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Coast
Guard suspends search for missing pilot
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Coast Guard says it has
suspended a search for a missing pilot in Cook Inlet but
Alaska State Troopers will keep looking if weather
permits.
A Coast Guard helicopter today (Wednesday) searched for
six hours and a trooper helicopter searched four hours
for pilot 52-year-old Randy Crawford, a retired trooper
colonel.
Crawford on Tuesday morning was piloting a single-engine
Cessna 207 on a flight from Kenai to Kokhanok for Air
Supply Alaska.
He sent a distress call reporting that he had engine
problems and that he was going down into Cook Inlet.
The plane was found three hours later and hoisted from
the water by a Good Samaritan vessel, the 188-foot
Seabulk Nevada, but Crawford was not on board.
Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis says the agency
suspended its search as of four p-m today.
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She says searchers were in the air for 32 total hours
and covered 384 square miles.
Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson says a trooper
helicopter is tentatively scheduled to resume the search
tomorrow if a predicted storm front does not move in.
Crawford was a trooper from August 19-76 to December
2002. He worked in Soldotna, Holy Cross, Fairbanks,
Kotzebue, Palmer and Anchorage.
Palin names
Sampson, Hartig, Fedullo to staff
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Governor Palin today (Wednesday)
announced three staff appointments.
The additions include: the reappointment of Roger
Sampson as the Education and Early Development
commissioner. Sampson has held the post since May 2003.
Larry Hartig will be the Department of Environmental
Conservation commissioner. Hartig is a private practice
lawyer from Anchorage.
Charles Fedullo (FED'-dew-low) will be the deputy press
secretary and deputy communications director. Fedullo
once worked for the Tony Knowles administration for the
environmental conservation department. Most recently,
he's worked as an assistant professor and chair of the
journalism department for the University of Alaska
Fairbanks
Trans-Alaska
pipeline back in operation
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The trans-Alaska oil pipeline
was back in full operation today (Wednesday).
Yesterday, a loose fitting on a secondary pipe south of
Atigun Pass caused a leak that shut down the pipeline
for hours.
The amount of crude flowing through the pipeline today
is about 900-thousand barrels.
That's more than normal. The aim is to reduce the amount
of oil that flowed into two large storage tanks at
Prudhoe Bay during Tuesday's shut-down.
The two tanks at Pump Station 1 hold 210-thousand
barrels each.
Mike Heatwole, spokesman for the Alyeska Pipeline
Service Company, says clean-up operations are ongoing
today. About 500 gallons of oil spilled on a gravel
access road at the site.
He says Alyeska is putting together a team to try to
determine how the fitting became loose.
Legislative priorities topic of Assembly work session
The Assembly conducted a breakfast work session this (Wednesday) morning with Juneau's legislative delegation and lobbyists including its Washington, D. C. lobbyist John Roots.
The Assembly conducted a breakfast work session this morning with Juneau's legislative delegation and lobbyists including its Washington, D. C. lobbyist John Roots.
Funding for a Second Channel Crossing and Governor's Palin's proposed operating budget that calls for $150 Million in cuts were among concerns raised during the meeting.
Wasilla Representative
Mark Neuman's measure that could move legislative sessions to another city was also a topic of discussion.
When asked what Governor Palin might do if the bill reaches her desk, Botelho said he didn't care to speculate since he doesn't think it will get out of the legislature.
The
mayor says the Assembly has yet to come up with a legislative priority list for this year. He expects that to be finalized at a Committee of the Whole meeting later this month.
Avalanche
out Thane, roadway not blocked
There was an avalanche out Thane Road just past the Little Rock Dump shortly after two this afternoon.
The roadway was not blocked, according to Juneau Police.
It put up a big cloud of snow that was visible from our
downtown studios.
Egan Drive lights repaired
The light poles along Egan Drive from 10th to Whittier Streets downtown
were repaired today (Wednesday) after have been out of order since Saturday.
Southeast Region State DOT Director Mal Menzies says the problem
was a worn circuit breaker
Menzies apologized to the public for the lights being out and not being aware of the problem sooner.
New Cape Fox land bill introduced
Alaska U. S. Senator Lisa Murkowski has resurrected legislation aimed at helping a Southeast Native village corporation with its land problems.
This latest approach is different than the one Murkowski pursued in 2004 that would have included property in Berners Bay near Juneau in the exchange.
Under terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Cape Fox Corporation, which was organized by the village of Saxman near Ketchikan, was required to take ownership of about 160 acres of unusable land in mountainous terrain.
