Icing problems fueled by high winds waylay voyages of two state ferries in Southeast
The state ferry LeConte had to delay its return to Juneau Sunday evening and stay in Hoonah over the weekend.

Roger Wetherell of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities explains the vessel was traveling between Juneau and Angoon Saturday evening when the crew measured sustained winds to about 70 knots. One gust was measured at 120 knots.

Wetherell says strong winds created drastic sea spray causing excessive icing to the ship's radar and GPS and even encased engine room vents and air intakes.

The LeConte spent Saturday night through mid-day today (Monday) in Hoonah.
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While in Hoonah, Wetherell says the crew was able to remove ice from the vessel, its navigational radar and GPS and deice its lifesaving equipment, the fast rescue boat, and the life boats.
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The sailings of the fast ferry Chenega Saturday and Sunday was also effected by the high winds and freezing spray.

It was rescheduled to travel to make up a trip between Juneau and Sitka and back today (Monday) with its normal Juneau to Haines run taken over by the Malaspina.

Winds knock over scores of AML containers
High winds knocked over about 30 containers at the Alaska Marine Lines facility at the Rock Dump.

Eric Badger, the company's port director, says he was notified by police at about nine Sunday morning.         

A damage estimate is pending inspection of the wreckage.

A crane will be moved into the area sometime tomorrow or Wednesday.  Damaged containers will be transported south for repair.

Badger says they've had wind incidents in the past, but nothing of this magnitude.  Its only amounted to a couple of containers in past incidents.

He says there will be no delays in their shipping schedule as a result the incident.

Cold weather persisting in Capital City.
The high wind warning issued for Juneau expired at Noon Sunday.

Meteorologist Kimberly Vaughn says the top gust Sunday morning was 76 miles per hour at South Douglas Island.

It hit 68 miles per hour at the upper terminal of Mt. Roberts, 47 atop the Federal Building, and 49 miles per hour at Mayflower Island.

Winds at the airport were generally around 30 miles hour.

The windy weather sent the wind chill temperatures to between 20 and 25 below.

Windy weather is forecast to keep the wind chill to 20 below zero today, tonight and Tuesday.  

Thane Road avalanche does not reach roadway
An avalanche came down Mt. Roberts out Thane Road this morning.  (Friday)     

It was located in the beginning of the slide area beyond the Rock Dump.   

It came down at about 8:15, but did not reach the roadway, according to a police officer who patrolled the area.

Legislative move bill hearing set for Tuesday morning
As reported Friday, the bill that proposes moving legislative sessions from Juneau to Anchorage is up for a hearing in the State Affairs Committee Tuesday morning.

Juneau Representative Andrea Doll, who sits on the committee, says she's not taking House Bill 293 lightly.

Doll feels there are enough votes to move the measure out of committee.

The committee meeting begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday in Room 106 of the Captial Building.

The measure also has a Finance Committee referral.    

Federal coordinator Pearce discusses gas pipeline
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Federal gas pipeline coordinator Drue Pearce says she believes Governor Sarah Palin's gas line plan is working - so far.

Pearce also told the Senate Resources Committee Monday that the momentum must continue or Congress could intervene.

For now, Palin's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act has produced a conforming bid from independent Canadian pipeline company TransCanada.

But Houston-based ConocoPhillips says its alternative plan warrants consideration, and it would like further discussion with Palin's energy team.

More hearings with the House and Senate are planned to include both companies.

Pearce, a Republican, held state office for 17 years, including two stints as Senate president.

Game Board defers decision on wolf pup killing
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The Alaska Board of Game has deferred a decision on whether to allow residents along the Kuskokwim River to kill wolf pups in their dens.

The game board decided to take up the issue again at its meeting in Juneau in November.

The seven-person board finished up several days of meetings today in Anchorage.

The idea was proposed by Orutsaramuit Native Council of Bethel and the local advisory committee.

Proponents says the killing of wolf pups is needed because the central Kuskokwim area used to be the best moose hunting around, but has fallen off in recent years because wolves and bears are killing too many moose.

Defenders of Wildlife was one of the groups that spoke out against the proposal.

Tom Banks, Defenders' Alaska representative, said he told the board that the practice of denning completely exceeds the bounds of acceptable policy.

