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Assembly suspends
layoffs until budget alternatives are examined
The Assembly has, at least temporarily, halted the pending layoffs
of City and Borough of Juneau workers.
At tonight's (Monday) Finance Committee meeting, the Assembly
directed CBJ Manager Rod Swope to defer layoffs until the panel
can can consider other budget areas that might be cut.
Deputy Mayor Randy Wanamaker says the Finance Committee was
scheduled to take up the issue in early February.
However, he says, the Assembly has requested that the date be
moved up.
Finance Committee chair David Stone will work with staff to
determine if that is possible.
City Manager Rod Swope had proposed that the Marine Engineers
Beneficial Association defer a three percent raise effective
January 1 of this year for one year.
The membership of CBJ's largest collective bargaining unit
rejected the proposal.
Swope told us in a previous interview that if the union did not
accept the proposal, as many as 10 workers would be laidoff.
CBJ is working to bridge a projected $8 Million budget gap.
Two cost
estimates in for proposed state office building in Juneau,
....one surpasses funding figure in pending bill
Juneau Valley Representative Cathy Munoz plans to move promptly
this legislative session to get her bill authorizing construction
of a new state office building dislodged from the Senate Finance
Committee and on to the Senate floor.
The measure calling for construction of the building on the former
Subport lot owned by the Alaska Mental Health Land Trust got stuck
in Senate Finance last session.
She's requested a committee hearing and expects to have that
hearing within the next couple of weeks, but says they need to
resolve one matter first.
Munoz says the trust has hired two different engineering firms to
come up with estimates.
One came under the amount of funding addressed in the legislation,
while the other one is higher.
The legislation authorizes $45 Million.
Half of the funding, $22.5 Million are trust funds, while the
other half would be raised through state bonding.
House Bill 161 was ultimately approved unanimously by the House
last session before it was sent to the Senate.
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Both bodies of the
Legislature will convene Tuesday afternoon. The House is
scheduled to gavel in at 1 p.m. with the Senate following a
half-hour later.
Governor Parnell is
scheduled to deliver his first State of the State Address at 7
p.m. Wednesday evening.
Parnell
unveils crime proposals
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A bill proposed by Gov. Sean Parnell
would prohibit suspended sentences for Alaskans convicted of human
trafficking, possession of child pornography or distribution of
indecent materials to minors.
The measure is one of four Parnell says he will introduce to
address domestic and sexual assault.
A second bill proposes bail law revisions, making it harder for
felony sexual assault suspects to be released.
A third bill proposes procedures for post-conviction DNA testing,
requiring police departments, courts and state agencies to retain
DNA evidence for post-conviction testing and cold case
prosecution.
Parnell also proposes $75 million in funding for a new Anchorage
crime lab.
Mid-mountain
chairlift at Eaglecrest broken again
More trouble for Eaglecrest with the new mid-mountain chairlift.
The shaft of the Black Bear Chairlift broke in half three weeks
ago. A brand new shaft was made, but after 60 hours of operation
it has broke in exactly the same place.
As a result the lift will not be operating today. (Monday)
Eaglecrest Manager Kirk Duncan says a new shaft is being made at
this time.
He says it could possibly be an alignment issue so they will use the week to determine the best method for aligning the shaft.
The lift just went into service this season.
Tanker
that lost power is underway again
An 831 foot oil tanker is underway again after suffering a loss of
power early Sunday morning after it left the Port of Valdez.
Lieutenant Herbert Law in the Coast Guard's District 17 Command
Center said the aft steam generator on the Kodiak overheated.
Tests were conducted to ensure the loss of power would not occur
again after power was transferred to a forward steam generator
with an auxiliary generator as a backup.
The lieutenant says the test proved satisfactory so the Coast
Guard cleared the vessel to sail.
The tanker got underway at about four this morning headed to San
Francisco to offload about 613,000 barrels of oil or more than 25
million gallons.
After that's done, it will head to Seattle for repairs.
Lieutenant Law says they are keeping the vessel on a
communications schedule until they leave the Coast Guard's area of
responsibility.
The Kodiak was being escorted in the vicinity of Hinchinbrook
Entrance by two tugboats when it lost power at about three Sunday
morning.
The tanker was taken to an area about 13 nautical miles
southeast of Bligh Reef where it was anchored while they figured
out what to do.
Gravel beaches
trapping oil from 1989 Exxon spill
MARY PEMBERTON - Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An engineering professor has figured
out why oil remains trapped along miles of gravel beaches more
than 20 years after the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Prince
William Sound.
An estimated 20,000 gallons of crude remain in Prince William
Sound. The oil remaining after the nearly 11-million-gallon spill
had been expected to biodegrade and wash away within a few years.
The problem: The gravelly beaches are trapping the oil between two
layers of rocks. Water — which would break up and dissipate the
oil — moves much more slowly through the lower layer.
The study is by Michel C. Boufadel, chairman of the Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering at Temple University. It
appeared Sunday in Nature Geoscience's online publication.
Homeless
programs planned for Centennial Hall
Project Homeless Connect, a national program sponsored locally by
the Juneau Homeless Coalition, is planned for next Monday.
It's from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Centennial Hall.
The coalition's Diane Slater and Brenda Hewitt of the United Way
of Southeast Alaska were on Capital Chat this morning to talk
about that.
