JUNEAU DAILY NEWS MINUTE
Thursday, February 8, 1996 (c) Alaska Juneau Communications
*The public will get its first chance to comment on a proposed
new road which would run from the end of the current road at Echo
Cove to Cascade Point, about 3 miles north. Goldbelt wants the
road for access to its private land. A public scoping meeting on
the project is being held this evening at Centennial Hall from
4:30 until 8:00.
*University of Alaska regents and administrators have filed an
objection with the state Labor Relations Board over a second
union's efforts to become the bargaining unit for faculty not now
represented by a union. U.A.S. Chancellor Marshall Lind says a
second union would cause problems. For instance, he says, two
faculty members in the same department could be under different
work rules and evaluation standards.
*When President Clinton signed the new
telecommunications act
this morning, he set in motion a change in federal law that will
be greeted with pleasure by pleasure boaters in Southeast. The
measure contains language to do away with the F.C.C.'s two year
old, $115 V.H.F. marine radio license fee. BOAT-U.S. says the fee
was way out of line for a device used mainly for safety.
Officials say it will probably be several months yet before the
fee is actually removed.
*Wrangell Senator Robin Taylor spoke out today against the
Knowles Administration's Tongass National Forest policy. Taylor
says the governor has abandoned the towns of Sitka and Wrangell
by pushing for multiple use of the forest. Taylor believes that
Knowles needs to back efforts to increase the timber harvest to
sustain Southeast Alaska communities. Taylor calls Knowles'
policy statements on the Tongass boutique baloney.'
*The
Juneau Douglas City Museum has announced that three local
residents have received grants of from $500 to
$1,000 for local history projects. Barb Mecum (MEE-cum), along
with J.D.H.S. Phoenix Program students, will produce videos on
the life of Judge Wickersham; Richard A. Wood will compile a
directory of pre-Winter and Pond photos of Juneau; and Lorrie
Wright is putting together an oral history of the early schooling
of local natives.
*Juneau International Airport has received a grant from the
F.A.A. to purchase a new urea spreader' for de-icing the runway.
Airport crews have been using a spreader they built themselves
some years ago out of a 1968 International Truck.
*Alaska's Ted Stevens
has become one of the first U.S. Senators
with his own home page on the Internet's World Wide Web. Users
can read Stevens speeches, hear comments on current issues, and
email the Senator. You can access the Senator's web site from the
KINY home page.