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Menzies to review operations
after 2nd worker damages Alaska Airlines jet
For the second time in ten days a ramp worker this morning
(Thursday) damaged an Alaska Airline jet as it was be readied for a
flight at Sea-Tac Airport.
Alaska Airlines spokesperson Amanda Tobin says the contractor for
the ramp workers, Menzies Aviation, is sending a task force of it's
top safety experts to Seattle.
She says, beginning Monday, the Menzies Aviation task force will
lead a 90 day "top to bottom review " of it's operation at
Sea-Tac.
Today's incident involved a 737-700 jet as it was being prepared for a
flight from Seattle to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Tobin says the incident occurred about 11:30 a.m. when a ramp
service agent working for Menzies Aviation accidently shifted a tow
vehicle into reverse pulling the aircraft slowly forward about three
feet into a jetway and
a parked belt loader.
Tobin says the Menzies employee immediately reported the incident.
Initial reports indicate that the hinges on a passenger door and the
cowling on the starboard engine were damaged.
Tobin says damage to the aircraft appears to be relatively minor,
but the jet has been towed to the Seattle hangar for evaluation and
repair.
There are no reports of injuries to the four passengers and five
crewmembers that were onboard the aircraft, which was in the process
of pre-boarding at the time of the incident.
Passengers were booked on another flight.
The incident is under investigation.
The first incident involving a Menzies ramp worker striking an
Alaska Airline jetliner with a piece of equipment forced an Alaska
Airlines jet to make an emergency landing in Seattle December 27th
because of a loss of cabin pressure caused by a foot-long hole in
the plane' fuselage.
The ramp worker admitted he failed to immediately report striking
the plane at the gate with a baggage cart or baggage belt machine.
None of the 140 passengers or crew members on board were hurt.
Permanent Fund hits new high
The Alaska Permanent Fund topped $33 billion dollars for the first
time yesterday. [Wednesday]
Fund officials say domestic and international stocks drove up the
Fund's value up by almost $400 million on January 3rd.
The rally was most likely triggered by information released on
Tuesday that the Federal Reserve may stop raising interest rates
soon.
Additional gains of over $80 million on January 4 brought the Fund's
unaudited value to just over $33 billion.
On November 21, 2005, the Fund reached an unaudited value of $32
billion for the first time.
The markets grew steadily in December despite high fuel prices and
hurricane Katrina.
Alaska will get energy
assistance funds
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska will receive more than a half
million dollars as part of the congressional Low Income Energy
Assistance Program.
The program helps states aid low-income residents in paying for
heating bills this winter.
Nationally, 100 million dollars in emergency funding was approved by
Congress.
U-S Senator Lisa Murkowski says this should help more Alaskans pay
for their heating bills this winter.
She says Alaskans have seen nearly 30 percent increases in the cost
of diesel heating fuel and up to 40 percent hikes in natural gas
costs as a result of increased worldwide competition for energy.
Also playing a role is the lingering effect of this past summer's
hurricanes, which she says is still reducing U-S natural gas
production from the Gulf of Mexico.
Airport
parking rates going up
The cost of parking is going up at Juneau's Airport next month.
Part of the deal calls for the elimination of the free 30 minute
parking in the short term lot, according to Airport Business Manager
Patty deLaBruere.
Effective February 15th, it will cost one dollar for the first 30
minutes in the short term lot. It will cost $2.50 for the first
hour.
Parking in the long term lot will remain the same at three dollars
for the first two hours.
She says they're trying to push some of the traffic into the long
term lot since it becomes cheaper there after the first two hours.
But the daily rate in the long term lot is going up, as well. Its
currently a nine dollar daily charge and 63 dollars for a week. Its
going up to 12 dollars a day and 75 a week.
The charge for a lost ticket is also going up. It will increase to
$25 for the long term lot instead of the daily maximum. A lost
ticket will cost $35 for the short term lot.
deLaBruere says the airport has been looking at increasing rates for
several years. She says that intensified the last few months as they
looked at ways at decreasing traffic and eliminating the wear and
tear on the short term parking equipment.
Coast
Guard helping in Angoon search again
The search for a missing Angoon man is continuing today [Wednesday]
36 year-old Kevin O'Brian was reported missing Sunday evening.
The Coast Guard is back involved in today's effort, according to
Angoon Search and Rescue Coordinator Jessie Daniels.
He says they asked if one of their helicopters could search in areas
of Parker's Point, areas his team could not cover.
Daniels says he still has boats and ground searchers out.
The only thing found was O'Brian's sea bag. It was located floating
about a mile west of Parker's Point, about eight miles north of the
community.