Predator control issues taken up by Game Board
The Alaska Board of Game dealt with a number of predator control issues during its meeting in Anchorage that got underway Friday.

Board member Ron Somerville says a number of the proposals dealt with the same day airborne hunting of black bears in various parts of the state. With the exception of intensive management areas, Somerville says the board rejected those proposals.

Another proposal to allow the same day airborne harvest of wolves and wolverines outside of intensive management units was rejected. So Somerville says that practice will continue to be limited to intensive management units.

A proposal from residents along the Kuskokwim River to allowing the killing of wolf pups in their dens was deferred until the board's Fall meeting in Juneau.

A proposal to establish a disabled veteran hunt was also deferred until the Fall meeting. In the meantime, Somerville says there was a request that the state work with the military to set up some hunts for disabled veterans.

The Game Board meeting is scheduled to conclude today. (Monday)

Senators want DHS to delay identification requirements
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nineteen senators, including both from Alaska, asked the Department of Homeland Security today (Monday) to delay new border-crossing rules.

The restriction are will mean longer lines and stiffer demands for identification for people entering the United States from Canada.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, the senators said commerce will be stifled and lives disrupted if federal officials go ahead Thursday with plans to end the practice of allowing people to enter after showing a document, such as a driver's license, and declaring their nationality.

But federal officials say the "honor system" must end now.

Alaska Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski were among 10 Republicans who signed the letter.

The senators say that implementing the new rules now would violate the spirit of a law passed last month that delays until June 2009 a requirement that people carry passports or similar documents when entering the United States by land or sea.

The lawmakers want Chertoff to delay the new identification requirements until the so-called Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is fully implemented.

Stevens says if these restrictions go in effect, it will severely cripple travel from Alaska and other border states.

Judge rules in Stevens' favor in ethics dispute
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Former state Senate president Ben Stevens has been embroiled in political scandal over the past year.

But he's won a small victory in a dispute with the state's Legislative watchdog over financial disclosure laws.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission had recommended last year that Stevens pay a fine of $630 for failing to disclose more than $70,000 in deferred compensation.

That money came from his serving on the board of directors at Semco Energy, parent company of Alaska's largest utility.

Superior Court Judge Mark Rindner ruled against the commission on Friday.

Rindner wrote that the laws that would have compelled Stevens to report the income were not in place at the time.

Stevens didn't run for re-election in 2006.

Semco is the parent company of Enstar Natural Gas Company, Alaska's largest utility.

The complaint against Stevens, R-Anchorage, was brought by the Republican Moderate Party.

APOC says a separate lawsuit over income Stevens received from a consulting firm in which he held an interest has yet to be decided.
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Stevens is one of six Alaska lawmakers who had their offices raided by the FBI in 2006 in an ongoing federal probe into corruption in the state Legislature.

Two lawmakers have been convicted for ties to VECO Corp., a former oil field services company.

Two former VECO executives have testified in those trials that they bribed Stevens, but he has not been charged.

Stevens, through his lawyer, has denied any wrongdoing.

Déjà vu experience for Alaska Flight 64 in Ketchikan
An Alaska Airlines jet made an emergency landing at Ketchikan International Airport Saturday night.  There was a similar incident the previous weekend.

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

Initial reports said the jet had a problem with its flaps and the flight crew declared an emergency.

On Sunday of last week, a plane flying on Flight 64 made an emergency landing at Ketchikan due to flap problems.

Emergency personnel from Ketchikan International Airport, with support from the Ketchikan Fire Department and other local emergency agencies stood by and watched as the plane safely touched down on the runway about 8 pm.

An Alaska Airlines official was unable to provide any information about the number of passengers aboard or whether this was the same plane involved in last week’s emergency landing.
(KFMJ- Ketchikan)

Fire department called to Bergman Hotel
Capital City Fire Rescue responded to the Bergman Hotel downtown Sunday morning on a report of a fire.

Captain Ed Quinto says the call came in at 11:17. When they arrived, the found the fire had already been put out by an employee who resides at the hotel.

It was determined the fire was caused when a television, that was sitting on a stove top, caught fire when a burner on the stove was turned on.

