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Douglas stabbing under investigation
Juneau Police responded to a stabbing incident in Douglas just after 4:30 this
(Wednesday) morning.
Police were called to an apartment on 4th Street where they found a 19 year old man suffering with stab wounds.
The man was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The man's injuries are thought to be serious.
We were told early this (Wednesday) afternoon he's now out of surgery and is expected to make it.
The woman's injuries apparently aren't serious. How she was injured exactly has not been disclosed.
Their names have not been released.
There have been no arrests at this point, as the investigation continues.
The
incident took place at an apartment on 4th Street.
Four
appointed to University Board of Regents
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Governor Sarah Palin appointed
four new members to the University of Alaska Board of
Regents today (Wednesday), including retired publisher
Fuller Cowell the second of Anchorage.
Cowell was most recently the publisher of the Anchorage
Daily News. He also co-chaired the Providence Foundation
Steering Committee and was a founding member of the
Alaska Cancer Research and Education Center.
Palin also chose retired educator and big game guide
Patricia Jacobson of Kodiak and attorney and real estate
broker Kirk Wickersham of Anchorage. The governor also
reappointed Tim Brady to another term. Brady is
president of Ken Brady Construction Company.
Members of the eleven-person board serve an eight-year
term and must be confirmed by the Alaska Legislature.
Lawmakers want victims
to hear about felon pardons
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Lawmakers are busy working on two
bills that would give crime victims and their families
advance notice of any potential pardons for felons
handed down from a governor.
The bills stem from a pardon issued in December from
former governor Frank Murkowski.
Murkowski pardoned the company found criminally
responsible for the death of Cordova man Gary Stone --
but he did so without first notifying the man's five
surviving children.
Stone's daughter Sharon Ridinger found out from a news
reporter while preparing dinner for her family.
Anchorage Republican Ralph Samuels and Wasilla
Republican Senate President Lyda Green each sponsored a
bill.
Both bills have received a great deal of committee discussion in
the second week of the 121-day legislative session and
could be among the first bills to receive attention by
the full Senate and House.
Samuels is a long-time victim's advocate.
He says he's not trying to strip any governor of the
constitutional right to hand down a pardon, also known
as executive clemency.
He says the push is about ``access to the system'' and
``holding people accountable.''
Ketchikan
man found guilty of murdering his wife
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - A Ketchikan man has been found
guilty of murdering his wife and tampering with
evidence.
Earl Pickering Junior was convicted yesterday (Tuesday)
in the shooting of 50-year-old Carolyn Frisby Pickering.
Pickering shot his wife in the head with a .44-caliber
rifle on November 30th, 2005.
He testified that it was an accident. He said that he
and his wife had been friendly the day the murder
occurred, which was their five-month anniversary, and
were planning a hunting trip.
However, Ketchikan police and state prosecutors
determined it was murder. They accused Pickering of
attempting to mislead investigators by moving evidence
around and altering the crime scene.
The judge scheduled an April 2nd sentencing hearing.
Pickering faces up to 99 years for the murder conviction
and up to five years for tampering with evidence.
(Ketchikan Daily News)
Princess agrees to plea deal in death of humpback whale
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Princess Cruise Lines has agreed to pay a large fine after one of its ships was accused of striking and killing a humpback whale near Glacier Bay in Southeast Alaska.
Princess is expected to pay $755,000 in fines and restitution, according to an Anchorage Daily News report.
A court date to finalize a plea agreement is set for Monday in U. S. District Court in Anchorage. Princess is expected to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor of "failing to operate at a slow speed while near humpback whales."
Under a plea agreement yet to be filed, the company would pay a $200,000 fine to the government and $550,000 in " community service restitution" to the National Park Service Foundation, according to court papers. That money would go to an account for Glacier Bay National Park.
A Princess official, Julie Benson, confirmed that the company plans to enter the plea agreement.
John Quinley of the National Park Service in Alaska said Justice Department attorneys have told Park Service officials not to discuss the case at least until next week.
The body of a 45-foot humpback was found floating near the mouth of Glacier Bay in mid-July 2001. A necropsy conducted at the time showed the animal died of massive skull fractures.
A Princess vessel, the Dawn Princess, had been operating near two humpback whales a few days before, according to the court papers and news reports at the time.
State ordered to pay attorney fees for animal rights group
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The state has been ordered to pay attorney fees for an animal rights group over a lawsuit that temporarily halted Alaska's aerial wolf control program.
The state must pay 95-thousand in attorney fees to Connecticut-based Friends of Animals. That's according to a decision by Anchorage Superior Court judge Sharon Gleason last week.
Kevin Saxby with the Department of Law says Friends of Animals was entitled to a full reimbursement because it had no financial incentives in filing the suit.
The animal rights group filed a lawsuit in 2003 to halt the program, which is overseen by the state's Game Board.
A ruling by Gleason in January halted the program for 10 days.
