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JPD forms group to examine effectiveness of 8 hour shifts
The Juneau Police Department has organized a group to gauge the effectiveness of the new eight hour shift and possibly to explore alternatives.
The Patrol Schedule Research Group met for the first time yesterday (Wednesday).
The department switched from 12 hour to 8 hour shifts on January 10th.
Assistant Chief Greg Browning
says the eight hour shifts have accomplished what they were hoping to
accomplish, although the department recognizes that some officers have had
personal issues with the amount of time they have off.
He says they're willing
to pursue other alternatives that might provide officers more time off.
Officer Paul
Comolli is the Vice President of the Juneau Police Department Employees
Association which is represented by the Public Safety Employees Association.
Comolli says the union is not optimistic that any benefit will come from the new committee and feels its solely for an appearance of consideration.
He says such a committee would have been helpful to the chief prior to making the radical change in shift deployment.
But Comolli says they understand the need for the department to confirm the high incidence of hold over overtime expense created by the new shift and the difficulty in scheduling training.
Browning says there was one
problem with training, but it was a personal matter regarding the
availability of the officer doing the training and had nothing to do with
the eight hour shift.
There's been some overtime lately, but Browning says that's because of
the high number of traffic accidents caused by the bad weather.
The department made the change after determining 12 hour shifts caused communication problems in the
past and created a fatigue problem.
Chief Gummow has said he is open to suggestions and
other alternatives.
Assembly denies appeals of
Douglas Breeze In construction permit
The Douglas Breeze In will be allowed to proceed with its' expansion but
without a 5,000 square foot basement storage area.
The Assembly has denied two appeals to the store's conditional use permit
which the Juneau Planning Commission granted in August.
Breeze in owner Al Ahlgren wants to tear down the current 1,975 square-foot
store and replace it with a 5,000 square-foot store, more parking, gasoline
pumps, an automated-teller machine, and a drive-through window.
Ahlgren also wanted to build a 5,000 square-foot basement for storage,
bringing the total footage up to 10,000 square feet.
Community Development Director Dale Pernula ruled that the building permit
allowed a total of 5,000 square feet.
Ahlgren appealed the Director's ruling.
After the Assembly's denial,
Ahlgren said Wednesday he hasn't decided what to do yet.
The Assembly will meet Monday to make their appeal decisions official.
In their decision, the Assembly found that the recently enacted convenience
store ordinance allows no more than 5,000 square feet of floor space in the
building -including storage.
However, the Assembly noted that Breeze In did provide notice to the city,
in their conditional use permit application, that they wanted to build the
storage basement.
The Assembly expressed disappointment that Community Development Departments
staff failed to spot the issue.
The decision states that the oversight caused a significant waste of time
and money for everybody involved.
The Assembly also denied an appeal by Mike and Marilyn Miller and Kim and
Keith Busch, who live near the Douglas Breeze In, who say the Planning
Commission approved an excessive expansion without taking into account
nearby property values and neighborhood safety.
In their decision, the Assembly found the Millers' and the Buschs' did not
meet their burden of proof.
University president
requests funding for research
University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton told a joint meeting of the
Senate and House Finance Committees this morning that he's asking for
another maintenance level budget, but he asked them to also consider an
investment in research.
He told the budget writers that research will create other industries.
He called for a $20 Million investment over the next five years with the
first installment of two and a half million coming next fiscal year.
He pointed out that Alaska invests about one percent of its gross state product in
research. The national average is about two point seven percent.
Hamilton added if the university does its share, it could expect to move the
Legislature's investment to $140 Million over five years. He added that
would cut Alaska's gap against the nation by almost a third.
He also asked lawmakers to fund a portion of the Alaska Scholar's Program.
Hamilton said its success has outstripped the primary source of funding
which is the university's Natural Resource Fund.
The program offers free tuition to the top ten percent of Alaska high school
graduates.
