One dead, three missing in capsized whaling boat from Gambell
State Troopers issued a release late this morning saying one person was killed and three others are missing, including the mayor of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, after a whaling boat swamped in the Bering Sea early this morning.

Two others were rescued.

The three missing persons are identified as Mayor Jason Nowpakahok, 38;  11 year old Yolanda Nowpakahok, the mayor's daughter; and 10 year old Leonard Nowpakahok, 11 the mayor's nephew.

A person recovered from the water is identified as 20 year old James Uglowook, The Village Public Safety Officer and clinic staff performed CPR on Uglowook for approximately three hours before pronouncing him deceased.

The two persons rescued are identified as 37 year old Davis Uglowook and Darin Slwooko, 25. Both were treated at the Gambell clinic and release.

The skin boat was reportedly returning to Gambell to get more villagers to help bring in a harvested whale when they radioed that they were taking on water.

Another boat working to tow in the whale split-off from the group to respond.

They radioed reporting that the other boat had capsized and that they had picked up two survivors who where hanging on to the boat and Uglowook, who was located a short distance away and was not responsive.

Villagers in boats responded to the scene and conducted a search for the three missing people.

The villagers suspended their search this morning due to weather.

A Coast Guard C-130, which was delayed getting there because of weather, got on scene late this morning to search.

Troopers in Nome chartered a plane and flew four volunteers to assist in the search.

Troopers say no one on board the boat was reportedly wearing a life jacket.

The Coast Guard Command Center in Juneau was notified of the mishap at 1:52 this morning, about ten minutes after the boat swamped.

Assembly Finance to take up grant requests
The Assembly Finance Committee meets this evening to take up the budget of the Assembly and the Mayor.

Included in the proposed spending plans are a large number of grants, according to City Manager Rod Swope.

The request come from numerous organizations including the Juneau Festival Association, the Douglas Fourth of July Committee, the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, Perseverance and Alaska Conservatory Theatre, the Juneau Alliance for Mental Health and the Juneau Economic Development Council.

Swope says about half are requesting the same amount they received last year, while the others are seeking increases.

The Finance Committee meeting gets underway at 5 p.m. in Assembly Chambers at City Hall.

Lieutenant governor rejects video gambling initiative
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The head of the state Division of Elections -- Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman -- has rejected an application for a ballot initiative seeking to legalize video gambling at a south Anchorage location.

Leman says his decision is based on a recommendation by the state Department of Law, which determined the 15-page initiative would violate the Alaska Constitution because it calls for establishing a gaming district in a specific area.

Assistant Attorney General Sarah Felix wrote that state law prohibits the use of an initiative to enact local and special laws.

Anchorage attorney Ken Jacobus said today that the proposal calls for construction of a building on a vacant lot in south Anchorage to allow such games as video poker, bingo and slot machines.

Jacobus represents sponsors of the initiative, which include Darwin Biwer, owner of Darwin's Theory, a downtown Anchorage bar.

Jacobus says the concept could be expanded elsewhere in the state if it works in Anchorage.

Jacobus contends the state's interpretation was based on a technicality in the initiative language. He says the measure likely will be clarified and resubmitted.

Gambling bills moving quickly through Legislature
JUNEAU (AP) - Bills to expand legalized gambling in Alaska are moving quickly through the Legislature with less than two weeks before the end of this year's session.

A bill by Representative Pete Kott would legalize so-called card rooms.

Card rooms operate similar to casinos but only allow certain games of chance such as poker, rummy, bridge and cribbage.

And unlike casinos, the house is not allowed to play or bet on the games.

Kott, an Eagle River Republican, says the proposal would create jobs and establish a new source of tax revenue for the state.

The bill would allow card rooms in boroughs of at least 30-thousand residents. Only those 21 and older could gamble under the proposed law.

Those opposing the bill argued that card rooms would lead to full-blown casinos and the social ills that accompany them.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill today (Tuesday). It now heads to the House Finance Committee.

A similar bill by Anchorage Republican Senator John Cowdery is working its way through the Senate.

Committees hear ethics proposals
JUNEAU (AP) - House and Senate lawmakers Tuesday heard four bills that propose to change the state's ethics laws.

The proposals are part of the backlash from the conflict of interest allegations that led to the resignation of former attorney general Gregg Renkes.

An investigator hired by Governor Frank Murkowski to look into the Renkes allegations found the law was unclear when deciding how much is too much stock ownership in a company a state worker does official business with.

Renkes owned between 71,880 and 124,680 dollars in K-F-x Incorporated stock when he was working on a coal deal between Taiwan and Alaska that included using a coal-drying process patented by K-F-x.

Companion bills by Senator Hollis French and Representative Les Gara, both Anchorage Democrats, would establish a limit of 5-thousand dollars or 1 percent stock ownership. Gara's bill was bumped up to a 10-thousand dollar limit in the House State Affairs Committee.

Two other bills by Senator Ralph Seekins, a Fairbanks Republican, draws the line at 10-thouand dollars or 1 percent. It also makes several other changes to both the executive and legislative ethics laws.

