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Starr sentenced to prison
An Angoon woman convicted of stabbing of the father of her children to death
has been sentenced to prison.
Denni Starr was sentenced, Friday, to 45 years in prison with 15 years
suspended by Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks.
On July 26th of last year in Angoon, Starr stabbed Richard "Buddy"
George, Junior to death.
Starr's trial was held in Sitka as a result of a change in venue. She was convicted
of of second degree murder.
Canadians accept invitation
to attend Juneau forum on Tulsequah Chief Mine
The Canadians are coming.
They're coming to next Tuesday evening's forum on the Tulsequah Chief Mine at Centennial Hall.
The disclosure came during a conversation
on the mine project with Chris Zimmer, the U. S. Field Coordinator for the Transboundary Watershed Alliance, on KINY's Capital Chat this morning.
The city and borough has been organizing the forum.
CBJ Manager Rod Swope initially alerted us during the program that representatives of mining company and the federal and B. C. governments accepted an invitation to attend.
That was followed up by a telephone call to the program from his
special projects officer, Maria Gladziszewski.
She says Terry Chandler, the president of
mine developer Redfern, will make a presentation first. He'll be followed by representatives of the Canadian federal government and British Columbia, as well as representatives from the State of Alaska and United States government.
Chandler had initially objected to the panel format.
Gladziszewski was asked about that and if members of the public will have a chance to pose questions about the project.
She said there's provisions to break for questions following the presentations and they'll be another part of the evening devoted to taking public testimony.
Zimmer's reacted by saying format looks good. He said there's plenty of time to ask questions and all of the right actors will be here. Although he's
not optimistic that the Canadians will adequately deal with the concerns of Alaskans and Juneau residents.
Concerns of Juneau residents downstream from the project include the possible pollution of the Taku River and resulting harm to fish stocks.
The B-C government has given the project the go ahead. The Canadian federal government is now reviewing the proposal.
The start time for Tuesday's forum has been moved up one hour to accommodate the increased participation.
It begins at 6 p.m. now rather than 7.
Review of conceptual designs on high school meeting agenda
The new high school project team meets today. [Friday]
Superintendent Peggy Cowan says the meeting will focus on two items; discussion of the one percent for art team recommendation and a review of conceptual designs.
The project's architects have been meeting this week.
They will present to the project team, four different conceptual plans for the layout of the new high school.
The meeting is from 11-30 until 1 at the Juneau fire hall.
Murder trial of ex-police officer continues in Nome
NOME (AP) - The daughter of a Nome police officer says she was romantically involved with former officer Matt Owens during the time he is accused of killing 19-year-old Sonya Ivanoff in August 2003.
Taking the stand in Owens' murder trial yesterday (Thursday), Jennifer Shannon said police phoned her father, Byron
Redburn, on August 13th, 2003 when Ivanoff's body was found.
Shannon said as a member of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, she confirmed that a crime scene had been discovered. She said she then called Owens and gave him the general location.
That evening Owens showed up at the scene, a dead-end trail near a gravel pit.
The state has contended Owens had no way of knowing where Ivanoff's body was unless he was the killer, since he was not on duty and did not get called in.
Owens is charged with murder and evidence tampering.
Jury deliberates in Hinson murder trial
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The murder trial of Lance Hinson is in the hands of an Anchorage jury.
Hinson is accused of strangling 59-year-old Tina
Shangin, whose body was found in August 2000 in brush across the Glenn Highway from a Kmart store.
Prosecutor Sharon Illsley says circumstantial evidence points to Hinson as the killer.
She says Hinson's hair and semen were found on Shangin and he had told other people about the location of the body.
She says his account of his knowledge of the body repeatedly changed in interviews with police.
Defense attorney Allen Dayan says the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hinson committed murder.
He says physical evidence from others was found on the body but they were not charged.
Acoustic testing range improvements near Ketchikan underway by Navy
KETCHIKAN (AP) - The Navy is beginning a 60
million dollar upgrade of its acoustic testing range near Ketchikan.
Officials say the improvements will allow them to better avoid detection at sea in submarine operations.
The first phase of the job has begun at the Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility and will involve installing new underwater acoustical equipment.
The second phase involves installation of similar acoustical equipment and is expected to be complete by January 2007.
Officials say better sound measurement equipment is needed because of the Navy's latest generation of nuclear attack submarines, which are quieter and more sophisticated.
According to officials, every Navy submarine operating in the Pacific Ocean is tested at the site, which conducts about a dozen tests each year.
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.
Businessmen donate money for Anchorage mushing purse
ANCHORAGE (AP) - One problem for the Fur Rondy World Championship Sled Dog Race has been solved. Now all organizers need is snow.
Anchorage businessmen Jack Powers and Troy Smith each pledged 25-thousand dollars toward the purse for the race following reports of the loss of a major sponsor.
With ten-thousand dollars in hand, that will mean a 60-thousand dollars purse for the three-day sprint event scheduled to begin February 25th.
Powers is the owner of Tudor Road Bingo and Northern Lights Bingo.
He is challenging other bingo halls and businesses to chip in to build an even larger purse.
Smith owns Hotwire Electric. He says he has watched the sled dog race since he was a child.
Organizers still must contend with the lack of snow around Anchorage.
The race was canceled in 2003 because of warm weather and a lack of snow.
The Alaska Sled Dog Racing Association will make a decision on the race by February 15th.
Alaska Blockbusters won't offer deal on late fees
ANCHORAGE (AP) - National television advertisements say Blockbuster Incorporated is no longer charging late fees for video and D-V-D movie rentals but the deal does not apply in Alaska.
