Look to October for completion of the Wellness Center at Tacoma Lutheran Home.

Built by Rushforth Construction at a cost of $1.7 million (or $2.24 million with fees and taxes), the center will comprise some 5,000 square feet and feature an exercise pool, spa pool and exercise room meant to benefit the 400 seniors who live on the Home’s grounds.

The pools will have a lift to assist those residents who night otherwise be unable to use them.

The Home celebrated the center’s groundbreaking yesterday at 1301 No. Highlands Parkway.

According to a release received today, President & CEO Paul Opgrande said, “Some might question why we are moving forward at this time when others are developing a wait-and-see attitude until the future becomes a little clearer. It certainly would have been possible for us to adopt that strategy. However, to do so would have not acknowledged our history. Tacoma Lutheran began at the end of a decade that included the Great Depression. Our founders had faith and boundless optimism that a venture such as this, not only was needed, but would be successful. Today, rooted in our own faith, we approach our mission and ministry with that same optimism, looking forward to the future, however that unfolds.”

Tacoma toy seller ChildTrek has been named winner of the The 2009 Earth Day Window Display award – given out by the toy manufacturer Plan Toys. (That's a picture of the display, as supplied by the store.) The winning window will remain intact until May 15 at the ChildTrek store at Freighthouse Square.

The motto at ChildTrek is “Natural toys, books and gifts for a green generation.”

Founded by Miebeth Bustillo-Booth, herself a mother, as an online enterprise in 2007, the store opened a brick-a-d-mortar presence in 2008. For some retailers, 2008 was not a good year to open anything. Not so for her.

“Oh my gosh, Bustillo-Booth said earlier today. “You never really know when you open a business. It went in the black in the first month. I was nervous. When you have the stock market sliding, you start wondering what’s going to happen,”

She bought her fourth-quarter stock in July and August, and she became increasingly worried as the recession arrived. “Then sales doubled in November, and grew two-thirds more in December, and the store picked up too. We started running out of things. (Suppliers) were able to meet the demand.”

Now she’s doing market research and planning to open a second store somewhere “between Renton, Gig Harbor and Lacey.”

The new store will open in 2010, she said.

For having the greenest and keenest Earth Day window, she won $500 worth of Plan Toys – which she intends to donate to two local charities. (She’s still deciding which ones.) “We want to keep it in the Tacoma community,” she said.

Her lines include products for for children 7 and under. Most are made of wood, although other materials - safe, recycled, green, non-toxic – are used. Best sellers include Uncle Goose ABC blocks, which are U.S.-made; German-made toys by Haba; and Grimm’s Spiel und Hulz.

The Boeing Co. has won top honors in a survey of readers of Equal Opportunity magazine, who named the aerospace company as their most preferred employer.

The survey among 1,000 readers of Equal Opportunity magazine picked Boeing as No. 1 followed by PepsiCo., State Farm Insurance, Target and Deloitte.

Equal Opportunity is a career guidance and recruitment publication distributed free to minority college students.

The Puyallup Main Street Association has named Michele McGill, former executive director of Tacoma's Pioneer Museum of Motorcycles, as its new executive director.

McGill will replace Dave Eatwell who begins a new job as economic development director for a group of small Oregon cities next week.

McGill, who worked with many Pierce County businesses and organizations as a marketing consultant, served as chair of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce board in 2006.

"We are very pleased to find someone with Michele's enthusiasm, experience and ability to work with our membership," said PMSA board president Paula Jones.

The Puyallup Main Street Association works to promote downtown Puyallup businesses. It also operates Puyallup's Farmer's Market.

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 headed from Sea-Tac Airport to Seoul, South Korea, landed successfully on one engine at Sea-Tac about 3:25 p.m. today after dumping fuel over Puget Sound.

The plane's left engine apparently developed problems shortly after takeoff from Sea-Tac at 3:02 p.m.

The aircraft, Asiana Flight 271, carried 179 passengers and crew.

Witnesses on the plane's takeoff path in Federal Way said they heard loud booms coming from the plane's engine and saw flames coming from the left engine's exhaust.

The pilot shut down the defective engine and circled near the airport dumping fuel to allow the aircraft to make a safe landing.

Aircraft loaded with thousands of gallons of fuel for an overseas flight must dump fuel before landing to reduce the plane's weight to a safe level for contact with the runway.

Large aircraft like the 777 typically have allowable takeoff weights higher than their maximum landing weights.

It seems like only five years ago (actually, it was in February, 2004) that I was writing a story about cinematographer Scott Gribble, a co-founder of Wonderdog Media, and how he was moving the firm, and his family, from Rockford, Ill. to the Tacoma area.

Today I heard from Gribble that he is celebrating his 10th anniversary in business. And beyond that, he shot the film “Keep Your Day Job Super Star,” which has been accepted as an entry in the Seattle True Independent Film Festival 2009. The film will premier June 14 at Center Cinema in Seattle.

Other than that, after five years in the South Sound, Gribble says business is doing well, even in the recession. He's also looking for funding for a Webisode set in the fictional city of Amocat.

Nearly two years after its debut in an event broadcast worldwide, Boeing's oft-delayed 787 Dreamliner finally appears nearly ready for its first flight.

That's the word from Boeing executives Wednesday who said the revolutionary composite twin jet only needs to pass a few more ground tests before taking to the air.

They wouldn't say exactly when the jetliner will leave the runway at Everett's Paine Field for its first test flight, but they did say that long-awaited event will happen before July 1.

Problems with fastener and parts shortages, supplier issues and some design problems have kept the first 787 in the assembly hall far longer than Boeing had originally projected.

The plane already has received 60 percent of the Federal Aviation Administration certifications it needs before it is approved from commercial service, said the 787's chief project engineer Mike Delaney.

That's a pace ahead of the Boeing 777, the last new airplance Boeing designed and built.

Delaney spoke at a morning technical briefing Wednesday for the aviation press at Boeing's Everett plant.

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Railroad and terminal operator executives at the annual Port of Tacoma breakfast this morning praised the Port of Tacoma for being "forward looking."

The executives participated in a panel discussion regarding the challenges of the current economy on the port industry.

"The Port of Tacoma is constantly looking forward," said John Kaiser, vice president and general manager of marketing and intermodal sales with the Union Pacific Railroad.

Kaiser told a packed conference room at the Hotel Murano that the Tacoma port is one of the most forward looking ports.

His comment was actually part of an answer to a question about the port's Maytown property -- a now defunct project with its fair share of critics.

The port bought the property in 2006 to use as a rail yard and staging area for trains coming into Tacoma, but opposition derailed the proposal and the property is now for sale.

Other panelists and the event's key note speaker Walter Kemmsies, chief economist for Moffatt & Nichol too complimented the Tacoma port for its long view when it comes to planning and for outperforming in a downturn.

Moffatt & Nichol provides engineering and consulting to maritime and transportation industries.

One panelist jokingly noted that "down is the new up," when it comes to cargo volume.

Tim Farrell, the port's executive director and also a panelist, agreed saying that he'd never thought he'd be happy to say that the port container volume was down 3.3 percent (last year) and more than 14 percent (year-to-date).

But, he said, its the best on the West Coast and out performs East Coast ports.