Bill Ayer, chairman of SeaTac’s Alaska Air Group, received compensation worth more than $2 million last year according to a government filing by his airline holding company.

Ayer heads a company that owns both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air.

His total compensation last year was $2,022,664 compared with his 2007 compensation of $1,945,736. Those total compensation figures include a base salary plus various stock and stock option awards whose value varies greatly based on the current price of the airline holding company’s stock.

The Alaska board of directors has maintained Ayer’s base salary at $360,000 a

Read more »

When SONIC, America’s Drive In, opens its first restaurant in a new market, the backups just to get into the parking lot extend well over an hour.

So those of you who travel Meridian Avenue south of Puyallup at 136th Street East might want to circle April 27 on your calenders.

SONIC will open at 10 a.m. for Day 1 of SONIC in the Puget Sound region, Operations Manager Jake Nelson said today.

Apparently, folks around here don’t just want to eat there.

“We have about 250 interviews scheduled already and have received close to 600

Read more »

With a brief nod to the realities of lost business and trade in the national economy, leaders of Pierce County’s Economic Development Board preferred to spend their annual luncheon highlighting 10 economic successes that have bucked the trend.

“We all know in our hearts and our minds that we’ll make it through this period. But it is a particularly tough time,” said Bruce Kendall, president and CEO of the EDB for Tacoma-Pierce County.

“In 2008, we had to work extra hard to achieve” a return on your investment, Kendall told nearly 500 people gathered at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center today.

Kendall’s list of 10 trend busters included:

Read more »

The Fresno Bee is reporting that bidders have come forward to buy department-store chain Gottschalks, which has filed for bankruptcy. Click here to read the full story.

Here’s part of the Fresno report:

By Tim Sheehan / The Fresno Bee

Sunset has not yet fallen on Gottschalks, as at least one suitor has proposed a purchase of the Fresno-based department-store chain.

In a filing with the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court today, Gottschalks announced that three companies submitted bids for the 105-year-old company, one with plans to continue operating it as a "going concern."

…

Read more »

If you’ve received less than stellar service on a Dell computer bought within the past four years, you may be eligible for a refund if you act before April 13.

Dell reached a deal in January with attorneys general from 34 states that, without admitting fault, they would pay up to $1.5 million in restitution to customers who experienced an "obnoxious pattern of communication breakdowns" according to Kristin Alexander, spokeswoman for the attorney general of Washington.

"The deals that Dell made just didn’t always compute," she said of allegations that many customers never received promised rebates and were

Read more »

Thinking about a little insurance fraud to boost up your income? Well, think again. And again.

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is out today with the cautionary tale of one Michael C. Madsen of Bellevue, who "learned the hard way that insurance fraud does not pay."

Madsen was convicted in King County earlier this month for filing a fraudulent insurance claim. It’s a class C felony.

We’re not talking Bernie Madoff here. Madsen was convicted after claiming the loss of a DVD system. His insurance company, State Farm, "became suspicious when Madsen filed the second claim and

Read more »

Downtown Tacoma’s Sea Grill Restaurant at 1498 Pacific Ave. will serve its last meal over the weekend.

Owned by Mackay Restaurant Group in Seattle, the grill will close its doors after serving dinner this Sunday, General Manager Mike Neumann said.

Neumann said the restaurant’s chef Matt Brandsey will make more information available in a release this afternoon.

UPDATE:

In a statement from Mackay Restaurant Group, COO and CEO, Chad and Paul Mackay said the restaurant is closing because they were unable to work out new terms with their landlords “during these challenging economic times.”

The

Read more »

The recent closure of the UPS Brown Store in the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center is a symptom of the store’s inaccessibility to drivers on a one-way portion of Commerce Street, said Mike Combs, Public Assembly Facilities Director for Tacoma.

Less traffic to the convention center from out-of-towners didn’t help either.

"I believe it’s just the economy and that business was down," Combs said Tuesday. "It’s unfortunate, because it served a great purpose for the convention center."

The store was the only retail business located within the center, though its storefront was accessible from the outside

Read more »