For the second time in just over a week, Tacoma-based Columbia Banking System has purchased a troubled Northwest bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp announced this evening that Columbia has purchased American Marine Bank of Bainbridge Island..

American Marine was closed today by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Columbia State Bank to assume all of the deposits of American Marine Bank.

The 11 branches of American Marine Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Columbia Bank, the FDIC said in a …

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For the second time in just over a week, Tacoma-based Columbia Banking System has purchased a troubled Northwest bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp announced this evening that Columbia has purchased American Marine Bank of Bainbridge Island..

American Marine was closed today by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Columbia State Bank to assume all of the deposits of American Marine Bank.

The 11 branches of American Marine Bank will reopen on Saturday as branches of Columbia Bank, the FDIC said in a …

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Europe’s Airbus today announced list price increases averaging 5.8 percent on its family of airliners.

Airlines rarely pay those full prices but they represent the prices from which bargaining starts for substantial orders.

The European planemaker, the world’s largest, said exchange rates against the dollar and escalating material costs were among the items causing the increases. Most aircraft are priced and paid for in U.S. dollars. Airbus pays many of its costs in euros.

When the euro becomes more valuable against the dollar, the company is caught in a squeeze. The European planemaker is also facing multi-billion-dollar cost …

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Oops…just as Brown & Haley sells its mistakes (I really liked the no-center Mountain Bars), I have no problem admitting one of my own.

But first, the newest addition to the Brown & Haley Roca brand – Macadamia Roca – is available at both the Tacoma outlet and at the store at 2105 Frank Albert Rd. out near downtown Fife.

And the correct address of the Tacoma store (the little pink round one) is 110 E. 26th St, down near Freighthouse Square. It’s not at the Port of Tacoma. That’s another story altogether.

For aviation enthusiasts who want to follow the progress of the 787 Dreamliner flight testing program, Boeing today rolled out a public Web site with updates of that flight test progress.

The site at www.787flighttest.com tracks hours in the air for each aircraft and includes videos of significant events such as the first test aircraft’s first flight and significant flight milestones.

One new video on the site, for instance, talks about Boeing first stall tests for the Dreamliner with an interview with chief test pilot Mike Carriker and inflight videos from chase aircraft.

“Stall” used to describe an aircraft’s …

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Washington employers who hired “hard-to-place” job seekers last year earned $35 million in tax credits.

More than 4,300 Washington businesses were able to deduct what are called Work Opportunity tax credits from their 2009 federal income taxes for hiring people who need the most help finding work, according to a news release from the state Employment Security Department.  These include the disabled, ex-felons, food stamp recipients, people on welfare and Social Security, unemployed veterans and people ages 16 to 24, who were not in school,  not working and lacked skills to get a job.

Employers can reduce …

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Year end results from SeaTac’s Alaska Air Group that fell some 20 cents per share shy of analysts’s predictions left investors unhappy, but were good enough to give employees a hearty bonus.

Excluding one-time charges, the airline’s profit in the fourth quarter was $4.4 million or 12 cents a share, 20 cents less than the 32 cents per share consensus by Wall Street. Aggressive selling sent the airline’s stock down nearly 11 percent Thursday to close at $32.59 a share.

For the year, the company saw a profit of $88.7 million, enough to trigger bonuses of 8 percent of their …

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