O'Brian departed Killisnoo for Angoon in an 18-foot skiff. His boat
was found beached near the seaplane dock in Angoon.
O'Brian was in the process of bringing his skiff from the ferry
terminal in Angoon to the boat harbor when he apparently fell
overboard.
Daniels says they expect to continue the search through Friday. He
says they'll sit down at that point and decide what they want to do
from there.
State Troopers suspended their involvement pending further
developments after Tuesday's effort. The Coast Guard initially quit
the search Monday.
Eaglecrest manager lays out
worst case scenario for Assembly
Eaglecrest Ski Area is losing about $20,000 dollars a week because of this winter's warm temperatures and lack of snow.
The city owned recreation area can't open for skiing until it gets enough snow on its slopes.
General Manager Kirk Duncan detailed the
worst case scenario or the Assembly yesterday. He says if the city owned ski area can't open
for skiing, it will face a $350,000 budget shortfall.
Eaglecrest already receives a $385,000 a year subsidy from the city. That's about 30 percent of the ski area's total budget.
He says during the ski season Eaglecrest takes in about $850,000 in revenue with about $500,000 in costs.
Duncan says it's not a promising weather pattern and not cold enough to make snow.
But, he says, they are getting some work done like brush cutting and maintenance projects.
The ski area is also surveying the location for the $800,000 chair lift that's being paid for with sales tax money recently approved by voters.
The latest the ski area has opened is February
23rd.
Duncan says it's not all doom and gloom.
He says Eaglecrest will probably never be in a break even situation but they are looking at balancing the winter business with summer business to take some of the financial pressure
off.
He says they've come up with a business plan to be, essentially, a landlord for summer commercial operators.
Examples include a treetop to treetop zip line, a summer dog sledding and mountain biking.
He says eventually there will
be six ways to bike down the mountain from the top of Ptarmigan. They're looking at ways to improve the Cropley Lake Trail, and a hut to hut trail system with overnights at the top of the trail.
Assembly briefed on budget picture
City Manager Rod Swope briefed the Assembly
Finance Committee last night [Wednesday] on the CBJ budget.
The panel is preparing to tackle
a spending plan for the next two fiscal years.
Swope says the city's finances are in pretty good shape due to some fairly significant cuts made a couple of year ago and unanticipated increases in sales tax and property tax revenue.
Although, he says, talking with the individuals in the business and tourism industry, it appears sales tax revenue may be pretty flat this year.
Property tax revenue increased by 10 percent this past year. The Assembly is considering ways to offset some of that increase, including a further reduction in the mill levy.
Swope says there are continuing rising costs that are eating into the surplus.
He says a year ago no one had anticipated the high cost of fuel.
And he says some costs have to be projected into the
future. For example, he says insurance and retirements costs are rising every year.
The Assembly has until June to finalize
a budget plan.
Kenai Borough mayor says
finances need drastic fix
KENAI, Alaska (AP) - The mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough has
issued a warning about the borough's finances.
Mayor John Williams says drastic steps must be taken to meet
expenses and raise revenues.
He says the borough will be drowning in debt by fiscal year 2009 if
something isn't done.
Williams say part of the problem has to do with the success of
Proposition 5, which reversed a one percent sales tax increase
approved by the assembly.
He says several other factors also conspired to create the
situation, including the loss of state aid to municipalities and
rapidly rising retirement, health care and liability insurance
obligations that can't be avoided.
Bill
creating authorities to oversee solid waste management being readied
The Assembly Committee of the Whole talked trash during its meeting last evening. (Wednesday)
Members heard a presentation from Rollo Pool of the Southeast Conference on a regional solid waste management proposal.
Southeast Conference is working on draft legislation to allow creation of Solid Waste Management Authorities in Alaska.
He says Wrangell, Petersburg and Thorne Bay have expressed interest in hosting a regional landfill site, rather than shipping waste out of the region. And Kake Tribal Corporation is interested in a building a waste energy conversion plant there.
Pool says adding Juneau's volume to a landfill site more than doubles the volume that needs to be processed and adds that makes any regional alternative sweeter.
He says the bill will be introduced in the next session of the Legislature beginning next Monday.
Bears win
The Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears men defeated West Valley 53 to 43
at the 2006 Fred Meyer Alaska Prep Shootout at Dimond High School in
Anchorage this afternoon.
The Bears will play the winner of the Colony vs. Bartlett game
tomorrow night at 7 o'clock.
The game will be broadcast by KINY.
Taku
winds focused in downtown Juneau
The wind advisory for downtown Juneau has been cancelled by the
National Weather Service.
There were strong winds in the
downtown area and Douglas overnight and early this morning.
Meteorologist Nathan Foster in the Juneau Forecast Office called it
a "fairly short lived Taku wind event."
