Avista Utilities is taking their services on the road setting up their mobile Energy Resource Team in communities throughout the area. Today, they were in the Spokane Valley with Second Harvest's mobile food bank offering tips and supplies to make homes more energy efficient.

“The biggest goal is to educate people on ways to conserve energy in their homes,” says Ana Matthews, a Consumer Affairs Program Manager with Avista. The Energy Resource Team provides resources and materials to help people who are struggling lower their monthly bills and set them up with resources such as SNAP when they need more help.

Avista workers handed out bags with rope caulk, window insulation kits, fridge coil cleaners and compact florescent light bulbs to help get homes on their way to a lower bill. Matthews says the biggest energy sucker is drafts in the home and they come from places you might not think to look such as your outlets.

The first phase of a Lookout Pass expansion has finally been accepted for environmental impact studies. The plan was submitted in March 2010.

The U.S. Forest Service has accepted the plan that includes new chair lifts and runs at "Eagle Peak" on Runt Mountain that sits on the Idaho/Montana border. A consultant for the National Environmental Policy Act will conduct environmental impact studies of the expansion.

Lookout Pass CEO, Phil Edholm, told the Shoshone News Press last week that the studies will look at impact to soils, wildlife and hydrology. Depending on the outcome of the study, Phase I of the expansion could happen in the next few years.

Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. announced on Wednesday morning that the company will be relocating their headquarters to Chicago later this year.

The mining company employs over 2,000 people world wide and has been working out of Idaho for 85 years, first in the Silver Valley and from Coeur d'Alene since 1985. They currently hold mining interests in Nevada, Alaska, Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina and Australia.

The relocation has been in the works since last summer and 16 cities were initially considered. Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois finally won over the global company by offering a package of cooperate income taxes and job training funds worth $1.68 million. There will also be a name change following the annual meeting in May where they will become Coeur Mining.