The employee put out the fire with an extinguisher and set the television outside.

Captain Quinto says there was no damage inside the building. The fire department did work to remove a lot of smoke from the building.

No injuries were reported. He says they did evaluate two people for possible smoke inhalation, but they refused transport to the hospital.

Neighbors say body found may be former tenant
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage police are releasing little information about a body found after a fire in an apartment building.

The charred remains were found in rubble of a Tudor Road apartment and police are treating it as a homicide.

Police spokeswoman Anita Shell says the remains could not even be distinguished as a man or woman.

Apartment manager Billy O'Neil says he believes the body is that of tenant Brendan Wilson.

The apartment had a fire Tuesday and then another Saturday, when the body was found.

Fire officials say the first fire displaced Wilson and another resident.

Anchorage Fire Department spokesman Tom Kempton says that nothing about the first fire, which started in a bedroom closet, seemed suspicious.

He says the origin of Saturday's fire was suspicious.

Shell says it's unclear whether the victim died at the apartment or was dumped there.

A truck registered to Wilson was parked outside the apartment building Saturday night.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Change to traffic study standards before Assembly
The Assembly has one item up for public comment and action tonight. (Monday)

It's an ordinance relating to traffic impact analysis.

CBJ staff and the Assembly have been updating Title 49 over the last year and a half.

CBJ Manager Rod Swope says that part of CBJ code encompasses regulations dealing with everything from parking to building codes.

The Assembly will be taking up just a portion of the analysis at tonight's meeting. The amendment would provide standards for when a traffic study is required and what needs to be included in a traffic study.

A consultant for the Community Development Department is recommending to lower the standard for when a traffic study is required and also the amount of traffic that a particular intersection can handle.

Swope says the recommendation is based on a review of existing code; traffic conditions in Juneau; traffic codes for similar communities; and the consultant's 30 years of experience with Juneau's traffic.

He says the change would basically allow for more traffic than is currently allowed under CBJ code depending on the area and circumstances,

The Assembly meets tonight at 7 at City Hall.

Conservation groups sue seeking documents connected to Chukchi sale
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Two conservation groups say the Minerals Management Service has not properly disclosed documents used to plan next month's Chukchi Sea petroleum lease sale.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Biological Diversity today sued the agency to release the documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

An agency spokeswoman in Anchorage says she has not seen the lawsuit and that she could not respond.

The conservation groups say the documents could show harmful effects to polar bears and other marine mammals, and that the sale may be ill-advised and possibly illegal.

The lease sale is scheduled for February 6th in Anchorage.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of New York's Southern District.

The lease sale will make available nearly 46,000 square miles for petroleum leases.

The conservation groups want the release of documents that they say could show that the MMS understated the potential development that might occur.

The conservation groups say development could include liquefied natural gas facilities and tanker traffic in the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea.

Comments due this week on halibut sport harvest regulations
The deadline for comments on proposed regulations limiting the guided sport harvest of Pacific halibut in Southeast Alaska is this Wednesday, January 30th.

The International Pacific Halibut Commission determines halibut abundance in all areas along the Pacific and Alaska coasts.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries have established guideline harvest levels for halibut harvested in the sport charter vessel fisheries in area 2C, that's Southeast Alaska and 3A, the Central Gulf of Alaska.

Sheela McLean of NOAA Fisheries in Juneau says they want the harvest to remain within the guideline harvest levels while minimizing adverse impacts on the charter fishery, its sport fishing clients, the coastal communities that serve as home ports for the fishery, and on fisheries for other species.

She says in the past four years sport fishermen on charter vessels in Southeast have exceeded the guideline harvest level.

The newly-proposed regulations include a one-halibut daily catch limit.

That's a change from the existing two-halibut daily catch limit.

The new regulations would also include a prohibition on the harvest of halibut by charter vessel guides, operators, and crew plus a limit on the number of fishing lines that may be used on a charter vessel of six or the number of charter vessel anglers onboard, whichever is less.

Comments on the proposed plan, must be received by January 30th.
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www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov 

DOT official: Gravina access project not dead
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - A state transportation official says the Gravina Access project in Ketchikan is still very much alive.