He said there were gusts to 60 miles per hour in several places.
South Douglas had a 66 mile per hour gust. It reached 63 miles per
hour on Sheep Mountain. There was a report from a Douglas resident
that it hit 78 there.
Gusts to 35 miles per hour were expected this afternoon.
Juneau sex offender jailed on State Trooper warrant
Juneau Police arrested a sex offender yesterday on an outstanding State Trooper warrant.
54 year old Thomas Morrison was wanted for failure to appear at an arraignment hearing on the original charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
Morrison was jailed at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
Judge rules Stevens recall petition rejection was proper
A recall petition against Senate President Ben Stevens was properly thrown out, according to a state judge.
The Division of Elections rejected the petition last year for lack of legal basis.
Superior Court Judge Craig Stowers heard oral arguments Wednesday, and ruled from the bench that the Division was correct.
Republican Moderate Party founder Ray Metcalfe filed the petition last year. Metcalfe claimed Stevens' job as a consultant for oil field services company Veco conflicted with his position as a lawmaker.
After the ruling, Metcalfe said he may appeal to the state Supreme Court, or may draft a new recall petition.
Stevens forfeits contributions from
Abramoff
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The campaign of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is giving back campaign contributions from a disgraced lobbyist and his clients.
Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty this week to three felonies. He is accused of defrauding clients and paying bribes.
Stevens campaign treasurer Tim McKeever says the Alaska Republican does not want to retain money that was contributed by
Abramoff.
Abramoff and his clients gave more than four million dollars in political contributions to hundreds of members of Congress.
That includes ten-thousand dollars or more to Stevens and his political action committee.
The Stevens campaign also received a thousand-dollar contribution from Abramoff himself.
McKeever says the Stevens campaign gave up the thousand-dollar Abramoff contribution last month by donating it to the Alaska chapter of the Red Cross.
He says the campaign and Stevens' leadership PAC also will donate to charities to offset the contributions from Abramoff clients.
McKeever says those added up to about 17-thousand dollars.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Police
in Anchorage find dynamite in stolen car
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage police say they called in their bomb squad after a stick of dynamite was found in a stolen car.
An officer pulled the car over yesterday afternoon (Wednesday).
Three people inside were arrested on charges relating to the stolen vehicle.
Sergeant Ron Tidler says the officer inspected the car and found a stick of dynamite with a home-made fuse.
Police cordoned off the street and kept residents out of their homes.
The dynamite was removed and taken to a safe location for detonation.
Police say they also found a gun in the car.
The names of those arrested were not immediately available.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Three
arrested in home robbery
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Police say three people including a
17-year-old girl broke into a South Anchorage home and held up
residents at gunpoint.
Police say Elizabeth Morgan was caught at the home Tuesday and
charged with robbery and weapons misconduct.
Police Lieutenant Paul Honeman says Morgan is a convicted felon on
probation and not permitted to carry a firearm.
Police say Morgan and two men knocked on the door of a home shortly
after midnight Tuesday while a woman waited in a getaway car.
Honeman says Morgan was acquainted with those in the home.
When a resident opened the door, the trio barged in and waved
handguns demanding money.
Honeman says a brawl ensued. Morgan was held and the two other
suspects fled.
Police later on Tuesday arrested 24-year-old Jeannine Robinson and
22-year-old Jayshon Moore.
Robinson is charged with robbery, drug and gun counts.
Moore is charged with robbery. Police are seeking a fourth suspect.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Death sentence for Alaskan affirmed by South Dakota high court
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The South Dakota Supreme Court upholds the death sentences for an Alaska man and another in the torture and slaying death of a teenager.
Twenty-five-year-old Briley Piper of Anchorage and Elijah Page of Texas earlier pleaded guilty to killing the Spearfish teen in hopes of avoiding the death penalty.
Another man charged in the crime only received a life sentence. Because of that, Page and Piper argued their death sentences were too severe.
But the Supreme Court says the death sentences are appropriate because Page and Piper were more violent participants in the slaying.
Chester Poage
(POGE) was killed in March 2000.
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Authorities say the three convicted men were friends with the 19-year-old.
But when Poage's mother flew to Florida for a vacation, they decided to kidnap him and burglarize her home. After tying him up, they decided to kill him in a gulch west of Spearfish.
They first tried to drown him, but wound up killing him nearly three hours later by dropping basketball-sized rocks on his head.
Phillips
takes Labor Department job
Former House Speaker Gail Phillips is going to work for the State
Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
She'll serve as the employer liaison in the Division of Business
Partnerships.
Until recently Phillips worked as the executive director of the
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, a position she held since
2003.
