LeConte out of service February 20 through March 3
The state ferry LeConte will be out of service from February 20 to March 3 so more work can be done on it's steering system.

Alaska Marine Highway System General Manager Captain John Falvey says some of the maintenance will be performed while the LeConte is underway but the ship will have to be taken out of service for about 12 days.

LeConte service between Juneau and Haines during that time frame is cancelled and passengers are being contacted for rebooking to other vessels.

The M/V Glacier and M/V St. Aquilina have been contracted to provide alternative service to Hoonah, Tenakee Springs, and Angoon.

Longevity Bonus bill moves out of House State Affairs, but with concern
The State House Affairs Committee passed out a bill this (Thursday) morning that seeks to reestablish the Longevity Bonus program, but several members were reluctant.

They, like Representative John Coghill, told committee chair and bill sponsor Bob Lynn that there were unanswered questions.

Coghill suggested the bill be reviewed by House Judiciary Committee.

Even though House Bill 79 only reauthorizes the program, Coghill said qualification issues and other legal ramifications warrant a Judiciary review.

Representative Craig Johnson voiced his concern that the courts in the future might overturn the law and open the program Alaskans 65 years and older.

The reauthorization bill is aimed at restoring the program to those who were receiving it when it was discontinued early on in the previous Murkowski Administration.

Right now the measure's only other committee referral is Finance Committee, prior to going to Coghill's Rules Committee to be scheduled for a floor vote.

Before the bill moved out of committee, Coghill also said the fiscal note also needs scrutiny by the Finance Committee.

The program that provided cash payments to seniors was eliminated early on in the Murkowski Administration.

Governor Palin has promised to resurrect it.

Botelho meets with mine developer on altered plan
Executives with the Canadian company that want to reopen the Tulsequah Chief Mine are in Juneau meeting with state and city officials.

Redfern Resources Limited wants to reopen the mine located in British Colombia along the Tulsequah River 13 miles upstream of the Taku River and 40 miles northeast of Juneau.

The Taku River crosses into Alaska from Canada and flows into Taku Inlet 10 miles south of Juneau.

Redfern has dropped its original plan to build a 100 mile long access road from Atlin, BC to the mine and then hauling equipment, supplies and mineral concentrates by truck.

The new plan calls for using the Taku River as the primary access and transportation route and utilizing an air cushion barge that would be towed by an amphibious tug.

Juneau would be the shipping hub for equipment and supplies.

Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho meet with Redfern officials yesterday [Wednesday].

He says Redfern wants to gauge the community's sentiment regarding the new plan.

Botelho says the meetings are an opportunity for city and state officials to express concerns about the new plan; whether its practical;  and what restrictions should apply.

The Mayor says Redfern is very conscious about concerns about interruptions of salmon migration on the Taku and making sure anything they develop won't have an adverse impact on the fishery.

The company also wants to address any other concerns that might be raised early on.

Botelho says it's too early to say what the sentiments are of a majority of Juneau residents regarding Redfern's proposed barge plan.

Botelho says the limited feedback that he's received indicates a willingness to consider the new plan.

He says the fishing community is concerned.

They want to hear more about what steps would be taken to make sure that there is no interruption of the opportunity for commercial and subsistence fishermen on the Taku River.

The mayor says it appears Redfern would make use of the existing facilities in Juneau.

Under the proposed plan, once the mineral concentrate arrives in Juneau it would be transferred to a commercial ocean barge for shipment to Skagway.

From there it would be loaded onto a ship for transport overseas.

Project Playground close to fundraising goal, construction set for May
The Project Playground Steering Committee is closing in on its $475,000 goal to build the playground at Twin Lakes.

The committee's Catherine Pusich says there are still grant requests out but, right now, the project needs another $69,000.

The playground is scheduled to be built in two phases, May 15th through the 19th and then May 22nd through the 26th.

Close to 2000 volunteers will be needed to complete the playground and Pusich says they are signing up people now.

There will be morning, afternoon and evening shifts. Food and day care will be provided.

Pusich says they're still in need of someone to fill the day care coordinator position and people to make calls in March to help schedule the 2000 volunteers.

Donations are being accepted and people and businesses can sponsor playground equipment.

And there are still picket sponsorships available.

