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Murkowski
announces DOT reorganization
Governor Frank Murkowski has directed the Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities to reorganize the state's aviation and marine highway
systems in an effort to establish clear operating lines between the DOT's
highways, aviation and marine highway sections.
Murkowski hopes to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the
department's management and to provide better public participation.
The Alaska Marine Highway System will move from under the authority of
DOT's Southeast Region to the Commissioner's office.
Murkowski says the new organizational structure should allow the Marine
Highway to receive more attention from the department's top management.
All of the department's aviation functions will move to the authority of
one deputy commissioner.
Murkowski's administrative order also creates two advisory boards.
One
will provide recommendations about the operations of the Marine Highway
System and the other will advise on the operations of state owned
airports.
ANWR to be pushed again in Senate
by GOP
Senate Republicans are going to try again to open an Arctic wildlife
sanctuary to oil drilling.
Attempts to lift the ban on oil development in Alaska's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge were thwarted last year when Democrats vowed a filibuster.
The new plan has been discussed in detail by two key Senate committee
chairmen -- senators Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Don Nickles of
Oklahoma.
Domenici says they'll try to include the drilling provision in the annual
budget reconciliation process, which is not subject to filibuster.
Depending on who's talking, the Arctic refuge is either a pristine
landscape that demands to be protected, or the home of the largest
remaining pools of domestic oil that need to be developed for energy
independence.
Small fire doused at marina
Capital City Fire and Rescue responded to a report of a fire this morning
under the docks at Fishermen's Bend Marina in Auke Bay.
George Reifenstein is the Volunteer Fire Chief for the Auke Bay - Lynn
Canal District.
He explained that they found a small fire under the main electrical supply
line under the gang way leading to the dock. He says a boat owner quickly
knocked down the blaze for a portable extinguisher. Volunteer firefighters
followed up with an application of foam.
Marina personnel were making repairs to the electrical lines, according to
the fire chief.
The call came in shortly after eight o'clock.
High school work on schedule
The renovation work at Juneau Douglas High School is on schedule.
That according to Principal Deb Morse during her daily report on KINY this
morning. She said it was going great. Plans call for moving back into the
commons area, a new kitchen, administrative and counseling offices at
Spring break. Half of the third floor will also be done at that point. A
switch will be made with students and teachers moving into renovated
classrooms while work picks up on the second half of that floor.
State labor authorities respond to
Kmart closures
The state labor department is mobilizing to aid Kmart employees in Alaska
who soon will be out of work.
Labor Commissioner Greg O'Claray says he's assembled a Rapid Response team
of labor employees to assist Kmart workers.
The announcement comes two days after Kmart announced it would close all
five of its Alaska stores and stores in other states as part of a
bankruptcy plan.
O'Claray says a Rapid Response team is standing by to assist the estimated
nine hundred and 32 people who could be affected by the closures.
Kmart announced Tuesday that it would close its stores in Anchorage,
Fairbanks, Juneau and Kenai as part of a plan to shutter 326 stores
nationwide.
O'Claray says labor employees will swing into action when the bankruptcy
court in Chicago acts on Kmart's proposal or when the company officially
notifies the state of its closure plans.
"Cruise ship Blues" author visiting
Juneau
The author of "Cruise Ship Blues: the Underside of the Cruise
Industry" is in Juneau and was a guest on KINY's Capital Chat this
morning.
Ross Klein is a social work professor at Memorial University of
Newfoundland in St. Johns, Newfoundland.
He says his goal is not to "trash" the industry. He says he
enjoys cruising as a vacation choice and would like to back to the times
when he felt good about it.
Klein says his intent is to raise the issues and, ideally, help the
industry become more responsible. He says its matter of trying to raise
the standard because he believes the industry will respond to pressure if
its there. And if the pressure is not there, he doesn't believe the
industry will clean up its act.
Klein speaks tonight at seven o'clock in the Assembly Chambers at City
Hall.
