Pilot of Ketchikan plane crash found dead
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say the pilot of a small plane that crashed in Ketchikan has been found dead.

Troopers say the pilot was still strapped to his seat about a hundred yards from where the Czech-made L-39 went down this afternoon.

The Trooper's Greg Wilkinson says the pilot ejected at treetop level.

The pilot was the only on board the two-seater craft.

The plane crashed into a mobile home park at the north end of town.

It hit a mobile home, triggering a fire, but no one was inside the trailer at the time.

Wilkinson says no one on the ground was injured.

Authorities are not releasing the pilot's name pending notification of relatives.
(Thanks, KRBD, Ketchikan, and CoastAlaska) 

Smith sentenced to 85 years in prison
Ronald Smith, found guilty of murder for the second time for the January 2000 robbery that left Kenneth Ike Thomas dead, was sentenced today Juneau Superior Court.

Judge Larry Weeks sentenced Smith to 50 years for murder in the second degree, 20 years for robbery in the first degree, and 15 years for assault in the first degree.

Alaska Senior Attorney Richard Svobodny says none of the time was suspended and all the prison time will run consecutively.

Svobodny says Judge Weeks essentially sentenced Smith to 85 years in prison.

Smith, 39, along with Rey Soto robbed and beat Thomas with a baseball bat and severely injured his brother, Alfred Torres.

The robbery netted Smith and Soto $30 dollars and six grams of marijuana.

Soto has already been convicted. As a result of a plea agreement Soto is serving 30 years in prison

The Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Smith's first conviction in December 2003, finding testimony about a shotgun Smith allegedly carried was not properly admitted.

Opening arguments heard in matricide trial
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Opening arguments got underway today (Wednesday)in the case of a Craig teenager accused of conspiring to kill her mother in 2004.

Seventeen-year-old Rachelle Waterman is charged with conspiring with 25-year-olds Radel and Jason Arrant to kill her mother and make it look like a drunk-driving accident.

According to prosecutors, Rachelle Waterman asked Radel and Arrant to kill her mother then tried to create a false alibi for Arrant. She is charged with first-degree murder and six other charges.

Radel and Arrant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year and are expected to testify in the trial.

Defense attorney Steven Wells told jurors that Rachelle Waterman was a model student who rebelled like most teenagers do. He says Rachelle chafed at the restrictions her mother placed on her and said her life would be better if she didn't have those restrictions.

Wells says her big mistake was telling that to Arrant, who was obsessed with her and saw her mother as keeping them apart.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

State game board works quickly to re-start wolf control program
The state Board of Game Board of Game rewrote its aerial wolf hunting regulations today [Wednesday] in an effort to get aerial wolf control back up in the air this weekend.

Judge Sharon Gleason ruled last week the program needed better scientific justification and must be pared down before the hunter teams can again take to the air.

She also said the board did not give an explanation for how it set the wolf reduction levels, ranging from 40 to 90 percent, in the different areas.

Yesterday, in a teleconference, Game Board member Ron Somerville says the panel voted unanimously to make emergency changes to the program.

He says the board justified the emergency because February, March and April are the best months to hunt wolves.

He says if the wolf control program was delayed it would have to, essentially, start over again next year at the cost of time, money and effort.

Giving a meeting emergency status meant the board did not have to take public comment on its rule changes.

Somerville says the board voted unanimously to scrap the existing rules for its five aerial wolf control areas and insert new language in response to Gleason's ruling.

The board voted unanimously to scrap the existing rules for its five aerial wolf control areas and insert new language in response to Gleason's ruling.

Somerville says the new rules will be effective as soon as the Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman signs them, which could be as soon as this weekend.
(KINY - Anchorage Daily News)

Its official - Eaglecrest to open 
The Eaglecrest Ski Area in Juneau will  open Thursday morning.

That word came from the ski area's Jeffra Clough before Noon today.  (Wednesday)  She says they'll open at 9 a.m.

The lifts operating will be the Platter surfaces and the Hooter and Ptarmigan chair lifts.  Some of the trails off of the Ptarmigan lift are closed for avalanche control and may open later in the day Thursday.

The city owned ski area will also be open this Friday through Monday.

Clough says the goal for the tubing hill  is to have it open next weekend, a  week from Saturday.

Schools and government offices are open despite heavy snow
The heavy snow won't get in the way of business as usual in Juneau today.

We talked to City Manager Rod Swope before five this morning after he conferred with his Street Department and the school district.

He says crews worked all night. He says the snow let up and he thinks the roads are in pretty good shape.

