Tacoma now has 12 new public electric vehicle charging stations available for public use at a cost of $3 per charge.

The stations are located at the following facilities:

Mason County led the South Sound housing market during January, posting increases in both sales and median prices compared to a year earlier, according to the latest data from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Home sales in Mason County increased from 34 during January 2011 to 40 last month. The median price rose 3.99 percent, from $154,250 to $160,400.

Thurston County Chamber is hosting Morning MIXXer from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Feb. 7 at Columbian Hall, 6794 Martin Way East, Lacey. The cost is $5 for members and $10 for general admission. Click here for more information.

Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber is hosting Small Business Roundtable from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Feb. 8 at 5000 Bridgeport Way West, University Place. Call Savannah Kimball at (253) 683-4881 for more information.

The U.S. Small Business Administration's February web chat will offer business start-up advice for entrepreneurs.

Janice Washington, state director of the Arizona Small Business Development Center Network, will host the February Web chat on "New Year, New Business: How to Start it Right." The series provides small business owners with an opportunity to discuss relevant business issues online with experts, industry leaders and successful entrepreneurs.  Chat participants have direct, real-time access to the Web chats via questions they submit online in advance and during the live session.

U.S. containerized imports closed 2011 with a surge, with goods related to the recovering housing and auto markets pushing inbound volume up 3 percent year-over-year during December, according to The Journal of Commerce/PIERS.

The growth marked a rebound from weakness earlier in the fall and lifted containerized imports for the year up 3 percent over 2010 and 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter over the same period last year.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased 0.73 percent during January to 105.81, up from the revised figure of 105.04 in December. The January figure is also up 5.9 percent from the same month a year ago.

"The Employment Trends Index has been improving rapidly for four straight months, suggesting somewhat more robust job growth is likely to continue in this quarter," said Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. "Beyond that we still remain cautious. We expect sluggish growth in economic activity in the first half of 2012 and therefore we do not foresee the strengthening of the labor market to be sustained in the second quarter of 2012."

The nation's 100 largest defined benefit pension plans experienced a $30 billion improvement during January, resulting in a funding deficit of $434 billion, according to Milliman Inc.'s latest Pension Funding Index.  The strong month follows a year in which interest rates drove the pension funding deficit to historic levels.

"Interest rates actually cooperated this month – or at least they didn't go down," said John Ehrhardt, co-author of the Milliman Pension Funding Study. "The lack of interest rate movement allowed these pensions to take advantage of a 2.49 percent investment gain for the month and recoup some of the funding loss that characterized 2011. With the Fed committing to low rates through the end of 2014, we're going to need more months like this if we are going to fill the pension funding gap."

Sumner is limiting the Bridge Street Bridge to vehicles weighing less than 12 tons. This means that passenger cars, smaller commercial trucks and SUVs can continue to use the bridge, but large delivery trucks, buses and tractor-trailers cannot.

The bridge serves as a link between Sumner's downtown and The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse, The Old Coffee Company, Sumner's Visitor Center, Snider Petroleum and Captain Jacks, as well as routes to Edgewood, Puyallup and the Port of Tacoma.   

Small, nonfarm businesses in 35 Washington counties and eight neighboring Oregon counties, are now eligible to apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U. S. Small Business Administration.  

"These loans offset economic losses because of reduced revenue caused by the combined effects of excessive rain, flooding, below normal temperatures, high winds, frosts and freezes occurring Jan. 1 through July, 31, 2011," said Alfred E. Judd, director of SBA's Disaster Field Operations Center – West.

Thurston County Chamber is hosting Morning MIXXer from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Feb. 7 at Columbian Hall, 6794 Martin Way East, Lacey. The cost is $5 for members and $10 for general admission. Click here for more information.

Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber is hosting Small Business Roundtable from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Feb. 8 at 5000 Bridgeport Way West, University Place. Call Savannah Kimball at (253) 683-4881 for more information.

Despite the addition of 21,000 jobs during January, the nation's construction industry unemployment rate jumped to 17.7 percent, up from 16 percent the previous month, according to U.S. Labor Department. However, construction employment is up by 116,000 jobs, or 2.1 percent, compared to January 2011, and is down from the 22.5 percent rate posted the same time last year.

The nonresidential building construction sector added 6,000 jobs in January and has added 12,000 jobs year over year, or 1.8 percent, as January employment levels stood at 662,000. The residential building construction sector added 3,000 jobs for the month and has added 14,000 jobs, or 2.4 percent, year over year as January employment levels stood at 575,000.

New orders for manufactured durable goods during December increased $6.2 billion, or 3 percent, to $214.5 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase followed an uptick of 4.3 percent in November.  
 
Excluding transportation, new orders increased 2.1 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.5 percent.

The number of salespeople meeting their quotas rose to 63 percent during 2011, compared to 59.4 percent during 2010 and only 51.8 percent during 2009, according CSO Insights' 18th annual Sales Performance Optimization study.

The increase contributed to higher overall revenue plan attainment for companies, with the 2009, 2010, and 2011 figures being 77.9 percent, 85.9 percent and 88.9 percent, respectively.

Learning executives' optimism and confidence about the outlook and expectations for their industry rebounded at the end of 2011, after declining during the second and third quarters of the year, according to the latest measurement by the American Society for Training & Development.

The current Learning Executives Confidence Index for the fourth quarter of 2011 was 66.6, up from 65.9 during the third quarter but still below the record high of 67.3 achieved in the first quarter of 2011.

Thurston County Chamber will be recognizing 31 organizations for actively promoting or providing a healthy work environment or culture during its WorkWell luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 8 at Saint Martin's University.
 
Special kudos will go to the Happy Heart recipients –  AAA Olympia, Altman Insurance Agency, And Nisqually Red Wind Casino – for extraordinary commitment to employee health.

Weyerhaeuser Co. reported net earnings of $65 million, or 12 cents per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to net earnings of $171 million, or 32 cents per diluted share for the Q4 2010. Net sales from continuing operations were $1.6 billion, compared to $1.5 billion for the previous year.

Earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011 include net after-tax charges of $12 million for restructuring and asset impairments. Excluding these items, the company reported net earnings of $77 million, or 14 cents per diluted share. This compares with net earnings before special items of $52 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed enforcement actions from October through December 2011 against the following South Sound companies.
 
Formula Corp. of Auburn was fined $3,800 for failure to submit a timely Toxic Chemical Release Reporting Form for glycol ethers.

Burlington Environmental LLC of Kent was fined $275,000 for illegal storage and treatment of hazardous waste.

Access Information Management has purchased Washington Archives Management. Prior to the acquisition, Fife-based WAM was the largest, independent records and information management provider in the Seattle/Tacoma area.

"This acquisition of Washington Archives Management from Mark and Bill Naubert represents the largest in Access history and extends our service coverage to include nine U.S. states," said Rob Alston, CEO of Access Information Management.

Jerry D. Larson has been elected president of the Western Washington Fair Association. Other officers include: Gary F. Gonter, vice president; Michael D. Nelson, secretary; David R. Campbell, treasurer; and Kent R. Hojem, CEO.

Olympia Downtown Association has elected officers for 2012. They include: Tracy Knostman, West Coast Bank, president; Jeanne Carras, Bonaventure, past president and treasurer; Jerry Farmer, 94.5 ROXY Radio, vice president; and Jane Offutt, Frost & Co., secretary.

Turn ideas into companies, create jobs and learn about business planning. These are the primary goals of Startup Weekend, a 54 hour long event scheduled for March 2-4 at Saint Martin's University.

Startup Weekend will bring together students, software developers, graphic designers, artists and other professionals to share new business ideas.