They say the program is designed to connect services to people
experiencing homelessness.
The annual "Point-in-Time Count" will occur the same day
which involves a one day count of people locally experiencing
homelessness.
Hewitt says, according to last year's count, 70 families live on
the streets, sleep in cars or stay in shelters. Approximately 300
kids are homeless or are couch-surfing.
The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation conducts the count, she
says, to provide data necessary to ensure federal and state
funding is available to address homelessness issues.
Men
wanted in Palmer on theft charges captured by Juneau Police on
state ferry
Two men wanted on $100,000 felony warrants in Palmer were picked
up by Juneau Police Saturday as they arrived in Auke Bay aboard
the state ferry Tustemena.
Robert Stevens, 43 of Oregon and 40 year old Bob Ristick of
Washington State were wanted on a charge of theft in the first
degree in Palmer.
The police department's Investigations Unit in Palmer contacted
police here for assistance.
With the cooperation of the Alaska Marine Highway and the crew of
the Tustemena, the suspects were taken into custody without
incident on board the vessel after it docked at Noon.
Both men were jailed at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
They were wanted for
the theft of copper wire from Matanuska Telephone Association.
Fish and Wildlife
plane crash in Oregon kills 2
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee
and a contractor were killed when their small plane crashed in an
Oregon forest.
Authorities identified the pilot as 52-year-old Vernon Ray
Bentley, a Fish and Wildlife Service employee from Blodgett. His
passenger was 59-year-old David Sherwood Pitkin of Bandon, a
former employee who was working as a contractor for the agency.
Benton County sheriff's deputies say they found the wreckage of
the Cessna on Monday morning after it failed to arrive in
Corvallis as scheduled on Sunday afternoon.
A radio signal from the plane's locator beacon allowed searchers
to narrow the crash site to an area near Philomath.
The federal agency says the two men were involved in the annual
midwinter count of migratory birds.
UAS Spring semester set to
start
Spring semester classes at the University of Alaska Southeast get
underway Tuesday.
There's a student orientation on the Auke Lake Campus today,
according to Chancellor John Pugh.
He says some classes don't start until later, but suggests that
people check on those and sign up soon.
Concert
benefits wounded Anchorage Police officer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Local bands held a five-hour benefit
concert last night in Anchorage for wounded police Officer Jason
Allen.
Donations from the event at Chilkoot Charlie's will help Allen's
family pay expenses or reward tipsters.
Investigators are still looking for whoever shot Allen Jan. 9 as
he sat in his patrol car in a residential neighborhood.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Kotzebue
site of next job creation and economic growth forum
KOTZEBUE, Alaska (AP) — The rural community of Kotzebue is the
site of Tuesday's statewide forum on job creation and economic
growth.
It's one of four such forums to be held in Alaska.
Others will be in Juneau, Jan. 26, and Anchorage, Feb. 1.
The first was in Fairbanks last week.
Development
plan for downtown Fairbanks proposed
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins has
introduced new standards for future development in downtown
Fairbanks.
The mayor's measure calls for a retail hot spot district and also
sets guidelines for building facades.
The plan still needs Assembly approval.
Crimson Bears'
skaters tripped up by West Valley
The Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears hockey team was defeated
twice by West
Valley of Fairbanks over the weekend at the Treadwell Arena
Saturday night's
score was 8 to 2. The score from Sunday afternoon's game was
8 to 4.
The Bears had
won seven games in a row prior to the West Valley contests.
JDHS completed a two
game sweep of the Bartlett Golden Bears of Anchorage Friday night
with a 6 to 2 victory.
Crimson Bears'
Men swept by Ketchikan, women split with Kings
The Juneau Douglas high school men's basketball team was swept by
Ketchikan this weekend.
Saturday night's score was 59 to 55. That score was a lot closer
than Friday's 81 to 62 defeat.
The games were played in Ketchikan.
The women's team at JDHS faired better with a 51 to 31 victory
Saturday night. That followed a loss Friday 46 to 43.
Those games were played in Juneau.
John Baker wins
cold Kusko 300 sled dog race
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — John Baker brushed aside wind chills of
more than 60 below to win the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race in
Bethel.
Baker crossed the finish line Sunday evening with a team of 10
dogs in harness. He beat former Iditarod champion Martin Buser by
more than hour to take the top prize of $20,000.
Three-time defending Iditarod champ Lance Mackey finished third.
It was the first Kusko 300 win for Baker, who has been mushing
dogs for 15 years and runs a 35-dog kennel in Kotzebue.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Barrow had
a warm and snowy 2009
BARROW, Alaska (AP) — The northernmost city in the United States
had a warm and snowy 2009.
The Arctic Sounder newspaper reports that Barrow had 60.2 inches
of snow last year, making it the sixth snowiest on record. Six of
the 10 snowiest years in Barrow have occurred within the last 20
years, including a record 66.4 inches in 2008.
Despite the snowfall, Barrow enjoyed its sixth warmest year on
record.
The average temperature for the year was 13.6 degrees, 3.2 degrees
above normal.
A record streak of 68 consecutive days of above-freezing
temperatures began July 1 and ended Sept. 7.
The highest temperature of the year was 74 degrees, recorded on
July 14. The coldest temperature was 47 below zero on Feb. 12.
(The Arctic Sounder, http://www.thearcticsounder.com)
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