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— Herald staff and news services

Scientist in custody inseed theft conspiracy

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Afederal judge in Arkansas hasordered an agricultural scien-tist from China who is accusedof conspiring to steal seeds toremain in custody.

Wengui Yan of Stuttgart,Ark., and Weiqiang Zhang ofManhattan, Kan., are accusedof conspiring to steal seedsfrom a research facility inKansas and pass them to aChinese delegation that visitedthe United States this year.

A judge in Little Rockordered Yan to remain in cus-tody Friday. Zhang has a hear-ing set for Tuesday in Kansas.

Yan and Zhang are chargedwith conspiracy to steal tradesecrets.

American Airlines settles 9⁄11 lawsuit

FORT WORTH, Texas —American Airlines and itsinsurers have settled a long-running legal battle withfinancial-services firm CantorFitzgerald, which lost 658employees when terroristscrashed a hijacked airlinerinto the World Trade Center.

Terms of the settlementwere not disclosed when theagreement was announced infederal court in New York.Cantor Fitzgerald had soughtalmost $1.1 billion in damagesabove insurance payments.The New York Times reportedthat the firm later reduced itsdemand to between $400 mil-lion and $500 million. Thecase had been scheduled fortrial in January.

In 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald’sheadquarters were in the topfloors of the north tower,which was struck by Ameri-can Airlines Flight 11. The firmaccused American of negli-gence in allowing hijackers toboard the plane and crash itinto the tower. Americanresponded that it could nothave predicted such an attackand that it followed federalsecurity regulations.

Worker says he wasfired for putting out fire

GAYLORD, Mich. — Aretired mail carrier said hehas been fired from a job as agreeter at a retail store innorthern Michigan after rush-ing to the parking lot to putout a vehicle fire.

David Bowers, 62, said hegrabbed a fire extinguisherwhen a customer entered aMeijer store in Gaylord lastmonth asking for help. Meijer,a Midwest chain, won’t specifi-cally comment on the matterbut said it has policies fordealing with an emergency.

Bowers, who was paid $9.30an hour, returned to his postgreeting shoppers afterward.

His wife, Lynn Bowers, saidthe couple decided to go publicafter receiving a cheeryChristmas card from Meijerjust a few days ago.

Bowers had worked at Mei-jer for about 41⁄2 years.

Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013

MOLLY MCMILLINTHE WICHITA EAGLE

The need for speed remainsthe catalyst behind a continuingeffort by Aerion Corp. to developa business jet that can fly fasterthan the speed of sound.

“We don’t think there’s anydoubt this is clearly the nextfrontier,” said Brian Barents,Aerion vice chairman and a for-mer executive at BombardierLearjet and Cessna Aircraft.

The industry is building busi-ness jets that fly farther, but it’sstuck at subsonic flight, Barentssaid.

“There’s clearly a demand forspeed, and we feel that we’re in agood position to take advantageof that demand,” he said.

Supersonic business jet flight

will happen in our lifetime, Bar-ents said.

Reno, Nev.-based Aerionwants to be first to the market.

Gulfstream also has a smallsupersonic jet research pro-gram. It does not yet have an air-craft. Its program is dedicatedto mitigating the sonic boomcreated by supersonic flight.

Aerion was founded in 2002by Texas billionaire Robert Bassto develop and commercializesupersonic transportation.

The last supersonic flight tookplace 10 years ago with the Con-corde, a commercial airplanebuilt by Britain’s British AircraftCorporation and France’sAerospatiale. Falling passengerdemand and rising maintenancecosts prompted British Airwaysand Air France to discontinue

flying the Concorde, they said atthe time.

But manufacturers have con-tinued to pursue the technology.

Aerion is deep in research.It has been working with

NASA’s Dryden Flight Research

Center to conduct testing.In the first five months of

2013, they conducted a round of11 flights with a 40-by-80-inchAerion test article mountedunderneath an F-15 researchplane and flown up to two timesthe speed of sound.

The test article was engi-neered to represent the Aerionwing flow and pressure condi-tions in supersonic conditions,the company said.

