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Alaskans among dead in helicopter crash in Iraq
ANCHORAGE,
Alaska (AP) - The families of four Alaska crew members who died in a
helicopter crash Saturday in Iraq have been notified. But the
families of the other eight have not all been notified as of Monday.
The four Alaskans were members of First Battalion, 207th Aviation
Regiment, Alaska Army National Guard.
Alaska Army National Guard spokesman Kalei Brooks says no names will
be released until all families receive notification and are given a
day to mourn in private.
The Alaska Army National Guard held a news conference this afternoon
at Fort Richardson.
Brigadier General Craig Christensen who is head of the Alaska Army
National Guard says he personally knew the crew members who were
killed, and is grieving their loss. He says a memorial service is
being planned.
Christensen says the deaths were the first wartime deaths for
members of the Alaska Army National Guard since World War Two.
The U-H--60-L Black Hawk helicopter and crew were involved in a
two-ship night operation. They were transporting soldiers and
civilians to Tal Afar, a northern city near the Syrian border that
has seen heavy fighting with insurgents.
The cause of the crash is not known. Christensen described the
weather as ``not optimal.''
About 60 Guard members from the Alaska unit deployed in August 2005
for a one-year tour of duty in Iraq.
Natural gas talks resume in
Juneau
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Governor Frank Murkowski says negotiations
have resumed between the state and three oil companies on terms for
a North Slope natural gas pipeline.
State negotiators and B-P, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips took a
break from talks last month. The governor said then the time off was
for the holidays and for negotiators to re-energize for a final push
for a deal.
Murkowski says there is no deadline for concluding the talks.
The two sides are negotiating long-term tax and royalty terms for a
natural gas pipeline stretching from the North Slope to Canada and
markets in the Midwest. The oil companies say they need the
multiyear terms locked in for the 20 billion dollar gas line to be
feasible
Alaska Legislature opens session with booked calendar
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska Legislature has been gaveled in.
The 2006 session opened this morning with lawmakers ready to wade into some of the year's complex issues.
Hearings are scheduled on funding for two multi-million-dollar bridge projects.
Hearings also are scheduled on a bill to tax natural gas reserves, the state's retirement systems, and education funding.
Two of the biggest issues will have to wait.
One is how to spend a projected one-point-two billion dollar budget surplus.
Legislators also must review terms for a 20 billion dollar North Slope natural gas pipeline.
Governor Murkowski must close a deal with three major oil producers before a gas contract can be submitted to the Legislature.
Juneau Valley Representative Bruce Weyhrauch, a member of House Finance and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, says his approach on the budget and the projected $1 point 2 Billion surplus will be to save for the future.
He says that's important since Alaska is a boom and bust economy and the more that's saved for the future, the better. He also believes deferred maintenance needs should be addressed.
As chair of Ways and Means the Republican member of the House Majority says he plans to introduce a number of bills that attempt to address the unfunded liability of the teacher and public employee's retirement systems
Downtown Juneau Representative Beth Kerttula will fill a slot for the Democrat minority on the Finance Committee this session.
She says it will be a big year in terms of the budget because of the record oil prices and the gas line.
Juneau Senator Kim Elton thinks this Legislature will be defined by one or two issues. The first, he says, is a gas line contract. Elton thinks lawmakers should spend a large amount of time focusing on that issue to ensure it is a good contract.
He says a lot of the personal legislation should be set aside in favor of the gas line contract.
The second defining issue for Elton is spending. As part of the debate, Elton thinks its appropriate to include
in that discussion setting aside a large component of the surplus in state savings accounts.
Governor Murkowski is scheduled to deliver his fourth State of the State Address to a joint session of the Legislature Tuesday evening at seven.
He'll deliver a separate budget address Thursday night at seven.
The Legislative Welcome Reception is scheduled for Tuesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Centennial Hall.
Fire
reported in downtown Sitka hotel
The fire at the Sitka Hotel in downtown Sitka early this morning is
more extensive than earlier reported.
Initial reports said the fire had
extended from underneath the structure to the first floor of the
four story building, but retired Fire Chief Jerry Helland told us
later in the morning that it appeared fire extended to all four
floors in the back half of the building.
