Cowan leaving superintendent job
Juneau School District Superintendent Peggy Cowan is leaving that position after her contract expires June 30th.

That despite a positive evaluation from her boss, the School Board as we reported a couple of weeks ago.

The board was poised to renew her contract, but she informed President Mark Choate Wednesday that she would not seek a new contract.  She informed staff Friday morning.  

Cowan says a plan to find a replacement is not in place yet. She intends to work to make it a smooth transition.

She tells us her goal is to remain in education and work in the instructional area closer to students. 

Palin unveils energy goals for cities, villages
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Conservation groups are praising Governor Sarah Palin for setting ambitious goals with her state energy plan.

At a news conference in Anchorage Friday, Palin called for generating 50 percent of Alaska's power with renewable resources by 2025.

The plan is short on details but Palin is calling for utilities within the Railbelt to work together to create regional projects that could lower energy costs and meet the goal of 50 percent renewable energy.

Palin also unveiled a guide listing alternative energy assets of every village in Alaska.

She's hoping the guide can be used to wean far-flung villages off electricity generated by burning diesel fuel that must be imported by barge or airplane.
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Palin energy adviser Steve Haagenson oversaw the village report.

At the press conference Friday, he unveiled the first 77 projects picked for grants from the $100 million Alaska Renewable Energy Fund.

They range from wind farms in the Aleutians, Kodiak and Delta Junction to a landfill gas recovery project in Anchorage.

State legislative leaders have warned that with the precipitous drop in the price of crude oil, money for renewable energy projects may not be so plentiful in 2009.

Gov's office responds to concerns over "capital creep" 
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The governor's office has responded to criticism over the so-called capital creep, or moving state government jobs out of Juneau.

The issue came to head Thursday when a former state commissioner criticized members of the Juneau delegation for not protecting the jobs. Greg O'Clary claims 200 state jobs have left Juneau since Palin took office.

But Rep. Beth Kerttula and Sen. Kim Elton blamed Gov. Sarah Palin for moving the jobs.

Bill McAllister is the spokesman for Palin. In an e-mail Friday to The Associated Press, he says Palin "does not micromanage the deployment of state personnel."

He says each department decides what configuration best suits its objectives.

McAllister says there has been no goal or quota to move jobs out of Juneau and he couldn't confirm the figure of 200 jobs.

But he says even if true, that is "a fraction of the 24,000 state employees."

McAllister says "it has long been a fact that more state employees live and work in both Anchorage and Fairbanks than in Juneau. Wherever commissioners and other state employees live, they go to Juneau when needed there."

Crews being work on Snettisham repair, electric usage down about 10 percent
Work is underway to restore the line to the Snettisham hydro plant following Monday's avalanche that took out Tower 35.

Scott Willis of Alaska Electric Light and Power said on Capital Chat this morning that its his understanding that crews did get on site Thursday.

He said the first order of business is dig out the foundation of Tower 35, which was knocked down by the avalanche, as well as the helicopter pads to make preparations for a work site.

Four lineman are there now and four more will be on scene Monday from City Electric in Anchorage.

On another matter, Willis says usage of electricity has fallen just like it did last year as residents conserve.

He says total energy usage has dropped about ten percent since Monday.

In addition, he says there was anywhere from an 8 to ten percent conservation rate that's carried over from last year's energy crisis.

As reported earlier, the utility will submit a request to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska next month for an emergency rate of 30 cents per kilowatt hour, which is three times what users pay now.

The emergency rate will be in place for as long as the utility on diesel generation.

The rate skyrocketed to 52 cents a kilowatt hour in the wake of last year's avalanche event on the line.  

Search for new CBJ manager narrowed
The search for a replacement for City and Borough of Juneau Manager Rod Swope has been narrowed to nine.

Swope said on Capital Chat Friday that 33 applications were received. It was initially narrowed to 11, but since then two have withdrawn.

All but one of the remaining nine reside outside Alaska. Swope says there's one Alaskan. That applicant once resided in Juneau, but now lives in Anchorage.