Swope also talked to school district officials. Bus drivers were out testing the roads and determined they were fine to open schools today.

So Swope says, with that information it will be business as usual today.

So schools and government offices are open.

Over a foot of snow recorded in Juneau
The snow mounted up in Juneau yesterday.

Meteorologist Kerry Hanko in the Juneau Forecast Office says for the period of midnight to midnight Tuesday the airport received 12 point 4 inches. At the forecast office on Back Loop Road, there was 12 point 2 inches. But only about six inches was received at Lena Point.

The snow total at the airport is a record for the date in Juneau surpassing the 11 inches in 1982.

As for today, the forecaster says the snow is ending and it should be a pretty nice day today, cold but nice, she adds.

An inch of snow is expected tonight though and one to three inches Thursday.

Playground design day is Thursday
The design plans for a new playground on sixth-tenths of an acre at Twins Lake are starting to take shape.

A designer from New York based Leathers Associates, John Dean, will be in Juneau Thursday to meet with several of the schools to get some of the design ideas from the kids. His company has designed playgrounds all over the country, including Haines and Girdwood.

Becky Iverson is one of the organizers of Project Playground.

She says Dean won't be able to visit all the schools in one day so, Thursday morning, he's going to meet with a group of parents from Project Playground's Steering Committee to train them as apprentice designers.  They will then go out to the schools that Dean is not able to visit to gather ideas.

The group will meet late that day and combine the ideas. That night at a celebration at Harborview Elementary School, the consultant will unveil the proposed design plan.

Iverson says the plan is not set in stone. It could be adjusted to accommodate Juneau's weather.

Project Playground is in the process of raising the $200,000 needed to building the new playground.

Iverson says Leathers Associates has designed playgrounds all over the country, including Haines and Girdwood.

The public is invited to the design unveiling  which is scheduled at 6-30 that evening at Harborview.

Project Playground is in the process of raising the $200,000 needed to building the new playground.

Iverson says they hope to build the new Twin Lakes playground this fall or next spring.

Sell and Wilson promoted to lieutenants by Juneau Police
Juneau Police Department Sergeants Troy Wilson and Kris Sell will be officially promoted to Lieutenant at a ceremony scheduled for Friday.

Captain Tom Porter says Sergeant Sell's promotion will mark a first for the department. She's the first woman to raise to the rank of lieutenant in the departments' history.

Sell joined the Juneau Police Department in August of 1997. She's currently assigned as a patrol team supervisor. Previous assignments include Patrol Division.

After completing a police management course in Texas, Sell will be assigned to the Operations Division.

Wilson joined the Juneau Police Department in September of 1994.

He's currently assigned as the Supervisor for the Investigations Unit. Previous assignments include the Patrol Division and the Community Services Unit.

Wilson will assume command of the Public Safety Communications Unit following completion of a police management course in Texas.

Friday's ceremony will be held in the training room at police headquarters at 2 p.m.

The public is invited to attend.

Suspect wanted in robbery and assault case nabbed at local motel
Another suspect is behind bars in connection with the robbery and assault of two young men early on the morning of January 13th near the 6200 block of North Douglas Highway.

The latest arrest came this morning, according to Sergeant Ed Mercer, who says officers and members of the Special Emergency Response Team executed a search warrant at about 10:15 at the Super 8 Motel.

Arrested there was 29 year old Jayson Steven Dennis. He was wanted on a $10,000 warrant for robbery in the first degree.

Arrested on the day of the crime was 27 year-old Jerald Hinchman of Juneau. Another suspect remains at large.

Young implicated in Abramoff case
According to a report in Roll Call, Alaska Congressman Don Young is now implicated in the Abramoff affair.

The publication reports Young sought to intervene with a federal agency in September 2002 on behalf of American Indian clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff as part of the lobbyist's efforts to gain control of the Old Post Office Pavilion in downtown Washington, D. C.

Young wrote the General Services Administration then urging its director to give preferential treatment to organizations such as Indian tribes when the GSA evaluated proposals to develop the site.

Young, received $7,000 from two of the lobbyist's tribal clients just weeks after the letters went to the GSA.

An official in Young's office called the letter to the agency "a coincidence. He said Young had no recollection of how that letter to the GSA came about and was adamant that Young cannot recall meeting with the lobbyist personally. 

He also denied that Young ever sought to help Abramoff and said the Congressman has no relationship with the lobbyists.

But the Roll Call article outlined an extensive history of Young acting on behalf of Abramoff's clients.

Omnibus drug bill clears State Senate 
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - An effort to strip the marijuana provisions from a bill, that also aims to crack down on the manufacture of methamphetamine, failed in the Senate.