If all goes well, Aerion plansfor a supersonic business jet toenter the market in 2021.

Aerion also is rethinkingwhich engines it will use for theproject — a move that couldimprove performance orincrease cabin size.

It had planned to use Pratt &Whitney engines that could pro-

duce speeds of up to 1.6 Mach, ormore than 1,200 mph. Mach 1, or760 mph, is the threshold atwhich an airplane begins flyingfaster than the sound waves itgenerates.

The aircraft design wasdesigned around the maximumcapability of that engine, saidDoug Nichols, Aerion’s CEO.

Now Aerion is in discussionswith at least three engine manu-facturers to consider otherengines that might producemore thrust.

That may allow the companyto resize the airplane with alarger cabin size or give it betterperformance, such as anincrease in range, Barents said.

To that end, Aerion haslaunched a new market surveyto help determine market

requirements for range, cabinsize and price, “because none ofthat comes free,” he said.

“It gives us the opportunity toexplore a larger airplane if themarket dictates,” Barents said.

But a revised version willlikely look a lot like today’sdesign, Nichols said.

“It may be a little longer orwider; it could have threeengines,” he said. “That clearlyhas not been decided. That willbe the result of how the marketspeaks to us.”

Aerion says the market isthere.

The business jet industry hasnot recovered from the reces-sion that began in 2008. Butdemand is strong for larger busi-ness jets costing more than $60 million, Barents said.

Need for speed drives efforts for supersonic business jet“

”

It may be a littlelonger or wider; itcould have three

engines. That clearlyhas not been decided.

Doug Nichols, CEO,Aerion

THE SEATTLE TIMES

SEATTLE — Plastic solar cells aseasy to manufacture as Saran wrap.

Technologies that could make theelectrical grid smarter and more effi-cient.

New types of industrial-scale batter-ies that could work with wind turbinesor hydropower to store energy when

it’s not needed, and release it when it is.These innovations, and others, are

among the new ideas being developedat the University of Washington’s newClean Energy Institute, which waslaunched Thursday by Gov. Jay Inslee,a strong proponent of renewables.

The institute was created with $6 million in money from the Legisla-ture that will support the institute forthe next two years.

Its aim is to tie together workalready under way by UW researchersaround the campus, much of which isdone in partnership with Pacific North-west National Laboratory. The science

currently being conducted is funded byfederal research grants.

Inslee acknowledged that naysayersdon’t think the technology can deliveron its promises, but he said he’s abeliever: Clean energy “is going tomake tons of money and create thou-sands of jobs,” and Washington is in anexcellent position to benefit from thoseinnovations.

“We know the demand is going to beout there for clean-energy technology,”he said. “This is a real-life scenario, notjust some pipe dream.”

The institute is focused on solar,electrical storage and smart-grid tech-

nology, but it will also examine large-scale environmental disruptions thatcould be caused by new sources ofpower, said Daniel Schwartz, directorof the institute and the Boeing-Sutterprofessor of chemical engineering atUW.

“All energy forms have an impact onthe environment,” he said; for example,hydropower creates clean energy, butit causes the loss of salmon runs andremakes the landscape. “We have to bethoughtful about how we designenergy systems.”

New Clean Energy Institute launchesUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Center aims to tie togetherwork by UW researchersand PNNL in Richland

ERIC DEGERMANGREAT NORTHWEST WINE

Washington’s ColumbiaValley has earned aworldwide reputation

for its wines rather thanrestaurants, but Tagaris Win-ery in Richland has begun tochange that, according toZagat.com.

The Google-owned pro-ducer of food and travel guidesrecently published an onlinefeature headlined “8 Winerieswith Fabulous Food,” andZagat placed the Tri-City win-ery among some famous com-pany. Three other Northwestwineries made that elite eight.

“There’s Ferrari Winery inItaly, Etoile at Domaine Chan-don in Napa, Mission Hill inBritish Columbia, King Estatein Oregon and then I sawTagaris,” said Penny Morgan,president of Tagaris Wineryand Taverna Tagaris. “Ithought, ‘This just can’t be!This is not just a local list.” ”

Tri-City business andtourism officials congratu-lated Tagaris and welcomedthe recognition.