This latest bill would permit the corporation to receive 99 acres of land which adjoin its existing holdings instead.
The previous measure would have enabled the proposed Kensington and Jualin Gold mines to operate totally on private land.
It would have also conveyed the corridor for the proposed road from Juneau up the east side of Lynn Canal to Cape Fox.
Senator Murkowski says the corporation was not treated equally under the federal law.
It was restricted from selecting lands within six miles of the boundary of Ketchikan while other corporations were restricted from selecting land within two miles of such a home rule city.
Murkowski says the six mile restriction went beyond protecting Ketchikan's watershed and left Cape Fox with only nonproductive land of no economic value
from which to select.
Crimson
Bears men win first game in Anchorage tournament
The Crimson Bears men are in Anchorage for the Alaska
Airlines Classic Tournament.
The men defeated won their first game 65 to 42 over the
Bartlett Golden Bears tonight. (Wednesday)
The Bears take on the Notre Dame academy from Middleton
Virginia Thursday afternoon.
The game will be broadcast on KINY starting at 4-45 p.m.
Lady Crimson Bears on the road
The Lady Crimson Bears basketball team are on the road
in the Mat-Su Valley.
The Bears lost to the Wasilla Warriors tonight
(Wednesday) 57 to 44.
The Lady Bears play again Thursday night.
State
files charges in wasted fish case
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska Attorney General's
office says it has filed seafood mishandling criminal
charges against two companies and two individuals that
together allowed more than 400 tons of salmon to rot two
years ago.
The charges were filed this week in the Dillingham
District Court against Wild Alaskan Seafood Company of
Washington and Strategica Import-Export Financial Group
of Florida.
Charges also were filed against Jeremy Oliver, the
primary managing member of Wild Alaskans Seafood, and
Jay Enis, who operated Strategica, a Florida merchant
bank.
They're accused of significantly damaging the fishery
two years ago at Ekuk (EE'-kuk) on the east coast of
Nushagak Bay 17 miles south of Dillingham.
Prosecutors say Oliver and Wild Alaskan Seafood did not
process salmon fast enough and it rotted.
More than 800-thousand pounds of salmon caught by local
set net fishermen and delivered to Wild Alaskan Seafood
Company had to be destroyed.
More than three dozen fishermen who caught the fish were
never paid and Ekuk employees who attempted to process
the fish were only partially compensated, according to
prosecutors.
Prosecutors say the economic loss to the fishermen and
Ekuk employees likely exceeded a million dollars.
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Prosecutors say state fish inspectors checked more than
a million pounds of fish at Wild Alaska Seafood Company
and determined most to be unfit for human consumption.
The Department of Environmental Conservation ultimately
had the damaged fish ground into fish meal or otherwise
destroyed.
Prosecutors say it was done to avert a public health
catastrophe and to ensure the integrity and reputation
of the Alaska's seafood industry.
The defendants were charged with five misdemeanors:
processing adulterated seafood, adulteration of food,
mishandling seafood, processing salmon without an analysis critical control point plan and processing
salmon without a sanitation plan.
Airport board workshop and regular meeting on tap tonight
The Juneau Airport Board of Directors will meet for a work session to be followed by a regular meeting tonight. [Wednesday]
The work session will focus on the terminal expansion project.
Airport Manager Dave Palmer says they are coordinating with the building's tenants and working on a plan expand the terminal in a different scope than was previously put forward.
He says they are just beginning to scope the project out and determine the most immediate needs.
There are a couple of information items on the regular
meeting agenda.
Palmer will discuss with the board requirements from the recent FAA certification inspection to beef up the airport's wildlife management plan.
Palmer will report to the board on some temporary improvements to meet the FAA certification requirements for runway safety area off the side of one of the runways.
Palmer
say it's stop gap measure to fill a ditch area in anticipation of a full runway safety area project that will be started after the airport's environmental impact statement if finished.
Palmer estimates that the EIS will be finished by the middle of this year.
The board will
also discuss an increase in the landing fees for, basically, Alaska Airlines to offset the company's landing costs.
The work session gets started at 6 and the regular meeting at 7 tonight at the airport's Aurora Room.
Planning Commission approves two projects
Allowable use permits for a
birth center and use of the former Elks Lodge downtown were approved by the Planning Commission at its meeting last night.
The proposed 8,715 square foot
Juneau Family Birth Center would be located near the Valley Medical and SEARHC clinics on Salmon Creek Lane. The site is a former rock quarry.
The other permit allows a change in use on the first floor of the former Elks Lodge.