He says an excavator was brought in
to tear down that part of the structure to prevent it from spreading
to other buildings.
The fire at 118 Lincoln
Street was reported a few minutes after three
a.m.
No injuries were reported. Everybody was evacuated, but
Helland said some people only made it out with what they
had on. People in an apartment house next door were
also
evacuated because of smoke.
He said it appeared to
the firefighters who were first on the scene that the fire started
beneath the back of the building. The front part has a
basement. He didn't know if the cause
was of a suspicious nature. The cause remains under investigation.
Pedestrian
hit by car in crosswalk suffers minor injuries
A pedestrian was hit by a car at 12th and Glacier Avenue a few
minutes before seven this morning.
But police say the vehicle was moving slowly and the victim only
suffered minor injures.
The driver, a 57 year old woman, was cited for failure to yield to a
pedestrian in the crosswalk.
Police say the car was traveling east on 12th Street and the
pedestrian, a 50 year old woman, was in the crosswalk heading south
on Glacier Avenue.
The pedestrian was treated on scene by medics and released.
The 2001 Subaru Legacy did not sustain any damage.
Neither the identities of the
driver or the victim were released by police.
Signatures submitted for gas line and session limit initiatives
Signatures
for a ballot initiative to create a North Slope gas reserves tax
aimed at spurring a gas pipeline project were turned in Friday.
A trio of state lawmakers are co-sponsoring the
measure. The deadline for submission is today.
Anchorage Representative Eric Croft says the reserves tax is meant to make it more expensive to leave gas undeveloped.
He says a deal with B-P,
ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips has been slow in coming, although a deal may come before election day.
Croft says it the state obtains a good deal on a gas line contract this legislative session, there would be no need for the initiative and they will withdraw it.
He says the petition drive gathered about 48-thousand signatures -- well over the 31,500 needed to qualify for the ballot.
Elections officials have 60 days to certify the number.
Croft is also running for governor. He says the gas reserves tax will be part of his message, and he expects a separate group will form to campaign for the initiative.
Signatures for another ballot initiative seeking to limit legislative sessions from 121 days to 90 was also submitted Friday.
Senators Tom Wagoner of Kenai, Gretchen Guess of Anchorage, and Representative Jay Ramras of Fairbanks are sponsoring the measure.
(KENI Radio - Anchorage)
Appropriation ordinances highlight Assembly agenda
The Assembly has several appropriating ordinances up for action tonight. [Monday]
The first deals with a sewer project, according to City Manager Rod Swope, who says it accepts a loan from the State Department of Environmental Conservation as funding for the Bayview Subdivision sewer project.
It appropriates the $1,200,000 loan to partially fund
a new pressure sewer main from Bayview Subdivision to the Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The terms of the low interest loan under the Alaskan Revolving Loan Fund program are 20 years at 1 point 5 percent interest. The loan will be paid with Wastewater Utility customer revenues.
The Bayview sewer system is being connected to the treatment plant due to concerns about meeting state water quality standards.
The estimated total project cost is $1,900,000.
The second ordinance appropriates $2,533,375 in DEC grant funds for the next phase of the North Douglas sewer system and for improvements to the Bayview Subdivision sewer system.
The funds will partially finance extending the North Douglas sewer system about 4000 linear feet along the North Douglas Highway, system improvements to Bayview Subdivision, and the installation of about 7,500 linear feet of sewer force main from Bayview to the Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Grant funds used for the North Douglas Sewer Phase II project will be matched with sales tax, approved by the voters in October 2005.
The third ordinance appropriates funds for an ongoing historical project. it amounts to $4,500 for construction of a replica of the Montana Creek Fish Trap.
The original trap is between 500 to 700 years old.
Four thousand dollars will be provided by the Alaska Humanities Forum and the National Endowment For The Humanities and $500 by the Sealaska Corporation.
Romney
urges GOP to resolve ethical, spending problems
BOSTON (AP) - The Republican governor of Massachusetts wants the president to have line-item veto power over federal budget items.
Mitt Romney says that could eliminate wasteful spending such as a proposed bridge project connecting Ketchikan with Gravina Island.
Romney says his party and future congresses could prevent spending abuses and restore voter confidence by giving the president a line-item veto.