“What Zagat does is putrankings on places where peo-ple spend their money on aworldwide level,” said SondraWilson, president of TravelLeaders Tri-Cities. “Millionsof people go onto their websiteto decide what they are goingto do, so now they have acrack at getting some of thisbusiness. This serves asrecognition that Tagaris isrunning an establishmentthat’s world-class.”

Morgan said she believesthe recognition from Zagatwill spread beyond her ownrestaurant and wine program.

“When someone from Seat-tle and beyond, someone fromthe East Coast or Europe won-ders what is Washington winecountry and Ste. Michelle allabout, they go to a Zagatreview and they”ll discoverthe wineries on Tulip Lane —Tagaris and Barnard Griffinand Bookwalter — and in

Prosser and Woodinville. Ithink of it as a pebble in thewater, it will spread out acrossthe state.”

Linnea Covington, a Brook-

lyn-based food and travelwriter who contributes toZagat.com, complimentedTagaris executive chef JoshuaDuquist and his team not only

for featuring local ingredientsbut also on how they incorpo-rate estate wines into themenu.

“Each menu item suggests a

wine to go with food, andthough some blends you maybe unfamiliar with, like their

See INSTITUTE | Page C11

Tagaris recognized for wine, foodRichland winery

called world class inZagat online feature

Courtesy Kim FetrowZagat.com complimented Tagaris’ executive chef and his team for featuring local ingredients and incorporating estate wines into the menu.

See TAGARIS | Page C11

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Besides thinking through thebig-picture changes posed bynew energy forms, the insti-tute’s scientists will also workon cutting-edge science — cre-ating new materials in the lab,using nanoscale molecules forsolar cells and inventing newand better batteries.

Schwartz said he’s especiallyexcited about a new form ofsolar cell being researched atUW that’s made of copper, zinc,tin and sulfide — inexpensiveand widely available materials.

In a short time, UW scien-tists have been able to dramat-ically improve the efficiency ofsolar cells made with thosematerials. Although, Schwartzsaid, it’s not the most efficienttype of solar cell created, thelow cost of the materials mightallow it to one day leapfrogover other technologies.

In another project, UW sci-entists are creating solar“inks” that can be coated onsurfaces to make low-cost solarcells. And, Schwartz said, theUW is working on solar cellsmade of plastic that are cheapto manufacture.

“We have, today, a world-class group of faculty that workin solar,” Schwartz said.

At the same time, UW is alsoparticipating in a $178 million,five-year federal demonstra-tion project in five Westernstates to see if “smart grid”technologies can save signifi-

cant amounts of electricity.Five buildings on campus

have been equipped withenergy control systems thatcan “talk” to the regionalpower system, adjusting thebuilding’s electricity use to thepredicted cost of power. In itsfirst year, the program hassaved UW $312,000.

K.C. Golden, a senior policyadviser with the nonprofit Cli-mate Solutions, said he thinksthe new institute’s researchagenda is “pretty carefully tar-geted to things I think are veryimportant.”

The institute’s researchareas are “high-payoff-typeresearch pursuits that arepretty well matched to existingacademic and private-sectorstrengths in the Northwest,and are important in the devel-opment from fossil fuels toclean energy,” he said.

There was a time in the1970s when the U.S. led theworld in clean-energyresearch, said Denis Hayes,president of the Bullitt Founda-tion, a Seattle environmentalfoundation.

In the 1970s, Hayes headedthe Solar Energy ResearchInstitute, a national institutefounded by former PresidentCarter to advance solar-powerresearch.

“The U.S. sort of steppedaway from this stuff for quitesome time, and now we’re get-ting back in the game,” Hayessaid.

INSTITUTE | Solar cell researchFROM PAGE C12

syrah-heavy Red Roan, caber-net sauvignon-focused BoarDoe and varietals like cinsaultand counoise, the helpful staffwill certainly fill you in,” shewrote.