Mal Menzies -- Southeast Alaska regional director for the Department of Transportation -- spoke to Ketchikan officials and residents Friday.

Menzies says what has been abandoned is a controversial alternative that would have crossed Pennock Island with two high bridge spans.

Menzies says the state is reviewing other alternatives, including other bridge projects and improved ferry service.

He says transportation officials will hold another series of public meetings in Ketchikan and will poll area residents as well as residents of Prince of Wales Island and Metlakatla.

In September, the state officially abandoned the project known nationally as "the bridge to nowhere" that became a symbol of federal pork-barrel spending.
(Ketchikan Daily News)

Police in Anchorage investigate parking lot shooting
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage police say a man was shot and wounded in the parking lot of a bar.

Twenty-one-year-old Damota Moore was rushed by friends to a hospital.

Moore tells police he heard shouting and gun fire, then was struck once by a bullet in the upper back. The bullet passed through his body and out his chest.

Police responding to a report of the shooting found shell casings in the parking lot of Al's Alaskan Inn & Bar on the Old Seward Highway.

Police say witnesses were unable to provide officers with information about a suspect.

Kodiak Guardsman to accompany first lady at speech
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - A Coast Guard member from Alaska is scheduled to be a special guest of the first lady at today's (Monday's) State of the Union Address in Washington D.C.

Petty Officer Will Milam, a Phoenix native currently assigned to Air Station Kodiak, gets the honor.

He's scheduled to meet with Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen this afternoon and attend a reception at the White House with his wife before joining the first lady for the address.

Milam entered the Coast Guard in 1992 after six years in the Navy.

He transferred to Alaska in 1997.

He is currently assigned to the Alaska Patrol division and routinely deploys aboard Coast Guard cutters as a member of H-65 aviation detachments.

Incoming commander hopes to place Strykers in Hawaii
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (AP) - The incoming Army commander in the Pacific says he wants to put a Stryker brigade in Hawaii rather than adding to the two already in Alaska.

Major General Benjamin Mixon says the Army is not going to leave Hawaii and it's not going to stop using the state for training.

He says he hopes to work with activists to overcome objections to a Stryker brigade.

Mixon assumes command of Army Pacific forces this week.

Environmentalists and Native Hawaiian groups have objected to basing a Stryker brigade in the islands.

They say the unit's 4,000 soldiers and its 320 armored Stryker vehicles would hurt the environment and desecrate cultural sites.

They sued the Army, demanding that it conduct an environmental impact statement analyzing alternative basing locations, including Alaska and Colorado.

Army leaders have said the report may be released as early as next month.

Mixon says Hawaii is a strategically vital place where soldiers could rapidly deploy to all parts of the Pacific.

He says Alaska is already home to two Stryker units and soldiers must experience training in Hawaii's semi-jungle environment, not just Alaska's much colder one.

Lady Bears earn hard fought win over Colony
The Juneau Douglas High School women's basketball team scored a homecoming victory Sunday, but it took two overtimes.

The final score was 44 to 42. The Bears fell to the Knights' Saturday night 57 to 52.

The men's team dropped a pair of games to Colony. They lost Sunday 53 to 47. Saturday's score was 64 to 54.

The games were rescheduled from Friday when inclement weather prevented the Colony teams from arriving in Juneau.

China Joe subject of upcoming museum presentation
A presentation on China Joe is planned this Saturday as part of the Juneau and Douglas City Museum's Coffee and Collections program.

The presentation on the famous Juneau Gold Rush era figure will be presented by Mark Whitman who was among the guests on Capital Chat this morning. (Monday)

The presentation will include power point presentation of historical photos and documents that Whitman says should richly illustrate who he was, what he did, what he went through and how he became one of Juneau's leading citizens.

The baker and storekeeper was known for his generosity that saved multitudes of miners from starvation.

When Chinese laborers were herded out of Juneau by armed vigilantes in August of 1886, his benefactors came to his aide to protect him.

In recognition of China Joe's generosity, those attending the presentation at ten Saturday morning are invited to make a donation to the Southeast Alaska Food Bank.

Tea and Chinese pastries will be served by Juneau residents of Chinese descent.

Entertainment will also be provided by local musicians who have performed in China.