|
St. Clairs' sentenced to
prison
A Juneau man could spend the next 35 years in prison for a near fatal attack
on a cab driver.
Today (Friday), Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks sentenced Aaron St. Clair
to 50 years in prison with 15 years suspended.
St. Clair pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder in Juneau Superior
Court, October 22nd.
St. Clair was charged with the January 7th, 2004 stabbing and robbery of cab
driver Eric Drake.
As part of the plea deal, the other charges in the indictment, first-degree
assault, first-degree robbery and tampering with physical evidence were
dismissed.
Attempted murder carries a
penalty of a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 99 years in prison.
In a plea agreement in
October, St. Clair's wife, 19 year-old Violet St. Clair, pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit robbery.
Today, Judge Weeks sentenced Violet St. Clair to eight years in prison with
four years suspended
According to the police investigation, Violet St. Clair called for the cab
on her cell phone and sat in the seat next to Drake as her husband stabbed,
slashed and cut the cab driver's throat from the back seat.
The attack occurred on the night of January 7th outside a motel in the
Jordan Creek area.
Police say the St. Clairs' fled the attack on foot with $60 from Drake's
wallet.
State support of retirement
costs could benefit Juneau taxpayers
City and Borough of Juneau Manager Rod Swope supported the Governor's
decision to provide assistance for local governments in his proposed budget
to help pay for retirement costs while a guest on KINY's Capital Chat this
morning.
The Governor told lawmakers in a joint session last week that he wants $37
point 5 Million over two years for that purpose.
For Juneau, Swope says that means approximately a million dollars for each
year. It says it would be an offset to what it cost the city and borough.
While there are a lot of needs, Swope said he would consider and probably
recommend to the Assembly that a portion of that savings somehow be given
back to the taxpayers. He suggested either through property tax or a utility
rates.
On another subject, Swope said his snow removal budget is fine even
following all the snow that was dumped on the town during this week's storm.
Prior to this week, he said they really haven't tapped into that budget at
all this winter.
Schools were shut down Wednesday because of the snow and Swope shut down all
but essential city services.
Swope said he was as little surprised to learn that Eaglecrest was opening
for day. His purpose in calling for a "snow day" was to try to
reduce the traffic and keep people off the roads due to unsafe conditions.
2004 saw no child deaths in fire,
first time since records kept in 1961
There were no child fire deaths for 2004 in Alaska.
Its the first year that no child under 19 perished in a fire since recording
began in 1961, according to the Alaska Division of Fire Prevention in the
Department of Public Safety.
Jodie Hettrick, the division's public education coordinator says the
statistics show a decline in child fire deaths, especially in the most
recent ten year period.
Between 1994 and 2003 an average of three children, under the age of ten,
died from fire every year. She says this is a great improvement from the
previous period, 1984 to 1993 when an average of 6 children died from fire
each year.
Alaska State Fire Marshal Gary Powell believes it shows that parents and
care givers are taking personal responsibility for the safety of their
children.
He feels that their educational efforts are beginning to pay great dividend.
Powell says safer home construction is also considered a large contributing
factor to the decline.
To continue to keep children safe from fire the division reminds parents and
care givers to keep flame sources away from children and teach children to
treat fire with respect and extreme caution.
Unemployment up in Alaska in December
Alaska's unemployment rate increased six-tenths of a percent to 7.6 percent in December.
State Labor Department Economist Dan Robinson says the increase is seasonal and typical for this time of year due mostly to slowdowns in seafood processing and construction.
There were 2,062 more people reported unemployed last month for a total of 26,082.
Juneau's rate increased from 5.8 in November up to 6.4 percent in December. Robinson says the increase is due mainly to the seasonal slowdown in seafood processing and construction.
The number of people unemployed in the Capitol City went from 965 in November to 1,039 in December.
The Skagway, Hoonah, Angoon census area saw an increase from 15.2 to 15.9 . The number of unemployed went up from 308 to 314.
The rate in Haines rose from 11.5 up to 12.0. The number of unemployed increased slightly from138 to 141.
The rate for Prince of Wales Island increased from 11.5 to 13.9 percent. The number of unemployed went from 295 to 354.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the rate increased from 8.6 percent to 9.8. The number of unemployed went from 606 up to 677.
Anchorage's rate increased a little less than other areas. It went from 4.9 up to 5.1. percent; the same as October.
Robinson says Anchorage's economy is probably big enough to absorb the increase, in addition to not having many seafood processing jobs.
The number of unemployed in Anchorage went 7,606 up to 8,014.
