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Bill:
Governor belongs in Juneau
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The governor's place is in Juneau.
That's the gist of a measure introduced by state Senator Bert Stedman
of Sitka and co-sponsored by Juneau Senator Dennis Egan.
The measure intends to make clear the
governor's "duty station" — where he or she spends the
majority of time to fulfill the office's duties — is Juneau.
Former Gov. Sarah Palin ruffled feathers by limiting her time in
the capital city.
She maintained a home in Wasilla and her
sometimes charging the state when her kids traveled with her
sparked at least one ethics complaint, which was settled.
Her successor, Gov. Sean Parnell, has moved his family to Juneau
for the session.
UAS wins
reaccreditation
The accreditation of the University of Alaska Southeast has been
reconfirmed by the Northwest
Commission on Colleges and Universities.
That word comes following a comprehensive evaluation in the Fall
of 2009, according to Chancellor John Pugh.
He says the school was commended on its mission for being very
representative of the region and meeting its needs and providing
good programming.
But the need for improvements in a couple of areas were noted
including communications throughout the region and the assessment
system to look at the learning outcomes for students.
What has been a ten year process, will now be reduced to seven
years in the future.
Juneau
census committee to meet
Juneau's Complete Count Committee meets for the first time next
week in advance of the U. S. Census April 1st.
Deputy City Manager Kim Kiefer says its scheduled for Thursday,
February 4 at 4 p.m. in Room 224 at City Hall.
She says its important for Juneau residents to be counted since
federal and state funding is based on the census results.
During the last census in 2000, she says only 60 percent of
residents returned questionnaires. They're hoping to improve the
return rate this time.
Citizens invited to annual
meeting of Alaska Committee
The Alaska Committee conducts its annual meeting Saturday.
It's scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Travelodge.
Committee Vice Chair Rosemary Hagevig says its a great opportunity
for residents for either want to find out more about they are
doing or have ideas on what the committee should be doing.
Felled tree causes
power
outage
A tree that fell across power lines above Gastineau Avenue caused
about a power outage yesterday afternoon. (Thursday)
The tree had been cut down by a crew contracted by Alaska Electric
Light and Power to clear the electrical right-of-way above
Gastineau Avenue.
AEL&P's Gayle Wood says the tree and brush crew specializes in
clearing electrical right-of-ways and has a solid reputation.
Wood says a tree falling in an unexpected direction has happened
before with AEL&P crews.
She says tree cutting and clearing is "partially art and partially
science."
Wood apologized for
the outage on behalf of AEL&P.
The electricity went out just before 3 p.m. and was restored to
most of Juneau by 3-29 p.m. and to all AEL&P customers just
after 4 p.m.
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For video of the
resulting fire and explosion provided by Brad Fluetsch go
to http://www.vimeo.com/9058664
Brief power outage
interrupts Alaska Legislature
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A brief power outage in Alaska's capital
city Thursday afternoon halted business in the Legislature for the
first time in at least 23 years.
That's according to building manager Don Johnston.
He says the Capitol has backup generators but shut them off
because of a coolant hose failure.
He says that's the first time that's happened in his 23-year
tenure.
A sweet, hoppy smell from the coolant wafted on the ground floor.
Legislators, aides and others walked cautiously through darkened
hallways, using cell phones as a light source.
Business was on hold for about 30 minutes late in the afternoon
before power was restored.
Arizona man
charged with sexual assault
An Arizona man, currently living in Juneau, has been arrested and
charged with sexual assault.
21-year-old Dominic Merrill is charged with 1st degree sexual
assault, an unclassified felony with a maximum penalty of 99 years
in prison.
A third person contacted the Juneau Police Department on Monday to
report that a 21-year-old woman had been sexually assaulted.
According to police, on Saturday, January 23rd, the woman was at a
social gathering when Merrill asked her for help getting
home.
Merrill and the woman were acquaintances and lived in the same
apartment complex.
When they arrived at his apartment, Merrill allegedly would not
allow her to leave and he proceeded to physically and sexually
assault her.
Merrill was arrested this (Thursday) afternoon and lodged at Lemon
Creek Correctional Center without bail.
