Juneau Daily News Online

Wednesday, January 17, 2001  ©  Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio News

Consensus building on school calendar
   Early start may not happen
The School Board is moving closer to adopting next year's' school calendar. After last night's meeting, Board President Mary Becker said she believes there's a consensus forming among members. That consensus calls for starting school around August 27th with students beginning the next day. In that event, the school year would end the first week of June. A final version of the calendar is scheduled for a vote during the next board meeting on January 30th.

Knowles' minimum wage bill faces GOP competition
Governor Tony Knowles introduced his minimum wage bill this morning to raise the wage to six dollars and 40 cents this year and seven dollars and 15 cents next year. Knowles promised the measure last week in his State of the State speech. The Democratic governor's bill also includes automatic adjustments to keep up with inflation in future years. The bill's in competition with a measure filed last week by Representative Pete Kott. The Eagle River Republican's measure calls for similar increases in the next two years, but doesn't include automatic inflation adjustments. Kott says he's not opposed to the inflation increases. But leaders of the G-O-P controlled Legislature are wary of the idea.

Bids for state telecommunication services under review
The state is reviewing three bids to contract out telecommunication services. Administration Commissioner Jim Duncan says the schedule calls for making a decision on whether or not to contract that work out by mid-March. Forty two state jobs are impacted. The Commissioner says the administration has a letter of agreement with the unions on the protection of the workers' rights. The employees are given three options. They could accept a job with the successful bidder. Duncan says that would extinguish any rights they have as a state employee. The second option is finding another job within state government which would require the administration to place them in a position with like pay and benefits as soon as possible. The third option involves continuing their present job at the same level of pay and benefits, but be managed by the private company. The bidders were instructed to respond to the letter of agreement, according to Commissioner Duncan.

Munoz discusses budget work on Capital Chat
Assembly Finance Committee Chair Cathy Munoz discussed the process for crafting the city's budget for next fiscal year while a guest on KINY's Capital Chat this morning. She said she believes it will be a "hold the line" budget. She doesn't expect services will be impacted, but doesn't envision any increase in services. The initial part of the process will include a review of recommendations made last year by a Fiscal Task Force. One involves how the sales tax is imposed by sun setting exemptions which would require a periodic review by the Assembly. Munoz believes that would raise public awareness of exemptions and get the Assembly talking about the issue. A caller to the program suggested collecting delinquent sales taxes. Munoz said that issue is one of great frustration to her. She said the greatest delinquency right now involves the sale of pull tabs. Munoz said a court ruling is expected in the next few days. She hopes that ruling will allow the city to collect tax that is past due and require operators to abide by the law in the future. The spending plan for the second year of the current two year budget cycle must be in place by June 15th.

$Ten Million in tax refunds due Alaskans from Uncle Sam
Unclaimed refunds owed to about 77-hundred Alaskans from the Internal Revenue Service amounts to $10 Million. IRS official Judy Monahan in Seattle says the refunds are due to people who failed to file a 1997 income tax return. But she says the return must be filed by April 16th in order to claim the refund. For more information call the IRS toll free at 1-800-TAX FORM or go to the agency's web site at www[dot]irs[dot]gov

Coast Guard standing by to assist disabled cargo ship
A Coast Guard cutter has come to the aid of a disabled cargo ship 120 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor in Aleutians. The engine of the 595 foot Alam Selaras, a Malaysian flagged bulk carrier conked out yesterday after experiencing initial trouble over the weekend. The master hasn't requested Coast Guard assistance, but the Alex Haley is standing by just in case. The tug from Dutch Harbor is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
The vessel with a crew of 23 is on its way from Vancouver, British Columbia to Japan with a load of grain. The cutter was diverted from patrol in the Bering Sea Crab fishery to help.

Hickel sounds off on issues facing state while in Juneau
Former Governor Wally Hickel spoke to a group of Coast Guard members at Juneau's ANB Hall this morning as a motivational speaker during a health and fitness seminar. He talked to reporters after his presentation. and said construction of the natural gas pipeline has to happen. He added that there's no need to provide inducements to the oil industry to build it. Hickel, who is a visionary when it comes to big projects, believes a tunnel under the Bering Sea to accommodate a railroad is just a matter of time. On the chance that he might once againthrow his hat into a political ring, Hickel said he's always doing something, but he's not running for office. The 80 year old former Interior Secretary says he works out for a hour and a half every day which he says has benefited his life.

Sitka water dubbed "True"
The company planning to bottle and sell Sitka water has picked a name for its product. Sitka Beverage Corporation officials say the water they bottle from Blue Lake will be sold under the name ``True.'' The company worked with a Los Angeles marketing company to pick the name. Sitka Beverage Corporation President Bob McDaniel says the name symbolizes the importance of water to life, and the importance of water being as pure as possible. The company is leasing land from the city of Sitka for its bottling plant at the former Alaska Pulp Corporation mill site. Company officials hope to begin production next month.

Air guard safety record achieves milestone
The Alaska Air National Guard's 176 Wing is trumpeting a milestone in its safety record. The wing has flown more than 150-thousand hours without any major accidents. The Guard has not had a major accident in more than 35 years. The last one was on December 15th, 1965, when a transport plane crashed at the Air Force's remote site at Cape Romanzof, 460 miles west of Anchorage. File crew members on board perished that day. Wing Vice Commander Colonel Gene Ramsay says the record is remarkable because the wing flies in harsh arctic conditions and deploy to more places over the globe than ever.

Student loan bills heard in committee
Legislators are looking at two bills that would forgive part of Alaskans' student loans. One would forgive up to 50 percent of an Alaska student loan for those who teach in the state at least five years. The other would forgive up to half the loan for those who work in the state for five years.

Anchorage fight victim remains hospitalized
An Anchorage teen remains in a coma after being struck in the head with a baseball bat by another teen in a weekend fight. Sixteen-year-old Tad Joseph Sheffield has been charged as an adult with first-degree assault. The name of the victim has not been released.

University museum nets private donation
Totem Ocean Trailer Express is donating one hundred thousand dollars to the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks in the name of the Morris Thompson family. Thompson, his wife Thelma and his daughter Sheryl died in the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 one year ago. Thompson was chief executive officer of Doyon and an active museum supporter.

Strong winds to peter out this afternoon
A wind advisory is in effect for the Juneau area. National Weather Service Forecaster Bob Shontz says to expect gusts as high as 45 miles per hour in exposed areas. He adds it doesn't appear it will be a wide spread, strong wind event. The forecaster says the winds should drop off this afternoon after the weather front moves through the area.

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