Alaska's 17 Blockbuster stores are franchised by Austin, Texas-based Border Entertainment and are not participating in the offer.
Jazmine Zollner is a Blockbuster store manager in Midtown Anchorage.
She says she and her staff have plenty of confused customers but most understand after an explanation.
Border Entertainment spokesman Alan Payne says his stores' prices run about 35 percent lower than the average national price.
He says they're skipping the corporate plan to keep prices low and get new releases back on shelves quickly.
Blockbuster's 46-hundred stores and about half the company's eleven-hundred franchise stores are participating in the late fee deal.
Union opposes teacher testing
JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska Commissioner of Education Roger Sampson says teachers should be tested before their certificates to teach are renewed.
It's a way, he says, to make sure teachers can do their jobs effectively.
But the state's largest teachers union is opposed to teacher testing.
N-E-A Alaska President Bill Bjork says teachers' careers will be on the line in a system that is unfair.
As soon as next month, the state Board of Education may propose regulations to revamp teacher certification starting next school year.
Alaska has about eight-thousand public school teachers.
Under the proposal, new teachers would acquire an initial certificate good for three years. After that, they'd have to apply for a renewable professional certificate, valid for five years at a time.
Crimson
Bear men host Sitka, women's hoops teams travels to Sitka
The Juneau Douglas High School basketball teams are in action this weekend.
The men's team hosts Sitka at 8 p.m. both tonight and Saturday. Both games can be heard on KINY.
The Lady Crimson Bears are in Sitka tonight and tomorrow.
Feds recruit mine inspectors for jobs in Alaska, other Western cities
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is recruiting mine inspectors for jobs based in Anchorage and other Western cities.
The agency will hold an onsite applicant screening session in Boise, Idaho, on February 25th.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration is seeking metal and nonmetal mine inspectors for duty stations in Boise ... Anchorage ... Vacaville and Redlands, California ... Albany, Oregon ... and Bellevue, Washington.
Applicants should bring a completed resume and photo I-D to the session. Applicants will be given brief math and writing tests and may be interviewed that day.
Administration mine inspectors enforce mine safety and health regulations at mining operations. They also distribute and explain safety and training materials, evaluate safety programs at mining sites and analyze mining industry accidents.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration is part of the U-S Department of Labor.
Anchorage recruiting for April municipal election
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The Anchorage municipal clerk's office is recruiting election workers for the April election.
The municipality needs a few dozen people to replace poll workers who have retired or resigned. The municipality uses nearly 600 people total to staff polling places for the election, which is held the first Tuesday of April.
This year, that's April Fifth.
Election workers are paid nine dollars and 50 cents an hour. They work from 6:30 a-m to 10 p-m. They must remain nonpartisan and unbiased throughout the election day.
The clerk's office also is encouraging people to register to vote. The deadline for the April Fifth election is Sunday, March Sixth.
Meyer just says NO
An Alaska legislator was among two dozen people asked by teenagers to buy liquor for them during a recent sting conducted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the State Alcoholic
Beverage Control Board.
Anchorage Representative Kevin Meyer says it caught him off guard, but he's glad to see they are doing it.
It was his first or second night in Juneau when he went down to A-P to get some groceries and also stop at the liquor store to get a six pack of beer.
When he walked out he was approached by an attractive young lady, who turned out to
be 19, and a young teenage boy who was 14 years-old.
Meyer say they were up front with him and said they were underage and then asked him to buy some beer for them.
He said NO and added that
they'd get in big trouble and so would he.
Meyer says the girl then handed him a card and said he'd past the test and then pointed to an ABC officer watching from a car parked nearby.
Interestingly, Representative Meyer sponsored legislation last year that allows liquor stores to sue adults up to $1000 dollars for buying alcohol for
teenagers, as well as the teens who solicit the alcohol.
We covered the story shortly
after the sting operation, but didn't have an opportunity then to speak with
Representative Meyer.
Man cited after traps vandalized
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A wildlife State Trooper has cited a Seward man for third-degree theft and criminal mischief after he admitted cutting snares and taking traps set near Seward.
Forty-six-old Mark Luttrell has been summoned to Seward District Court for a February 15th appearance.
Luttrell tells the Anchorage Daily News he was hiking two weeks ago off Mile 13 Seward Highway when came upon about 20 snares and seven traps.
Troopers say they were set legally and targeting wolves, wolverines or coyotes.
Luttrell says he believes trapping is cruel and he once had to rescue his dog from a trap.
He says he now carries cable cutters even when he's hiking without his dog.
Luttrell says he tripped the traps, cut the cable grounding them and dumped the gear a short distance away.
The trapper reported the matter to troopers.
Wildlife enforcement trooper Marc Cloward questioned Luttrell -- and after he acknowledged his role -- issued the citations Tuesday.
Cloward says he hopes the case will deter people from vandalizing traps.
Kenai cannery designated as interest area
KENAI (AP) - The old Wards Cove Packing Company has been recognized as a Recreational and Cultural Interest Area -- an official state of Alaska designation.
Leading the effort for the recognition was Jon Faulkner, co-owner of Kenai Landing Incorporated, which is renovating the old Kenai cannery as a tourist attraction called Kenai Landing.
The state designation authorizes the company to place signs on state maintained right of ways.
Meanwhile, construction crews have been converting the old machinist bunkhouse into hotel rooms. Another building will be a market place with different shops.
There also will be a cannery operating with boats coming to unload their catch.
(Copyright ©2005 Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
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