Anchorage police arrest suspect in felony eluding, fatal crash
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage police say a 21-year-old man was charged with second-degree murder after stealing a truck and ramming a car.

Kristopher Felber is in custody after police say he tried to evade officers in the stolen truck and on foot.

Police say they took a report of a truck stolen shortly after eight a-m this morning near Boniface Parkway and Debarr Road in East Anchorage.

Officers spotted the truck and tried to stop it.

Police say the suspect rammed four cars and two squad cars and got away.

Officers fired shots at the truck and gave chase.

Police say the truck ran a red light at Lake Otis Boulevard and 20th Avenue and T-boned a sedan, killing the driver, 35-year-old Stephan Strain.
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Police say Strain's sedan was pushed 150 to 200 feet and both the car and the stolen pickup hit seven other vehicles.

Occupants inside suffered minor injuries.

Police say the pickup finally became disabled at Lake Otis and East 17th. The suspect fled on foot.

Several nearby schools were ordered locked down. An Alaska State Trooper helicopter helped search for the suspect.

Police say Felber was arrested without resisting.

Besides second-degree murder, he is charged with assault, felony eluding and felony vehicle theft.

He's also charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and driving with a suspended license.

His bail is set at 200-thousand dollars. He will be arraigned tomorrow (Wednesday).

Coast Guard rescues man after trawler sinks
A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka Jayhawk helicopter crew rescued one person from a life raft, after his vessel sank, five miles northwest of Cape Decision today. Tuesday]

The Coast Guard Juneau Command Center received a distress call at 12:40 p.m. from John Cessnun over VHF channel 16.

Cessnun said his vessel, the Hermes II a 50-foot trawler homeported in Craig, was taking on water. He was the only person aboard.

An Air Station Sitka Jayhawk helicopter crew was dispatched to the scene and rescued Cessnun from a life raft and transported him to Sitka.

Cessnun was wearing a cold weather survival suit at the time of his rescue and is reported to be in good condition.

The Marine Safety Office Sitka is investigating the cause of the sinking.

Multiple traffic accidents reported on Egan Drive during morning drive
Juneau Police responded to two accidents inbound on Egan Drive this morning and numerous other VID's, or vehicles in the ditch.

The accidents were reported before seven. Sergeant Ed Mercer says the first was a two vehicle accident just past the Lemon Creek Bridge.

One vehicle was totaled. One of the drivers was transported to the hospital for evaluation.

Investigation revealed that one driver lost control in the right lane and slammed into the guard rail and went across the left fast lane striking the other vehicle before ending up in the median.

A 26 year old man was cited for careless driving and failure to provide proof of insurance. The value of his totaled vehicle was $6,000. Damage to the other vehicle was only $500.

As the result of that accident, vehicles started slowing down almost to a standstill, according to the sergeant.

In the traffic was an unmarked police vehicle that the sergeant says got rear ended by another vehicle.

The driver of the other vehicle, a 17 year old girl, was evaluated on scene and not transported to the hospital. She was cited for failing to maintain safe distance. The officer was not injured.

There was $2,000 damage to the police vehicle and $1,500 to the other.

As a result of the second accident, Sergeant Mercer says there were several other vehicles that went in the median as the drivers tried to avoid becoming involved in the accident.

The sergeant says road conditions were very slick this morning. State DOT was contacted. Crews were called out to spray the roads and make them drivable, according to the sergeant.

Flights resume after ash threat from Augustine Volcano
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Dozens of flights canceled by ash from erupting Augustine Volcano returned to the skies today (Tuesday).

Amanda Tobin, spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines, says the state's largest airline will continue to monitor ash from the volcano and make changes as needed.

Alaska Airlines had grounded 36 flights to and from Anchorage yesterday (Monday) and Era Aviation had canceled five flights to Kodiak Island.

The airlines said the cancellations were a precaution against ash, which can damage jet engines.

Officials said the threat to public health is low because the concentrations of ash are minimal near ground level.

Arrant testifies that Rachelle Waterman was involved in plot
The other man who helped kill Rachelle Waterman's mother testified today (Tuesday) at the murder trial in Juneau Superior Court.

Waterman is accused of asking Brian Radel and Jason Arrant to kill her mother.

Lauri Waterman was found dead in November 2004. She was beaten and suffocated to death before her body was burned in the family's minivan in a remote spot on Prince of Wales Island.

