Attorneys Gingras, Grubbs join Winston & Cashatt

Attorneys Scott Gingras and Erika Grubbs have joined Winston & Cashatt as associates who will work out of the firm's Coeur d'Alene office.

Gingras focuses on civil litigation involving employment and labor law, personal injury, products liability, medical negligence, insurance law, and insurance defense. A Gonzaga Law School graduate, Gingras joins Winston & Cashatt from a Coeur d'Alene firm. He is the current chair of the Employment and Labor Law Section of the Idaho State Bar, and a regular presenter on employment and labor law topics. He is admitted to practice in Idaho, Washington and Montana.

Grubbs has two decades of trial experience, and will focus on construction law, land use and development, planning and zoning, real estate, contracts, business law, civil litigation, government law, and estate planning and probate with Winston & Cashatt. She is a frequent presenter on employment law, risk management, government law, and contracts. She is admitted to practice in Idaho, Washington and Georgia.

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre announces development director

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre announces the appointment of Jonna Olscamp as development director. Olscamp will oversee marketing and fundraising efforts for the nonprofit organization. She joins an executive team that includes artistic director Roger Welch and Michelle Mendez as business director.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary in 2012, CST will present a lineup of shows this summer that includes "Hello, Dolly!," "Ring of Fire," and Monty Python's "Spamalot."

Anne-Louis Sterry to speak at Chamber Leaders Conference

Motivational speaker, author, singer and storyteller Anne-Louise Sterry will be a keynote speaker at the North West Chamber Leaders Conference at The Coeur d'Alene Resort on March 11 and 12.

At noon March 11 she will give her address, "Audacious Joy, It's the Bottom Line!" followed at 10 a.m. March 12 with her presentation "Rewiring the Brain." In both presentations Anne-Louise uses her alter ego, Aunt Lena, to deliver a message about the power of audacious joy as an effective way to maintain business in hard times.

Sterry, a retired nurse, is an internationally-known speaker and award-winning recording artist, author, singer-songwriter, and master storyteller.

"As Aunt Lena, Anne-Louise shares a thought-provoking and hilarious approach to living life audaciously," according to a press release.

Info: www.anne-louise.com

Commissions approve Avista rate decreases

Natural gas rates for Avista customers in Washington and Idaho are an overall 6.4 percent and 6.0 percent lower respectively as of Thursday. The utility commissions in both states quickly approved the company's Feb. 13 requests to lower natural gas rates because of declining wholesale prices.

"Increased supply along with lower demand has driven wholesale natural gas prices down," said Kelly Norwood, Avista vice president of state and federal regulation. "This is good news for our customers, and we want to pass these price decreases on to them as quickly as we can."

With the new lower rates now in effect, a residential customer in Washington using an average of 67 therms per month will see a decrease of $3.90, or 6 percent, for a revised monthly bill of $60.73. An Idaho residential customer using an average of 62 therms per month will see a $3.46, or 5.7 percent, decrease for a revised monthly bill of $57.50. Avista has approximately 149,000 natural gas customers in Washington and 76,000 in Idaho.

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