It was reinstated after the Game Board adopted emergency regulations that made the population control program conform to state law.
In the past four years, more than 550 wolves in Alaska have been killed as part of the state's predator control program to increase the number of moose and caribou for hunters.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Alaska's delegation
comments on State of Union address
President Bush used his sixth State of the Union address to ask Congress to give his Iraq policy ``a chance to work.''
Bush said his plan to increase troop levels is the best hope in a war the U-S must not lose. While he addressed domestic issues in the address, the war in Iraq and anti-terror efforts were a key focus.
Alaska's senior Senator Ted Stevens says he believes the President's troop surge plan is the last hope for stabilizing the Iraqi government. "Failure is really not a solution," he said.
Senator Lisa Murkowski believes much of the opposition to the troop surge plan is politically motivated
She noted that many members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are running for president.
On domestic matters, President Bush pressed Congress to help find ways to overhaul entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The president called for the use of new technology to change the way the country generates power. He also called for stepping up the development of domestically produced oil.
Congressman Don
Young said the President is "right on target." He added that one of the many ways
to step up production is to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
The president also reached out to Democrats. He opened with a tribute to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and shook her hand. He noted that the Congress has changed, but that its responsibilities have not.
Economist: Crude price down, but Alaska on track for big surplus
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The price of Alaska crude oil has plummeted in the last six months, but an economist says the state is still in position to reap a big surplus.
Oil fell almost 30 dollars a barrel in six months, but a higher-than-expected average price for the fiscal year of 2007 means the state could still collect a surplus of about one-point-three
billion.
That according to Michael Williams, chief economist with the Department of Revenue.
He presented the numbers to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Series of burglaries under investigation by JPD
Juneau Police are investigating a series of burglaries in the area of
Mile 19 of the Glacier Highway.
Over the past three weeks Juneau Police have received over a half dozen reports from residents in the area of mile19 of the Glacier Highway of burglaries to their homes.
Sergeant Paul Hatch says the investigation into the cases is ongoing and any one with relevant information is encouraged to contact Juneau Police.
Callers to Crime Line may remain anonymous and still be eligible for a cash reward.
The Crime Line number is 586-4243.
Sergeant Hatch reminds residents that live in fairly secluded areas to make sure you lock your doors, you have functioning motion lights and if your home is shrouded by trees and foliage to thin and limb them.
Bidding
starting on CBJ subdivision lots
The City and Borough of Juneau will offer 43 residential lots for sale beginning
today (Wednesday) in its South Lena Subdivision.
The lots range in size from about three-quarters of an acre to one and a half acres. Access is via Point Lena Loop Road and Ocean View Drive.
City Manager Rod Swope says bids will be accepted through the end of business March 21st and sold by sealed, competitive bid.
The land sale brochure, bid form and other information will be available on the CBJ website at
www.juneau.org beginning today.
The information will also be available at each of the municipal libraries and at City Hall.
Juneau man killed in Hawaii traffic accident
51-year-old Michael Caughran of Juneau
is identified as the person killed Monday in a collision between a rental car and a tour bus on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Cauhran's wife, 50 year old Jacquelyn
Smail, their son, 23 year old Sean Cauhgran, and the 60 year old driver of the tour bus were treated at the Wilcox Hospital and released. The man was the only person on the Polynesian Adventures bus at the time of the accident.
Cauhgran was a systems programmer for the Department of Administration.
Police say both vehicles were traveling north when the car tried to make a U-turn in front of the bus. The bus hit the car and pushed it across the highway and onto the shoulder.
The accident closed the highway in both directions for about an hour.
Eight Fort
Richardson paratroopers killed Saturday
FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) - Army officials say eight
Fort Richardson paratroopers were killed and three were
wounded Saturday in two unrelated incidents in Iraq.
An Army spokesman says in the first incident, four
paratroopers were killed and two were wounded while
repelling an attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination
Center in Karbala.
The spokesman says an illegally armed militia group
conducted the attack using grenades, small arms and
indirect fires. A total of five U-S soldiers were killed
and three were wounded in the incident.
The two wounded Fort Richardson paratroopers were listed
as not seriously injured and were evacuated to an Army
hospital in Baghdad for treatment.
In the second incident, four Fort Richardson
paratroopers were killed and one was wounded when their
armored vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb while they
were conducting a mounted patrol near Karmah, Iraq.
The wounded paratrooper was listed as very seriously
injured and was evacuated to a Baghdad Army hospital for
treatment.
Next of kin have been notified.
Remembrance service to be held for paratroopers
FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) - A remembrance service will be held this week for five Fort Richardson paratroopers who died in Iraq over the past several weeks.
The service is to be held Friday afternoon.
Some of the soldiers were killed when their Humvee rolled into a canal during a mounted patrol in Baghdad on December 26th.
The five soldiers to be honored do
not include the eight Fort Richardson soldiers killed last Saturday in two separate incidents.