Nearly $70,000 raised for
scholarships at UAS
University of Alaska Winter Scholarship Soiree raised $68,830 for
scholarships.
The University's Kevin Meyers says $15,830 was raised through ticket
sales, the silent auction, a raffle and from money donated in the casino.
First National Bank of Anchorage sponsored the event with a $10,000
donation and an additional $43,000 was raised in the months leading up to
the Soiree.
The fund raiser was held on the Auke Lake Campus this past weekend., as
part of the grand opening of the Egan Library Classroom addition.
Traffic increase reported by
airline
Alaska Airlines' traffic increased nearly 22 percent in December.
Company official Jack Walsh says that's above the norm for the airline
industry, but he says they're still losing money. He says fares are still
down quite a bit and expenses are up. So even with the increased traffic,
Walsh says its still a very difficult time for every airline.
He cited a number of factors for Alaska's performance. He says even before
9-11 the company maintained a conservative financial approach. He says
their costs were better controlled than at many other airlines.
In addition, he says air travel in Alaska is much more essential than in
many parts of the country.
Coast Guard comes to aide of
crabber
The Misty Blue, a 100 foot crab boat, started taking on water yesterday
afternoon about 70 miles southeast of St. Paul Island.
Lieutenant Stacy Fain in the Juneau Command Center says they sent a
helicopter staged on St. Paul and a C-130 from Kodiak to the scene. The
cutter Midget, which was about three and a half hours away, was also
directed to the area.
A pump was dropped to the crew. by the copter. The lieutenant says the
boat was listing heavily so the crew jettisoned its crab pots and
readjusted their fuel load.
The crew with the help of Coast Guard members were able to de-water the
vessel. That's when a fresh water main break which was causing the
flooding was discovered.
The cutter escorted the Misty Blue back to St. Paul Island.
Farmed salmon protest staged in
B-C town
A protest was held yesterday at a remote coastal town in British Columbia
to rally against the Ocean Falls salmon farm.
About 150 people representing environmentalists, fishermen and Indians
participated in the protest. The protesters included groups as far away as
Alaska who oppose British Columbia's expansion of fish farming.
Protests also were planned for Hong Kong, Hamburg, Germany, and Seattle.
About two dozen boats took part in the Ocean Falls protest, which ended
with a march to the site where a fish hatchery is being built by Omega
Salmon.
Ian McAllister, a spokesman for the Raincoast Conservation Society which
helped organize the protest, says pen-raised Atlantic salmon believed to
have escaped from fish farms have been found in the Bering Sea.
And protesters say fish farms cause pollution and spread disease and
infestations such as sea lice to wild salmon.
They also say the Ocean Falls hatchery project was approved without
consultation of Indian tribes in the area.
Stevens committee assignments made
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been formally appointed to chair the
Appropriations Committee.
In that capacity, he will also serve as Chair of the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee.
The committee is responsible for preparing the 13 annual bills that
provide funding for federal agencies and any supplemental requests from
the Executive Branch.
Stevens will also serve on five other committees. Those are Commerce,
Science and Transportation; Governmental Affairs; Rules and
Administration; and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress.
Stevens has also agreed to serve on the Select Committee on Aging.
Projections call for a smaller
increase of jobs in Anchorage
Anchorage is likely to see fewer new jobs this year compared to last year.
The Anchorage Economic Development Corporation says it expects about
17-hundred new jobs to be created in Anchorage this year. That's down from
the 21-hundred jobs added to the local economy last year.
Feds lift snowmachine ban on part
of Kenai Peninsula
The U-S Forest Service has suspended a ban on snowmachines on a popular
network of trails near Moose Pass.
The agency says it wants to give area residents and others more time to
comment on the issue.
The agency closed the area around Crescent and Carter lakes to
snowmachines last year as part of its Chugach National Park management
plan.
But some residents say they were never notified of the proposal. A number
of residents and local groups filed appeals by protesting the hearing
process that led to the closure.
The agency says it plans to hold public meetings on the issue and it will
reconsider the move.
Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio News) |
