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'News of the North’ content copyright of Alaska Broadcast Communications Inc. and Juneau Alaska Communications LLC. Any unauthorized use will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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[Friday, May 24, 2013 10TH EDITION 3:55 P. M.]

Docks & Harbors Board discusses next steps on rejected Statter Harbor permit
The CBJ Docks and Harbors Board of Directors approved three motions during its special meeting Thursday  night as it relates to the action by the Planning commission to reject a permit for a two lane boat launch ramp and associated parking at Statter Harbor.

 

One motion endorsed efforts to address concerns of residents about green space and access

The vote followed a discussion of how the Board could support efforts to see the permit approved on a reconsideration vote at the next meeting of the Planning Commission.

Notice of reconsideration of the permit was served after the Planning Commission rejected the permit, so the question may be brought up again at the Commission's next meeting Tuesday night. An affirmative vote to reconsider the permit would void the previous rejection and allow the Commission to consider whether to approve the application.

 

A second motion approved by the Docks and Harbors Board calls on the commission to render a final decision based upon the application before the commission.

If the commission does not approve the permit, the board passed a third motion pre-approving a motion to appeal the decision to the Assembly.

 

Summer vacation is here for Juneau school kids
Friday was the last day of classes for students in the Juneau School District.

District Chief of Staff Kristin Bartlett says they have lots of 5th graders going through promotion ceremonies getting ready to enter middle school and lots of 8th grade students preparing to enter high school this week.

They've also got a couple hundred graduates getting ready to leave high school, according to Bartlett.

Bartlett says graduation is set for this Sunday for all of the local high schools.

Ceremonies start at 1:00 p.m. with commencement for students from Yaakoosge Daakahídi Alternative High School at Centennial Hall, according to Bartlett.

She says the next graduation ceremony will be for Thunder Mountain High School in the school's gym at 4:00 p.m.

The commencements wrap up at 7:00 p.m. with students from Juneau Douglas High School graduating in the gymnasium at their school, Bartlett says.

They've got about 140 students graduating from JDHS, Bartlett says, and about 170 graduating from Thunder Mountain.

There are also 40 students graduating from the alternative high school and Bartlett says they wish all of the graduates the best.

Bartlett says the district wants to say congratulations to each member of the class of 2013.

As for everyone else in the school district, including incoming kindergartners, they'll start school on August 20th, the first day of classes for the next school year.

 

Juneau to mark Memorial Day with two ceremonies
Two Memorial Day observances are planned in Juneau on Monday.

One will be held at the Evergreen Cemetery downtown.

It will be sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559 and feature Mayor Merrill Sanford as the keynote speaker.

The Coast Guard 17th District Color Guard will be presenting the colors. Taps will be performed by Adrienne Sypeck.

A ceremony at the Alaska Memorial Park Cemetery on Riverside Drive in the Valley will be hosted by American Legion Auke Bay Post 25.

The keynote speaker there will be CBJ Port Director Carl Uchytil.

The Civil Air Patrol Cadets will be presenting the colors and Dave Hurlbut will perform Taps.

Both will start at 11 a.m., the traditional 11th hour.

The public is welcomed to attend either ceremony.

 

Bankrate.com: Alaska 50th worse place to retire in U. S.
Alaska is one of the worst places in the nation to retire.

That's according to Bankrate.com.

It looked at health, safety and costs in all the states and District of Columbia.

It gathered statistics on cost of living, crime and tax rates, access to medical care and average annual temperatures.

Alaska came in 50th, only b
eating out Oregon.

The top ten states were Tennessee, Louisiana, South Dakota, Kentucky, Mississippi, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Nebraska and North Dakota.

Alaska also ranked 50th in cost of living besting only Hawaii.

Alaska did have the top rank for the lowest tax burden at 7 percent.

Alaska, of course, has the lowest average temperature at 35.90 between 1981 and 2010.

Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/best-places-retire-how-state-ranks.aspx#ixzz2UEaXYADm


AP NewsBreak: Voter case under review
BECKY BOHRER,Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state election official says it appears someone registered to vote in Alaska and another state cast ballots in both states during the November election.

Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai (feh-NEW'-me-eye) says the matter has been sent to the criminal division of the Department of Law for review.

Alaska joined other states in doing a cross-check of voter registration rolls. In April, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell's office announced more than 25,000 Alaska voters might also be registered in other states and that 14 individuals may have voted in two states during the election. Treadwell cautioned those 14 might involve something like a father and son with the same name.

Fenumiai said Thursday she's waiting for information on one other person. Other than that, she says the review is finished.

 

Oil and gas group sues over bearded seal listing
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Oil and Gas Association is suing over a federal decision to list certain populations of Arctic bearded seals as threatened.

The trade association says there is no scientific evidence linking climate change to adverse effects on the seals. It also says that scientific data indicates the populations currently appear to be healthy.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, seeks to have the listing rule set aside.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in December announced that ringed seals and bearded seals in the Arctic Ocean would join polar bears as species listed as threatened by loss of sea ice.

 

Young hunting in Africa as hearing is conducted on NPRA bill
A committee in the U. S. House took up Congressman Don Young's bill to speed up development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

But Young wasn't at the hearing.

Young's staff says he was in Africa on a hunting trip that had been planned a year in advance.

The House Natural Resources Committee heard testimony Wednesday from other Alaskans on the "NPRA Access act."

State Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan testified in favor of the bill, as did North Slope Borough Mayor Charlotte Brower and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Vice President Richard Glenn.

Young's staff says the congressman expected to have the week before Memorial Day off, but the House schedule was changed.

(KENI Radio - Anchorage)

 

Trooper kills Sutton man after he shoots first
SUTTON, Alaska (AP) — Alaska State Troopers on Friday say they fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at them.

The shooting occurred in Sutton after troopers were in negotiations with 58-year-old Theodule LeJeune, who was ordered Wednesday via a restraining order to leave a home. He refused, and pointed a gun at troopers at the time.

Troopers consulted with a Palmer judge, and the decision was made not to enforce the order if it couldn't be done without conflict.

Negotiations continued, and an arrest warrant was issued for LeJeune Thursday. Troopers tried to execute the warrant Thursday, and say LeJeune then exited the house with a firearm. Troopers say they tried to disarm him with nonlethal means, but he shot at troopers. One returned fire, killing LeJeune.

The shooting is under investigation.
 

Mangled car prompts reminder of bear awareness
KENAI, Alaska (AP) — A Sterling man's mangled vehicle has prompted a reminder that bears are up and about.

The Peninsula Clarion says Norm Israelson discovered the damage Monday.

A brown bear tore off a side-view mirror on his Subaru, smashed a tail light and rear window, ripped off the back windshield wiper and shoved the car eight inches in the gravel driveway. Muddy claw marks were on the car windows.

Israelson says the attack could have occurred as he watched TV Sunday night with the volume turned up or it could have happened as he slept.

State area wildlife biologist Jeff Selinger collected samples at the scene.

Selinger says it's that time of year when bears are leaving their dens and people should begin bear-proofing their homes and thinking about wilderness safety.
(Kenai Peninsula Clarion)

 

Kokhanok woman indicted in man's death
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A 24-year-old Kokhanok (KUH'-kahn-uck) woman has been indicted in the death of a man whose body was found in Lake Iliamna last year.

State prosecutors say Brenda Nowatak was indicted Wednesday on charges of second degree murder, manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident and driving under the influence of alcohol.

The body of 25-year-old Trefim Wassillie Jr. was found last September.

Prosecutors say an autopsy showed that Wassillie died as a result of drowning and head injuries.

According to prosecutors, an investigation by Alaska State Troopers found that Nowatak was driving an all-terrain vehicle and Wassillie was a passenger when the ATV apparently struck a tree stump, ejecting Wassillie.