None of the four bills moved out of committee yesterday.

South Korean corporation pleads guilty to pollution crimes
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A South Korean corporation -- represented by its president -- pleaded guilty Tuesday to discharging oil sludge from a cargo freighter and then falsifying records to cover up the crime.

Alaska U-S Attorney Tim Burgess says Boyang Limited was convicted in U-S District Court on three felony counts of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

Under a plea agreement, Boyang was ordered to pay a one (M) million dollar fine. It also will pay an additional 100-thousand dollars into an escrow account for a court-monitored environmental management system and serve five years' probation.

Boyang President Il Ho Kim appeared in court to enter the guilty pleas on behalf of the corporation.

Boyang's freighter, the M/V Baron, repeatedly discharged oil sludge and oil-contaminated bilge waste directly into the ocean between November 2003 and July 2004.

The Baron is a Panama-flagged freighter that transports fish from Alaska to markets in Japan and China. Prosecutors have said a vessel of this type could dump up to one-thousand gallons of oil sludge in one ocean crossing. They are not sure where the dumping occurred.

Boyang's lawyer Robert Bundy was not immediately available for comment after regular business hours.

Kodiak region struck by earthquake
KODIAK (AP) - The Kodiak region was hit by a light earthquake Tuesday afternoon.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center says the quake occurred at 12-37 p-m and had a preliminary magnitude of four-point-three.

It was centered about 130 miles southwest of Kodiak City.

There are no reports of the quake being felt or causing damage.

Freedom of Religion Foundation sues focuses on Soldotna school
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A Wisconsin-based group is suing the federal Department of Education over taxpayer money going to Alaska Christian College, an unaccredited school in Soldotna.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation -- which advocates for the separation of church and state -- says that the school has only 37 students but has received more than one (m) million dollars in federal money over the past two years.

The college is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska. More than 90 percent of its student body is either Alaska Native or American Indian.

Annie Laurie Gaylor -- co-president of the foundation -- says the federal money is just helping one particular religion and not fulfilling an educational purpose.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in District Court in Madison, Wisconsin.

The group hopes to prevent the school from receiving the most recent allocation of 435-thousand dollars inserted by Alaska Republican Congressman Don Young in a huge federal spending bill passed last November.

College President Keith Hamilton says the college undergoes a rigorous process before receiving the money.

He says the college helps Alaska Native students make the transition from village life to larger schools.

Man pleads no contest in Ester slaying
FAIRBANKS (AP) - A Tacoma, Washington man has pleaded no contest to killing a Fairbanks area woman, a murder connected to two slayings in California.

Twenty-four-year-old Jason Wallace was convicted Monday of a single count of first-degree murder and first-degree arson.

He admitted killing 25-year-old Teacka Bacote in December 2002 and burning her apartment in Ester outside Fairbanks.

Wallace also pleaded no contest to assault for stabbing Corey Spears the same day be murdered Bacote. Multiple lesser charges were dismissed.

Wallace's plea brings to a close the Alaska portion of what investigators have characterized as a series of drug-related crimes that spanned three states.

A Fairbanks man, William Holmes, faces two murder charges in California in the killings of 25-year-old Hakeem Bryant of Fairbanks and 27-year-old Chris Martin of Olympia, Washington.

Bryant and Martin were found dead alongside a California highway on Christmas Eve 2002.

Authorities say the men were killed over thousands of dollars in cash the three of them were planning to use to purchase drugs.

Wallace told prosecutors that Holmes planned the murders and threatened to kill Wallace's wife if Wallace didn't murder Bacote and Spears.

Relatives, friends gather to remember victims of unsolved murders
FAIRBANKS (AP) - About 50 people gathered yesterday (Tuesday) in Fairbanks for a remembrance of victims of unsolved murders and missing persons.

Community activist Shirley Demientieff (deh-MEN'-tif) organized the remembrance to bring together grieving families and highlight the cases.

The group formed a circle in Golden Heart Plaza, held hands during a prayer and remarks by a clergyman, and tossed flowers into the Chena River.

Leilani McNulty says she holds no grudge against the person who gunned down her husband eleven years ago during a robbery at a downtown liquor store.

She says vengeance makes a person physically ill.

But she says if the killer is brought to justice, she wants to know what Barry McNulty said before he died.

Air Force Staff Sergeant Angelo Jimenez says there are many people experiencing what the grieving survivors are going through.

His stepson, Eric Trinidad, was shot and killed in January.

The remembrance coincided with the 12th anniversary of the slaying of Sophie Sergie, a 20-year-old woman found dead in a University of Alaska Fairbanks dormitory. Her killer has not been found.

Third volume of Gastineau Channel Memories a possibility
A third volume of Gastineau Channel Memories may be coming out.

The first volume goes from Juneau's earliest days to statehood in 1959. The second volume includes stories through 1967 and those left over from the first volume.