Parnell
affected by lost data
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A press aide for Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell
says he's among the more than 77,000 current and former state
employees whose personal information was lost by a major
accounting firm.
State officials announced the missing data, and a settlement with
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, on Thursday.
Officials said the settlement will provide credit protections,
ranging from credit monitoring to reimbursement for losses that
might arise from any identity theft.
Attorney General Dan Sullivan said PricewaterhouseCoopers
discovered it had lost the data in early December but didn't
notify the state until last week.
Sullivan said the data includes names, dates of birth and Social
Security numbers for people in the public employee and teachers'
retirement systems in 2003 and 2004.
Anchorage police
warn of child abduction attempts
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Anchorage police are warning residents
that a young man in a dark-colored SUV is suspected of trying to
abduct three young girls while they were walking to East Anchorage
schools in the past two weeks.
School Superintendent Carol Comeau says a dangerous situation is
unfolding.
She and police say children should travel in groups, run at the
sign of trouble and immediately report any such encounters.
Police Chief Mark Mew says that in each of the separate incidents,
the man struck the girl with his vehicle.
He says using such force to try to coerce the girls into his car
only makes the situation more dangerous.
The three girls involved are 10 or 11 years old. Police describe
the SUV driver as an 18- to 20-year-old black man with light skin.
Parnell orders
state to intervene in lawsuits
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sean Parnell says the state will
try to intervene in two cases affecting southeast Alaska timber.
Parnell ordered the Alaska Department of Law to apply to intervene
to uphold the Tongass National Forest's exemption from the U.S.
Forest Service's "roadless rule."
He also says Alaska will file paperwork to support the Forest
Service's authority to proceed with the overall Logjam timber sale
and the pending Diesel timber sale.
Parnell says Alaska businesses and families depend on timber in
the Tongass and jobs are at stake.
Game board begins
meeting
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)
— The Alaska Board of Game is taking a look at the use of big
game meat including moose and caribou in traditional Alaska Native
religious dinners.
The board began a four-day meeting Friday in Anchorage with more
than 50 proposals on the agenda.
Bill Simeone with the state Division of Subsistence presented
several proposals on the use of big game for Alaska Native
religious ceremonies.
Several would set up guidelines for the harvesting of big game for
traditional potlatch ceremonies.
Simeone says an Athabaskan potlatch can entail the feeding of 100
people or more for three days. He says there also is a follow-up
potlatch sometimes months later.
Game board vice chairman Ted Spraker says he'd like a better idea
of how many moose are being harvested across the state for
potlatches. Simeone says he does not know.
Game board gets report on hunt
with new rules
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska game board got an update
Friday on the first year of a new moose and caribou hunt for eight
Alaska Native villages.
Becky Schwanke with the Division of Wildlife Conservation says it
looks like numbers for both moose and caribou in Game Unit 13 are
under what was available to hunters, and that's a good thing.
She says a bad thing is the number of hunters failing to file
harvest reports.
Ahtna Inc., the regional corporation administering the hunt, says
the Ahtna Community Hunt was a big success and hopes it is
authorized again.
Ahtna officials say they will work to improve the return rate of
harvest reports.
Board members say one option is pulling next year's permits for
Ahtna community hunters who fail to file the reports.
Game board considers expanding
predator control
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Board of Game is meeting
this week to consider more than 50 proposals.
The four-day meeting begins today (Friday) in Anchorage.
On the agenda are proposals to expand the state's predator control
program, through which more than 1,000 wolves and early as many
bears have been killed since 2003.
Not all the proposals before the board fall strictly under Alaska
wildlife. One proposal would allow Alaskans to own Bengal,
Savannah and Chausie cats. Those are exotic breeds resulting from
crossing domestic and wild cats.
Another proposal would remove chimpanzees from the list.
Yet another would add capuchin monkeys to the list of animals
Alaskans can keep without a permit.
Firms release
details on pipeline plan
BECKY BOHRER - AP Business Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Companies behind a proposed major natural
gas pipeline estimate the project will cost from $20 billion to as
much as $41 billion, depending on the route.