Feds to take up antitrust
question if gas line proposal is submitted
JUNEAU (AP) - House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz is asking federal energy
regulators to look into antitrust questions if the North Slope's three
largest oil producers owned and operated an Alaska gas pipeline.
But the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says the
commission cannot respond to antitrust matters until a pipeline application
has been filed.
Chairman Pat Wood says in a letter to Berkowitz that the control B-P,
ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil would have over the pipeline is expected to
be part of the discussion when FERC meets next week.
The three producers own the rights to more than 90 percent of North Slope
gas reserves. They are negotiating as a group for a stranded gas contract
with the state, an agreement that would set the fiscal terms for building
and operating a gas pipeline.
Berkowitz wrote to the FERC chairman in January, saying he was concerned
that a producer-owned pipeline might not stand up in court.
David MacDowell, a spokesman for B-P, says gas line talks have not
progressed to the point where antitrust matters would be an issue, and that
no decisions have been made about the ownership of a line.
Food program goes with least
expensive brands
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska health officials say clients of a supplemental food
program for women and children will have to start buying the least expensive
brands for some foods.
Officials say the change in the federally funded Alaska Women, Infants and
Children program is a result of rising food costs nationally.
Beginning next Monday, clients will have to buy the lowest priced brands
available for each type of milk or cheese listed on the approved program
list.
Some clients also might have reduced milk or juice food packages.
Senator suggests tapping permanent fund to fill gaps
JUNEAU (AP) - A Fairbanks state senator is proposing a long-range fiscal plan that would fill half of future spending gaps with earnings from the Alaska Permanent Fund.
The plan by Republican Gary Wilken, the co-chair of Senate Finance, calls for filling the other half of spending gaps with the state's savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
In recent years budget gaps have been filled entirely by the budget reserve, which is made up of cash settlements from tax and royalty disputes with oil companies.
There has been little discussion of a long-range financial plan this year as high oil prices have led to a projected budget surplus.
Wilken says when high oil prices drop, the state will face the same fiscal gap it has over the past decade.
And he contends that his proposal will have a smaller effect on Alaskans than an income or sales tax.
Berkowitz amendment would address ethics gap
JUNEAU (AP) - House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz says he will introduce legislation to close a gap in Alaska's ethics laws.
But Republican lawmakers say where he wants to put his amendment is a problem.
Berkowitz's proposal would limit how much stock a public employee can own in a company when taking official action that affects that company. His amendment would limit stock ownership to 5-thousand dollars or 1 percent, whichever is less.
Berkowitz's announcement comes a week after a report concluded that Attorney General Gregg Renkes' stock in K-F-x Incorporated wasn't significant enough to be considered an ethics breach. K-F-x stood to benefit from an international coal deal between Alaska and Taiwan Renkes helped put together.
The bill Berkowitz wants to attach the amendment to, Senate Bill 56, is meant to restructure Alaska's criminal sentencing guidelines to comply with a U-S Supreme Court decision.
House Judiciary Chairwoman Lesil McGuire says the state needs to quickly comply with the Supreme Court decision, and attaching a -- quote --- ``political football'' -- could slow the bill down.
The bill's sponsor, Senator Gene Therriault of Fairbanks, says the ethics question should be considered on its own and that he believes Berkowitz's amendment is politically motivated.
Judge rejects group's bid to halt wolf control program
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A judge in Anchorage has rejected a request from animal rights advocates to halt Alaska's aerial wolf control program until the issue goes to trial in May.
Friends of Animals and others are suing the state over the wolf program, which aims to boost moose populations in five areas of the state.
In the 15-page ruling issued Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Sharon Gleason said the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the elimination of as many as 610 wolves this year would cause irretrievable damage to the species.
Priscilla Feral -- president of the Connecticut-based Friends of Animals -- says the group has not decided whether it will appeal the ruling.
But she says it will continue its long-running boycott of Alaska tourism to protest the wolf program.
