The state will close 11 additional liquor sales outlets Tuesday as staffing shortages cut the workforce able to operate the state’s network of liquor stores.

The closures, including two in Seattle and one in Bremerton, don’t affect any stores in Tacoma or Olympia. The closest to close prematurely is in Burien.

The state’s liquor control board said it will reshuffle its available workforce to provide full staffing at the remaining stores until May 31 when the state will close all of its stores for good.

Voters’ approval of Initiative 1183 last year ended the state’s monopoly in liquor sales. Under …

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The head of Boeing’s commercial airplane division says the company will speed up production of its new 787 Dreamliner to five monthly beginning this fall.

Jim Albaugh said the aerospace company will make the move to the higher production rate once its supply chain is stabilized.

Boeing has orders for more than 800 of the composite-bodied twin-engine, long-range jets. It produces the planes at its plant in Everett and in a new factory in North Charleston, N.C.

The production step increase will be the latest speed-up on its way toward Boeing’s goal of producing 10 of the planes monthly by …

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Winning bidders for 18 state liquor stores have reneged on their offers to buy the stores triggering a second auction for those locations.

Among those is a Federal Way man, Ramesh Rabadia, who bid a record $750,000 for a state store near South 72nd and Pacific Avenue.

The Washington State Liquor Control Board announced today that it will hold that second auction at 9 a.m. May 24 at the Liquor Control Board distribution center in Seattle, 4401 East Marginal Way. Bid deposits for the new auction are $10,000.

Bidders in that auction like those in an auction earlier this month …

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Albers Mill, the historic cereal plant that was renovated into lofts, has been sold at a foreclosure auction for $1.4 million.

The sale happened April 16, and the buyer is a group called GMAB LLC. I’ve been trying to contact one of the principals of GMAB for several days to find out more, but hadn’t heard back.

Albers Mill was owned and operated by companies involving Grace Pleasants, who was the original force behind its renovation. She most recently was part of an attempt to build apartments near the planned McMenamins Elks Temple after she helped broker the deal to …

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Washington’s largest refinery, shut down since February, may soon be producing gasoline again, sources close to the business said today.

That refinery, BP’s Cherry Point facility near Bellingham, produces 3.5 million gallons of gasoline a day when it’s running at full production. The refinery’s fire-related shutdown is credited in part with pushing gas prices in Washington and along the West Coast to the highest levels since 2008.

The refinery’s process are partially restored with full function now tentatively set for as early as this weekend, people with knowledge of the situation said today.

A BP spokesman, Scott Dean, was more …

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Low-cost carrier Allegiant is finally coming through with long-rumored flights from Bellingham to Hawaii.

The Las Vegas-based carrier announced that service from Bellingham to Maui will begin Nov. 14 and service to Honolulu will begin Nov. 15.

Alaska Airlines, based in SeaTac, already connects Bellingham non-stop to Honolulu.

Allegiant plans introductory specials of $159 to Honolulu and $199 to Maui one-way.

The Nevada airline already connects Bellingham with Los Angeles, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Oakland, Las Vegas and San Diego.

The leisure-oriented airline has built its business by connecting smaller cities to vacation destinations often with less-than-daily flights.

The Bellingham …

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If your hopes for a full economic recovery are measured by the advent of inflation, then you’ll have to wait just a bit longer.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday issued its bi-monthly look at prices in the Greater Puget Sound area – including figures from Pierce and Thurston counties.

Over the past two months, overall consumer prices rose 0.9 percent. For the past year, prices were up a minimal 2.9 percent.

Not surprisingly for those people who drive, the price of gasoline topped the increases with a two-month jump of 13.9 percent – although the one-month increase mellowed …

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An office technology company will move its 25 employees from Fife to downtown Tacoma this summer.

Pacific Office Automation, which sells printers, copiers, faxes and software to business, will lease about 11,000 square feet on the ground floor of 1114 Pacific Ave., as first reported by the Tacoma Daily Index.

Fife branch manager Russ Meyers told me this morning that he thinks downtown Tacoma is growing, and he wants his business in the thick of it.

“We’ll get better exposure” downtown, he said. “We’re putting up some big signs.”

Pacific Office Automation operates in six states. Its headquarters …

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