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School
district budget pared back
The Juneau School Board approved a revised 2004 fiscal year budget at its
meeting Tuesday night.
Facing a 1.1 million dollar deficit, board members okayed several cuts and
reductions, including eliminating teaching positions, according to
Superintendent Peggy Cowen. She says the current plan calls on eliminating
12 positions. Six have already been eliminated.
Other cuts include eliminating all text book purchases for next year, the
after-school program buses, and two bus routes. The special education
funding will remain at this year's level.
In another cost saving measure, the bus that takes kindergartners home has
been eliminated, instead of the controversial move of extending the
kindergarten school day.
The board is now awaiting the Assembly's final decision on district
funding. Its asking the Assembly for $305,000 in funding to the new state
formula cap of
$18,171,200. Cowan says if the Assembly decides to provide additional
money, four teaching positions would not be eliminated.
They're also requesting an additional $294,000 over the cap that would
have to, by law, be earmarked for services, like, pupil transportation.
Superintendent Cowen says that would free up money in the operational
budget, and fund two more teachers.
The Assembly is scheduled to meet July 8th to begin deliberations on the
final version of the city's fiscal year 2004 budget.
Brodersen indicates he'll leave
school board
The Juneau School Board will be looking for a replacement after its
youngest member announced his resignation.
Eighteen-year-old Carl Brodersen informed Superintendent Peggy Cowan by
e-mail that he will not remain on the board.
Brodersen just graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School and was one of
eleven valedictorians.
Brodersen's e-mail indicated he will attend Whitman College in Walla
Walla, Washington. He was elected in October to a three-year term.
Brodersen was the second-leading vote-getter out of eight candidates for
two seats on the board.
Taku remains out of service
Sailings of the state ferry Taku have been cancelled until at least
Monday.
But Operations Manager Captain Jack Meyers says they now believe they have
a handle on how to resolve problems with a bearing that's been overheating
in the starboard clutch assembly. He says three sets of technical
representatives from different companies are on board working to resolve
the problem.
The vessel got underway for Sitka Monday after initial repairs were
effected over the weekend, but the problem persisted and the Taku was
forced to turn around.
Today's sailing to Prince Rupert was cancelled. Northbound traffic will be
given priority standby by booking date for the Matanuska, Malaspina and
Kennicott.
The Aurora will be held in Juneau to provide Lynn Canal Service from
Thursday through Monday.
Two additional trips are planned to accommodate the increased load caused
by participation in the Kluane Bike Race. The Aurora will leave Juneau
tomorrow at 11:55 p.m. and depart Haines Monday at 5:15 a.m.
The Aurora's sailing from Juneau to Ketchikan tomorrow and Monday's voyage
from Ketchikan to Wrangell, Petersburg and Juneau have been cancelled.
Cutter visiting Juneau on way to
Valdez
The Coast Guard vessel Long Island is beginning a visit to Juneau today as
it heads north for its permanent assignment in Valdez.
Chief Petty Officer Roger Wetherell says 110 foot cutter Long Island will
anchor in Auke Bay. He says it is similar to the Liberty and has a crew of
17 to 20 people.
Wetherell says the vessel should be Juneau from 3 to 5 days. Public tours
are not planned at this time.
The vessel is stopping to resupply and give its crew a break.
Cause of whale's death pending
test results
The death of a whale in Juneau area waters is under investigation. A
cruise ship spotted the whale, South of Douglas Island, early Tuesday
morning and the Coast Guard confirmed the sighting.
Mike Payne of the National Marine Fisheries office in Juneau says they
went out to look at it. Its a 30 to 35 foot male gray whale. He says they
took skin samples to conduct a contaminant analysis and tissue samples for
a genetic analysis. Payne says nothing visible was noticed that would
allow them to determine the cause of its death.
Payne says they'll have to wait until the whale hits shore before they
decide to do a necropsy to try determine if anything human related caused
the animals' death, or if it was a death by natural causes.
He says the whale is attracting a lot of attention because of it's
location in the shipping lanes.
The Spirit of '98 contacted the Coast Guard's Juneau Command Center with
the initial report.
GCI receives partial payment from
Worldcom
A General Communication Incorporated official says the company will accept
eleven million dollars in future services from WorldCom as part of a
settlement of debts owed by the Lower 48 telecom giant.