The playground will feature not only playground equipment, but also have a Native Alaska component and a history or culture wall.

There will be a castle, a train with ore trains and a little mining pen, an Orca whale, a tree fort, lots of covered slides, mazes, and things to climb through.

Catherine Pusich can be contacted at 780-4525.

Skagway hires new City Manager
Valdez Harbor Master Alan Sorum gave the city two weeks’ notice that he will be leaving his job after accepting another job outside of Valdez.

“I’m Skagway's new city manager,” he told The Valdez Star in a brief interview Tuesday morning. “My last day with the city is the sixteenth.”

Sorum, who has been the Valdez Harbor Master for seven years, says that he and his family are not completely severing their ties to Valdez as of yet.

Sorum’s wife, Ruth Knight, is a teacher with Valdez City Schools, who is still on contract. They also have a child who is a senior at Valdez High School and the family does not plan to leave before graduation this May.

“My wife's still employed here,” said Sorum. “She's not moving on yet.”
(The Valdez Star)

Housing commission to organize at initial meeting
An organizational meeting of the CBJ Affordable Housing Commission is scheduled for this evening.

The new panel will elect officers, set its meeting schedule, and review the affordable housing task list formulated by the Assembly Committee of the Whole.

The meeting is from 5 to 7 p.m. in Room 224 of City Hall.

Williams appointed to Docks and Harbors board
The Assembly has appointed a new member to the Docks and Harbors Board of Directors.

Members sitting as the Human Resources Committee interviewed applicants yesterday. [Wednesday]

The Assembly then convened a special meeting and appointed Michael Williams to fill an unexpired term and to an additional three year term.

Williams will take William "Buddy" Dore's seat. He resigned from the Docks and Harbors Board on December 5th.

The unexpired term ends June 30th and the full 3 year term expires in 2010.

Williams works for the Department of Transportation in the procurement division.

He's a scuba diver and has a background in commercial fishing.

Williams is also one of the assistant coaches of the Glacier Swim Club.

PPT bill seeks to avoid cost burden resulting from improper maintenance
A measure will be introduced in the State Senate Friday that amends the state's new petroleum production tax.

It was unveiled today (Thursday) by Kenai Senator Tom Wagoner during a press availability with the Senate Republican Caucus.

He says it would allow the state to review the law to insure deductions aren't taken under the law for maintenance of systems that were not properly maintain.

Wagoner pointed to BP's corroded pipelines on the North Slope.

He said the state should not be put in the position where its treasury is being penalized due to poor maintenance practices.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the Legislature are asking B-P to reveal whether it will charge the state for costs related to those corroded Prudhoe Bay pipelines.

Company representatives haven't said whether they'll claim repair costs as expenses that can be deducted or credited from taxes under the law passed last year.

In a letter to B-P-Alaska President Doug Suttles, Representative Les Gara of Anchorage asked the oil company to make its plans public.

Gara says the Legislature needs to know what the company will do so lawmakers can fix the tax exemptions before the session ends in May.

Gara says he thinks the public would demand the law be amended if B-P tries to make the public pay for its repair costs.

An official in the Governor's press office says Governor Palin doesn't think the state should have to bear the cost of a negligent operator.

Fresh problems surface on BP tankers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - B-P P-L-C has reported more problems with its new fleet of oil tankers after a scramble to repair cracked rudders and faulty anchors.

One of the stout metal posts used to secure mooring and tug ropes popped off a tanker, and tests found that dozens more on three of the four ships were defective.

Company officials say the posts, called mooring bitts, have been replaced.

The mooring bitt broke off the tanker Alaskan Navigator in September as a tug pulled it toward the dock in Valdez. That's according to the U-S Coast Guard.

Other structural problems have been found in the fleet of 250 million dollar double-hull tankers, which started carrying North Slope crude oil to West Coast refineries in the summer of 2004.

In spring 2005, cracks were discovered in the rudders of two of the ships. And in December, 16-ton anchors broke off two of the ships as they crossed the Gulf of Alaska with loads of oil.

Managers with Alaska Tanker Company, whose ships carry oil exclusively for B-P, say the rudders and anchors have been repaired or replaced.
(Anchorage Daily News) 

State notifies Exxon of intent to sue over Brooklyn oil spill
NEW YORK (AP) - New York's attorney general told Exxon Mobil and two other oil companies today (Thursday) that he intends to sue them over a giant, decades-old pond of petroleum beneath Brooklyn.

