articles grew stale.

But CD-ROM reference materials quickly turned to relics as high-speed Internet access spread, Web search improved and ventures like Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia compiled and constantly updated by volunteers, gained credibility. Microsoft's free and premium versions of Encarta suffered.
"People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past," the Redmond, Wash.-based company said in a statement on its Web site.

The company said customers with subscriptions to its premium Encarta service will get a refund for fees paid beyond April 30, but will be able to access the content with their user names and passwords until the service goes off-line. Encarta Japan will shut down on Dec. 31.

A record 1,000 employers are now participating in a state program aimed at helping companies minimize layoffs.

That's more participants that at any other time in the program's 25-year history, according to a news release from the Employment Security Department.

In addition to the record number of employers, the Shared-Work Program is now serving more than 30,000 workers.

A year ago, there were 145 participating employers with about 5,700 employees.

Under the program, an employer can temporarily reduce employees’ hours and qualified workers may receive partial unemployment benefits to replace a portion of their lost wages. The program is not for slowdowns that are an expected part of an industry or business.

“Shared Work is designed to help employers and their workers ride out tough times together until times get better. We hope that even more employers will apply for this program,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.

To keep up with the demand, Employment Security has added staff to process applications and to answer the program’s toll-free hotline.

Under current law, at least 10 percent of the employees in a work unit must participate in a shared-work plan, and employees can receive benefits for up to 26 weeks. But beginning April 5, any number of employees may participate and benefits may be paid for the entire claim, as long as there is an available balance.

If you've been driving the borderlands between Tacoma's Stadium District and Hilltop, then you've likely seen the construction going on at the campus of MultiCare Health System.

The big building going up, slated to open next year, will principally contain a new emergency department and cancer treatment center.

For a neat glance at how it's all going to look, MultiCare has developed a virtual tour. Click here to see it.