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Wednesday,  March 3, 2010  9TH  EDITION  9:30 P.M.

Munoz concerned again about office building legislation moving from Senate Finance
The House measure authorizing funding for a new state office building on the former Subport Lot in downtown Juneau owned by the Alaska Mental Health Land Trust remains lodged in the Senate Finance Committee.

The sponsor of House Bill 161 is Juneau Representative Cathy Munoz.

Munoz wants Senate Finance to make one change to take advantage of a federal bonding program to secure a lower interest rate.

The bill got stuck in Senate Finance at the end of last session. Munoz told Murray Walsh on KJNO's Action Line Tuesday she's now concerned about the same thing happening this session.

"I'm very concerned about getting a hearing," she said.

Munoz wants Senate Finance to make one change to take advantage of a federal bonding program to secure a lower interest rate.

She's not worried about that since it would saves money for the state.

The legislation authorizes $45 Million.

Half of the funding, $22.5 Million are trust funds, while the other half would be raised through bonding.

House Bill 161 was approved unanimously by the House last session before it was sent to the Senate.

When Kim Elton left to take a job with the Obama Administration, Juneau was left without a Senator. Elton was a member of Senate Finance.

Dennis Egan, who was sworn in on the evening of the last day of the regular session last year, now sits on the committee.

Assistant high school basketball coach dies
An assistant high school basketball coach has died.

The death was apparently of natural causes.

The School District's Kristen Bartlett says she believes the death was not caused by an accident or any kind of foul play.

The person's name has not been released yet, but Bartlett says the parent is a well respected youth coach in the community.

She says the schools that have been impacted are providing counseling services to students and staff members.

Bartlett says there are many athletes, that also have been impacted, who are attending the basketball tournament in Sitka.

She says the Juneau school district is very appreciative of the Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka school district staff "who have made themselves available to council students and coaches during this difficult time".

No positive drug tests so far in school district's mandatory testing program
The mandatory and voluntary drug testing programs are now in place at Juneau's high schools.

Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich told the school board last night (Tuesday) that as of last Friday in the mandatory program 367 students have been tested and none have come up positive for banned substances.

The superintendent says more than 125 high school students are participating in the voluntary testing program.

Students participating in the voluntary program become eligible for a $50 pre-paid VISA card.

The first drawing was held last Friday and there was one VISA card winner at each high school.

Gelbrich says that all three high schools reported that after the three students won the VISA card, there was a "bit of a rush"on the forms to sign up for the voluntary testing program.

The superintendent says the district is grateful to the Juneau business community who have made the VISA cards and other incentives possible through their generosity.


School Board approves food services contract
The Juneau School Board has approved a food services contract for next school year.

Depending on the amount of food consumed by students, the contract with NANA Management Services will amount to about $1,045,000.

The cost per-breakfast is $1.39, $2.70 per-lunch and 69 cents per-after school snack.

The contract includes breakfast programs at Auke Bay, Mendenhall River,  and Harborview Elementary Schools.

The breakfast program will be also be extended to the Yaakoosgé Daakahídi AlternativeHigh School.

Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich told the board at last night's (Tuesday) meeting, that there are students who have a need for breakfast,  but don't participate in the breakfast programs.

He said many don't have the means or resources to provide for their own breakfast at home.

The board had requested that the administration explore options.

The superintendent says NANA Management "stepped up" and will provide a walk-up, simple and basic breakfast for any child without any questions asked about whether or not the child qualifies.

There are already individual breakfast programs at Glacier Valley, Riverbend and Gastineau Elementary Schools, as well as Floyd Dryden and Dzantik'i Heeni middle schools.

The contract also calls for snacks to be provided to the RALLY and after school programs.

---

The board also approved the budget in first reading. Final action is scheduled for its March 16 meeting.

Persily's nomination as gas line coordinator headed to full Senate
The name of Juneau's Larry Persily has been advanced by the Energy and Natural Resoures Committee in the U. S. Senate to become the Federal Coordinator of the Office for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects.

That word today (Wednesday) from committee member Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Persily must now be confirmed by the full  Senate.

If confirmed, Murkowski says he'll be responsible for integrating the activities of federal agencies involved in the permitting and construction of a pipeline to bring North Slope gas to Lower 48 markets.

Persily would report directly to President Obama, according to Senator Murkowski.

Burglars spied by resident taking off with "electronic item"
Juneau Police are investigating a burglary from early this morning.

Sergeant Paul Hatch says they were contacted by a resident of the 5800 block of Glacier Highway after two o'clock.

The resident reported three males just entered his unlocked home, took an electronic item worth about $1,500, and left the area. Police aren't disclosing exactly what the electronic item is for investigative purposes.

