Sea-Tac Airport next week will become the second airport in the country to offer active duty military members an expedited trip through pre-flight security checks.

Military on active duty or engaged in active drills will be allowed to move through the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck line at the airport’s north security check station behind the United and Alaska airlines counters beginning at 4 a.m. Tuesday, said the TSA.

Ordinarily, passengers cleared to enter the PreCheck line won’t have to remove their shoes, belts or light coats, said TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers. They won’t have to remove their laptops or their …

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Homeowners and business patrons on the Tacoma Tideflats, in Fife and Northeast Tacoma, shouldn’t be alarmed today and Friday if they hear what appear to be alarms sounding from port areas.

The alarms and loud voice commands audible in the area are part of a test of a new alerting system the Port of Tacoma is installing at its terminals.

That system is designed to alert nearby businesses and homeowners during a security event or natural disaster.

John Dzaran, interactive media director at The News Tribune and The Olympian, has been promoted to vice president of advertising for the two South Sound newspapers.

Dzaran has served as interim head of advertising at the two McClatchy-owned publications since January when the previous advertising vice president, Steve Gall, left the papers.

The new vice-president has a broad-ranging background in both print and Internet advertising.

He began his career working on an inserter in the packaging department of Newsday on Long Island, NY. He moved up to become an advertising budget analyst at that paper.

Later, Dzaran held a …

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The News Tribune’s parent company, Sacramento-based McClatchy Company, today reported a first quarter loss of $2.1 million, or two cents a share.

That compares with a loss of $2 million in the first quarter of 2011.

The nationwide newspaper chain said its advertising revenues were down 6.8 percent from 2011′s first quarter, but circulation revenues were up by .4 percent. Digital advertising revenues increased by 2.7 percent in the quarter to 22.2 percent of the chain’s total advertising revenues.

Operating cash expenses excluding one-time restructuring costs declined by $9.7 million or 4.1 percent for the quarter.

“We continue …

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CenturyLink technicians and engineers were working this morning to restore phone service to customers in the Gig Harbor and Kitsap peninsula areas.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Jan Kampbell said the outage was first reported about 4:30 a.m. today.

The outage has been intermittent and has not affected every customer in the area, said Kampbell.

“Your phone may not be working, but your neighbor’s may be fine, she said.

The outage also may have affected some customers on Vashon Island.

“We know where the problem is and we’re working hard to fix it,” she said. Kampbell had no estimate when the problem …

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Cost reductions helped buffer the effects of advertising and circulation revenue declines at the McClatchy Company last year yielding higher net income from continuing operations, the media company announced today.

Sacramento-based McClatchy is the parent company of The News Tribune, The Olympian, The Herald and The Peninsula Gateway in the South Sound. Its newspaper and Internet properties are scattered throughout the country from Alaska to South Florida.

The media company’s net income for 2011 was $54.4 million compared with $36.2 million for 2010. In the fourth quarter of 2011, McClatchy reported net income of $42 million compared with $14.8 million …

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The Pacific Northwest today became the launch market for a new alliance between Comcast and Verizon Wireless to sell each other’s products.

Eight Verizon stores in the Puget Sound area and in Portland will be staffed in part by Comcast employees who will market Comcast’s Xfinity video, voice and video services to Verizon customers. A total of 41 Verizon stores in Western Washington and Oregon will be selling Comcast’s products.

Comcast will also sell Verizon Wireless services at its stores, by phone and on the Internet.

As an incentive to customers who are new to Comcast and new or upgrading …

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If you’ve ever been lost inside a gargantuan shopping mall, department store or airport, Google says it wants to help you find your way.

The Internet company is now offering a version of its Google Maps software that provides indoor maps of such major buildings nationwide.

The indoor mapping feature is available only for mobile devices running Google’s Android operating system version 2.2 or above. The indoor mapping feature is available in Google Maps version 6.0 and above.

Locally Sea-Tac Airport is among the buildings whose floor plans are available on those devices. Macy’s, Ikea and Home Depot stores are …

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