Stop me if you've heard this one before - unemployment in the Tri-Cities is down at record low levels, falling to 4.4 percent in September. Regional labor economist Dean Schau told the Tri-City Herald that construction at Hanford is creating some of the growth. Plus relatively cheap housing is drawing people to the region, which is creating retail and service jobs to support them.

Only one dark cloud on the horizon - with the jobless rate so low it's quite possible the region will run out of low-skilled labor, Schau warned.

HOW CHEAP IS HOUSING? In West Richland - which I like to call The Fourth Tri-City - the median sale price is up to $167,900, the Herald reports. That compares to a median sale price of $470,000 for King County, according to the most-recent update from the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at WSU.

New housing starts in West Richland are up an astonishing 46.3 percent, the Herald said. (Housing slump? What housing slump?)

NOT TO BE OUTDONE, KENNEWICK is working on a downtown revitalization plan. Bank of the West did its part, investing $20,000 into the effort.

OVER IN YAKIMA, they're talking about airplanes. It usually escapes notice over on the coast, but several major aerospace suppliers are located east of the Cascades, including GE Aviation (the former Smyth's Aerospace) in Yakima.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman Jim Schleuter trekked over the pass to talk to the Yakima Rotary. He played up the good news, reports the Yakima Herald-Republic: "Boeing Commercial (Airplanes) broke sales records in 2005 and 2006 with the sale of 1,002 and 1,044 planes, respectively, and the company is on track to break the 1,000-mark again this year - 919 planes have been sold so far."

Dreamliner delays aside, the sales totals still are amazing.

MEANWHILE, neighbors are balking at a proposal to build a new vocational skills center next to their condos in North Yakima. The Herald-Republic says they fear that the steady stream of teens to and from the proposed school would "bring heavy traffic, vandalism, drugs, lower property values and heightened liability risks." Apparently they'd rather have industrial neighbors - the area is zoned industrial and is home to manufacturing and apple-packing plants.

AND DOWN IN THE VALLEY - the West Valley, that is - Yakima's two hospitals have opened clinics and are competing for patients.

Both call the moves a no-brainer, the Herald-Republic said. "You just look at where people are moving and how far they need to travel to see a doctor,"  Matthew Kollman, an administrator at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

IN M&A NEWS, Banner Bancorp says it's completed its acquistion of NCW Community Bank of Wenatchee. And over in Spokane, B&C Telephone has been bought by Pennsylvania-based Black Box Corp.

AND HOW'S THIS FOR MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR COMMUTE? In Walla Walla, a forklift operator at the Costco in Kennewick has established a nice side business - he takes orders from Walla Walla customers, buys them at his store after he finishes his shift, then drives the 43 miles back home to Walla Walla to deliver them.

Michael Wilcsek isn't giving up his day job, though."Though the potential exists to develop hundreds of customers," my friends at the Union-Bulletin reported, "he said he's equally happy if the service proves popular enough to cover the cost of his gas and vehicle maintenance."