The resident said the suspects know of the home's occupants who was currently away from the house.

The sergeant says officers collected evidence at the scene and are following up leads in the case.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the police department or call Juneau Crime Line at 586-4243.  

Report faults helicopter design in fatal crash
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Floor-mounted fuel controls likely contributed to a 2008 helicopter crash east of Chickaloon that killed four people on board.

A National Transportation Safety Board probable cause report released Wednesday says an unauthorized teenage passenger on board the aircraft likely bumped a fuel control lever with his foot or backpack.

That would have caused engine overspeed and ultimately a loss of power.

The report also says inaction by the pilot and its operator, ERA Helicopters, contributed to the crash and the severity of injuries.

Three state telecommunications technicians and the pilot died in the crash.

The teenager, Quinn Ellington, who was 15 at the time, survived.
----
Information from: KTUU-TV

Body of boy ejected from snowmobile recovered from Chena River
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Emergency responders have recovered the body of an 11-year-old boy who fell off a snowmobile and slipped under the ice of the Chena River near downtown Fairbanks.

The body of Peter Demoski was recovered just before 3 this morning. (Wednesday)

The boy and a 10-year-old friend were riding snowmobiles on the river at about 6 p.m. Tuesday and hit a patch of open water.

Demoski was ejected from his snowmobile and fell into the water.

Fairbanks police Lt. Dan Welborn says the water is just 2 or 3 feet deep in that section of the river, but the boy was pulled by the current under the ice.

A search party worked through the night. The boy's body was found about 120 feet west of where he entered the water.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Man reclaiming shotgun at Southeast Trooper post busted for pot possession
A 36 year old Thorne Bay man who showed up at the Klawock Post of the Alaska State Troopers on Prince of Wales Island  Tuesday to reclaim a shotgun being held for safekeeping ended up being charged with two crimes.

Anthony Heerema was asked to fill out the standard paperwork for receipt of the weapon.

The form requires a person to attest that they do not use marijuana or other drugs. When signed, a person is swearing that the information is true. That's written on the form, as well as a statement that any false information could lead to being charged with a crime.

Heerema signed the form, but before the shotgun was returned, a pat down search was conducted for what the State Trooper dispatch says was for officer safety reasons.

During the search, a marijuana smoking pipe with burnt marijuana inside was found.

Heerema was charged with misconduct involving a controlled substance in the sixth degree and unsworn falsification.

There's no explanation in the Trooper dispatch as to why the shotgun was being held for safekeeping in the first place.

Juneau preparing application for Google demonstration project
The City and Borough of Juneau is preparing an application to Google to participate in the Internet company's plans to show off its ultra high speed demonstration project.

The company says it wants to provide that access to selected communities across the nation to showcase what would be possible if the United States had faster broadband networks.

Spearheading the application process for Juneau is the Juneau Economic Development Council of which Brian Holst is the executive director.

He says the request for information from Google is due by March 26.

There are two ways to apply. He says they'll make application on behalf of the local government. In addition, Holst says individuals can go to the Google web site to explain why Juneau would be a good choice.

He invites residents to go to the Google site via the council's web site at www.jedc.org 


Gates Foundation awards $900K to Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $900,000 to an Alaska foundation to support educational programs for low-income and minority populations.

The money will be invested by the Rasmuson Foundation over the next two years in organizations that promote college readiness and support postsecondary success for rural and minority students.

Foundation President Diane Kaplan says the investment will let her organization advance Alaska programs with proven track records and test new ideas.

The money will be distributed to organizations and projects selected by the foundation.

Unsolicited proposals are not being accepted.

Sen. Kookesh dinged with ethics violations, responds to conclusion of ethics probe
JEREMY HSIEH - Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP and KINY) — The Alaska Legislature's in-house ethics body is dinging Sen. Albert Kookesh with two violations.

The violations announced Tuesday stem from comments the Angoon Democrat made at a Jan. 7 meeting of the Craig City Council.

The ethics committee found Kookesh inappropriately implied he would trade his influence on state-funded Craig projects for a favorable vote from city council that would benefit Sealaska Corp. in a land deal pending congressional approval.

Kookesh is chairman of the Native corporation's board.

A third allegation was dismissed.

The ethics committee is ordering Kookesh to write letters of public apology to the city of Craig.

----

Kookesh called our newsroom to offer response and stressed that the committee did not find a direct threat, but rather an "implied" threat.

As a result there were no sanctions, just corrective action and he says he wants people to understand the difference.

"If anybody knows me, they know I'm not a person who makes at all. I never have. I didn't intend this one to be a threat."

Kookesh added he wants to put the matter behind him. He is grateful the committee determined no direct threat was involved.