The new owners want to use it as an Internet lounge and retail outlet for consumer electronics and general merchandise.
The second floor will continue to be used for community events.
Fort Richardson memorial scheduled for two fallen paratroopers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A service to honor two Fort Richardson paratroopers killed in Iraq last month will be held at the post chapel tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
The 11 a-m service is 27-year-old Sergeant Scott Dykman (DIKE'-man) of Helena, Montana, and 25-year-old Staff Sergeant Jacob McMillan of Lafayette, Louisiana.
Both were part of the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
They were killed by roadside bombs in separate incidents around Baghdad.
Anchorage man dies days after being wounded
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A 49-year-old Anchorage man died Monday from wounds suffered in a December 30th shooting.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Honeman says Kenneth Camell's death is now being treated as a homicide.
On December 30th, police found Camell in an alley behind a house in the 600 block of North Flower Street.
Honeman says Camell had at least one gunshot wound to the upper body.
Camell was believed to be visiting friends in the neighborhood where he was found injured.
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting who has NOT yet talked to police to come forward.
Those people should call 907-786-8900.
Fairbanks teen dies of injuries from crash
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - A Fairbanks teenager is dead from injuries suffered in a car crash.
Eighteen-year-old Cameron Phillips died at an Anchorage hospital, where he was taken after the crash in Fairbanks Monday evening.
Alaska State Troopers say Phillips was driving a Dodge Caravan when the vehicle crossed the center divider and collided with a Ford Explorer driven by 51-year-old Sandra Ford of Fairbanks.
Ford was treated at a local hospital and released.
Troopers say they are still investigating the accident.
Traffic accident claims life of young man from Palmer
A 20 year old Palmer man was killed in a two vehicle collision Monday night.
He's identified by State Troopers as Tyler
Desart.
Desart was a passenger in a pickup truck operated by 17 year old Mathew Moffitt of Wasilla.
Investigation determined Moffitt lost control of the pickup while traveling eastbound on Palmer Fishhook Road and collided with a car driven by 20 year old Paul Myers of Palmer.
Investigation is continuing.
Poker Flat plans launch of five research rockets
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - Scientists plan to launch five research rockets from the Poker Flat Research Range this month if weather and aurora borealis conditions cooperate.
Researchers affiliated with NASA are conducting the launches.
Four of the rockets will be launched by researchers from Clemson University in South Carolina to study heating in the upper atmosphere associated with the aurora and related changes in wind patterns.
The fifth rocket is part of another project to study pulsating aurora. That experiment will be conducted by researchers from the University of New Hampshire.
Hans Nielsen -- associate director of the Geophysical Institute -- says five additional rockets are scheduled to be launched next month.
The range is operated by the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Viewer's responses to state capital location
question solicited
The Alaska Superstation is conducting a viewer poll on its web site asking, "What city should be Alaska's capital?"
Topping the list of choices is Juneau. Others listed include Wasilla, Palmer, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Willow, Kenai, Seward, Sitka,
Valdez, and Nome.
Voting is available at
http://www.aksuperstation.com
Anchorage parade canceled as downtown streets already taken
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - This year's Fur Rondy parade in Anchorage has been canceled.
Organizers say they weren't able to get a permit for the parade because other events were already scheduled in downtown streets on the same weekend days.
The parade would have closed down several streets for an extended period of time.
Organizers say the annual Fur Rendezvous winter festival is still scheduled for February 23rd through March 4th.
Girl scout cookies now for sale in Juneau and Southeast
The local area Girl Scouts started selling cookies Saturday morning.
Gail Ford, the interim director of the Tongass Alaska Girl Scout Council, said on Capital Chat this morning that the scouts are taking orders through January 28th.
The cookies will be delivered beginning about March 10th.
Ford said this is their major fundraiser of the year. The cookies are $3.50 per box with 50 cents going to the troop
Girl Scout Ruby Steedle of Troop 14 was among others joining Ford on the program.
She said people can donate their cookies, rather than eat them themselves.
They can
be donated to the "Gift of Caring" program under which each Troop picks a charity to receive them. Her troop selected the Aware Shelter this year.
Ruby's goal is to sell 200 boxes. Her troop wants to sell 3,500.
Ford says
a total of 79,000 boxes was sold by all Southeast
troops last year.
New this year is the fact that all of their cookies are trans fat free. And there's a new sugar free cookie, called 'Little Brownies."
If you're not approached by a Girl Scout to buy cookies, call the council office at 586-1710.
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