Duquist, 30, arrived atTagaris four years ago afterthree years as co-owner andchef of Fusion Cafe in Ken-newick.

The list of Mid-Columbiafood purveyors that Duquistfeatures at Taverna Tagarisincludes Davis Farms Nuts forYou in Richland, Pure CountryPork in Ephrata, Pure Eiredairy in Touchet, Red Moun-tain Egg Farm in West Rich-land and Schreiber & Sons inEltopia for vegetables. Meatsalso come from MontrailBison in Melstone, Mont., andUpper Dry Creek Ranch inWeston, Ore.

Duquist, a native of Pascowho trained at Western Culi-nary Institute in Portland,said he recalled Covington asa guest but had no inkling thatshe was a food and travelwriter from the East Coast.

“We like to treat people likefamily, and I try to hit everytable at some point,” Duquistsaid. “I spent three years own-ing my own restaurant andsomehow developed a knackfor remembering people andwhat they ordered. Sheseemed like a really nice lady.”

Covington first spotlightedthe tapas Duquist creates atTagaris, listing the PatatasBravas, Sautéed Shrimp inSpice Garlic Butter andGreek-style Chicken Skewers.He also impressed her bycaramelizing onions in caber-net sauvignon for the cheese-burger and creating a whitewine butter sauce for theclams and chorizo plate.

The Greek influence comesfrom owner Michael Tag-gares, a longtime ColumbiaValley fruit grower whofounded the winery in 1987.Mike, whose father is Othellopotato mogul Pete Taggaresand brother is a former Uni-versity of Washington footballstar, developed 450 acres ofvines along the Wahluke Slopenear Weinbau Vineyard andConner-Lee Vineyard nearOthello. Most of the Tagarisgrapes are sold to Ste.Michelle Wine Estates, HogueCellars, Milbrandt Vineyardsand Barnard Griffin, withorganic grapes going to Bad-ger Mountain and Sno-qualmie, Morgan said.

Tagaris wines are made byFrank Roth, who resigned in2005 after 10 years as cellar-master at Barnard Griffin tohead up the winery for Mor-gan — his aunt. He builds theTagaris wines with the restau-rant in mind, creating them ina fruit-forward style with min-imal oak, high acidity and low

alcohol. They long have com-plemented the Northwestingredients used by the chefsat Tagaris.

“The young man likes toeat,” Morgan chuckled. “Foodis high on Frank’s radarscreen, and he’s quite a goodcook himself, so he’s heavilyinterested in the culinary side.There’s a wonderful synergybetween Frank the wine-maker and Josh the chef. Joshgets the privilege of helpingFrank build the wines andtastes through the wines.There’s a balance between thetwo of them, and we try topresent that to our guests. It’sbeautiful to watch them.”

Two wine touring regions inthe Northwest — Lake Chelanand British Columbia’s Okana-gan Valley — already treatwine as food with severalwineries operating on-prem-ise restaurants. Morgan hopesthe recognition by Zagat willinspire others in the region.

“Wine tourism and culinarytourism go together so per-fectly, and clustering hasproven to be a successful mar-keting effort,” Morgan said.“It’s been proven in Prosser,proven in Woodinville andproven in Walla Walla.”

Morgan and her team arebuzzing with excitement andthe anticipation of what thepublicity juice from Zagatcould mean.

Almost two months havepassed since Morgan firstlearned of the recognition. Itcame on a Sunday evening viaa subtle page link forwardedto her by a family friend. Now,her advertising strategist ispoised to help spread thenews.

Wilson, a travel maven withoffices at both ends of theYakima Valley, said it’s a greatproblem to juggle.

◗ Eric Degerman runs GreatNorthwest Wine. Go towww.greatnorthwestwine.com.

TAGARIS | Greek influence comes from longtime resident ownerFROM PAGE C12

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Associated PressGov. Jay Inslee tries on his own inscribed lab coat Thursday before hetours a University of Washington building where clean-tech researchis being conducted.. Inslee attended the kickoff of the Clean EnergyInstitute. At left is UW President Michael Young.