Kookesh says the individual from Craig who filed the complaint is a former political opponent who ran against him in a legislative race.

And when Dennis Watson was mayor of Craig for 11 years , Kookesh says he never came into his office once.

---

Meanwhile, hearings start next week in Southeast Alaska on the measure pending congressional approval that would transfer about 85,000 acres of public land to Sealaska to complete its land selections under terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

University president finalists to make last campus stop in Juneau
The finalists to become the next president of the University of Alaska make their final campus visits in Juneau today. (Wednesday)

UAS Vice Chancellor Bruce Gifford outlined the forums on the Auke Lake campus while a guest on KINY's Capital Chat  Tuesday.

The forum with Patrick Gamble is from 11 to 11:45. John Pugh's forum is scheduled from 1 to 1:45 and Lisa Rossbacher will be from 3:30 to 4:30

Gifford says those are open to students, faculty, staff and members of the public.

There's also a community forum at Centennial Hall in the evening from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

During the program, host Sharon Gaiptman asked Gifford he would be interested in being chancellor of the Southeast campuses if Pugh is selected for the top university job.

Gifford would only say that that is "jumping the gun."

The university Board of Regents could name a new president on March 15, when it will meet to discuss the candidates.

Campus visits were made in Fairbanks Monday and in Anchorage Tuesday.

Today is last day to comment on beluga habitat
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Today is the last day to submit comments about the proposed critical habitat for beluga whales in Cook Inlet.

Anchorage television station KTUU-TV says the National Marine Fisheries Service is accepting written comments after holding public hearings throughout Southcentral Alaska.

The government wants to designate more than 3,000 square miles of Cook Inlet as critical habitat for the whales, whose population has plummeted since the 1980s. The inlet's belugas were listed as endangered in 2008.
(KTUU-TV)

Coast Guard schedules open house to discuss oil seepage from old wreck near Lena Point
The Unified Command for the Princess Kathleen assessment operations will host an open house Thursday to discuss the pollution risk caused by the ship that sank off Lena Point over five decades ago.

The 369-foot ship, a Canadian Pacific Railroad vessel built in 1925, went aground and sank in 1952 carrying an estimated 155,000 gallons of fuel.

The shipwreck is leaking trace amounts of oil.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Adam Baylor says the ship has become a source of pollution.

He says over the last couple of months there's been an increase in oil sheening.

The Coast Guard, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the contracted diving company, Global Offshore Divers,  are assessing the wreck to see if it's possible to remove the oil that's aboard the ship.

During the  open house representatives from the Coast Guard, DEC and Global Offshore Divers will be available to answer questions.

The vessel now rests on a slope in 80 to 140 feet of water.

The open house is from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.

Tug aids powerless container ship near Neah Bay in Washington State
NEAH BAY, Wash. (AP) — The Coast Guard says it took a rescue tug based at Neah Bay just 15 minutes to reach a container ship that lost power in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (FEW'-kuh).

Petty Officer Eric Chandler in Seattle says the tug Hunter responded at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to the 712-foot Horizon Tacoma that radioed for help about three miles north of Neah Bay.

The tug has the ship under tow and it's expected to reach Tacoma Wednesday afternoon. The ship is coming from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Alaska conditions could produce Chilean type earthquake
The Director of the U. S Geological Survey points to Alaska as the closest copy to Chile on U. S. shores for earthquake danger.

Marcia McNutt was quoted in an a USA Today article following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in the South American nation.

The fault along the Pacific Northwest is capable of producing the same type of mega earthquake as in Chile.

Bill Knight, who is a Tsunami Warning and Science Officer for the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, explains that there is so called destructive plate boundaries in both locations.

McNutt is also quoted as saying that with a very active fault in the Aleutians and a population hugging the coasts, Anchorage and Juneau are susceptible to similar subduction earthquakes as occurred in Chile.

Knight says the case of Anchorage might be unique since the city is built on fairly soft soil which tends to magnify any shaking induced by an earthquake.

He says Juneau is in a slightly different tectonic setting. There are the same two plates at work, but they're sliding side by side rather than one diving underneath the other.

So, he says, the types of earthquakes you might expected in Juneau will be different. "That doesn't mean they're going to be safer, but the truly great earthquakes tend to be subduction zone quakes which I don't think can be found anywhere near Juneau."

What did occur near Juneau in July of 1958 was an 8.0 earthquake in Lituya Bay in Glacier Bay National Park. Knight says that was one of the largest strike slip earthquakes of which he knows.

He says it produced a number of land slides one of which produced the highest known tsunami wave, measured at about 1,720 feet.

The tsunami inundated approximately 5 square miles of land along the shores of Lituya Bay, sending water as far as 3,600 feet inland, and clearing millions of trees.

