Next Generation forums set for parents and students next month
Forums are coming up next month for parents and students on the Next Generation Transition Plan for Juneau's high schools.

Superintendent Peggy Cowan, who was among the guests on Capital Chat this morning, says a newsletter with the dates is going January 31st.

Parent nights are scheduled February 4th at Floyd Dryden Middle School, at Juneau Douglas High School on February 5th, and February 7th at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School.

And then on February 8 there'll be student fairs at Juneau Douglas High School. There'll be a morning session for high school students and in the afternoon for middle school students.

Students will be introduced to the principals, teachers, the academies and the schools during the fairs.

Alaska Airlines plane makes emergency landing in Ketchikan
An Alaska Airlines jet made an emergency landing at Ketchikan International Airport on Sunday night.

Flight 64 out of Anchorage, bound for Seattle, with intermediate stops in Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan, declared a mechanical emergency after departing Petersburg Sunday night.

The jet by-passed Wrangell and headed for Ketchikan. Initial reports said the jet had a problem with its flaps.

Bob Kern of KFMJ Radio in Ketchikan talked with the airlines Paul McElroy who said the flaps on the backside of the wing did not fully deploy.

As a result an emergency was declared, which he says is standard operating procedure in a case like this.

The captain decided to divert to Ketchikan where there is a longer runway than in Wrangell.

McElroy thought there were 24 passengers on board at the time. No injuries were reported.

He says the plane was flown to Anchorage, with no passengers on board, to undergo repairs.
(KFMJ Radio - Ketchikan)

MLK ceremony held in Juneau
Juneau observed the Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior Day holiday with a commemorative celebration.

It is sponsored by the Black Awareness Association of Juneau.

Ken Cook, the association's president, says the theme of this year's celebration is "What Are You Dreaming Of."

Orthopedic center wins approval
The Bartlett Regional Hospital Board of Directors has approved a project to build a new orthopedic center.

The hospital's Michelle Casey says the center will provide state-of-the-art surgical support for the four orthopedic surgeons who recently opened the Juneau Bone and Joint Center one block from the hospital.

Casey says the plan includes a dedicated operating room suite and staff for orthopedics, in-patent services, and improving staff training, recruitment and retention in surgical services.

The hospital board is working on funding sources for the new multi-million dollar project.

The proposal was first brought forward in December by the new chief executive officer of Bartlett Regional Hospital, Shawn Morrow, who was looking for ways for the hospital to grow it's services and offer more to the community and Southeast.

Morrow says one of Bartlett's best opportunities for growth lies in the area of orthopedics.

He says Juneau is fortunate to have very progressive orthopedic surgeons.

The hospital board is working on funding sources for the new multi-million dollar project.

State: Punitive damages are warranted in Valdez oil spill
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by Alaska lawmakers and four former governors says Exxon violated a social contract it had entered into with the state when the tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989 and caused an 11-million-gallon oil spill.

The brief says that as a result, the oil company should be subject to punitive damages for the environmental catastrophe.

The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Exxon's appeal on February 27th.

Exxon has been appealing the case since an Anchorage jury in 1994 returned a $5 billion punitive damages award against it.

In 2006, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cut the award to $2.5 billion.

That decision was appealed to the Supreme Court by Exxon.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Revenue up at Eaglecrest
The revenue picture at Juneau's Eaglecrest ski area is pretty rosy and is surpassing the previous season which was considered very good.

Ski area manager Kirk Duncan says they have sold about $650,000 in season passes. That compares with with the budgeted expectation of $520,000.

Even though there's about 20 less operating days than last year, this year is about $125,000 ahead on revenues. In addition, he says the ski area saved about $50,000 in labor costs with the later opening day this year.

Juneau woman charged in connection with burglary case
A Juneau woman was arrested by State Troopers Saturday afternoon on a charge of aiding and abetting burglary in the second degree.

The suspect is identified as 32 year old Nicole D. Richert.

She was jailed at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center on $5,000 bail.

Details of the case were not provided in the State Trooper dispatch

Palmer man arrested after child pornography found in bedroom
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers have arrested a Palmer man after they found a stack of photographs of young girls engaged in various sexual acts, as well as dozens of pictures of female children living in his neighborhood.

Officials have charged 44-year-old Randell E. Rowton with four counts of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography.

Authorities began investigating Rowton in December after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips that he was uploading computer images of child pornography to online photo-sharing accounts.

Charging documents say a search of Rowton's bedroom in his mother's home yielded 39 photographs of young girls that appear to have been taken from within or just outside Rowton's residence.

The documents say the girls appear to range in age from six to ten years old.

Some of the children are playing in a pool with bathing suits on and others were walking or getting off the school bus.

The documents say others were of girls playing, and taken in a manner that showed their underwear.

Authorities are holding Rowton at the Mat-Su Pre-trial Facility.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Teen gets 12 years for fatal Anchorage robbery
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A 16-year-old boy has drawn a 12-year prison sentence for a shooting that led to the death of a 47-year-old Anchorage man.

Authorities say Colby Lewis shot Ken Camell in the head during a robbery in late 2006.

Camell died Jan. 8, 2007, 10 days after the shooting Anchorage's Mountain View neighborhood.

Lewis, who was sentenced as an adult Friday, pleaded no contest to manslaughter and first-degree robbery in an agreement with prosecutors that reduced the charge from second-degree murder.

Camell's widow, Lena Outwater, witnessed the shooting and told Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth she didn't think the punishment fit the crime.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Wasilla man gets 70 years for raping, torturing girlfriend
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A judge in Palmer has sentenced a 22-year-old Wasilla man to 70 years in prison for the rape and torture of his girlfriend.

Twenty-two-year-old Aric Tolen will not be eligible for parole until he is in his 60s. He was sentenced Friday.

