Bert Caldwell

A new Spokane com pany will be the first to break the Bonneville Power Administration's monopoly on supplying power to Northwest aluminum smelters. Associated Power Services Inc. announced Tuesday a one-year contract with Columbia Aluminum Corp. that calls for delivery of 15 megawatts of electricity to the Goldendale, Wash., facility starting Oct. 1. Although previous deals between other smelters and power suppliers have been announced, none kicks in before next spring.

Spokane-area business, commun ity and education leaders Thursday voted to form a steering committee that will explore ways of expanding international trade opportunities. The goal, participants of a daylong meeting said, is a public-private organization that can carry on the work now done by the city of Spokane's Department of International Development. The department will be eliminated at the end of the year.

Chris Schnug, in her office at McFarland & Alton, has risen to the top of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Contract decisions by Bonneville Power Administration industrial customers could have far-reaching effects on electricity consumers around the Northwest, officials said Wednesday. And a target rate announced earlier in the day by the federal power-marketing agency may not be enough to reverse a growing wave of defections by aluminum smelters and other large electricity users, they added. Bonneville said the 15 large commercial customers collectively known as the direct service industries can buy power at 2.26 cents per kilowatt-hour beginning Oct. 1, 1996. The contracts would last five years.

Did you cost your bank money today? According to Dain Bosworth bank analyst R. Jay Tejera, half of all bank customers do. The widespread restructuring of bank fees is just one way financial institutions are trying to sort customers they want to retain from those they hope never darken their lobbies again. The days of rewarding new customers with toasters are long gone, he said.

Homes sales in Spokane County reached their highest level this year last month, according to the Spokane Association of Realtors. The association's Multiple Listings Service monthly report shows closings on 544 homes, up by 82 over July. Average prices increased 7 percent. But sales still lagged behind August 1994, when 564 homes were sold.

Sterling Financial Corp. could learn today whether it will be allowed to pursue a bid for more than $30 million in damages from the federal government. The Office of Thrift Supervision and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have asked U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush to dismiss the five-year-old claim, and to block transfer of the case to the Federal Court of Claims. A hearing on the motions is scheduled this morning.

Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. has added workers in the potrooms of its Mead smelter, but company officials are noncommittal about the possibility two idle potlines will be restarted anytime soon. Spokeswoman Susan Ashe said Kaiser has rehired all former employees laid off during past production slowdowns. That has allowed the company to hire new workers for the potrooms in recent weeks, she said. The smelter employed 1,106 at the end of July, an increase of 77 in two months.

Engineers monitor activity at WPPSS's Plant No. 2 control room. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Spokane County Title Co. will request a hearing before Washington Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn to contest an order imposing a six-month suspension on the company's title business, owner John Schreiner said Monday. The request will stay the order, which is due to go into effect at the end of next week, he said, adding that the paperwork is still being prepared. An informal meeting with the commissioner's staff has already been set for August 29, Schreiner said.

Jeff Camp remembers sorting through his father's stuff a few weeks after his death last November and finding directions on how his funeral should be handled. Camp, who had been helping his father manage his affairs prior to his death, said arrangements had never been discussed. "I had no idea that existed," he said of the funeral directive.

The savings and loan industry will likely trade its identity for the solvency of its insurance fund, Sterling Financial Corp. Chairman Harold Gilkey said Wednesday. Last week, the Clinton administration proposed a one-time, $6 billion assessment on the nation's 2,100 thrifts. The funds would shore up the Savings Association Insurance Fund. With only $2.2 billion currently available, the fund could be exhausted by the failure of just one large thrift.

Anita Sather is burned up. So is her furnace, washer, dryer, stove, 27-inch Magnavox television and three hairdryers. Forget the light bulbs. All, says the Four Lakes woman, were fried over the last year by a faulty Washington Water Power Co. transformer that poured excessive voltage through her trailer home.