During his testimony Friday and Monday, Radel said that Waterman never told him that she wanted her mother dead.

Arrant painted a different picture during his testimony.

In response to questions from the prosecution, Arrant said he got a phone call from Waterman a day or two after the murder,

In that conversation Waterman said she noticed her mother was gone and the mini van was also gone. Arrant responded by saying, "Well, yeah. We did it. Its done."

She asked what happened to the mini van and when told it was completely destroyed by fire expressed disappointment that she wouldn't be inheriting it.

During that conversation, Arrant asked her to do a last minute wipe down in the home to catch anything they may have missed during the abduction of her mother there.

The excerpt of Arrant's testimony was by provided by Court T-V Extra.

Court T-V's Extra's Harriet Ryan reported from the court room that Waterman glowered at Arrant as he was led into the courtroom.

During his testimony, Ryan says Waterman stared toward the witness box impassively.

Marquez: Supreme Court ruling may save state $36 million
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - State officials say an Alaska Supreme Court ruling on state retirement benefits may have saved the state 36 million dollars.

The court ruled that a former employee was not entitled to include cashed-in leave as part of his compensation for calculating retirement benefits.

The decision came in a case involving Michael McMullen, who became a state employee in 1969. The law at that time did not specify whether cashed-in leave could be included in retirement.

The law was amended in 1977 to specifically exclude it.

Alaska Attorney General David Marquez says the ruling is significant because there are 250 related claims pending before the state.

Marquez says - quote - ``The court's opinion noted that in a worst-case scenario a ruling in favor of the appellant could have cost the state 36 million dollars.'' 

Primary seat belt bill signed into law
Governor Murkowski signed a bill into law today that makes seat belt violations a primary offense.

The measure gives police the ability to stop a vehicle if the driver is not wearing a seat belt.

It makes Alaska the seventeenth state to pass such a law.

John Moffit, the regional administrator for the National Highway Traffic Administration, was on hand for the bill signing.

He oversees the federal program in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.

He says the new law appears to make Alaska eligible for a Highway Safety Grant of $3 point 7 Million.

The sponsor is Anchorage Senator Con Bunde. His office says the bill takes effect May 1, 90 days following the Governor's approval.

Bicycle helmet law to take effect March 1 following Assembly action
As of March 1, it will be against the law for persons under the age of 18 to ride a bicycle without a helmet within the City and Borough of Juneau.

The Assembly, last night, [Monday] approved the helmet ordinance.

Denali Ricci testified in favor of the new law. She said it's kind of embarrassing to wear a big and bulky helmet but it could protect your brain. She said, in an accident, the helmet would get crushed and not your head.

Karen Lawfer of the Safe Kids Coalition cited statistics showing that Southeast Alaska has the highest rate of bicycle crash hospitalizations in the state.

Assembly member Jonathan Anderson said he had problems with mandating how parents care for their children and the government taking over parental control.

He said he wanted to know more about the implementation of the ordinance and argued for sending it back to committee for more work.

A motion to send the measure back to committee failed on a four to five vote with Anderson, Bob Doll, Johan Dybdahl, and Dan Peterson in favor.

Assembly member Jeff Bush said that he's a strong supporter of the ordinance for one very significant reason.

He had an accident about 18 months ago.  If he had not been wearing a helmet, he says  he would have sustained very serious injures.

Bush said his helmet was destroyed in the accident and he came away with a concussion, but without it "he wouldn't be here today."

The fine for not wearing a helmet will be $25, but the fine will be waived if the person provides proof that they've acquired a helmet after the time the citation was issued.

City code makes parents and guardians responsible for violations of bicycle ordinances by their children.

Housing alternative and funding for airport EIS approved by Assembly
The Assembly last night (Monday) unanimously approved an ordinance that will allow for higher density housing.

A cottage housing development consists of four to fourteen small homes arranged around a common open space.

Cottages can be developed at a higher density than is currently allowed.

The Planning Commission and the Assembly Lands Committee reviewed the cottage housing concept and recommended adoption of the ordinance.

The Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance appropriating $19,737 in Passenger Facility Charges for the Runway Safety Area Environmental Impact Study.

These are matching funds to a recent Federal Aviation Administration grant.

New Equalization Board minus Assembly members formed
The Assembly has authorized the creation of a new Board of Equalization.

Under previous city code, the Assembly sat as the board to hear appeals of CBJ property tax assessments.