Stevens among lawmakers held out of speech as precaution
WASHINGTON (AP) - Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is among four senior lawmakers who skipped President Bush's State of the Union speech last night as a precaution against a potential attack on the Capitol.
Commerce Secretary Don Evans also stayed away.
It's a long-standing tradition that a member of the president's Cabinet is kept away from the speech in case the entire administration is wiped out. Evans did not attend last year's State of the Union address either.
Ever since the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, 2001, congressional leaders have usually asked a leading lawmaker to stay away as well, despite intense security.
Those asked to stay away this year with Alaska's senior Republican were Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Republican Representative John Doolittle of California and Democratic Representative George Miller of California.
Battle over oil drilling in ANWR heats up
WASHINGTON (AP) - Members of Congress who have successfully blocked oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for more than a decade vowed to do everything -- including a Senate filibuster -- to protect the Alaska refuge this year.
But they acknowledge they may fail this time.
U-S Senator Joe Lieberman (a Connecticut Democrat) attended an environmental rally Wednesday evening in Washington, D-C. He says the ANWR issue is important enough to support a filibuster.
But if the Republicans put drilling legislation in the budget resolution -- a filibuster is not (not) allowed.
Republican gains in the Senate give President Bush his best chance yet to win approval for oil drilling in the ANWR.
The G-O-P now has 55 members in the 100-seat Senate.
House Resources Committee spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli says the timing is right.
Lieberman, though, says he believes that ``a couple'' of the new senators could be persuaded to oppose the drilling. There are two new Democrats and seven new Republicans in the Senate.
Snowmachine accident near Togiak claims man's life
TOGIAK (AP) - A 32-year-old Twin Hills man is dead after his snowmachine went over a cliff in Southwest Alaska.
Alaska State Troopers say James Forbes Junior died of injuries sustained in the accident, which occurred about 40 miles southwest of Togiak.
It's unknown if Forbes was wearing a helmet when he went over the 35-foot cliff.
Troopers say they were notified of the accident over the weekend.
Subsistence panel recommends system for better deer harvests on POW
KETCHIKAN (AP) - A federal subsistence panel is recommending a system it says will result in better data collection for deer harvests in the Prince of Wales Island area.
The Unit Two Deer Planning Subcommittee is recommending mandatory hunter report forms instead of a proposed registration permit hunt.
The panel is part of the Southeast Regional Advisory Council.
Subcommittee chairman Don Hernandez says the idea has the full support of the panel and will be considered by the full council this month in Petersburg.
Currently, the area has a registration permit hunt for eligible subsistence hunters on federal land, and a state general hunt that requires harvest tags.
Lack of snow, purse money may kill Anchorage dog race
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A lack of snow and a lack of money could mean cancellation of the World Championship Sled Dog Race in Anchorage this year.
The sprint race run over three days is usually part of the Fur Rendezvous, the annual Anchorage winter celebration.
The race is short of prize money after A-C-S Wireless announced that it would not extend a three-year contract to supply 25-thousand dollars in cash prizes.
But if Anchorage doesn't get more snow soon, the lack of prize money won't be an issue.
The race is scheduled to start February 25th.
The Alaska Sled Dog Racing Association will make a decision on the race by February 15th.
The race was canceled in 2003 because of warm weather and a lack of snow.
Musher obtains restraining order
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A dispute between two mushers at a race last month has led to a restraining order.
Iditarod musher Linda Plettner obtained the restraining order against 44-year-old David Straub.
The 54-year-old Plettner says Straub slapped her in the face after charging over to her in the parking lot of the Knik 200.
Straub says Plettner came at him and he brushed her away.
Alaska State Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson says troopers investigated and found no indication of an assault.
The restraining order says Straub must stay at least a mile from Plettner's house, avoid contact with her clients, mushing customers and renters.
The restraining order was issued for 20 days.
District Court Judge Gregory Heath will decide whether to extend the order or vacate it.
Plettner ran in her eleventh Iditarod last year.