A Spokane importer of golf club components has filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of a lawsuit brought against the company by the second largest maker of premium golf clubs in the United States. But president Terry Gould said Bridgehouse International Inc. cannot operate, as would normally be the case as a company reorganizes, because there is confusion over which court has jurisdiction over the assets. Bridgehouse was sued last month in U.S. District Court in San Diego by Cobra Golf Inc., which claims the Spokane company imports golf club heads that infringe on its trademarks.

Itron Inc. Tuesday reported record sales and income for the second quarter, but advised investors that earnings for the second half of 1995 may fall below expectations. The stock market reacted harshly to the forecast, pushing the price of the company's shares down as much as $9.50 to $23 in early trading, but the stock rebounded to close at $24.875, down $8.375. Itron expects a slowdown in earnings because of increased competition, which is forcing the company to spend more on research and development, said President Johnny Humphreys.

Fred Jacot, the outspoken head of the Inland Northwest's dominant medical insurer for 13 years, will retire Sept. 30. Prior to his 28 years at Medical Service Corp. of Eastern Washington, he was an executive at Deaconess Medical Center. Jacot said a search for his successor is under way, and the new chief executive officer should be known by the time he vacates his office in the Medical Service Building on East Sprague.

Cobra Golf Inc., the second largest maker of premium golf equipment in the United States, claims in a U.S. District Court lawsuit that a small Spokane importer of golf club components is infringing on its trademarks. And Cobra obtained a restraining order last month that has severely hampered Bridgehouse International Inc. operations pending a trial, President Terry Gould said Monday. Bridgehouse has responded by countersuing Cobra, in part challenging the validity of the trademarks.

Although interstate jostling could disrupt the timetable for approval of the proposed merger between Washington Water Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Resources, WWP Chairman Paul Redmond said completion by midfall still appears likely. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission will hold a hearing on the merger tonight beginning at 6 p.m. in the Farm Credit Building, Room B-103. Sierra Chairman Walter Higgins said a political blowup last week between Nevada's Public Service Commission and the Attorney General's Office should not lead to any significant delay in that state.

An angry Nevada Public Service Commission this week spiked a scheduled hearing on the proposed Washington Water Power Co.-Sierra Pacific Resources merger. Commissioner Judy Sheldrew said postponement of the Aug. 7 hearing was provoked because conditions that might be imposed on the deal, which has been pending for more than a year, were disclosed prematurely. "Since the commission and many of the other parties have not had an opportunity to analyze or respond to the contents of the press release, we must allow additional time for all parties to review and comment," she said.

The Bonneville Power Administration Monday announced the largest rate cut in its 58-year history, but the impact in the Inland Northwest may be minor. Bonneville proposed an 8.2 percent price cut to the region's 125 public utilities, most of which buy all their electricity from the federal power-marketing agency. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemcial Corp and the region's other aluminum smelters, consumers of vast quantities of electricity, would get a rate cut of almost 13 percent.

The Bonneville Power Administration, confronted by the most intense competition in its 62-year history, will announce a rate cut Monday, Deputy Administrator Jack Robertson said Friday. Although the extent of the reduction will not be known until computer runs are completed over the weekend, he said the action is intended to assure the federal power-marketing agency maintains market share. Bonneville delivers half the energy consumed in the Northwest, but costly efforts to preserve salmon runs and the advent of cheap natural gas turbines that compete with electricity from the agency's massive dams have put the agency in a squeeze, Robertson said.

Peter Stanton, newly elected president of the Washington Bankers Association, said he wants to boost the industry's tattered image. Noting a survey released last month showing only 36 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of banks, Stanton stressed the vital role the institutions play in their communities.

First the good news: The stocks of two companies with significant Spokane operations ranked in the top 10 of 100 tracked by a regional index. The bad news? Two others were in the bottom 10.

The Kensington gold mine project near Juneau, Alaska, Friday became a wholly owned and operated property of Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. The Coeur d'Alene-based company completed a previously announced purchase from Echo Bay Mines Ltd. of the half-interest in the project it did not already control. Kensington reserves are estimated at 2 million ounces of gold.