BELLINGHAM - Boat-builder Aluminum Chambered Boats (ACB) has won a $9.9 million contract to build 47 rigid-hull inflatable boats for the U.S. Coast Guard's cutter fleet. It's the first major contract ACB has won with the Coast Guard, Larry Wieber, founder of ACB, told the Bellingham Herald. With the five-year Coast Guard contract officially signed, Wieber plans to build a 200,000-square-foot facility, possibly in Whatcom County. It would be in addition to the company's current facility on the Fairhaven waterfront. The Coast Guard will use the ACB boat for a variety of missions, including search-and-rescue and maritime law enforcement. The boats, which carry a three-person crew and nine passengers, can reach a top speed of nearly 40 knots.

SEATAC - Break out the mai tais and leis: Alaska Airlines is expanding its reach to Hawaii. The airline has announced that, beginning this fall, it will add routes between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Honolulu and Kauai, and between Anchorage and Honolulu. The airline, founded 75 years ago, has steadily expanded its reach over the years, adding Seattle and then Oregon, California, Arizona and Nevada. Other routes include Mexico and a variety of East Coast and Midwest cities, including New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago and Dallas.

SEATTLE - Advertising agency Worktank won a Gold Emmy in the Advanced Media-Interactivity category for its work on Microsoft Corp.'s See Windows Vista website. Worktank created an interactive online experience, using rich media and video to illustrate how Microsoft's partners have used Windows Vista to improve business and to manage their resources more effectively. Worktank received the award from the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which serves television professionals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Montana.

TRI-CITIES - Growth in the food-processing industry is helping drive down the Tri-City unemployment rate to 4.4 percent - a 30-year low - the state's regional economist revealed, and the local workforce has grown about 2 percent in the past year. The gains in food processing, which accounts for 54 percent of the Tri-Cities' manufacturing, warehousing and wholesale trade for the past five years, have helped boost the local economy, Dean Schau of the state Department of Employment Security told the Tri-City Herald newspaper.

TACOMA - The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, which operates between Renton and Woodinville, is headed to Tacoma this month. The city of Tacoma has signed a 10-month test deal to have the train run between downtown Tacoma and Lake Kapowsin in Eatonville beginning Aug. 3. If the 10-month trial works out, Tacoma officials say the city may negotiate a 20-year contract. The Dinner Train was displaced from its Renton-to-Woodinville route by a deal between King County, the Port of Seattle and Burlington Northern Santa Fe that will result in the rail line being converted into a regional trail.