Boeing's newest airline has moved to the flight line at Everett's Paine Field as it progreses toward its first flight.

The aircraft will undergo fueling this week as the next step in its preparation for taking to the air for the first time.

The first test 787 has completed a battery of tests including build verification tests, landing gear tests and systems and structural tests.

Boeing has said it will fly the plane for the first time before the end of June.

But at the pace the plane is moving through pre-flight testing, the plane may fly sooner rather than later.

"We are making great progress, and moving ever-closer to first flight," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 Dreamliner project.

The Dreamliner is the most successful pre-production airliner in history with a backlog of 886 orders from 57 customers world-wide.

The super-efficient airliner, made largely of composite materials, is nearly two years late in leaving the ground on its first flight. Those delays were due to manufacturing setbacks, parts shortages and design redos.

Olympia and the Tri-Cities have been named among the nation's 35 most-"recession resistant" cities in a study by Moody'sEconomy.com and MSNBC.

The study of 381 American cities singled out areas that have experienced fewer than nine months of recession in the last 15 years.

Many of those cities such as Jacksonville, N.C. depend on the government or the military for much of their economic sustenance.

That's the case both in Olympia and the Tri-Cities. Olympia as the state capital, has a large base of government workers, and the Tri-Cities' economy is kept rolling by large government expenditures to mothball nuclear facilities and waste storage.

The study said the Olympia area had experienced only nine months of recession in the last decade and a half, seven months in 2001 and two months this year.

The Tri-Cities area has seen seven months of recession in the same period ending in February this year. Six months were in 1995-96 and a single month this year.

If you know the difference between FASB and an Frisbee, and if you know the SEC has little to do with Some Enchanted Calculus – then you likely already know about the upcoming Financial Reporting Conference (the Fifth Annual, by the way) sponsored by the University of Washington Tacoma Milgard School of Business.

Previously held in Seattle, this is the first appearance of the popular conference in Tacoma - slated for the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center on May 15, from 7:30 a.m. through 5 p.m.

According to a release form the school, the conference “brings together accounting standard setters, SEC officials, corporate financial executives, professional accountants and academics to discuss current issues in financial accounting and corporate reporting.”

Scheduled speakers include Tom Linsmeier, FASB Board Member, and James Kroeker, Deputy Chief Accountant at the SEC.

Greg J. Stark, managing director at Russell Investments, will provide the luncheon keynote address.

Two panels will discuss the current financial crisis – the first with an overview and the second discussing the role of accounting during troubled times.

Milgard School Dean Shahrokh Saudagaran and Terry Shevlin, chair of the accounting department at the Foster School of Business, will provide the welcome.

The event is sponsored by Moss Adams LLP, Clark Nuber PS, KPMG LLP, Port of Tacoma, Propel Insurance, Resources Global Professionals and Russell Investments.

The cost to attend ranges from $295 to $350, and conference participants will be eligible for eight hours of CPE credit. For more information, call Cynthia Silvernale at 206-685-4484 or contact silvec@u.washington.edu.

(FASB, for those of you uninitiated to such things, is the Financial Accounting Standards Board; SEC is the Securities and Exchange Commission; and XBRL you already know.)

A new study commissioned by the Port of Seattle shows that importers seeking the lowest carbon footprint for importing goods from Asia should use Pacific Northwest ports over rivals in California and in the East.

The study conducted by Herbert Engineering, a California consulting firm, analyzed carbon footprints of trade from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore to U.S. distribution hubs in Chicago, Columbus, Ohio and Memphis.

The study compared the fossil fuel usage through the Northwest ports of Seattle and Tacoma to other ports such as Los Angeles, New York and Savannah.

"The carbon study results are good news, and a great boost to our efforts to measure and reduce our environmental impact," said Port of Seattle chief executive Tay Yoshitani.

Fast-growing Emirates Airways has accepted delivery of its 75th 777 jetliner from Boeing.

The large twin-jet 777-300ER (Extended Range)flew from Boeing's Everett plant where it was built to Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates nonstop.

Emirates will soon become Boeing largest 777 customer. The Dubai-based carrier is also Airbus' largest customer for its super jumbo A380.

Tacoma Rail has won the 2008 Jake Award, presented by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. The award, according to a release from the agency today, recognizes short line railroads that have a yearly Frequency/Severity Index rate better than the industry average.

Tacoma Rail has received the award three times over the past four years.

The association presents Jake Awards to railroads that have not had an injury that required reporting to the Federal Railroad Administration, a lost workday, or a fatality during the year.

Tacoma Rail Assistant Superintendent Alan Hardy accepted the award at the association’s annual convention.

“Tacoma Rail employees deserve this recognition,” Superintendent Dale King said. “We make safety our top priority, which benefits our employees, the public, our customers and our community.”