Anchorage's rate was the lowest in the state last month. The highest was the Wade Hampton census area in western Alaska at 25 percent.
The rate in Fairbanks during December was 6 point 2 percent. That's up from November's 5 point 7 percent, but down from last year's rate of 7 point 1 percent.
There were 2,826 unemployed in the Interior City during December compared to 2,564 in November.
Fire department urges
Juneau residents to "Adopt A Hydrant"
Capital City Fire Rescue is urging residents to adopt a fire hydrant nearest
them and liberate it from the snow.
Fire Marshall Rich Ethridge says if they get a fire call, it may take an
extra five or ten minutes in some cases to find hydrants and get it dug out.
To find them, look for the little orange flags that stick out from the top
of the snow banks or contact the Water Utility.
Streets Division wants public help
clearing storm drains
The CBJ Streets Division is looking for assistance in clearing storm drains,
especially with the rain now.
Streets Superintendent Mike Scott urges residents to clear drains in front
of or near their property if they know where they're at. And help out your
neighbor if need be, he adds.
Another problem area are parked vehicles that are buried in the snow along
streets. Scott says they need to be moved or the street can't be widened out
to the gutters where the storm drains are.
He says his crews will be out as much as possible. They'll be working all
day tomorrow (Saturday). He's going to try to give them Sunday off, if the
weather allows.
Regardless, Scott emphasizes they won't be able to be everywhere all at
once.
Strides made in aviation in Juneau now helping Palm Springs
Palm Springs is now benefiting from technology pioneered here in Juneau.
Its cutting edge flight guidance technology employed by Alaska Airlines.
Itss known as GPS, or Global Positioning System technology here. Its
dubbed RNP, short for Required Navigation Performance, by the airline.
The airline's Sam Sperry says there are similar conditions in Palm Springs
where the technology started to be used this week.
Juneau was picked to test the technology based on the premise that if it
worked here, it would work anywhere.
Palm Springs is the first Alaska Airlines destination in the lower 48 to
receive FAA approval for full scale RNP operations.
Avalanche expert says danger fairly high
The avalanche danger is fairly high for back country travelers.
Bill Glude is Executive Director of the Southeast Alaska Avalanche Center in Juneau says there have been a number of smaller slides triggered by snowboarders and skiers in the back country.
Glude says there has not been a large number of big natural releasing avalanches yet.
He says they know that the bond of the newer snow that's fallen in the last week, to the older snow is fairly weak and yet the balance has not yet been tipped.
Glude says at some point we'll either get enough snow, wind or warming weather that will trigger a slide.
Glude says a key sign of snow instability is shooting cracks which is mother nature shouting in your ear.
He says a key word seems to be variability right now. In says in one place the wind may have scoured everything down to the crust from the thaw just before Christmas. In another place there may be a very unstable slab right next to it.
Glude says back country travelers should watch their slope angles and keep them down to less than 30 degrees.
He says to be especially wary when it starts warming up because that will tend to put a heavier layer of snow over a lighter layer of snow. "That's not a good situation," he says. " Its like trying to spread peanut butter over the jelly on your sandwich. It doesn't work very well that way."
You don't have to be in the back country to court trouble. Closer to home, Glude warns residents to be
wary of snow and ice sliding off roofs.
Aerial wolf control gets
off ground in Tok
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Permits were mailed today allowing pilot and
shooter teams to kill wolves near Tok.
The permits are part of an expanded aerial wolf control program operating
this winter in Alaska.
The program -- now operating in five areas of the state -- aims to remove
predators from areas where residents say wolves and bears are killing too
many moose and caribou.
The state's goal is to kill more than 500 wolves over the next few months.
Hunters reported killing 144 wolves last winter, the first year of the
program.
Small fire extinguished at Valley home
The fire department doused a small fire at a residence on Columbia Boulevard in the Mendenhall Valley last night.
Capital City Fire Rescue Captain Beth Weldon says the call came in shortly after 11.
She says the owners discovered smoke coming out of the edges of their fire place hearth.
After turning the hearth away from the fire place, firefighters discovered a hole about one foot square had burned through the floor.
Embers were put out with a water can. Weldon says a thermal imager was used to search for further extension
The
Captain says replacement and cleaning costs are estimated at $5,000.
Permanent Fund fairs well in
second quarter, flirting with 30 Billion mark
The Alaska Permanent Fund is nearing 30 Billion dollars.
Executive Director Mike Burns says they were close to that milestone just
before Christmas. It was just about six to eight million dollars from
that mark, he adds.
The markets have retreated
somewhat since then and Burns says they're now about $400 Million from that
mark. But he hopes to hit that figure shortly.
