Amazon.com released a statement Monday afternoon seeking to explain why thousands of books — including many gay- and lesbian-themed titles — were removed from its sales rankings over the weekend, The Seattle Times reported.

“This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection,” Drew Herdener, the Seattle company’s communications director, told the paper.

“It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles — in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing books from Amazon’s main product search.”

Amazon previously blamed a “glitch,” which seemed to intensify anger among some gay and lesbian activists who suspected homophobic censorship.

Books without sales rankings are still listed on Amazon.com but deleted from its best-seller lists, reducing the chances that they’ll come to the attention of someone browsing the Web site for popular titles.

Those of us who haven't finished our 2008 taxes have a friend in the United States Postal Service.

If you're pushing the deadline, the Post Office plans to have three Puget Sound area mail drop-offs standing by until midnight to receive your last minute tax filings.

Taxes returns deposited in those three boxes by midnight Wednesday will receive the critical April 15 postmark that signifies that you've sent your tax forms in on time.

One of those three locations is in Tacoma at Tacoma's main post office at 4001 South Pine St. The other two are at Seattle's Riverton Station and in Everett.

The Post Office reminds customers to weigh their submitals to the IRS to ensure you have the correct postage. The IRS won't pay post due, and returns rejected for lack of sufficient postage might as well have not been mailed at all unless the sender manages to get them back in the mail with the proper stamps by Wednesday midnight.

SeaTac's Alaska Airlines and its sister airline, Horizon Air, are putting a new twist on fare sales for the next two weeks.

The airlines, beginning at midnight tonight, will announce what they call a "deep daily discount" fare of up to 30 percent off to a featured city of the day.

The discount fares will be available to destinations throughout Alaska, the lower 48 states, Canada and Mexico for two weeks beginning Tuesday through April 27. Hawaii will be excluded from the sale.

"We're offering daily discounts to and from a different city each day for two weeks," said Steve Jarvis, the airline's vice president of sales, marketing and customer experience.

The seats must be purchased seven days in advance of travel. The tickets will be valid through June 19.

Boeing Co. stock was down more than 5 percent today to $37.15 a share after a well-known aerospace analyst downgraded the stock to "underperform."

Cowen & Co. analyst Cai von Rumohr predicted that the airline industry's down cycle could be deeper than typical cycles in the past because of the combination of falling demand and credit issues.

Boeing itself last week announced it plans to cut production of the its large twin-jet, the 777, from seven to five per month at its Everett factory beginning in 2010.

That production cut will reduce both sales and profits in 2010.

The company also revealed that the worldwide financial crisis and the dropping demand for aircraft has softened prices for new planes, another factor that's expected to take a bite out of Boeing profits.

The company said no airline thus far has canceled an order of its 737, 747, 767 or 777 aircraft, but several airlines have deferred deliveries.

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner order book has seen a few defections as the economy spins lower and Boeing continues to be nearly two years behind schedule in delivering the planes.

Fife-based Rushforth Construction has been sold to Adolfson & Peterson Construction, a family-owned firm based in Minneapolis. The transaction was formally announced this morning in a release.

Speaking last week, majority shareholder and Rushforth board chairman Randy Rushforth said the deal would benefit his employees as it joins two like-minded companies.

Rushforth Construction had been owned by Randy Rushforth and company colleagues from the Nakamura family, sons of Kaz Nakamura, who joined the firm as it began to grow. Company President Kim Nakamura and brother Brad will remain at Rushforth Construction, as will Randy Rushforth – who has contracted to stay for at least three years.

The name of the Fife company will likewise remain intact.

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