In her new role, Phillips will develop and implement an employer
outreach plan for the department's Youth First Initiative which aims
to establish internships and summer jobs for Alaska's youth.
The position is located in Anchorage.
British
adventurer was man rescued from sea ice
State Troopers have identified the man rescued from floating sea ice
in Northwest Alaska Tuesday as a British adventurer.
Karl Bushby was standing on a chunk of ice that broke apart and
started floating out to sea.
He called on his satellite phone saying he was floating on the
drifting ice between Koyuk and Shaktoolik about 100 miles east of
Nome.
Snowmobilers from both villages set out to assist. A helicopter from
Nome was dispatched to the area.
Bushby was able to walk to a more stable section of ice and a
snowmobile team from Koyuk reached him late Tuesday afternoon.
Troopers say he did not need medical attention and continued on his
25-mile walk across the bay.
Troopers say the ice on his mapped route, which is used by Iditarod
mushers, was not solid this early in winter.
Troopers report the rescue cost the state about 55-hundred dollars.
Lawmaker wants to use eminent domain for oil and gas development
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Six bills have already been filed by Alaska lawmakers in response to last year's U-S Supreme Court decision on eminent domain.
But just one suggests keeping eminent domain to force development of the state's oil and gas reserves.
Representative Eric Croft (an Anchorage Democrat) says taking leases back from non-producing oil companies would benefit Alaska's citizens.
Croft, who is running for governor, says he wrote the bill with the untapped gas fields of Point Thomson and the unrealized North Slope natural gas pipeline in mind.
Croft's bill and the five other bills are otherwise similar. They would all restrict eminent domain to transfer land to a private person.
Those bills are meant to counter the precedent set by last summer's Supreme Court decision that New London, Connecticut, could take homes along the city's waterfront for a private developer.
Steven Anderson is with the Institute for Justice, the Arlington, Virginia-based civil liberties law. He says property should be treated the same regardless of who owns it. He says there is no difference between a private homeowner and an oil company in that regard.
State economists expects more
growth in 2006
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska's economy has grown for years, and
state economist Neal Fried sees no reason to think that will change
in 2006.
Fried, who is an economist with the state Department of Labor, says
Alaska's economy has grown the last 18 years. Fried says entering
the New Year he can't see any reason why that would change. In fact,
he says, he is hard-pressed to find any industry that appears to be
struggling.
Fried says the health care industry has been the star performer the
past few years.
And he says another bright spot has been the small but noticeable
rebound in the oil industry.
Mining also is seeing a growth spurt.
(Alaska Journal of Commerce)
Southcentral mayors call for spending federal dollars on roads
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Three Southcentral Alaska mayors say their constituents prefer road repairs to new bridges.
The mayors of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs say needed road projects should not take a back seat to a Knik Arm bridge for federal transportation dollars.
A state plan produced in November would decrease Anchorage's annual share of federal transportation money from 40
million dollars annually to 17 million in 2006.
The plan called for tying up in advance hundreds of millions of dollars for design and construction of a Knik Arm bridge.
Anchorage officials say that would postpone major projects such as rebuilding the Old Seward and Old Glenn highways and other roads for two to six years.
The mayors are finding sympathy from some legislators.
Palmer Republican Representative Carl Gatto says that given the choice between a Knik Arm bridge and relief of congestion on Mat-Su roads, the constituents pick roads.
Legislators convene Monday and the House Transportation Committee will hear from state transportation officials Tuesday.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Y2K law quietly expires
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Six years ago, a computer glitch threatened banking, airline traffic and utilities worldwide.
Now an Alaska remnant of the Y-2-K ``millennium bug'' has died a peaceful death. A state law granting Alaska businesses limited immunity arising from year 2000 computer problems expired on Sunday.
Representative Norman Rokeberg (an Anchorage Republican) sponsored the 1999 legislation. He says to his knowledge no business ever needed the protection. He calls it the happiest failure of a bill he has ever seen.
The law aimed to block lawsuits against Alaska businesses if companies made a good-faith effort to prepare for the so-called ``millennium bug.''
Technology experts widely believed that computer hardware and software systems would fail as the clocks rolled over to the year 2000. Because computers and other devices used only two digits to represent the year, experts predicted that the systems would mistake the year 2000 for the year 1900.
Billions of dollars were spent preparing to make computers ``Y-2-K compliant.'' But in the end no major disruptions were reported.
Bears hockey this weekend
The Juneau Douglas High School Crimson Bears Hockey Team is on the ice again this weekend.
The competition is provided by the Delta Junction Huskies.
Game time Friday is 8:15 Friday and 7 Saturday at the Treadwell Arena.
Tickets are five dollars in advance and eight dollars at the door.
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