Two people in one of three fishing boats caught in the wave were killed.

When asked if what happened in the bay is something Juneau might be susceptible to, Knight said it's conceivable since the topography is ripe for land slides.

The biggest concern for U. S. officials is the Puget Sound area. Knight says there's a subduction zone off the coast of northern California extending through Washington and British Columbia.

Alaska tops UK list of cruise destinations
Alaska has been selected as the world's greatest cruise destination by a jury of the United Kingdom's leading cruise writers and industry experts.

The panel of 13 experts were asked to nominate their favorite destinations by The Cruise Show, U-K's only exhibition dedicated to cruise travel which is scheduled for March 27 and 28.

Lorene Palmer, the President and CEO of the Juneau Convention and Visitor's Bureau, calls Alaska's selection very gratifying. She says it was interesting that others topping the list for wilderness type destinations.

Second on the list was the Galapagos Islands. The Arctic was the third top destination followed by the Antarctic Peninsula in fourth.

The Black Sea was fifth.

Rounding out the top ten were St. Petersburg, Venice, The Mediterranean, the Corinth Canal, and the Middle East.

The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece. 

Anchorage Police release name of man shot by officers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Anchorage police have released the name of a man shot to death by two officers responding to a domestic violence call.

Police say the man was 45-year-old Frederick Jones.

A woman called police Monday saying she had been assaulted by her husband. She fled to a neighbor's home.

Officers found the man barricaded inside his apartment. When they tried to go in, the suspect came out with a shotgun.

Police say he refused repeated commands to drop the weapon, and when he approached officers, two fired.

Jones was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Names of the officers have not been released. They are on administrative leave.

Southeast hoops tournament underway
The Southeast Conference Basketball Tournament opened Tuesday night at Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka with an overtime game between the men's teams at Juneau Douglas Crimson and Thunder Mountain High Schools.

The Bears came out on top, pulling out a 78-73 win and improving to 5-0 against the Falcons this year.

The bears play next tonight against Ketchikan at 8:15. The falcons will play the loser of tonight's game tomorrow at 4:45pm.

thanks to the overtime between JDHS and Thunder mountain, the game between the Ketchikan Lady Kings and Thunder Mountain didn't end until 10:30pm. Ketchikan won 64-14 and will play the Lady Crimson Bears at 6:30 tonight.
Thunder mountain awaits the loser of tonight's contest tomorrow at 3pm.

Sarah Palin's new gig: late-night comedian
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Sarah Palin says she's going to play Tina Fey in an upcoming Las Vegas show.
Just kidding.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee turned into a standup comic on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" stage Tuesday, dropping one-liners about the White House, Congress and Tina Fey — the "Saturday Night Live" star known for her impression of the former Alaska governor.

Palin says the White House health care plan reminds her of acrobatic flips done on a snowboard. And she jokes that it's so cold in Alaska it's "5 degrees below Congress' approval rating."

And she poked fun at herself too.

Palin told Leno's audience she planned to speak at a gun-rights convention and warned them, "Be there or else."

Housing for alcoholics okayed by Anchorage Assembly
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Anchorage Assembly voted Tuesday night to approve so-called "housing first" facilities for alcoholics.

New rules would permit housing where alcoholics would be allowed to continue to drink. A similar project in Seattle cut down on police and medical costs.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the Rural Community Action Program is trying to buy the Red Roof Inn in the Fairview area for alcoholic housing.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Deal allows start for new Fairbanks medical center
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Tanana Chiefs Conference officials say they are moving ahead with a $75 million medical center project after the Native nonprofit reached a land deal with the city of Fairbanks .

Conference President Jerry Isaac tells the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that the deal last week to buy 9.5 acres near the Big Dipper Ice Arena will allow construction to start on a new Chief Andrew Isaac Medical Center.

The new facility will be more than four times larger than the current medical center.

Officials say the 100,000-square-foot complex will allow more services, such as radiology and physical therapy, for Alaska Natives and American Indians.
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Jamaica? Iditarod? Mush mon!
RACHEL D'ORO - Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A musher from tropical Jamaica competing in a sled dog race? Yes, many thought the idea ridiculous when an adventure tourism operator there decided to build a team five years ago.

No one is laughing now except the creators of the Jamaica Dogsled Team, which is sending Newton Marshall to the pinnacle of world-class competitions, the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

It's not as strange as it sounds, really. Look at the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1988 Winter Olympics that inspired the movie "Cool Runnings."

And FYI to those who snort at Marshall as a publicity stunt: last year he completed the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Out of 29 mushers, the rookie placed a respectable 13th.

                                       (Copyright ©2010 Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)