If you know someone whose quick thinking saved a life on the job, the Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Advisory Board wants to hear from you.

Nominations are now being accepted for the governor's annual lifesaving awards, according to a new release from the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Who is eligible: All Washington workers covered by the state's workers' compensation system or working for a self-insured employer.

What: The nominee must have performed “hands-on” aid in saving a life, according to L&I.

For law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and other similar professions, the lifesaving action must not be part of their normal job duties, but must be “above and beyond the line of duty.”

And the heroic act must have taken place between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008, any day or time, anywhere in the world.

The aware recipients will be honored at the Governor's Industrial Safety and Health Conference in Spokane on Sept. 24.

For a lifesaving nomination form and additional information, contact Barbara Saunders, the lifesaving award coordinator, at 360-902-5442.

Nomination forms are also available and can be submitted online. The deadline for submitting applications is July 31.

Here's a story about a young national company lauded for its customer service. If you like shoes, you're probably already familiar with Zappos.com. (A few of us in the office are acquainted with the site and its shoe selection.) If you're not, this Forbes story suggests Zappos.com could be heading in the online sales direction of Amazon.

The piece includes a couple of nice anecdotes of exceptional customer service, but all customers are given a year to return shoes and most orders get overnight shipping.

Here's part of the story:

Emulating Amazon, Hsieh has expanded Zappos into clothes, cookware, electronics, bedding and toys. Pickings are slim in some of these departments. For now, folks interested in athletic accessories can buy only gloves, listed for $35 to $55; those who want to explore tv and home theater products will find only a Vudu video receiver for $295.

Can Zappos break out of the shoebox? Product diversification is the best way for Hsieh to keep Zappos ahead of rivals that have popped up in the $1.4 billion online shoe business. They include Piperlime, an online shoe site created by Gap (nyse: GPS - news - people ) 19 months ago that offers a similar shipping and return policy as Zappos. And then there's Endless, a similar outfit started by Amazon. These sites offer many of the same styles and brands. Prices are sometimes higher on Zappos, where they fluctuate based on supply and demand.

Hsieh, who owns ten pairs of shoes and can't recall more than two of the brand names, insists Zappos' corporate personality gives it an edge on copycats.

Russell Investments CEO Craig Ueland has resigned, the company confirmed today.

Russell Board Chairman Mike Phillips said the company's board, which included Ueland as a member, has been discussing the long-term strategic directions for investment services firm, and Ueland's decision to leave stemmed from those discussions.

He declined to detail the specifics of those board deliberations.

Phillips praised Ueland's performance at the company. "Craig has done a really good job in his five years at Russell," he said.

The board named Northwestern Mutual executive vice-president John Schlifske as Russell's interim CEO.

Schlifske, 49, has been a member of the Russell board representing Northwestern Mutual, Russell's parent company since 1999 when Northwestern bought Russell from the Russell family.

Phillips said Schlifske knows the inner workings at Russell better than anyone from Northwestern and perhaps better than some at Russell because of his long history working with the company.

The Russell chairman called Schlifske "a people person" whose values closely mirror those of Russell.

Schlifske joined Northwestern Mutual in 1987 as an investment specialist. He held various positions of increasing authority in the securities and real estate departments at the insurance and investment company.

The new Russell CEO earned his bachelors degree in economics from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., and a masters degree in finance and accounting from Northwestern University. He is married and has six children.

Schlifske

Schlifske, who took charge immediately at today's board meeting, will search inside the company and perhaps outside for Ueland's replacement, Phillips said.

Ueland

The company informed employees by e-mail of Ueland's resignation. It was planning a company-wide Webcast to explain the changes more thoroughly.

It's too early to say whether Ueland's departure will have any material effect on Russell's search for a new headquarters. Phillips said the headquarters issue was not an element in the change in leadership at Russell.

Russell is outgrowing its Tacoma A Street headquarters. Developers both within Tacoma and in other Puget Sound cities have been making sales pitches to the company.

Tacoma civic leaders have created a nearly $150 million incentive package to keep Russell and its 1,200 well-paid employees in town.

Ueland took over as president in June 2003 and assumed the CEO role in January 2004. He replaced Mike Phillips as chief executive.

Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma said he was surprised to hear of Ueland's departure.

The mayor said he recently had some cordial e-mail discussions with Ueland over city pension matters.

"Craig was a very highly-regarded executive. I'm sure someone like that is in high demand," the mayor said.

The city is continuing as planned with preparations to establish a financial services zone in downtown Tacoma to provide benefits to companies such as Russell.

"I don't think this change is a sign of anything in particular regarding their search," said Baarsma.

With food prices escalating over the past year, I'm looking for a few good bargain shoppers.

Specifically I'm working on a story about surplus, salvage and discount grocery stores, what they carry, how they work and the deals the shoppers find there.

Do you shop at Grocery Outlet or a similar store? Or are you finding ways to cut back on your grocery bill?

I'd love to interview you about where and how you shop for food.

E-mail me at kelly.kearsley@thenewstribune.com or call 253-597-8573.

Hainan Airlines begins non-stop flights between Beijing and Sea-Tac today, the first non-stop service from China since China Eastern Airlines left Sea-Tac a decade ago.

Gov. Christine Gregoire will greet travelers arriving on the inaugural flight at noon today.

Hainan will fly four times weekly between the Puget Sound area and the Chinese capital.

Hainan, an unfamiliar name in the U.S., is China's largest private airline.

The flight will take about 11.5 hours westbound and 10.5 hours eastbound because of prevailing winds.

The flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

The flights leave Sea-Tac at 2 p.m. and arrive in Beijing at 4:35 p.m. the next day. The flight crosses the International Dateline advancing the calendar a day westbound and having the opposite effect eastbound. Because of that calendar readjustment eastbound. The flights will arrive in Seattle "before" they leave Beijing.

The Beijing flight leaves for Seattle at 4:20 p.m. and arrives here at noon the same day.

Tacoma unleaded regular gas prices on average were just half a cent shy of $4.25 this morning as national average fuel prices broke through the $4 mark.

That's a swift enough rise to prompt a little self congratulation if you filled up your tank Friday, the last time we updated the gas price story.

Prices then averaged $4.22 in Tacoma.

According to AAA Washington, it took just a little bit more than two weeks for gas prices to advance from $4 here to nearly $4.25.

Here's a timeline:

A year ago: $3.253
A month ago: $3.758
May 19: $3.916
May 26: $4.03
June 2: $4.162
June 6: $4.22
Today: $4.245

Things could be worse. You could live in California where average gas prices today were $4.445.