At last night's meeting, Assembly member Merrill Sanford said he didn't necessarily oppose the new board, but had some reservations.

He thought it was better if the Assembly heard the appeals. He said if it got to the point that the Assembly could not hear an appeal in a timely fashion, then it would be time to set up a new board.

The new board was approved on a 7 to 2 vote with Sanford and Dan Peterson voting no.

The Assembly will appoint nine members to the board who will be eligible to serve three consecutive three year terms.

The board chair will assign three members to a panel to hear specific appeals.

Assembly members would not be eligible to serve on the new board.

Judge rejects request for halt to wolf control
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason has denied a request by an animal rights group to immediately halt the state's wolf-killing program.

Gleason says the state Board of Game acted properly in adopting emergency regulations last week that make wolf-killing conform to state law.

Wolf control is aimed at reducing predators to increase game populations.

Gleason says the state made a compelling argument that its multiyear program to reduce predators in affected game units would by harmed by going through the normal adoption of regulations.

That would have kept airborne shooting teams out of the skies at least through February, March and part of April.

Those are considered the prime time for finding and killing wolves.

The animals rights group Friends of Animals says the board should have used standard procedures -- including taking public testimony -- in adopting new wolf-killing regulations.

Gleason rejected that argument.

She says there has been a long record of public testimony on the program. And she says new regulations don't expand the program.

Gleason on January 17th ruled that the wolf control program was illegal.

Among the judge's concerns were the game board's failure to provide required justification for the program.

State approves sale of bear hides
Alaskans can now legally sell bear hides.

The Board of Game agreed Monday to allow the sale of bear hides its effort to increase moose populations in five areas of the state where aerial wolf hunting is allowed.

A brown bear hide could be worth several thousand dollars, but must be harvested from a portion of Game Management Unit 20-E.

The board clarified the taking of wolves with snowmachines. Member Ron Somerville says federal agencies wanted it made clear that wolves could not be run down with snowmachines. He says they made changes making clear that wolves, and in some cases for the predator control of bears, could only be taken by positioning the snowmachines to harvest.

In other action, the panel limited some proxy hunting because of continued and expanding abuses; rejected a deer harvest report requirement; passed a muzzle loader certification for drawing hunts that go into effect July 1 of 2007; rejected the sale of big game trophies; and important to Southeast rejected a ceiling program for mountain goats.

Somerville says one of the last things the board did was to vote to give a 60 day notice to terminate a memorandum of agreement with the federal government on subsistence.

Somerville says the determination was made primarily because of a lack of cooperation on the part of federal agencies.

American Dental Association sues to halt Alaska dental aide program
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The American Dental Association today (Tuesday) filed a lawsuit to stop unlicensed dental health aides from performing irreversible procedures in rural communities.

The lawsuit seeks to end a program run by Alaska Native organizations for trained aides who perform tooth extractions, oral surgeries and other like procedures usually done by licensed dentists.

The dental association says the unique program run by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is in violation of state law.

A-D-A president Bob Brandjord says the service puts patients at risk.

Consortium managers say the aides are crucially needed in remote villages.

They disagree that quality care can only be attained only through licensed dentists.

Bill could impose fee to view wildlife
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Wildlife viewers would have to pay for the privilege under a bill being heard in the state Senate.

The measure would require tour guides, state ferries, the Alaska Railroad and others to charge their sightseeing clients five dollars each for a wildlife conservation tag.

Anchorage Republican Con Bunde (BUN'-dee) says the bulk of revenues would go toward fish and wildlife management.

He says the cost now is unfairly born by hunters and fishermen.

Tour operators say the proposed tag unfairly targets their industry.

They say the fee would have a disproportionate effect on small businesses and be an administrative nightmare for those who work with hundreds of people per day.

Senate Bill 166 was held over yesterday (Monday) in the Senate Resources Committee.

9th and 2nd Circuits strike down partial-birth abortion ban
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Two federal appeals courts on opposite sides of the country have declared a ban on so-called partial-birth abortions unconstitutional today.

The first ruling came from a three-judge panel of the Ninth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The decision applies in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii, plus Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Ninth Circuit said the ban lacks an exception for when a woman's health is at stake.

Hours later, a three-judge panel of the Second U-S Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a similar decision. It affirmed a 2004 ruling by a judge who upheld the right to perform the late-term abortion even as he described the procedure as ``gruesome, brutal, barbaric and uncivilized.''