The companies once ran refineries along Brooklyn's waterfront.

Exxon constructed a pumping system that has extracted nine-point-three million gallons of oil from the ground over the past quarter-century.

The pace of the cleanup, though, has infuriated residents and local officials.

Environmental groups have also clamored for more action to stop the inky blob from draining into Newtown Creek, an industrialized waterway that separates the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says his office began serving formal notice to Exxon and other area polluters of the state's intent to sue under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Other defendants will include the oil companies Chevron and B-P; the energy company Keyspan and Phelps Dodge.

When the cleanup began, some experts estimated that there were 17 million gallons of oil in the ground.

That's about six million more than the tanker Exxon Valdez is believed to have spilled off the coast of Alaska.

Police identify pedestrian struck by semi
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - An Anchorage man was killed when he was struck by a tractor trailer truck hauling double trailers.

Police say 51-year-old George Leonard Allowan stepped out into the path of the oncoming truck Tuesday night at about 8-30. He was struck by the second trailer and dragged about two blocks.

Police say it appears that Allowan had been drinking.

The intersection is posted on three sides as ``No Pedestrian Crossing'' and is controlled by a traffic signal. Police say it also is well-lit.

The driver of the truck was unaware had had struck Allowan until motorists flagged him down.

Police say the driver of the truck -- 62-year-old Leonard Berger Reid of Eagle River -- was not injured.

Police say there are no indications of improper driving on Reid's part.

Police ID woman found dead beneath vehicle
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - Fairbanks police have identified a woman who was killed after being struck by a car and dragged four blocks last weekend.

Fairbanks police say she is Catherine Ahsoak.

Relatives say she was a 53-year-old grandmother who recently worked as a housekeeper for SpringHill Suites.

Police say her body was found beneath a Honda Civic parked outside a residence.

A neighbor saw Ahsoak's body under the car and called nine-one-one.

Police haven't released the name of the driver and say he hasn't been charged.

Detective Chris Nolan says a grand jury is convening today (Thursday) to consider whether to indict the driver.

An autopsy is being conducted on Ahsoak.

Her former husband, Don Allmond, says Ahsoak belonged to an Inupiat family from Barrow.

He says she was born in Anchorage and raised primarily in foster homes in south-central Alaska.

Allmond says a botched surgery when Ahsoak was a child left her hard of hearing.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Man on trial for role in shooting death at local bar
KENAI, Alaska (AP) - A Kenai man went on trial  Wednesday for first degree-murder in the shooting death of a neighbor.

Prosecutors say 33-year-old Shawn Rogers shot and killed 43-year-old Brian Black at close range in 2004.

Officials say the shooting occurred in the small Cook Inlet settlement of Beluga, at Fat Albert's Tavern and Bunkhouse.

Authorities say bar patrons tied Rogers with belts after the shooting.

Neighbors say the two men were acquainted and had gotten into at least one disagreement in the past.

But defense attorneys maintain the two did not know each other at the time of the shooting.

House bill helps low income Alaskans with civil case expenses
A measure establishing a special fund in the state's general fund to help pay the legal services of low income Alaskans involved in civil cases cleared the State House today (Thursday), but not without disagreement.

The sponsor House Bill 76 is Fairbanks Representative Jay Ramras.

The measure creates the Alaska Legal Services Fund and funds it by diverting the money the state receives in punitive damages awarded by the court system.

But Anchorage Representative Les Gara pointed out that in most years no money comes in under that program and when it does, there's very little.

He offered an amendment proposing another funding scenario that was recommended by a task force in the past.

An amendment he proposed funded the account through the use of part of court filing fees. The proposed change was rejected 26 to 12.

The full bill was approved 29 to 7, but held on reconsideration.

Ketchikan lawmaker introduces bill to assist non-profits
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - A lawmaker from Ketchikan has introduced a bill that would allow charitable raffles and lotteries to be advertised on radio and television.

Representative Kyle Johansen says the bill levels the playing field for Alaska's broadcasters.

At present, nonprofit groups can promote legal charitable lotteries and raffles in newspapers only.