Romney is a potential presidential candidate in 2008.
Romney says the current system allows members of Congress to lard the federal budget with pork-barrel spending and encourages lobbyists to lavish attention on them.
The Ketchikan bridge project has been pushed by Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.
Suspected bank robber arrested
after buying airline ticket
A man who had been in Juneau for less than a day has been arrested
and charged with robbing the downtown branch of First National Bank
Alaska Friday afternoon.
As reported here that evening, 25 year-old Steven Conner of Montana
was charged with felony theft.
Juneau police tracked down Conner at Juneau International Airport
just after 6 p.m.
According to the police investigation, Conner had entered the bank
on Front Street several times during the day.
At 3-48 p.m. he came into the bank for the final time, walked up to a teller and
asked to change some currency.
When the teller opened the till, Conner jumped over the counter
grabbed some cash and fled the bank on foot in the direction of
Franklin Street.
According to witnesses, Conner did not use a weapon.
Juneau police, Alaska State Troopers and the FBI searched the area
for the suspect and any leads.
At about 6-10 p.m. staff with Alaska Airlines called police
reporting that a man matching the suspect's description, provided by
police, had just purchased an airline ticket with cash.
Police say the stolen money's serial numbers and the cash used
to buy the ticket matched.
Police located Conner at the airport and detained him.
After bank employees positively identified Conner as the bank
robber, he was arrested.
He's lodged at Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
This is the second time in three months that the First National Bank
Alaska downtown location has been robbed.
The bank was robbed October 12th.
32 year-old Neil Haapala pleaded guilty to robbing the bank
and is now in prison.
Haapala was arrested about six hours after the robbery.
Armed man robs Fairbanks massage parlor
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say an armed man robbed a Fairbanks massage parlor Saturday night but didn't get much money.
Troopers say the gunman departed Lee's Massage Parlor on the Old Richardson Highway with only 20 dollars in cash.
Troopers describe the robber as about 21 years old with black hair and a short mustache.
He was wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt and blue jeans.
Troopers say he entered the business just before midnight, produced a gun and threatened the owner.
The suspect fled in a light-color utility van described as very dirty and loud.
Search
continuing for missing
Angoon man at last report
The search continued in the Angoon area Sunday for 36
year old Kevin O'Brian.
O'Brian was reported missing last
Sunday evening, January 1.
Angoon Search and Rescue had eight
boats out searching.
An official said they would
continue searching until the family indicated the effort should end.
A decision on that may come today. (Monday)
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.
O'Brian's sea bag has been found. It was located floating about a
mile west of Parker's Point, about eight miles north of the
community.
Borough proposed in Delta area
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A commission of residents who live near Delta Junction is petitioning to organize a new borough.
The proposed Deltana Borough would be the first new borough in Alaska since 19-92.
If approved by Alaska's Local Boundary Commission, the proposal could be put to a vote as soon as next fall.
Organizers say a borough government would contribute about 800-thousand dollars to local education.
The state now pays nearly all the cost of schools.
Backers of the borough say a new gold mine will pay most of the costs of the local government.
Advocates also say their chief selling point has been that they need to ward off worse alternatives, such as annexation by the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Bears' men win tourney, Lady Bears sweep Sitka, hockey team loses
two
The Juneau Douglas High School men's basketball team won the Alaska Prep Shootout in Anchorage Saturday night.
The Crimson Bears earned the trophy with a 65 to 60 victory.
The Bears advanced to the championship game with a 63 to 61 overtime win over Bartlett Friday night.
The Lady Bears earned their second win at Sitka this weekend. Saturday night's
score was 52 to 46. Friday's
score was 47 to 42.
The Crimson Bears' hockey team lost another game Saturday night to Delta Junction. The score was 11 to 4. Friday's score was 11 to 3.
Fletcher second in World Cup event
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A high finish in a World Cup event may mean an Olympic berth for Alaska snowboarder Rosie Fletcher.
The 30-year-old Girdwood resident placed second yesterday (Sunday) in the parallel giant slalom race in Austria.
The Olympic snowboard team roster won't be announced until January 21st.
But Fletcher's runner-up finish Sunday and her high ranking among American boarders is expected to land her a spot on the 16-member team.