Signed by President Bush, the abortion ban carried a two-year prison term but was never enforced because of legal challenges in California, New York and Nebraska.

New fire trucks roll in to town
Capital City Fire Rescue has two brand new fire engines.

The engines were delivered on the state ferry Columbia yesterday. [Monday]

In an emergency, the new fire engines will become the first out at the Juneau and Glacier Stations.

Both engines are four wheel drive with an automatic chain system to deal with icy roads.

The engines are also equipped with a compressed air foam system.

It's the latest technology in modern structural fire fighting using compressed foam in the fire lines instead of straight water.

Some of the other new features are a remote control light tower to illuminate incident scenes making them safer and a built in system for the hydraulic rescue tools like the "jaws of life".

The new engines will be in service after accessory equipment is installed and the department receives training on the new systems.

Augustine Volcano continues to erupt
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Augustine Volcano is continuing to erupt today.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says the volcano is in a state of continual eruption, where it is belching ash and gas.

The volcano is on an uninhabited island 180 miles southwest of Anchorage.

It began erupting again on Saturday, with explosions thrusting particles almost five miles into the skies.

Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory say the volcano's constant releases of gas, rock and ash could be averting a more powerful eruption.

Alaska Airlines canceled all flights to and from Anchorage late yesterday.

A total of 36 flights were affected. Service was resumed by this morning.

Among the flights cancelled was this morning's Flight 73 from Juneau to Anchorage.

Deadline for first PFD direct deposit is today
Today is the deadline for Alaskans to apply on-line and qualify for the first direct deposit of this year's Permanent Fund Dividend October 4th.

As of  Friday, Paul Dick of the Department of Revenue says about 234,000 on-line applications had been filed. That already exceeds the 211,000 filed last year.

Original estimates thought there would be 325,000 on-line applications this year, but Dick figures it will exceed that amount by the time of the filing deadline March 31st.

All others applying on-line who qualify for direct deposit will get this year's dividend on October 19th. The mailing of checks will be November 14th this year.

And Dick advises applicants not to hold off if they need documents like a copy of a birth certificate. He says to apply by the deadline and send in the documents later. 

State, Forest Service sign timber agreements
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - State and U-S Forest Service officials have signed a pair of memorandums of understanding aimed at strengthening the timber industry.

Governor Murkowski says his aim is to grow ``an integrated industry'' with 360 (m) million board feet of timber eventually available every year.

One memo of understanding calls for state and federal officials to provide a framework for developing a viable Tongass National Forest timber industry.

The other calls for the state and the Forest Service to work together in amending the 1997 Tongass Land Management Plan.

Murkowski says he will pursue three ten-year timber sales in the name of the state to give a mills a reliable supply of timber.
(Ketchikan Daily News)

New ethics bill raises new questions
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Senator Ralph Seekins today (Tuesday) presented a legislative committee with a new version of his bill to change the state's ethics laws, but the new measure raised even more questions from lawmakers.

Seekins' bill would penalize anybody for talking about an ethics complaint against a public employee until the state personnel board found probable cause.

His new version was presented today to the House State Affairs Committee. It removes a provision to fine a person who talks about an ethics complaint that has not yet been filed.

A fine of up to 5-thousand dollars would now penalize just those who talk about a filed complaint until the personnel board publishes a probable cause finding.
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But Seekins could not answer questions from committee members about when the board is required to publish a complaint. He also could not definitively draw the line between a public disclosure and talking about the matter to a friend or spouse.

In the case of filing a complaint a person knows to be false, Seekins says there are laws dealing with those on the books, and his bill restates those laws. But he could not say what the current law is.

The committee held the bill over for another hearing.

Seekins' bill also would limit the stock a public employee could own in a company while still working on a matter related to that company.

But the measure would allow an employee to own an unlimited amount of stock as long as it was in a blind trust which the worker had no control over. 

Electronics recycling firm opens office in Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A Seattle-based firm has opened an office in Anchorage.

Total Reclaim Incorporated helps recycle discarded electronic equipment.

Two years ago, Total Reclaim teamed with Green Star in Anchorage in a campaign to collect tons of electronic equipment for recycling.

In 2004 and 2005, the company brought in more than 600 tons of obsolete and discarded equipment.

Zirkle -- whose brother Jeff is a partner in Total Reclaim in Seattle -- says he got involved after seeing graphic documentaries of dumping discarded electronic equipment from the United States in Asia and Africa.
(Alaska Journal of Commerce)