It's unclear if Nowatak has an attorney.

 

Kauai indictment in former Alaska woman's murder
HONOLULU (AP) — Prosecutors will be able to pursue Hawaii's harshest penalty against a former Alaska man charged with murdering a woman.

A Kauai grand jury on Thursday returned an indictment against 26-year-old Steven Wilson for second-degree murder in last month's stabbing death of 21-year-old Kendra Lewis.

Police say Wilson and Lewis relocated to Kauai from Alaska at the beginning of the year and were living together at the time of her death. He is being held on $1 million bond.

The Kauai prosecuting attorney's office says grand jurors also found the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity." That will allow the state to seek an enhanced sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lewis was found dead in her room at a condominium.

Soldier convicted of sexual contact in hearing
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska-based soldier from California will serve six months in a military prison and then be dismissed from the Army after being convicted of abusive sexual contact and other charges at a court-martial.

The Army says in a release that 33-year-old Chief Warrant Officer Guillermo Castillo was convicted Thursday of the contact charge, twice disobeying the order of superiors and driving under the influence.

He also will have to forfeit his monthly pay of $3,000 for a year.

Castillo joined the Army in January 2000. He was an enlisted soldier until graduation from Warrant Officer Candidate School in November 2009.

He was assigned to the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at the Anchorage base in 2010. He has served one tour in Afghanistan.
 

Public comment on Pebble report nearing close
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The public comment period is scheduled to end next week on a federal study of large mining impacts in the Bristol Bay region.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set May 31 as the deadline for comments on its revised watershed assessment. The report also is expected to undergo a new round of peer review before a final report is released.

The final report, expected later this year, could affect permitting decisions for the proposed Pebble Mine.

The revised assessment found construction of a large-scale mine near the headwaters of Bristol Bay could have major impacts even without a mishap, including wiping out up to 90 miles of streams and altering stream flows.

The CEO of the group behind the mine project has called the EPA assessment flawed and unnecessary.

Pilots in fatal Alaska crash on different signals
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board says the pilots involved in a midair collision in Alaska that killed a family of four apparently were communicating on different radio frequencies before the crash.

The NTSB says in a factual report that surviving pilot Kevin Earp, of Eagle River, told investigators he did not hear the other pilot on the frequency commonly used in that area.

Earp told the NTSB he didn't see the other plane carrying Corey Carlson, his wife and their two children until moments before the collision on July 30, 2011, near Talkeetna.

The NTSB says Earp told investigators he steered his plane up and to the left, but it was too late.

He wasn't injured and was able to fly to an Anchorage airport.

 

No fatalities in I-5 bridge collapses in NW Wash
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say there were no fatalities when an Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed.

The Thursday evening bridge failure dumped vehicles and people into the Skagit (SKA'-jiht) River near Mount Vernon.

Marcus Deyerin (day-HER'-in), a spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management team, said there were no fatalities or suspected fatalities. He said three people were rescued from the water and sent to area hospitals.

Survivor Dan Sligh and his wife were driving their pickup truck when he said the bridge disappeared before them in a "big puff of dust."

He said, "I hit the brakes and we went off the bridge."

 

The Washington State Patrol chief says the collapse was caused by an oversize truck.

Chief John Batiste (buh-TEEST') told an overnight news conference that the truck hit an overhead span. The truck made it off the bridge and the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.

Two other vehicles went into the water Thursday evening as the bridge collapsed. Three people were rescued and are recovering.

 

Tow vessel fuel problems preceded Shell grounding
DAN JOLING,Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The chief engineer for the ship that attempted to tow a Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling barge across the Gulf of Alaska in December says he doesn't know why all four of his vessel's main engines failed but that a fuel additive is the chief suspect.