In the first incident, four paratroopers were killed and two were wounded while repelling an attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in
Karbala.
Officials say an illegally armed militia group conducted the attack using grenades, small arms and indirect fires.
Curator vacancy filled at Juneau Douglas City Museum
A new curator of Collections and Exhibits is at work at the Juneau Douglas City Museum.
Addison E. Field started work January 15th.
Field has a Masters of Arts in Museum Studies from George Washington University with a concentration in museum administration and history.
He's worked at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery revising and rewriting collections management policy.
He's no stranger to Alaska. Field spent the last four years working at the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, the Alaska State Museum, and most recently as director and curator of the Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center in Haines.
He replaces Ellen Carlee who left the job to take the Conservator position at the Alaska State Museum.
McLain says almost 50 applied and included people from the Lower 48 and around the world.
ConocoPhillips posts 13 percent drop in 4th-quarter profit
HOUSTON (AP) - ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest oil company, says fourth-quarter profit fell 13 percent.
Net income dropped to three-point-two
billion from three-point-seven billion from the same time last year.
The company listed weakness in its exploration and production, refining and chemicals businesses as reasons for the drop.
Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Mulva says the company ``continued to experience operational challenges'' on the exploration and production side of the business.
Conoco is one of three major producers on Alaska's North Slope.
Mulva says weather-related transportation delays in Alaska hurt quarterly production, as did unplanned downtime related to maintenance at a field in the North Sea.
Study:
Beaufort Sea polar bears shift from ice to land for dens
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska's Beaufort Sea polar
bears are moving onto land to dig snow dens and give
birth and federal scientists say it's likely due to
climate warming.
A U-S Geological Survey study tracked pregnant female
polar bears from 19-85 to 19-94 and again from 19-98 to
2004.
In the earlier period, 62 percent of the female polar
bears studied dug dens in snow on sea ice.
In the later period, just 37 percent gave birth on sea
ice. The rest instead dug snow dens on land.
The bears that continued to den on ice moved east in the
Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast, away from ice
that was thinner or unstable.
Anthony Fischbach (FISH-bock) is the lead author of the
study.
He says he and his fellow researchers concluded that sea
ice changes may have reduced the availability or
degraded the quality of offshore denning habits.
He says that in recent years, Arctic pack ice has formed
later, melted earlier, and lost much of its older and
thicker multiyear component.
The study makes no predictions of harm to bears in the
short term.
But it suggests that if warming continues as predicted
according to some climate models, pregnant bears might
in the future have to swim long distances in the fall
from pack ice to denning habitat on land.
The study is under U-S-G-S review.
Fischbach spoke about the study at the Alaska Marine
Science Symposium, which continues through tomorrow
(Wednesday) in Anchorage.
Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in
December proposed listing polar bears as a
``threatened'' species. A public comment period on the
proposal is open through April 9th.
IDC and PRL form joint venture to provide Pebble Project services
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Two Alaska companies have formed a joint venture to provide services for the Pebble Project in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska.
The joint venture -- called Nanvaq -- was formed by Iliamna Development Corporation and PRL Logistics, Incorporated.
Nanvaq Limited hopes to expand employment opportunities on the Pebble Project for local residents, while earning the right to access future contracts as the project moves forward.
Services that Nanvaq will provide include catering, lodging, housekeeping, logistics management, shipping and receiving and transportation.
Tidal energy conference being held in Ketchikan
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - A conference on tidal energy is being held in Ketchikan.
The two-day conference is bringing together representatives from nearly every type of entity that would be involved in a tidal power project, from companies already involved in ocean energy projects elsewhere to utilities and government regulatory agencies.
At issue is whether ocean tides can be used to generate economical electricity in Alaska.
Presenters include Trey Taylor, president and co-founder of Verdant Power. The company has a tidal energy project in New York's East River. It began delivering power in December.
Another presenter is Chris Sauer of the Florida-based Ocean Renewable Power Co., which is planning an ocean current prototype project off the Florida coast and is proposing a tidal current prototype project in Cook Inlet.
(Ketchikan Daily News)
Clouds hide first look of sun in more than two months
in Barrow
BARROW, Alaska (AP) - Barrow residents got their first sunlight
Tuesday after more than two months of darkness, but nature got in the way of the view.
The sun rose at 1-06 p-m and set at 2-13 p-m as expected, but it was hidden behind a cloudy sky.
Skier Randall to promote Subway sandwiches
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Subway of Alaska has hired cross-country ski champ Kikkan Randall to promote its sandwiches over the next two years.
Randall, a two-time Olympian who hails from Anchorage, will star in T-V commercials for the national sandwich chain.
The company says Randall will attend promotional events when she's not racing where she'll sign autographs and talk with fans.
The commercials are scheduled to begin airing in Anchorage and Fairbanks in February.
(Anchorage Daily News)
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