The Alaska Pipeline Project details came Friday in a filing with
federal regulators, a first step toward an open season, when
potential shippers of the gas are courted and commitment are
sought.
Early estimates, from a few years ago, were about $26 billion.
TransCanada Corp. is working with Exxon Mobil Corp. to advance the
project, for which TransCanada has a promise of up to $500 million
from the state of Alaska for reimbursement costs.
The project seeks to move natural gas from the harsh North Slope
to market in this state, through Canada and to the Lower 48.
A rival project also has been moving ahead.
Wounded Anchorage
officer still in pain
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Anchorage police officer ambushed
while sitting in his cruiser earlier this month says he's making
progress but still in extreme pain.
Officer Jason Allen spoke to reporters Thursday from his hospital
bed. He was shot five times Jan. 9 as he was sitting in his patrol
car filling out paperwork.
The assailant has not been apprehended.
The 47-year-old Allen has undergone five surgeries for wounds to
his torso and arms. He says it's a miracle he's alive.
He says some days are better than others, but he believes he is
making progress despite the pain. He's not sure when he will be
released from the hospital.
He declined to speak about his injuries or the night of the
shooting.
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Information from: KTUU-TV
NOAA to review decision to move
ships to Newport
NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration says it will review whether there was a workable
alternative to moving its Pacific fleet of research ships to
Newport, Ore.
In a news release Friday, the agency says it is responding to a
Government Accountability Office decision in December to sustain a
protest by the Port of Bellingham, Wash., to award the lease to
Newport.
NOAA wants to move the fleet from its current base on Seattle's
Lake Union to the Oregon coastal city.
NOAA says it expects to complete its review by May 28. In addition
to Bellingham, Seattle and Newport, Port Angeles, Wash., had
sought the base.
Urologist
from Oregon to set up practice in Juneau
A new urologist has been found to serve Juneau and Southeast
Alaska.
Bartlett Regional Hospital CEO Shawn Morrow said on KINY's Capital
Chat Thursday that Dr. Mike Saltzman will establish a private
firm here with assistance from the hospital.
He's coming from Hood River, Oregon, and is expected to be here by
mid-March.
Morrow says Dr. Salzman's offices will be located where Dr.
Michael Singsass is now.
Dr. Singsass is affiliated with Alaska Urological Associates of
Anchorage which decided to scale back its services to outlying
clinics due to economic conditions.
Interventional
cardiology program not yet possible in Southeast, oncology study
to begin
Bartlett Regional Hospital has concluded that it's not currently
feasible to establish an interventional cardiology program here
which means no cath lab.
The results from of the feasibility study were revealed by
hospital CEO Shawn Morrow on KINY's Capital Chat Thursday.
But he says they will be working with a larger cardiology group in
the next six months to recruit a full-time, non-interventional
cardiologist.
Morrow says population was the key. He says the region is sort of
on the tipping point when you look at Southeast as a whole.
Meanwhile, an oncology feasibility study is planned within the
next 2 to 3 months.
Oncology deals with the study and treatment of cancer.
Again, Morrow feels they're on the tipping point as far as the
population of Southeast Alaska for an oncology center.
He figures that study will be a five to six month process.
New vice chair elected by
Docks and Harbors Board
The CBJ Docks and Harbors Board of Directors elected a new officer
at last night's meeting.
Port Director John Stone says Mike Williams was tapped to serve as
the new vice chair. Williams is also vice chair of the board's
Capital Improvement Committee.
Williams
replaces Greg Fisk who stepped down last month to make time for
other pursuits.
The panel approved its 2011 and 2012 operating budget which will
now be forwarded to the Assembly.
He says it's generally a hold the line budget.
Proposed fee regulation changes outlined in our report Thursday
were set for public hearing February 23rd and 25th in Assembly
Chambers at City Hall.
The board is scheduled to take final action during its meeting on
the 25th.
The panel also voted to increase moorage fees by one percent as of
July 1.
Members accepted a bid for replacement of the North Douglas launch
ramp boarding floats.
The low bid was submitted by Alpine Lumber of Salem, Oregon, at
$69,777. The engineer's estimate was $100,000.
The finished product is due by June 1.