Carl Broekhuis (BROOK'-hise), who was on board the 360-foot Aiviq (EYE-vik), testified Thursday before a Coast Guard panel investigating the grounding of the Kulluk (KUL'-uk), a drilling vessel that operated last year in the Beaufort Sea.

Broekhuis says engine fuel injectors began to fail Dec. 27, six days into the voyage from Dutch Harbor to Seattle, and that all four engines shut down within hours.

Testing detected a yellowish gel in the fuel but Broekhuis says he's not seen reports of what it was.

 

Fort Yukon flooding threat not over
FORT YUKON, Alaska (AP) — The threat of flooding in Fort Yukon appears to be easing, but enough concern remains that spotters have been posted near the community 150 miles northeast of Fairbanks.

The National Weather Service on Thursday afternoon said the threat was mostly over.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the situation changed within hours when water was seen flowing through the woods near the town. The flooding was being caused by another upriver ice jam and was occurring on the side of town opposite from the Yukon River.

Fort Yukon flood coordinator Velma Carroll says she has posted people at certain points to monitor the flood waters. She says that way if the situation worsens the community will know about it quickly.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

 

Kivalina students miss 3 weeks of school
RACHEL D'ORO,Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Students in a remote Inupiat Eskimo village in northern Alaska received three fewer weeks of school because of a severe shortage of treated water.

The fall semester was postponed five weeks in Kivalina last year after storms damaged a water supply pipeline that left the school without clean water.

School district superintendent Norm Eck says students were able to make up two weeks because school days were lengthened by 30 minutes.

Classes ended last week. Eck says little treated water remains in the village tanks and the school would have soon run out anyway.

He says the school still met the number of days required.

Kivalina city manager Janet Mitchell says severe water restrictions remain in place until tanks can be filled after the river thaws and turbidity levels drop.


2nd bacteria outbreak reported on Kenai Peninsula
KENAI, Alaska (AP) — State health officials say five people have become ill after drinking raw milk from a Kenai Peninsula farm.

The Peninsula Clarion reports it's a similar bacterial infection that sickened more than 30 people in February.

In both instances, state health department spokeswoman Laura Carpenter says it started at Peninsula Dairy in Kasilof. Owner Kevin Byers declined comment.

The farm is a raw milk-cow share operation that delivers to shareholders on the peninsula, Anchorage and Sitka.

Health officials say Byers said he has informed shareholders of the outbreak, caused by fecal contamination of a cow's raw milk.

The state cannot shut the operation down because he only distributes the milk. The Clarion says the shareholders collectively own the cows.

Two people have sought medical attention in the latest outbreak.
(Peninsula Clarion)

Groundbreaking held for Kodiak High renovations
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Ground has been broken on a project that will see $80 million in renovations at Kodiak High School.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports the project will take about three years to complete. It will add new classrooms, hallways, kitchens and four-story tower in what is called the most expensive project ever in the history of the Kodiak Island Borough.

The plan was originally a lot more expensive, at $115 million. But borough voters vetoed that plan.

The district the revised the plan, scaling it back to about $80 million. Voters approved the bond in 2009 and planning has been ongoing since.
(Kodiak Daily Mirror)
 

Landscape Alaska to move, not close
An Alaskan Brewing official stated on Action Line Thursday that Landscape Alaska would close after the brewery expands to that portion of Borrow Street which is being vacated.


That statement was made in error.


Landscape Alaska will reopen at another location which has not yet been determined.

Arboretum features tours on Alaska Public Garden Day
The Jensen Olson Arboretum will observe and celebrate Alaska Public Garden Day this Saturday.

Horticulturist and Arboretum Manager Merrill Jensen said on Capital Chat this week that they will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

He says the day will include two tours.

One on the history of the facility is at 11 a.m. The plants tour is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The arboretum is just past Mile 23. There's at sign at that point.

 


' News of the North' content copyright of Alaska Broadcast Communications Inc. and Juneau Alaska Communications LLC. Any unauthorized use will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.