Johansen says the intent of his bill is to assist non profit organizations in their effort to raise money to help serve their communities.
(Ketchikan Daily News)

Measure outlines disposal method for state flags
State Representatives approved a measure today (Thursday) outlining a method for the destruction of worn out or damaged state flags.

Anchorage Representative Mike Hawker carried the bill on the floor for its sponsor, Speaker John Harris.

He told the body that there is nothing in state law that outlines a sanctioned disposal method.

House Bill 21 calls for the flags to be destroyed by fire.

It was approved 36 to zero and sent to the Senate. 

Michigan ruling that bans benefits for gay partners
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Gay rights advocates are alarmed over a recent court ruling in Michigan.

The appeals court ruling bans public employers from providing health insurance to partners of gay employees.

Gay rights advocates fear the appeals court decision could encourage similar rulings in states with bans on gay marriage.

Michigan last week became the first state to rule that public universities and state and local governments can't offer health benefits if the benefits are based on treating same-sex relationships similar to marriage.

Alaska is the only other state to rule on the benefits given to same-sex partners of public employees.

But there, the courts ruled the other way, saying it was unconstitutional to deny them.

More than 20 other states have yet to decide how their gay marriage bans apply to same-sex partner benefits.

Ketchikan-based ship to become ``Queen of the Fleet''
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - The Coast Guard cutter Acushnet is set to become the ``Queen of the Fleet'' today.

The Ketchikan-based ship, which marked its 63rd ``birthday'' on Monday, will become the Coast Guard's oldest active cutter when the Coast Guard cutter Storis is decommissioned in Kodiak.

The 230-foot Storis was commissioned in September 1942. The ship has been based in Kodiak since 1957, after taking part in the first transit of the Northwest Passage and the first U.S.-registered ship to circumnavigate North America.

The Acushnet was commissioned as the U-S-S Shackle in February of 1944. The 213-foot ship joined the Coast Guard fleet in August 1946.

The Acushnet has been based in Ketchikan since 1998.

As the oldest commissioned cutter in the Coast Guard fleet, the Acushnet will have the gold hull numbers that traditionally indicate the Coast Guard's ``Queen of the Fleet.''
(Ketchikan Daily News)

Sealaska head comments on latest moves
Sealaska Corporation's latest addition fits in with the existing operations, according President and CEO Chris E. McNeil Jr.

The regional native corporation in Southeast recently purchased the assets of the Shelton, Washington, based Olympic Tool & Engineering, a fabricator of welded assemblies in the commercial and defense sectors.

Its a new manufacturing company, Olympic Fabrication.

McNeil says the new company will bring complementary capabilities to their existing manufacturing platform through Synergy Systems. He says metal manufacturing work is the same kind of work that's done for other customers.

Olympic Fabrication will operate at the same 60,000-square foot facility at the Port of Shelton.

He says they'll add to the company's current 53 employee work force, but they don't know by how much yet. It will depend on an increase in the customer base, he says.

And the corporation has added a new top management position.

Sam Landol becomes the corporation's Chief Operating Officer effective February 19th.

His primary responsibilities will include Sealaska's current manufacturing and service-providing subsidiaries.

Before coming to Sealaska, Landol served as president of European operations for Nypro, Inc., a leading precision molder.

Nypro is a partner with Sealaska in Nypro Kánaak, one of the largest injection molders in the United States to be certified by the National Minority Supplier Development Council

McNeil says Landol will be based in the Seattle area.

On another note, the Sealaska Timber Corporation has named Ed Davis to the new position of director of business development. He has worked as the organization's marketing manager since 1995. 

Revived legislation seeks to  break up Ninth Circuit and create new court
Alaska's United States senators are part of another effort to split the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Senators Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski are co-sponsors of measure that would also  create a new Twelfth Court of which Alaska would be part.

Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington would also be part of the new court.

The senators contend that the Ninth Circuit, the largest court in the country, is overburdened by an unmanageable caseload.

Senator Murkowski says the Ninth Circuit has become a circuit where justice is not swift and not always served.

Senator Stevens complains there are inevitable delays in processing cases. The workload also prevents the court from dealing with unique problems in Alaska, Hawaii, and other small states, he adds.

The senators claim it takes the Ninth Circuit on average almost one year longer to handle a case than other circuit courts.

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