The board approved a general design for parking and staging
reconfiguration at the cruise ship terminal and Columbia lots
downtown.
Stone says they intend to make those improvements probably a year
or so from now.
Stone says those changes will be incorporated into the
transportation study they did of downtown earlier. The study will
then be presented to the Assembly.
UA
president: We don't favor Fairbanks
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The president of the University of
Alaska says it doesn't favor Fairbanks over its other campuses.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that President Mark
Hamilton told a House Finance Committee meeting Thursday that such
suggestions are an insult to the Board of Regents.
However, he and other university leaders say they want to improve
collaboration among the system's 16 branch campuses.
The Finance Committee is beginning an in-depth review of the
university's budget request.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Bill tries
to kill high school exit exam
JEREMY HSIEH - Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The fight to drop a state requirement for
Alaska high schoolers to pass an exit exam to graduate is being
tested in the Legislature.
Educators and parents from around the state testified in a state
Senate committee Friday supporting the proposed repeal.
They shared stories of special needs students who repeatedly
failed to pass the test, keeping them from earning a diploma and
jobs for which they were otherwise qualified.
The exams' only defender to testify was Finance Director Eddy
Jeans of the Department of Education and Early Development.
He says the State Board of Education wants the test to stay in
place until there is an alternative, because it is the system's
"only hammer" and a crucial accountability tool.
North Slope oil
spill reported
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A North Slope oil spill has been
reported from the same pipeline that froze and ruptured in
November.
Steve Rinehart, a spokesman for Lisburne oil field operator BP
Exploration, says the new leak reported Wednesday is estimated at
less than one barrel, which consists of 42 gallons.
The November leak involved 46,000 gallons of crude oil and oil
water.
Rinehart says the new leak had stopped by the time it was
discovered at an elevated section of the 18-inch flow line during a
regular inspection. It splattered over a 2,000-square-foot area,
landing on the edge of a nearby drill pad and the tundra below it.
Rinehart says the spill occurred in the out-of-service line more
than a mile east of the site of the Nov. 29 leak.\
The cause of the latest leak is unknown.
A cleanup plan is being finalized.
Additional Alaska Air National
Guard members on their way to Haiti
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — More members of the Alaska Air National
Guard are heading to Haiti to help in relief efforts of the
earthquake-damaged country.
Eight members of the 176th Wing at Kulis Air National Guard Base
in Anchorage are scheduled to leave Alaska Friday.
Officials say the Guard members will go to Homestead Air Reserve
Base in Florida, where they'll participate in C-130 missions to
carry people and supplies to Haiti between Jan. 31 and Feb. 11.
The deployment will bring to 36 the number of Alaska Air National
Guardsmen involved in relief efforts in Haiti.
Parnell names new district
judges
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has named new
district judges for Anchorage and Palmer.
Paul E. Olson of Anchorage has been named to the Anchorage
District Court, while David L. Zwink of Wasilla will serve on the
Palmer District Court.
Olson fills a new seat on the Anchorage court created by the
Legislature last year.
Zwink fill a vacancy created when Judge Gregory L. Heath was
appointed to the Palmer Superior Court last year.
New Northwest HUD director named
SEATTLE (AP) — A staff member for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,
has been named as the Northwest director for the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced Friday that Mary McBride is
President Obama's choice to head its Region 10 office that serves
Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho.
McBride has most recently been the south Puget Sound regional
director for Murray.
Before that, she served in the Clinton Administration as director
of rural development in Washington state for the U.S. Department
of Agriculture
Crimson Bears hockey team hosts
Delta Junction for final home games
The Juneau Douglas High School hockey team's final two home games
of the season are tonight (Saturday) and tomorrow.
The Crimson Bears take on Delta Junction at the Treadwell Ice
arena at 8 tonight at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Lots of high school hoops
on tap this weekend
The Thunder Mountain High School men's basketball team is at Sitka
tonight and tomorrow.
The Lady Falcons are in Ketchikan.
The men's and women's Crimson Bears basketball teams host West
Valley tonight and tomorrow, with the women preceding the men both
nights at 6:15 -
The men tip off at 8. Saturday night's men's game will air on
KINY.
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