Tolen was arrested early last year after his 22-year-old girlfriend called 911 from a neighbor's home.

According to Alaska State Troopers, Tolen held his girlfriend at knife point and sexually assaulted her while her three-year-old son and six-month-old daughter were present.

Troopers say Tolen also cut the woman several times with a knife and choked her, causing her to lose consciousness.
(Anchorage Daily News)

It's not too late to provide electronic signature on PFD application
If you've already filed for this year's permanent fund dividend, but want to go back into provide an electronic signature, its possible to do that.

Karen Lechner, of the Permanent Fund Dividend Division in the Department of Revenue says applicants can go back into the system and set up a "My Alaska" account and retroactively add an electronic signature to their application.

She said that would preclude the need for them to print and mail in a signature page.

Visit the PFD home page at www.pfd.alaska.gov  and view "attach an eSignature to an application" in the Application Help section.

On-line applications filed by January 31st will be in the first direct deposit scheduled for October 6.  Other qualified applicants filing on-line will receive their dividend in a direct deposit scheduled October 16th.  The balance will start going out in the mail November 14th.

Bridge project's progress slow but steady, supporters say
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Supporters of the much-maligned Knik Arm Bridge say the project is still moving forward.

Officials with the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority recently cleared a permitting hurdle and hired three law firms to lobby for the bridge in Washington, D.C.

The Federal Highway Administration signed a final environmental impact statement for the project in December.

The document lays out a specific route the bridge would take from a mostly undeveloped area around Point MacKenzie across the Arm into Anchorage through Government Hill.

Bridge backers are now working to gather proposals from investors detailing how they would design, build, operate, finance and maintain the bridge.

The Toll Authority has estimated the bridge would cost about $600 million.

It says the bridge would be paid for by charging drivers a toll of up to $5 to cross the bridge.

The project was one of two Alaska bridges ridiculed nationwide as "bridges to nowhere" that were suctioning off excessive amounts of federal tax dollars.
(Anchorage Daily News)

SeaLife Center director announces resignation
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Tylan Schrock, the executive director of the Alaska SeaLife Center, has announced his resignation from the position he's held for more than seven years.

Schrock made his announcement Friday at a board meeting of the Seward center.

Board president Ned Smith says Schrock will stay on, and on April 1st Smith will begin serving as interim director until the position is filled.

Smith says Schrock's departure has nothing to do with federal investigations into the SeaLife Center's purchase in 2006 of a Seward business lot owned by former Sen. Ted Stevens aide Trevor McCabe and others.

The purchase was made with a $1.6 million earmark Stevens inserted into the federal budget.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Coburn plans battle on Indian health care bill
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma senator who has criticized the quality of service provided by the Indian Health Service is bracing for a political battle as the Senate prepares to take up legislation to modernize Indian health care.

Some lawmakers and Indian tribes have been pushing for years to pass a bill renewing the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, but have run into numerous obstacles.

Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, is among senators who have blocked consideration of the legislation.

But Coburn, a physician, has pledged not to hold the bill up this time.

Coburn told The Oklahoman's Washington bureau he plans to offer several amendments aimed at improving the bill.

The Indian Health Service is responsible for providing care to 1.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in 35 states.
(The Oklahoman)

Lady Bears claim two wins over Sitka
The Lady Crimson Bears' basketball squad won twice in Sitka this weekend.

Saturday night's score was 52 to 31. The score Friday night was 57 to 38.

The Bears host Colony next Friday and Saturday night.

JDHS hockey ends home schedule on positive note
The Juneau Douglas High School Hockey Team had a good weekend.

It outskated the team from Homer Friday night 3 to 1

And they skated to a 2 - 2 tie Saturday night.

The weekend contests were the last home games of the season.

The Crimson Bears wrap up the season with games Wednesday through Saturday in the Interior.

They play Tri Valley in Healy Wednesday and the move to Fairbanks to play West Valley, Lathrop and Monroe in succeeding nights.

Hippie couple wins "Amazing Race;" final leg in Alaska
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A million dollars can buy a lot of granola, man.

A hippie couple, Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin, won the cash by finishing first in "The Amazing Race."

During the final leg of the around-the-world race, Rachel and TK searched through tanks of live crabs, scaled the side of a glacier, soared through the air in a helicopter and solved a complicated puzzle.

After crossing the finish line at Girdwood south of Anchorage, TK said "Nice guys can definitely finish first."

He and Rachel outraced the father-and-daughter team and the grandfather-and-grandson team.

Youthful entrepreneur builds custom Alaska outhouses
PALMER, Alaska (AP) - Daniel Buckingham points out features that come standard with his custom Alaska outhouse.

The so-called "basic" is an outhouse with a pitched, shingled roof that's 4-foot by 4-foot, nearly 7-foot high and made with plywood and spruce.

The 16-year-old says it sells for $299, comes with a hinged door with handle, toilet box with hole and toilet seat.

In a pitch to a broader audience, Daniel points out that people don't actually have to need an outhouse to buy an outhouse.

He says some people just have an outhouse to make the yard look Alaskan.

Daniel - who has yet to sell an outhouse but is looking for buyers on the Web site  www.craigslist.com is aiming to please.
 
The ad reads: "Willing to add whatever fixtures you'd like for additional cost." "I build custom outhouses to suit your taste!"

While Daniel's new enterprise may seen nutty to some, it's not, said Harry Walker, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-raised photographer now living in Anchorage whose 1996 book "Outhouses of Alaska" is in its 11th printing.

Walker says Alaska is one of the last places in the United States where he thinks someone can find a market for outhouses.

He says there are still a lot of places where people live off the grid and need outhouses.

The 2000 U.S. Census found that one in four homes in Alaska was without indoor plumbing, placing the state first in the nation for a lack of modern plumbing.