House Bill 149 passed by a vote of 18-to-2 today (Wednesday) and now heads to the House floor for concurrence.

The measure would make possession of less than 4 ounces of marijuana a misdemeanor. Possession of more than 4 ounces would be a felony.

Current law makes it a misdemeanor to possess up to a half-pound of marijuana. However, court decisions over the last 30 years have made it legal to possess up to 4 ounces of marijuana for personal use in the home.

Kenai Republican Thomas Wagoner tried to amend the bill saying the legislature should not pass judgment on the recreational use of the drug.

But proponents of the measure counter the drug is more potent and more dangerous today than it was in 1975 when the Alaska Supreme Court decriminalized use of small amounts of pot in the home. 

Major pipeline owner considering options in tariff ruling
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A B-P spokesman says the company is disappointed in a Superior Court ruling that owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline overcharged for carrying oil used by in-state refineries.

Spokesman Daren Beaudo (BOE'-doe) says B-P is looking into its options to the ruling last week by Superior Court Judge John Suddock.

The pipeline owners can appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

In his ruling, Suddock affirmed a 2002 landmark decision by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska saying the pipeline owners had collected excessive shipping fees, known as tariffs.

The pipeline owners sued after the R-C-A decision.

Suddock's ruling means the pipeline owners could owe 125 (m) million dollars or more in refunds to in-state refiners.
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B-P owns the largest share of the pipeline at nearly 47 percent.

The other owners are ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Koch.

Gubernatorial candidates meet in early forum
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Five gubernatorial candidates got to test their messages  Tuesday night in a forum sponsored by the Alaska State A-F-L C-I-O.

Present were Democratic Representatives Ethan Berkowitz and Eric Croft of Anchorage; Republican candidates Sarah Palin of Wasilla and John Binkley of Fairbanks; and independent Andrew Halcro of Anchorage.

Addressing a union crowd, all the candidates addressed labor in some way. Nearly all criticized a measure signed into law last year that does away with traditional pensions for new state workers and teachers in favor of a 401-k-type defined contribution system.

Candidates also took on the way Governor Murkowski has handled negotiations for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. Reaching a fiscal deal with three oil companies for the 20- to 25 billion dollar gas line to Canada figures to be one of the biggest issues of the campaign this year.

Murkowski and former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles are also possible candidates in November's election. But neither have announced plans to run.

Halcro announces intent to run as independent for Alaska governor
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Former legislator and Anchorage businessman Andrew Halcro announced today (Tuesday) )that he is running for governor as an independent.

The 41-year-old Halcro joins an already crowded field of candidates. The Republicans running are former Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin and Fairbanks businessman John Binkley. On the Democratic side are Anchorage Representatives Ethan Berkowitz and Eric Croft.

Republican Governor Frank Murkowski and former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles are keeping their own election intentions quiet for now.

Halcro served as a Republican in the state Legislature from 1999 to 2003. He says he's young, fresh and experienced, which makes him a good candidate for the job.

He plans to run a bare-bones campaign, with only a campaign manager and two people to coordinate advertising. He figures he will have to raise 1 million dollars to be competitive, and said he is prepared to spend his own money if necessary.

Knowles criticizes gas line negotiations
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Former Governor Tony Knowles Tuesday called Governor Murkowski's natural gas negotiations with three North Slope oil producers alarming and disturbing.

Knowles, a two-term Democrat who is considering another run for governor this fall, says history will be a harsh judge for anyone who fails to deliver the right deal because of incompetence or corruption.

The Murkowski administration is negotiating with B-P, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil for fiscal terms for a 20- to 25 billion dollar natural gas pipeline. The negotiations have been confidential, and negotiations with two other pipeline applicants have been halted.

Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg says the governor's negotiating team is sitting at the table every day and taking on the tough issues that will get Alaska a gas pipeline.

She says Knowles threw out a lot of easy clichés, but clichés won't get Alaskans a pipeline.

Barrow man dies after getting into altercation with another man
BARROW, Alaska (AP) - Authorities say a Barrow man died after getting in an altercation with another man.

Officials with the North Slope Borough say the man who died Monday has been identified as 36-year-old Choong Sun Song.

Upon arriving at the scene, officers found 37-year-old Kwang Lee -- the man accused of being involved in the altercation -- inside his home. He was treated for a cut on his arm.

Lee's wife was present during the altercation and was struck in the face. She was taken to Anchorage for treatment of her injuries.

The medical examiner's office says the victim died of blunt force trauma.

No arrests have been made.

