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Governor to address
lawmakers on gas line proposals
Governor Murkowski plans to address a joint session of the Legislature
Wednesday morning.
The subject will be the negotiation process related to the two applications
to build a gas pipeline from the North Slope. under the Stranded Gas Act.
One is from a combination of the three major oil producers on the North
Slope, and the second is led by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company.
Murkowski Press Secretary John Manly is responding to a request from Senate
President Gene Therriault.
The address is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Senior Care program on
House floor
The State House of Representatives started debate late Monday morning on the
Governor's Senior Care program.
The Governor proposed the program after vetoing funding for the Longevity
Bonus. It calls for making prescription drugs more affordable for Alaska
seniors.
The minority is offering a series of amendments. The first put forward by
Anchorage Representative Sharon Cissna called for funding the Longevity
Bonus program next fiscal year. But the proposed change was turned down on
majority - minority lines, 12 to 23.
Another called for raising the monthly allocation under terms of the
Governor's program from $120 to $150 dollars. That was turned back on a 13
to 23 vote.
All seven minority amendments were rejected. Speaker Pete Kott recessed the
session until five this afternoon when debate will continue on House Bill
374.
Juneau man arrested on
domestic violence assault charge
Juneau Police arrested a man Saturday on a felony charge as the result of a
domestic violence assault.
Sergeant Kevin Siska says officers responded to the Valley residence a few minutes
before ten a.m. and found a 37 year old woman who suffered injuries from an
apparent assault.
Following an extensive investigation, 33 year-old Stewart Emery was arrested
and charged with domestic violence assault in the third degree, a class C
felony.
He was jailed on no bail as the investigation continues.
First homicide of year reported Anchorage
A 54-year-old Anchorage man is dead in what police are saying is the city's
first homicide of the year.
James Lee was shot to death at about four-15 a-m Saturday in a South
Anchorage neighborhood.
Police Captain Tom Nelson says Lee was shot near 80th Avenue, an address
where Lee did not live.
A witness called police and Lee was found dead on the scene.
Police say they are in the preliminary stages of collecting evidence and
interviewing witnesses.
Suspect arrested in Soldotna after taking
officer's gun
Soldotna police say a drunken driving suspect was subdued Friday after
trying to take away an officer's weapon.
Forty-eight-year-old Joel Blatchford is charged with attempted assault and
attempted escape.
The incident occurred five weeks after a Kenai police officer was shot and
killed in the line of duty with his own weapon.
In the incident last week, Blatchford is accused of trying to take Officer
Gisele Webster's handgun while she was processing his arrest at the Alaska
State Trooper headquarters in Soldotna.
Police say Webster had arrested Blatchford after finding him in his pickup
truck stuck in a snow berm.
At the trooper post, he is accused of lunging at Webster, grabbing her
.45-caliber automatic pistol and attempting to remove it from its holster.
Trooper Sergeant Craig Macdonald heard Webster yell for help, rushed to her
aid and used pepper spray to subdue Blatchford.
Consultant on waterfront plan addresses
Assembly
The full Assembly sits as the Waterfront Committee this evening (Monday) to hear a
presentation by the consultant on the proposed waterfront development plan.
The Assembly Waterfront Committee chaired by Jeanne Johnson conducted an
organizational meeting last week. Johnson says the goal is to forward a
recommendation to the full Assembly meeting by its first meeting in April.
The consultant will also address meetings of the Planning Commission
and Parks
and Recreation Advisory Committee tomorrow evening and the Docks
and Harbors Board Wednesday evening.
Today's presentation to the Assembly begins at 5 p.m.
Golf course negotiations said to be
"close"
Totem Creek's talks with the City and Borough of Juneau on a golf course
pass the end of the North Douglas Highway are going well.
That according to City Manager Rod Swope who says they are now fine tuning a
lease agreement and is hopeful a lease will be signed within a month.
Depending on how long it takes to obtain financing, Swope says construction
could start in 2005. He's not sure construction could start this year. The
group also has to secure necessary permits.
January weather stats
released for Juneau
January in Juneau was slightly wetter than normal, but on par temperature
wise.
Meteorologist Julia Ruthford says precipitation was one point zero-eight
inches above the norm. There were eleven days with no recorded
precipitation.
Snowfall was 5 point 3 inches above normal. The forecaster says that was
mainly do to the snowstorm on the 16th which dumped 10 point 4 inches at the
airport within a 24 hour period.
Temperatures were near normal. Ruthford says they ended up only zero point
five below normal. No record highs or lows were set. There was a cold snap
toward the end of the month with temperatures ranging between 3 and 17
degrees.
The peak wind atop the Federal Building last month was 49 miles per hour on
the 26th.
Governor lobbying minority lawmakers on
Permanent Fund plan
Democratic lawmakers say Governor Murkowski summoned them to a closed-door
meeting and urged them to consider spending Permanent Fund earnings on
government.
According to Anchorage Democratic Representative Les Gara, Murkowski
essentially asked legislators to support his Permanent Fund plan -- or
whatever version of his plan comes out of special panel next month. The
meeting was held Thursday.
Murkowski, a Republican, has called a ``Conference of Alaskans'' for
February tenth to the 12th in Fairbanks. The goal is to explore whether and
how to dip into Permanent Fund earnings.
Murkowski has suggested he wants a Permanent Fund plan to go before voters
in November as an amendment to the state constitution. But he'll need the
support of legislative Democrats, since a two-thirds vote is required to get
an amendment on the ballot.
It's the first time Democrats, who control just 20 of the 60 seats in the
Legislature, have been in a position to block a Murkowski initiative. Gara
says Democrats voiced their objections during the meeting with Murkowski.