U-S Olympic Snowboard officials say their top criteria in picking team members in parallel giant slalom is a top-four World Cup result.
Fletcher is the only American rider to have done that this season.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Arctic
Games general manager gets more duties
KENAI, Alaska (AP) - The general manager for this year's Arctic
Winter Games will get some new duties.
Tim Dillon also has assumed the responsibilities of sports manager
for the games.
Chris Hayes had been in that position, but had to resign because of
health reasons.
Dillon's additional duties include meeting with 20 committee chairs
to make sure all final preparations are in place for the March games
in the Kenai Peninsula.
Trade agreement may make it easier to sell Alaska logs to China
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - It could soon become easier to sell Alaska logs to China.
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has helped broker a trade agreement. The agreement will allow Alaska logs to be fumigated in a province in eastern China.
China requires that all wood products be rid of bugs before entering the country. Until the trade agreement was signed last month, most China-bound Alaska logs underwent fumigation aboard freighters anchored in Japan.
Doug Warner with D-N-R says fumigating in China should reduce costs for Alaska log exporters.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Forestry officials approve timber harvest
WASILLA, Alaska (AP) - State forestry officials have approved a timber sale of about 13-hundred acres near Wasilla.
The sale near Kroto Creek, off Petersville Road, is the state's largest timber offering in the Mat-Su
Borough in nearly two decades.
The sale got approval despite opposition from local groups. They claim logging could open up the area to four wheelers that could damage streams that support salmon and trout populations.
Some also questioned whether logging would harm local tourism-based businesses such as sled-dogs tours and flightseeing operations.
Opponents have until January 24th to appeal the decision.
But supporters like the Alaska Moose Federation, Alaska Forest Association and the Resource Development Council say the sale will create jobs and improve moose habitat.
Collars map bears' movements in Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Bears are not shying away from Alaska's largest city.
A military-funded survey tagged nine grizzly bears with radio-controlled collars to track their movements in Anchorage.
Scientists say the collars show grizzly bears spend much of the summer in Anchorage, but usually out of sight of its human residents.
The study shows the bears are most active at night, feeding on berries, moose calves or fish. They sleep during the day when most of Anchorage is awake. And people rarely reported seeing any of them.
The findings also show sow bears with cubs tend to stay in well-defined home ranges. But males tend to travel farther.
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Besides the nine tagged bears, biologists don't know for sure how many total bears are in the Anchorage area.
About 60 brown, or grizzly, bears are thought to live between the Knik River and Turnagain Arm.
At least 250 black bears are thought to be in the area.
OSU
researchers finding whales in surprising places by listening
NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) - Researchers have developed a new tool to help
them study endangered whales.
Autonomous hydrophones can be deployed in the ocean to record the
unique clicks, pulses and calls of different whale species.
Those efforts are leading to some surprising findings, including the
discovery by a team of researchers of rare right whales swimming in
the Gulf of Alaska.
An assistant professor at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine
Science Center in Newport says they have only one confirmed sighting
of a right whale. David Mellinger says that was in the Gulf of
Alaska in 1980.
Mellinger says scientists have been able to use the hydrophones to
distinguish sounds made by different whale species.
Blue whales off the Pacific Northwest sound different than
populations of blue whales that live in the western Pacific Ocean.
Winter
bikers defy weather
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - On the most frigid winter nights, they're a
startling sight.
From Minneapolis to Milwaukee, from Alaska to Sweden, winter bikers
-- and the clubs and Web sites devoted to them -- are springing up
all over the place.
Some are in it for the workout, some because they want to live in a
world with fewer cars and less fossil fuel use.
Sarah Kaplan doesn't own a car and hates driving. She uses her bike
for work, delivering magazines one day a week on a 20-mile route
through some of Chicago's busiest streets.
She's also an organizer of Chicago's Bike Winter social group. She
says there are more new participants every year. Recently, interest
has spawned new chapters in Milwaukee, Madison, Wisconsin, and Ann
Arbor, Michigan.
Malcolm McEwen, who lives and works in Fairbanks, Alaska, says it's
a way to see the outdoors in winter. McEwen bikes the five-mile
round trip to work two or three days a week all year round.
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