Police are continuing to investigate.

Youth arrested for starting fire in Anchorage
Anchorage police say they have arrested a teenager suspected of starting a house fire that left three people without a place to live.

Police say Erik James Benton was 16 on November 12th when he lit a camper on fire.

The fire spread to a home in which two people were sleeping.

Benton is charged with arson and other crimes. 

Mother in truck hits son riding a snowmachine
KENAI, Alaska (AP) - A 16-year-old boy was hurt in a snowmachine accident at Mile 16 on the Hope Highway on the Kenai Peninsula.

The boy was injured when his mother, driving a pickup truck, hit her son while he was crossing the highway on a snowmachine.

The boy, Randy Sorenson, apparently crossed the highway without looking.

He was taken to Providence Hospital in Anchorage by helicopter, where he was operated on for two broken bones in his left leg.

The mother, Dru Sorenson, was not injured.
(Kenai Peninsula)

Democratic leader demands apology from governor's office
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Senate Minority Leader Johnny Ellis demanded an apology from the governor's office today for what he called a personal attack on Senator Kim Elton.

Jim Clark, Governor Murkowski's chief of staff, wrote a letter in Sunday's Anchorage Daily News that called Elton, a Juneau Democrat, quote -- ``the Maytag repairman of the Senate -- he isn't needed for very much and not much is expected.''

Elton has been monitoring the governor's use of the state's new jet and reporting his findings in his newsletter. Clark wrote -- quote -- ``it beats counting sheep'' but Elton does not monitor or report very well.

Ellis, an Anchorage Democrat, says the personal attack is unacceptable and accused Murkowski as using Jim Clark as his attack dog.

The governor's press office did not immediately return a call for comment. 

Bail conditions set for teen robbery suspect
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A young woman charged with robbery of a South Anchorage home will be able to await trial at home -- if she can make bail.

Bail conditions were set Tuesday for 17-year-old Elizabeth Morgan.

She will be released into her mother's custody if her family can meet the 35-thousand dollar bail.

Morgan was convicted of felony theft a year ago.

She now faces charges of robbery and weapons misconduct.

A Superior Court judge yesterday (Tuesday) approved Morgan's mother as a custodian.

The decision to set bail conditions is not sitting well with the victim in the home invasion.

Homer Cole says the decision -- quote -- ``just blows me away.''

He says his family was traumatized by the incident.
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He says that when they hear a bang or thump in the night, they meet in the hallway with something in their hands ready to defend themselves.

Police say Morgan and two men barged in the home waiving handguns and demanding money.

Morgan was captured at the home.
(Jill Burke, KTUU)

Search continues man, boy missing near Lake Iliamna
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say a search is continuing for a man and boy missing between two Southwest Alaska villages.

Search teams still have not found 25-year-old Niel Nielsen and 13-year-old James Hester of Kokhanok (KOCK'-hone-ack).

Kokhanok is a village of 166 about 210 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Nielsen and Hester left Thursday afternoon on board a four-wheeler for a 40-mile trip to Igiugig (ig-ee-UH'-gig).

Both villages are on the south side of Lake Iliamna (ill-ee-AHM-na).

Searchers are continuing to seek signs of the pair.

The Troopers' Greg Wilkinson says a trooper based in King Salmon will search from the air.

Temperatures over the weekend dropped below zero and a storm brought wind gusts to 40 miles per hour.

Senate considers how to update borough assessments
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A state senator says Alaska can do a better job of assessing the worth of boroughs and municipalities that do not contribute to their schools through property taxes.

Most are required to spend point-four percent of their total assessed property value toward education.

But ten boroughs and cities across the state contribute instead through a variety of measures, including taxes on commercial fish catches and sales taxes. The amount is based on a determination made by the state assessor.

Fairbanks Republican Gary Wilken says the state needs a better way to make sure that the contribution to schools is tied to a community's wealth.

The issue arose Tuesday during a Senate Finance Committee discussion of House Bill 217.
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The committee also passed a bill that requires law enforcement officers inform sexual assault victims of their right to an emergency protective order.

Senate Bill 54 also provides for mandatory arrest for all people suspected of committing sexual assault crimes and violating protective orders.

Southeast residents nominated to attend  service academies
Two residents of Southeast Alaska are among those nominated by Senator Lisa Murkowski to attend U. S. service academies.

Ann Hansen of Haines High School was nominated for the Air Force Academy. She's the daughter of Vince and Jansy Hansen of Haines.

Gordon Radel of Paideia Christian School in Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island was nominated to attend West Point. He's the son of Brian and Theresa Radel.