The next step, according to Swope, is to conduct phone interviews all day Monday and half the day on Tuesday.

He assumes the Assembly at that point will try to narrow the field to 3 or 4 and conduct in-person interviews with that batch of applicants.

Swope says he's still hopeful for a six week transition prior to his last day on April 30th

Crimson Bears hockey team earns another win
The Juneau Douglas High School hockey team wraps up its home schedule this weekend.

The Crimson Bears defeated Monroe Catholic of Fairbanks 5 to 0 Friday night.

The Bear's record is now at 13 and 4

Face off is at 7 Saturday night.

Tickets are available at the door.

2 teens missing on snowmobile in western Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say heavy snow and winds nearing 35 miles per hour are hampering the search for two teenagers missing from Pitkas Point in western Alaska.

The teens left on a snowmobile Thursday night and were last week by a friend at 10:15 p.m.

An initial search found fresh snowmobile tracks that ended at a lead in the Andreafsky River.

Troopers say the teens may have gone into the river with their machine.

Searchers were evaluating conditions and hoping for a break in the weather to resume a search Saturday afternoon. The temperature was about 35 degrees.

Pitkas Point is a community of about 138 near the junction of the Yukon and Andreafsky Rivers. It is 5 miles northwest of St. Mary's.

2 Juneau guides sentenced
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Two Juneau guides have been sentenced for wildlife crimes.

Shawn and Shane Hooton earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act. Prosecutors say they conspired with their father, Larry Hooten, also a registered guide, to exceed their one hunt permit for brown bears on Admiralty Island.

Prosecutors say instead of one bear, the Hootens took four.

Forty-two-year-old Shawn Hooton was sentenced to two years probation, three months home confinement and a $30,000 fine. He also is prohibited from commercial guiding and hunting during his two years' probation.

Forty-one-year-old Shane Hooton was sentenced to one year probation and a fine of $20,000. He also is prohibited from commercial guiding and hunting while on probation.

Larry Hooten will be sentenced in March.

Plan being developed to salvage sunk vessel
NIKISKI, Alaska (AP) - The Coast Guard says the search for a sunken oil supply vessel has not turned up ay sign of the vessel yet.  

The search resumed on Saturday. The vessel sank in the Cook Inlet near an oil platform near Nikiski.

The vessel, called the Monarch, sank when ice pinned it against a leg of the Granite Point oil platform 16 miles from Nikiski.

No one was injured. However, the chief engineer was treated for coming into contact with diesel fuel.

The Coast Guard says the investigation into the sinking continues.

Interviews with the crew will continue.

Ketchikan firm has low bid for airport ferry
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - State transportation officials may not have to go far for a replacement ferry serving the Ketchikan Airport.

Alaska Ship and Drydock in Ketchikan is the low bidder for the contract.

The company's bid of just more than $7 million was lower than proposals from Foss Maritime Co. and Nichols Brothers Boatbuilders Inc., which came in at $8.2 million and $8.8 million.

The ferry operates between Revillagigedo Island, where most of the population of Ketchikan is located, and Gravina Island, the site of the state airport.

The Alaska Legislature appropriated $5.7 million for the 116-foot vessel.

Bid specifications call for the ferry to be delivered by September 2010.

Alaska Marine Highway System undergoes schedule change
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska Marine Highway System's ferry schedule has undergone several changes through March 8.

The state's Transportation Department says the changes are made to accommodate various school athletic and academic teams travel needs between Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound communities.

Marine Highway General Manager Capt. John Falvey says the department can meet the needs of these communities without a major disruption to other service.

Marine Highway officials say people using the ferries should go to the department's Web site for updates.

Schedules can be found at www.ferryalaska.com 

Delayed fire department response to court house under investigation
There was a delayed response by Capital City Fire Rescue yesterday afternoon to a report of fire alarms at the State Court House on Fourth Street downtown.