Marie Darlin serves on the committee responsible for the publications. She said on KINY's Capital Chat this morning that they'll start on the third volume soon provided they come up with one hundred stories.

If they're able to proceed, she says it will take two years to get it out. Its published locally at Alaska Litho.

Volume One of Gastineau Channel Memories is out of print. Volume Two is still available at the Hearthside Books and the Juneau Douglas City Museum.

History grant applications now available
The Juneau Douglas City Museum is currently accepting applications for its history grant program.

Museum Director Jane Lindsey, who was on KINY's Capital Chat this morning, says the deadline is May 15th.

She says they're looking for projects that further Juneau's history.

Additional information is available on the museum's web site. People will find applications that can be down loaded there.

Medical board suspends license of Anchorage doctor
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The medical license of an Anchorage doctor has been suspended.

The Alaska State Medical Board last week suspended the license of 57-year-old Doctor Gary Gerlay.

The board cites accusations of drug abuse, sexual misconduct and unprofessional conduct that would violate state laws for the suspension.

The suspension follows an investigation by the state Division of Occupational Licensing.

After interviews with patients and clinic managers, the agency concluded that Gerlay likely had personally abused prescription medication.

The agency says Gerlay issued drugs to some patients without examining them.

It also concludes that Early had sexual relationships with at least two patients and made improper sexual advances to others.

Gerlay through his attorney denies being impaired on the job.

Attorney Thomas Van Flein also says the board should not have suspended Gerlay's license without holding a hearing.

Van Flein says Gerlay is looking forward to having a hearing so he can clear his name.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Officials hook up clock to Nenana Ice Classic tripod
FAIRBANKS (AP) - Another sign of spring has arrived.

Officials with the Nenana Ice Classic yesterday (Tuesday) connected wire from their tripod erected on the Tanana River to the official clock that will record when river ice moves.

People who guess the exact minute when the tripod moves will win a share of a 285-thousand dollar jackpot.

The jackpot is down from last year's 301-thousand dollars.

The ice went out last year at two-16 p-m Alaska Standard Time on April 24 and eight people held winning tickets.

Ice Classic manager Cherrie (SHERRY) Forness says near-record temperatures expected in the next few days could mean a departure of the ice soon.

Forness says the ice is looking rotten.

The Nenana River, which flows into the Tanana River just downstream from the tripod, went out Saturday.

Ice on the Tanana River typically goes out about a week after the ice on the Nenana River.

Green fog reported in Gateway City turns out to be pollen
KETCHIKAN (AP) - Ketchikan residents are reporting a strange green fog that blew through town over the weekend.

The light yellow-green cloud turned out to be pollen that was suddenly picked up by the wind as it was being released from trees.

The phenomenon Sunday afternoon prompted calls to police and speculation among residents.

Jay O'Brien -- a Ketchikan High School biology teacher -- says he was out paddling with his children near Point Higgins and noticed the green cloud of pine pollen.
(Ketchikan Daily News)

UAA wins grant for disabled students
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The University of Alaska Anchorage has won a federal grant of over one (m) million dollars that will provide services to 160 low income or disabled students.

The one-point-15 (m) million dollar student support services grant is from the U-S Department of Education.

U-A-A officials say the student support services program will begin recruiting students in August.

Services to students will begin when funding is available starting September 1st.

Buildings moved to site of new resort on Kenai Peninsula
KENAI (AP) - Two Kenai businessmen had two hotel buildings barged in from Homer to add to a new resort they're developing along the Kenai River.

The buildings reached town this week and are part of the Kenai Landing resort being developed from the old Wards Cove Packing Company cannery that closed in 1997.

The resort is scheduled for a grand opening May 12th.

Combined, the two buildings make up 16 hotel units.

Resort developers Jon Faulkner and Steve Agni have spent the past year and millions of dollars turning old buildings and run-down bunkhouses into a renovated historic site featuring a restaurant, shops and movie theater.

Faulkner says the barged hotels were beach-front units at Land's End Resort in Homer that were no longer needed.
(Peninsula Clarion) 

State rejects proposal for Knight Island floating outpost
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The Department of Natural Resources says it will not approve an application for a floating gas station at Knight Island in Prince William Sound.

Water World -- a company put together by several Anchorage businessmen -- propose to anchor a barge and sell fuel to recreational boaters.

The D-N-R rejected the proposal last week.

Water World spokesman Marty Keef says he and his partners appealed the decision Monday and will sue if the appeal is rejected.

Richard Thompson is regional manager for the state Division of Mining, Land and Water, a division of the Natural Resources Department.

Thompson says the agency rejected the permit application after reviewing the proposal, more than 500 written comments, and testimony by 45 people at a meeting in December.

Opponents say a commercial fuel barge would dramatically increase boat traffic in outlying areas of Prince William Sound.

Opponents also say the barge could threaten wildlife and marine habitat with spills or congestion.

Supporters say the facility would reduce small spills in the sound because boaters would no longer need to carry extra fuel on trips.
(Anchorage Daily News)