Issaquah’s Costco Wholesale Corp., the world’s largest warehouse retailer, may soon include Sears’ Kenmore appliances in its stores, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.

Costco, which already sells Sears’ Craftsman line of tools, reportedly is considering adding the Kenmore brand to its warehouse stores.

Sears traditionally sold Kenmore appliances in its own department stores. It began selling the brand at KMart store several years ago when the two retailers merged.

The Wall Street Journal said a job notice posted by Sears for its Kenmore brand marketing manager indicates the successful applicant will be working with Costco in promoting Kenmore sales. …

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A coalition of four business groups will host a forum tomorrow for Tacoma City Council candidates.

The discussion is free and open to the public. It will begin at 6 p.m. at Shakabrah Java, 2618 Sixth Ave. David Printz, a small-business owner and business district member, will moderate.

The restaurant has room for about 50 people, said David Schroedel of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, which is one of the hosts. Others are the Cross District Association, Go Local and the Downtown Merchants Group.

Schroedel said all candidates were invited and these have confirmed participation: Anders Ibsen, Karen Smitherman, Lauren Walker, …

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What Puget Sound-based company has won kudos from InformationWeek magazine as the best technology innovator in the country?

If you’re thinking Microsoft, Amazon, RealNetworks, Expedia, Nintendo or any of dozens of technology companies based here, you’re off the mark.

InformationWeek has named Bellevue heavy truck maker Paccar as the nation’s highest achiever in technology. Paccar makes heavy duty Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF trucks.

InformationWeek honored Paccar for its creation of a real -time communications and monitoring system for its big trucks that constantly provides their location and vital statistics to remote control centers.

The system, developed with the help of …

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New figures from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics show surface trade between Washington state and Canada rose 12.5 percent in July from July of 2010.

Washington imported and exported $1.696 billion worth of goods from our northern neighbor in July compared with $1.507 billion in July 2010.

That showing was good enough for Washington to maintain its eighth rank among states in trade with Canada. But the growth in trade between the Evergreen State and Canada lagged the national average of 18.8 percent, the BTS said

Boeing today finalized a deal with Russia’s UTair Aviation for the purchase of 40 Boeing 737 single aisle jets.

That order is worth $3.8 billion at list prices. The order includes seven Boeing 737-900ER jets, the largest model in the 737 family and 33 of the somewhat smaller 737-800s.

The deal was announced last summer at the Paris Air Show, but the final details were not complete until today.

All 40 UTair airplanes will be delivered with Boeing’s new Sky Interior that includes new LED lighting and improved overhead luggage bins. The LED lights can be adjusted to provide …

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British Airways has exercised options to buy two more Boeing 777-300ER long-range jetliners, aviation industry reports say.

The planes will be delivered in 2013. With the British order, Boeing’s total of 777-300ER orders stand at 535, making the -300ER the best-selling model in the 777 range.

At list prices, the two-plane order is worth $568 million, but discounts are common for regular customers. BA already operates six of the twin-jets.

The 777-300ER accommodates 365 passengers in a typical, mixed class configuration. It’s range is more than 9,100 miles making such routes as New York-Hong Kong and Los Angeles-Paris possible without …

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The fifth in a series of new Navy harbor assist tugboats built by Tacoma’s J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. will be launched at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Martinac’s Thea Foss Waterway shipyard.

The YT806 tugboat will be named in honor of the Puyallup Tribe. Roleen Hargrove, Puyallup Tribal Council member, will christen the vessel.

The tribe will perform a special blessing ceremony accompanied by ceremonial drums.

Martinac has built four previous harbor tugboats for the Navy. Those boats are being used in the Pacific Northwest and in Yokosuka, Japan.

The 4,000-horsepower, tractor-style tug will be deployed with its sister boat, …

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The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in U.S. District Court to recover back wages and damages for employees of Baristas Coffee Co.

The company operates espresso stands in Tacoma, Shoreline, Auburn, Kent, Seattle and Auburn. Its two Tacoma locations are at 10004 Pacific Ave. and 716 Puyallup Ave.

The suit alleges that a Nevada-based corporation doing business as Baristas Coffee Co. Inc. sometimes paid baristas with bad checks or checks which were unsigned. The government said its investigation showed that because of the problems with the paychecks, workers were earning less than the federal minimum wage …

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