Division Chief Rich Etheridge says they were notified by an occupant of the building at about 1:48 p.m.

He says it was reported the alarms were ringing for an unknown period of time before they were notified. Fire Marshall Dan Jager is looking in to the delayed response.

The alarm panel reported sprinkler water flow on multiple floors which Etheridge says may be an indicator of a fire traveling through a building or a water surge in the system.

He says firefighters searched the building and found no evidence of a fire. They determined a water surge was the cause.

No damage was reported.

Nearly 100 warnings issued to Valley residents for using wood stoves during air emergencies
The City and Borough of Juneau reinstituted its air quality program in the Mendenhall Valley this winter that shuts down the use of wood stoves during an air inversion.

It's aimed at complying with more stringent air quality regulations adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency which identified Juneau last month as one of seven areas in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska as a "fine particle pollution non-attainment area."

CBJ Land and Resources Manager Heather Marlow said on Capital Chat that police department Community Service Officers have been enforcing the program.

No one has been cited, but nearly 100 warnings have been issued as the officers drive around the Valley looking for wood smoke usage during an air emergency. Some open burning has also been stopped.

Generally, she says people are compliant during the daytime, but the monitor on the Floyd Dryden Middle School indicates compliance is dropping in the evening and weekends.

She says they're working on changing that.

Marlow was joined on today's program by Alice Edwards who is the acting director of the Division of Air Quality in the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Hungry bald eagle on the mend
One eagle was fatally injured Thursday in a collision with a vehicle on Egan Drive but another was saved thanks to concerned homeowners.

The homeowners discovered a bald eagle in their wooded back yard, just standing there and when their dog approached the eagle didn't move.

That's when they decided to call the Juneau Raptor Center.

The Center's Kathy Benner went to scene, and with the help of the homeowners, they were able to catch him.

Benner says the eagle was pretty week. She says the eagle tried to run away but couldn't fly.

They caught the eagle, in waist high snow, using dark sheets to get him into an enclosed area.

Benner says, right now, it looks like the eagle was failing to thrive. He wasn't finding enough food to eat.

She says the eagle's wings look good, and with the help of some antibiotics and good food, he should be ready to go out to the center's flight enclosure in a week or two.  

Interior issues offshore drilling plan
By H. JOSEF HEBERT - Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Interior Department has issued a detailed proposal for widespread oil and gas drilling off both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

The proposal issued in the Bush administration's final days calls for the sites to be leased within five to six years.

The draft plan would offer oil and gas development leases from New England to Florida and off the California coast - areas that for a quarter century have not had energy development and until recently were declared off limits by Congress.

It will be up to President-elect Barack Obama whether to proceed with the revised five-year leasing plan. He could scale it back or scrap it altogether.

Interior officials said the document will give the next administration maximum flexibility to expand offshore drilling.

The plan also calls for a number of leases off Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, mostly in waters that have not been subject to a drilling moratorium.

Kipnuk man killed in snowmachine accident
KIPNUK, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say a 30-year-old Kipnuk man has died in a snowmachine accident.

Troopers say Lewis Paul died when he lost control of the snowmachine Thursday and it rolled. Paul was not wearing a helmet.

Kipnuk is in western Alaska 515 miles west of Anchorage.

Fort Richardson troops ordered to Afghanistan
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Army has ordered 3,500 paratroopers based at Fort Richardson to deploy to Afghanistan.

The 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team (25th Infantry Division) will ship out next month, 15 months after spending a year and two months in Iraq.

The brigade's deployment to central and southern Iraq began in October 2006 and concluded in December 2007. Fifty-three soldiers died and 350 were wounded.

In Afghanistan, the paratroopers will relieve a brigade already in the country while joining Regional Command East of the NATO-led security and development mission near the Pakistani border.

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News

Snowmachine race will shut down Haines Highway
The Haines Highway will be closed for several hours Saturday to accommodate the Alcan 200 Snowmachine race.

The roadway will be shut down from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. according to race sponsor Chilkat Snowburners