The fund went over the $29 Billion mark last Fall.
After a slow first quarter, Burns says rallies in the U. S. and international
stock markets created strong growth for the fund in the second quarter of
fiscal year 2005 which ended December 31st.
Feds to open northeast NPR-A as early as July
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Land in the northeast corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could be leased as early as this July.
Henri Bisson -- Alaska director for the U-S Bureau of Land Management -- says an environmental study is nearly complete.
Federal officials plan to open thousands of acres on the North Slope to oil and gas drilling. The decision reverses one under President Clinton that closed areas that environmentalists have said are vital for protecting wildlife.
Bisson made the announcement yesterday at a breakfast meeting of the Resource Development Council for Alaska.
Murder trial in Nome hears from
key witness
NOME (AP) - A Nome woman says she saw Sonya Ivanoff step into a police car early on August 11th, 2003, and state prosecutors say she was one of the last people to see Ivanoff alive.
Ivanoff's body was found two days later and former Nome Police officer Matthew Owens is on trial for first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Florence Habros testified yesterday (Thursday) she was outside, in front of the home of her sister and mother, on August 11th, 2003.
Habros said she saw Ivanoff walking west on the sidewalk when a Nome Police car appeared at a nearby intersection.
As Ivanoff continued walking, the vehicle reappeared at the intersection one street over and the passenger-side window rolled down.
Habros says Ivanoff spoke with the driver, whom Habros could not see, and got into the front passenger seat before the police car drove away.
The state's chief medical examiner, Doctor Franc
Fallico, says Ivanoff was killed by a .22-caliber bullet fired at close range into the base of her head.
Under questioning by defense attorney James
McComas, Fallico refused to testify that the time of death might have occurred a day after prosecutors believe Ivanoff was killed.
He says cold temperatures play an important role in affecting rigor mortis and he could not say with medical certainty when Ivanoff was killed.
Kodiak overwhelmed by outside workers
KODIAK (AP) - Social service groups in Kodiak say workers imported from Anchorage to work in canneries are taxing their abilities to help people.
About 80 cannery workers arrived by ferry Wednesday to work for Western Alaska Fisheries.
Processing had not begun yesterday (Thursday) and cash-strapped workers were seeking food and shelter through service organizations.
Don Merila is director of The Living-Room, a Christian day shelter.
He says they normally feed 15 to 20 people but on Wednesday fed as many as 55.
Most workers then went to the Brother Francis Shelter to spend the night.
Western Alaska general manager Mitch Kilborn tells the Kodiak Daily Mirror the cannery brought over workers to process trawl-caught cod and
pollock.
He says the workers knew they would have to find their own housing in Kodiak.
Brother Francis Shelter director Monty Hawver calls it one of the most challenging situations the shelter has faced in 13 years.
Anti-Bush crowd holds protest in
Homer
HOMER (AP) - About 250 people gathered in Homer yesterday to protest
President Bush's second term in office.
The protesters carried a banner that said ``Silence is Consent''. They
walked a half-mile route from Homer High School to a park on Pioneer Avenue.
Once at the park, they joined two more protesters with a banner that said
``We The People Say No to the Bush Agenda.''
Other demonstrations were in Anchorage and Fairbanks to protest President
Bush's inauguration in Washington, D-C.
Bonuses increase for Army
National Guard
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The Alaska Army National Guard is increasing enlistment and
reenlistment bonuses by as much as ten-thousand dollars.
The bonuses are in an effort to increase recruitment and retention.
The increases are earmarked for new recruits with no prior service, Guard
soldiers agreeing to re-enlist for three or six years, and those who sign up
with the Guard after serving on active duty.
The new incentive program runs through September 30th.
Guard soldiers who have previously served can pocket as much as 15-thousand
dollars on a six-year reenlistment. That's triple the previous bonus.
Officials say both National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers make up about 40
percent of the 148-thousand troops in Iraq.
Another 82-hundred are serving in Afghanistan.
Anchorage tourism rebounded last
year
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Tourism in Anchorage rebounded last year.
Tourism officials say visitors paid more than eleven million dollars in
hotel room taxes last year. That's up eleven percent from the previous year,
and sets a record.
Bruce Bustamante of the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau says last
year's strong showing was due to a stronger U-S economy, as well as a spike
in conventions and meetings.
Bears play Kings in
Ketchikan
The men's basketball team from Juneau Douglas high school is in Ketchikan
this weekend.
The Crimson Bears play tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Both games can be heard on KINY Radio.
(Copyright ©2005 Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
|
