Gas prices are slowing moving upward in Tacoma with an increase of almost two cents a gallon in the last week.

According to TacomaGasPrices.com, the average price for gas in the Tacoma area today was $3.51. That compares with $3.492 a week ago and $3.396 a month ago.

A year ago, average gas prices were $3.228 a gallon.

Bargain gas is still available well below the average price at a dozen locations in the Tacoma area include the former Arco station at Portland and Puyallup avenues in Tacoma and at APP in Fife where regular was selling …

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Homeowners in a large swath of Bonney Lake and Sumner suffering from a power blackout Friday, found out the hard way that a backup generator is only as good as its fuel supply.

The only service station operating in that area Thursday and Friday twice ran out of gas as customers queued up 20-deep for a turn at the pumps.

“My most common purchase the last two days has been five gallons of gas for $18,” said Kyong Hwangpo, owner of the Bonney Lake Chevron station. “That’s how big most of the gas cans were to fuel generators.”

Hwangpo’s station …

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A new list of the 10 most popular American companies in China is dominated by Pacific Northwest companies.

Four of the ten companies on the list compiled by 24/7 Wall Street are based in Washington or Oregon.

Those four companies include Microsoft, which dominates the operating system market in China with a 99.3 percent market share, Boeing with a 52 percent market share in commercial aircraft, Nike, China’s leading sportswear provider, and Starbucks, which has 70 percent of the coffee business in China with its 450 stores.

Other companies on 24/7′s list include KFC, General Motors, Coca Cola, Procter & …

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After long descent from May’s over $4 prices, Tacoma’s retail gas prices appear to have hit the bottom for the year and have stabilized there.

According to TacomaGasPrices.com, the average price for a gallon of regular today was $3.387 a gallon, just .1 cent greater than on Friday last week. A month ago, gas was averaging $3.525 a gallon locally.

Two Costco stores and two Arco stations were selling gas for $3.25 a gallon or less today making them the lowest price stations in the Tacoma area.

Nationwide, the average price for gas was $3.258 a gallon. Washington prices …

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Led by a 47 percent increase in truck sales, total vehicle sales for Ford in Washington and Oregon rose by 32 percent in November compared with a year ago.

Ford said its sales increases were paced by a 657 percent increase in sales of its Explorer sport utility vehicle, a 120 percent increase in sales of its mid-sized pickup, the Ranger, and a 41 percent jump in sales of its full-sized F-150 pickup.

Car sales bumped up 6 percent in the region. led by the Taurus, up 18 percent, and the Focus, up 12 percent.

In the South Sound, Ford …

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Bruce Titus, a Puget Sound civic activist and owner of eight auto dealerships in Pierce, Thurston, Kitsap and King counties, has been nominated as Time magazine’s Dealer of the Year.

Titus is one of 50 dealers nationwide nominated for the honor based on their work supporting charitable causes in their communities.

Titus and the others will be honored at the annual National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in Las Vegas in February. The award is sponsored by Time magazine and Ally Financial.

Ally will make contributions on behalf of all 50 nominated dealers across the country. The national Time …

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With more than 30,000 North American vehicles already exported through October, the Port of Grays Harbor predicted today it will export more than 37,000 vehicles this year.

That number will far surpass the 21,162 Chrysler products exported last year from the port on Washington’s Pacific Coast.

The increase is in exports is driven by a growing demand in China, now the world’s largest auto market, and other Asian countries for Chrysler vehicles.

Pasha Automotive Services is handling the exports of the cars and trucks. The vehicles are delivered to the port on trains from assembly plants in the Midwest. …

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Those who want to avoid the traffic and the high parking rates charged by stadium-area lots for this weekend’s Apple Cup and Seahawks games at CenturyLink Field may want to consider a special parking deal at Sea-Tac Airport.

The airport is offering half-off rates in its Terminal Direct parking level. That’s $2 an hour compared with the normal $4 hourly charge for the fourth-floor parking. That special rate is available beginning three hours before the games’ kickoffs and for up to eight hours.

The Terminal Direct covered parking provides a direct walkway to Sound Transit’s Link light rail train …

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