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AP AK Daily News WatchMoved: 3/12/2010 04:47Latest Alaska news, sports, business and entertainment:
House passes state operating budget
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House has passed an $8.1 billion state operating budget.
The measure contains funding conditions for state natural gas pipeline work. It now goes to the Senate.
Democrats opposed as shortsighted a provision that offers upfront 30 percent of the money Gov. Sean Parnell wanted for legal, analytical and other work to help the state advance a proposed gas pipeline.
But Republican Mike Hawker calls it fiscally prudent. He says it's not obstructionist and that the rest would come with a "successful" open season.
Some lawmakers previously had chided Parnell's administration for not making clear its need for the millions it wanted for pipeline-related work.
The proposal includes $4.3 billion in state agency general fund spending.
BUNDE RETIRING
Bunde won't seek re-election
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Republican Senate Minority Leader Con Bunde will not seek re-election.
The Anchorage lawmaker made the announcement Thursday.
The retired commercial pilot has served in the Alaska Legislature since 1993, according to a legislative Web page. He spent nearly a decade in the House before winning election to the Senate.
Bunde currently leads a four-member minority in the Senate, which has a bipartisan majority.
ALASKA UNEMPLOYMENT
Alaska's unemployment rate hits 8.5 percent
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's unemployment rate hit 8.5 percent in January.
That's an improvement from December when unemployment stood at 8.8 percent, but the state labor department says it's too early to tell if it's the start of a more lasting trend.
Nationally, unemployment also improved for January, falling to 9.7 percent. In a report released Thursday, the department said that if that continues, it could also ease the pressure on Alaska's job market.
Alaska unemployment stood at 7.8 percent in January 2009.
The figures are seasonally adjusted.
PALIN E-MAILS
Judge won't reconsider decision on Palin e-mails
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska judge has refused to reconsider his ruling that state law doesn't forbid the use of private e-mail accounts to conduct state business.
The decision stems from a 2008 public records that showed then-Gov. Sarah Palin and members of her staff had been using private e-mail accounts. Activist Andree McLeod sued, arguing that Palin and the governor's office had a duty to save as public records e-mails related to state business, regardless of the accounts that messages were sent through.
But Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay said McLeod, in seeking to have McKay reconsider his finding, "rehashes" arguments she'd previously raised.
McLeod's attorney, Don Mitchell, said he hadn't yet reviewed the decision.
He has said McLeod could appeal to the state Supreme Court.
BACHMANN-PALIN
Palin to host Bachmann fundraiser in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is hosting a Minneapolis fundraiser for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's reelection effort.
Bachmann's campaign announced Thursday that the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president would headline a private event on April 7 at the Hilton Hotel in Minneapolis. The campaign says plans for a rally are also in the works.
Bachmann is seeking a third term in central Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. Two Democrats are seeking the nomination to run against her.
Palin was last in Minnesota in December as part of a book tour.
ALASKA DEATH-WOLVES
Autopsy concludes animal killed rural teacher
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An autopsy has concluded that a rural teacher was killed by animals and the head of the Alaska State Troopers says wolves are the likely suspect.
However, Col. Audie Holloway says the autopsy could not say for sure what animals are to blame.
Holloway says DNA tests might determine whether wolves are responsible for the death of 32-year-old Candice Berner.
Her body was found Monday night about a mile outside Chignik Lake, a community on the Alaska Peninsula about 474 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The body had been dragged off the road to the village's lagoon and was surrounded by wolf tracks.
Holloway says the autopsy ruled out other causes of death.
Berner has been teaching in Alaska only since August and was originally from Slippery Rock, Pa.
DALTON HIGHWAY-SNOWMACHINES
Lawmaker wants to open up Dalton to snowmachines
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Anchorage wants to open up the 414-mile Dalton Highway and the public land around it to snowmachining.
The House Transportation Committee began hearings Thursday on Kelly's bill. It would lift a snowmachine ban seven months of the year on roughly 4,000 square miles of land centered on the highway, which runs from interior Alaska to the Arctic Ocean.
Other off-road vehicles would still be banned year-round.
Opponents cite environmental concerns, such as the impact of hunters on caribou herds and other wildlife concerns.
Public testimony is set to resume Tuesday.
DISAPPEARING SALMON
Stage is set for better West Coast salmon season
(Stations: Moving on general news and financial services.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's chinook salmon fishery is likely to be opened this year after two consecutive closed fishing seasons, but with restrictions.
Fishermen in Oregon and Washington are poised to have an even better season because fish are more abundant there.
On Thursday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council approved three options that outline where West Coast fishermen might be allowed to cast their lines and nets beginning this spring.
There remains a chance that California's salmon fishery could be closed altogether when the council issues its final decision during a meeting in Oregon next month.
If fishing for Sacramento River fall-run chinook salmon is allowed off California's coast, it would be limited for both commercial and recreational boats.
IMPAIRED OCEAN
EPA to let states address rising ocean acidity
SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will consider ways the states can address rising levels of carbon dioxide in oceans.
The agency on Thursday settled a lawsuit filed last year by the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco.
The problem stems from oceans absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and results in the rising acidity of the water. It seriously threatens shellfish and other marine life.
The lawsuit accused the EPA of acting improperly when it approved a list of impaired waters in Washington state that omitted the state's coastal waters.
In the settlement the EPA agrees to hear from the public in developing ways that the states can use the Clean Water Act to regulate pollutants that cause ocean acidification.
For example, that could include requiring power plants to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions as a condition of discharge permits granted under the Clean Water Act.
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