WorldCom is the Number Two long-distance phone-service provider in the
United States.
It filed for Chapter Eleven bankruptcy protection last July after a
federal accounting inquiry revealed that the company had reported billions of dollars of profits that did not exist.
G-C-I and WorldCom are strategic partners, handling calls for each other
into and out of Alaska.
The money G-C-I is owed comes from calls the Anchorage-based company had
handled but had not been paid for when WorldCom filed for bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy filing froze payments on all WorldCom debt up to that
point.
Search
suspended by Coast Guard
A Coast Guard search west of Montague Island south of Prince William Sound
has ended.
The search was commenced after the fishing vessel Estimate relayed a
distress call it received Monday afternoon. The call gave the ship's
position, said people were in the water and the motor was underwater. The
name of the boat did not come across in the call.
The Estimate was about six miles from where the vessel was said to be
sinking and rushed to the scene.
Other vessels including the State Trooper vessel Safeguard and Coast Guard
assets joined the search.
A sandal was found, but it wasn't known how it correlated to the report.
No other signs were found, so the search was suspended Tuesday afternoon
at 3:45.
The mayday could have been a hoax but the Coast Guard treated it as a
genuine call for help.
Race participant found by
searchers
A Kodiak teacher taking part in the Alaska Mountain and Wilderness Classic
is safe after he was picked up by search helicopter last night (Tuesday).
Forty-eight-year-old Mike Sirofchuck did not show up at the finish line in
Talkeetna but was found shortly before eleven p-m in good condition.
Flags lowered for Borer
Alaska flags are at half staff in memory of former state representative
Dick Borer of Cordova.
The 76 year old Borer passed away Tuesday in Cordova. He served in the
State House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971.
Borer earned his living as a banker. He purchased the First Bank of
Cordova in 1953 , which later became National Bank of Alaska.
Murkowski ordered that state flags be flown at half staff until Monday.
Hoop Time gets home
Hoop Time Basketball, the program set up for middle school aged kids two
years ago, is getting a boost with a building to house a full time
program.
One of the program's founders, Ed Webb, was a guest on KINY's Capital Chat
this morning. He said the building is in the industrial area of Lemon
Creek near Costco. He says its big enough for a regulation, middle school
court. He says it will probably end up seating between 150 to 200 people.
Participation from the first year to this year has tripled, so Webb says
they're expanding the program. The winter program, as normal, will begin
in January when they plan to be in the building. There will be a program
next summer and they're looking at implementing a fall program sometime in
the future.
Webb says the space has been donated until the expanded program gets up
and running.
Key to the program's success is fundraising and Webb says there's an event
coming up this week. Webb say they're sponsoring a dinner - wildlife
cruise Friday evening . Allen Marine has donated the three hour cruise
between 6 and 9 p.m. It departs from the Statter Harbor at Auke Bay.
Tickets are $60 for individuals and $100 for couples and are available at
Hearthside Books on online at www.hooptime-basketball.org. For more
information call 523-9111. That's 523-9111.
"Connie" set for release
back into wild
The Juneau Raptor Center plans to release an eagle at the end of the week.
A juvenile eagle dubbed Connie came to the center earlier this Spring with
a broken wing, most likely as the result of being shot.
The center's operations director, Jamie Sorg, says she's now ready to
return to the wild.
Sorg named the bird Connie after the U. S. S. Constellation which was
serving in the war against Iraq at the time.
The release is scheduled for 7 P.M. Friday at Brotherhood Bridge.
Tent city folded in Petersburg
Officials in Petersburg say the city's tent city, a cheap and well-known
campground designed for seasonal cannery workers, will not open this year.
Parks and Recreation director Ryan McFarland says the cost is too high and
the return too low.
Ver selected as summer intern for
Stevens
A Juneau resident is among the Alaska college students serving in Senator
Ted Stevens' Summer Intern Program.
Aaron Ver is the son of Joe and Mary Ver. He graduated from Juneau Douglas
High School in 2000 and now attends the University of California at
Berkeley where he is studying political science and Chinese.
He plans to attend graduate and law school.
Ver is among a dozen interns selected by Senator Stevens.
(Copyright ©2003
Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio News) |