Counterfeit bills continue to show up in Fairbanks, Palmer
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Counterfeit money is continuing to show up in Fairbanks and fake bills also have been spotted in Palmer.
The manager of Lowe's hardware in Fairbanks told police Tuesday he had found a counterfeit 100-dollar bill.
He says the bill's printing was off center and it didn't have a watermark.
The manager provided the name and driver's license number of the person believed to have passed the suspect bill.
Palmer Ace Hardware Store owner Ron Elmore says someone passed a counterfeit 100-dollar bill at his store last weekend.
Others were passed at a yarn store, a grocery and a video and book store.
The Palmer bills even passed a ``pen test,'' in which ink from a special marker turns dark on non-money paper.
Law enforcement officials say they have not confirmed any connection between the Fairbanks and Palmer counterfeit money.
Barrow hosts economic development summit
BARROW (AP) - America's farthest north community was more crowded this week.
The 45-hundred residents of Barrow hosted 900 visitors taking part in an Arctic Economic Development Summit put on by the North Slope Borough and the Northwest Arctic Borough.
The crush of visitors filled all hotels and residents took in individuals and families to help out.
The three-day summit concluded yesterday (Wednesday) with a joint meeting of the North Slope Borough Assembly and the Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly.
The theme of the summit was ``Strengthening Our Relationships to Strengthen Our Economies.''
Among the topics was macro and micro economic development projects, ranging from a natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to arts and crafts marketing in small villages.
The summit is over but today marks the start of the three-day Kivgik 2005, or messenger feast, in Barrow.
It's a historic celebration of a successful subsistence harvest.
It features traditional dances, story telling and gift giving.
Alaska Airlines shows off new jet
SEATTLE (AP) - Alaska Airlines is taking delivery of its newest jet.
The company today showed off a Boeing 737-800 at a hangar at Boeing Field in Seattle.
The 737-800 is among what Boeing is calling its ``Next Generation'' aircraft using the latest in flight deck technology and fuel efficiency.
Alaska Airlines is equipping the plane with performance-enhancing winglets, which cut down on fuel consumption, extend the aircraft's range and reduce noise during take-off and landing.
Company official Gregg Saretsky says the aircraft is well-suited to the company's long-haul flights because of its larger seating capacity.
He says the winglets will reduce the aircraft's fuel consumption by three to four percent, saving about 110-thousand gallons of fuel a year per aircraft.
Delivery of two more 737-800s is scheduled for later this year.
Ads for Congressman Young recognized
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Congressman Don Young's radio and newspaper ads for his successful re-election campaign last year have won five national awards.
According to the Alaska Republican's campaign staff, the awards were issued by the American Association of Political Consultants.
Art Hackney -- president of Edmonds, Hackney and Associates -- produced these ads.
Hackney has produced such ads for Young since the mid-1980s.
Matanuska Electric, Usibelli discuss new power plant
WASILLA (AP) - Officials with Matanuska Electric Association and Usibelli Coal Mine of Healy have entered into talks that could lead to the construction of a coal-fired power plant.
The new power plant would be in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
The officials hope the plant could be on line by 2015.
Matanuska Electric now buys power from Chugach Electric Association.
But the company claims it pays too much and doesn't plan to renew its contract when it expires in 2014.
Usibelli vice president of business development Steve Denton says there's a lot of questions to answer before anything gets built.
Among them are where the plant would be built, who would own it and how much it would cost.
(With help from Ed Russell,
KMBQ)
Guess gives birth to girl
Anchorage Senator Gretchen Guess has given birth to a six pound, two ounce girl at Providence Hospital in Anchorage.
She and her husband Jeff Tyson named
her Carolyn Marie.
The baby was born at 6:50 Wednesday evening.
Mother and baby are doing well, according to a press
release issued this afternoon.
The release says Guess and her family plan to move to Juneau as soon as possible.
Copyright ©2005 Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
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