Murkowski Press Secretary John Manly says the governor's intention was to
urge Democrats to wait to see what comes out of the conference before making
up their minds.
Permanent Fund Committee
gears up for conference
At the three-day meeting in Fairbanks, 55 delegates will make
recommendations on four questions about the future of the Permanent Fund.
The committee decided that delegates will turn their attention last to the
most controversial questions: what the state should do with Permanent Fund
earnings, and the future of the dividends.
Conference chair Mike Burns says these last two questions are closely
linked.
Burns says he has gotten an overwhelmingly positive response to the make up
of the conference. Burns and the other conveners announced the list last
week.
Congressional Republicans eye cutting
stalled energy bill
Republican leaders in Congress are planning to cut down the stalled national
energy bill.
According to Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, chair of the Senate
Republican Conference, the lawmakers determined that the bill will have to
be rewritten with a lower price tag and fewer measures geared toward special
interests.
A spokesman for Senator Lisa Murkowski says that some parts of the bill
related to Alaska, including money for rural energy and coastal zone
assistance, could be up for grabs.
He says incentives in the bill for an Alaska natural gas line look to be
relatively safe, since they cost comparatively little.
Some Senators have floated the idea of attaching some of the bill's
provisions to other big legislation, such as the massive highway bill.
Talk of whittling down the energy bill comes as President Bush has begun
pressuring Congress to reign in spending.
Native groups prepare for new federal
spending law
The Anchorage Daily News reports today that Alaska Native groups are gearing
up to respond to a new law setting up a commission to draw up a new legal
and governmental system for rural Alaska.
The law was adopted by Congress in January as part of a massive federal
spending bill. It also calls for a government review of federal funding for
Alaska Natives and seeks recommendations for consolidating and streamlining
delivery of services.
The changes stem from a budget rider tacked on the spending bill by Alaska
Senator Ted Stevens.
The law calls for creation of an Economic Development Committee to funnel
grants and loans to promote private-sector investment in economically
distressed rural villages.
Funding for this would pass through the Denali Commission, a Stevens
brainchild that in the past has concentrated more on public health
investments in the Bush.
Former Fort Yukon mayor charged in
embezzlement case
A former mayor of Fort Yukon is among two people accused of falsifying
financial records at a local store where they once worked.
Forty-three-year-old John Taylor, who served as mayor for five months in
2002, and 28-year-old Maggie John were indicted Thursday. Fort Yukon police
say the two are charged with trying to change records to cover up
embezzlement from Alaska Commercial Company two years ago.
Taylor has since moved to Craig. Police Chief Reggie Flemming says that
shortly after an investigation began, Taylor left town with his family.
Flemming says the case emerged in July 2002 after a store audit showed money
missing. At the time of the alleged crime, Taylor was the store manager and
John worked in the store office.
Taylor was charged with the crime a year ago and a warrant was issued for
his arrest, but his whereabouts were unknown until last month.
Taylor was arrested December 19th and released three days later.
Missile defense test planned at Kodiak
Officials with the Missile Defense Agency say a planned rocket launch from
Kodiak is part of an upcoming test of the missile intercept system.
Rick Lehner, a spokesman for the agency, says the test will involve
launching a target missile from Kodiak in March or April and an interceptor
from the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific.
Lehner says the two are not expected to collide.
He says the exercise will gather data on the interceptor's ability to track
the target and test the command and control network.
Lehner says the agency will announce the date of the test about a week in
advance.
Military wants more missile
interceptors at Alaska post
Budget plans being presented to Congress today show the military wants ten
more ballistic missile interceptors at Fort Greely.
That would bring the total of interceptors at the post to 26.
In an overview of its budget request, the Missile Defense Agency says it
wants to ``initiate acquisition'' of the interceptors starting in the next
federal fiscal year.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the document states the
multi-billion dollar acquisition and installation process would continue in
the following two fiscal years.
The military wants to spend $53 billion in the next five years on missile
defense of all types.
President Bush's fiscal 2005 plan -- released today -- seeks to spend more
than nine billion dollars. That's a one-and-a-half billion dollar
increase from the current year.
More than a third of that increase would go to the system being installed at
Fort Greely.
America West to begin
service between Anchorage and Phoenix
America West Airlines says it will offer the only daily, nonstop year-round
service between Anchorage and Phoenix, beginning June 1st.
America West officials say the service is part of the airline's 2004 growth
plan to meet increased customer demand.
Dion Flannery, vice president of scheduling and route planning, says
travelers can connect through the airline's Phoenix hub to and from another
57 America West destinations across the U-S, Mexico and Costa Rica.
America West will use the 124-seat Airbus A319 aircraft for the Anchorage
connection.
Bond package unveiled by Anchorage mayor
Anchorage voters would be asked to increase their property taxes for 79 (m)
million dollars worth of public improvements under a bonds package unveiled
by Mayor Mark Begich.
Begich outlined a 2004 capital projects bond proposal for the Anchorage
Assembly at a work session last week.
The package includes ten propositions, including more than 46 million
for road and drainage improvements.
If approved, that would be the largest transportation bond in Anchorage
history.
The proposal also includes millions for park and library improvements.
Dogs run the Bears off the court
A rude homecoming for the Juneau Douglas High School Crimson Bears at the
hands of Lathrop of Fairbanks.
The men's team was defeated 66 to 51 Friday and 74to 64 Saturday.
The women also lost both games, 39 to 25 Friday and 58 to 43 Saturday.
Both squads host Sitka this coming weekend. Games are scheduled on both
Friday and Saturday nights.
(Copyright ©2004
Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
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