Rush-hour snowfall leads to crashes, delays

Spring snow that hit Southcentral Thursday morning wrecked havoc on commutes in and near Anchorage.
A single vehicle heading northbound rolled through the median on the Glenn Highway near the Palmer Hayflats, striking another vehicle in an oncoming lane, according to the Alaska State Troopers.
The driver of the northbound vehicle, 26-year-old Jay Sabic of Palmer, suffered severe injuries. Thursday afternoon, Sabic was listed in serious but stable condition at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, troopers said.
Both southbound lanes of the Glenn were closed at Mile 33 as emergency services and trooper investigators worked at the scene, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. One lane reopened about an hour after the crash.
Another collision involving two vehicles on the Seward Highway between Anchorage and Girdwood, at mile 107, resulted in minor injuries, Peters said.
Early reports from troopers included four vehicle collisions, one with injuries, on the Glenn and three wrecks on the Seward Highway, including two injuries.
The Anchorage Police Department responded to 20 vehicles in distress -- commonly called "ditch divers" -- and 14 collisions by 8 a.m. Four of those resulted in injuries, spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said.
An advisory from the National Weather Service calling for up to 8 or 9 inches of snow in Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley was lifted earlier this morning. The weather service later reported the snow tapering off through the day, with a total of 2 to 5 inches accumulation.

Measure to stop Sharia law called divisive HOUSE BILL: Gatto worried about "cultures that are vastly different from European immigrants."

JUNEAU -- Palmer Republican Rep. Carl Gatto has set off a political firestorm with a bill aimed at stopping what he deems as the potential of Islamic religious law -- Sharia -- trumping the U.S. Constitution in Alaska courts.
Gatto said he has strong support of Mat-Su area tea party groups and has received nearly 500 emails and phone calls from places like New Zealand, Poland and Israel in support of his bill. It's part of a push nationally by conservative state legislators, with similar measures introduced in more than a dozen states.
A Muslim group in Anchorage says Gatto is spreading an anti-Islam message and the Alaska Civil Liberties Union argues the bill could have unintended legal consequences. The Alaska Department of Law, meanwhile, testified it's hard to see the bill having any real effect as U.S. law already reigns supreme in Alaska's courts.
Gatto said he grew up in New York City, where his Italian neighborhood clung to technically illegal customs like giving a child whiskey to help with illness. But the world of other immigrants is different, he argued.
"I'm more concerned about cultures that are vastly different from European immigrants, who come here and prefer to maintain their specific laws from their previous countries, which are in violent conflict with American law," Gatto said. "That's the issue that I am worried about."
Gatto's proposal, House Bill 88, says Alaska courts can't apply foreign law if it would violate an individual's rights guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States or the state of Alaska. Gatto doesn't have examples of Alaska courts imposing Islamic Sharia law but said his bill is determined to make sure that it doesn't happen.
A member of the Islamic Community Center of Alaska sent an email addressed to Gatto saying 4,000 to 6,000 Muslims live peacefully in Alaska and asking him to "please do not ignite hate and misunderstanding." Another Muslim from Anchorage, Lamin Jobarteh, said Muslims follow U.S. law. There is no Sharia law in Alaska, he said.
"There is nothing like that. We have a harmonious relationship with everybody here," said Jobarteh, who said he's originally from Gambia and has lived in Anchorage for the past 17 years.
It's become an issue throughout the nation. Oklahoma voters in November approved a ban against state judges considering Islamic law in making their court decisions. The ban is tied up in court.
The sponsor of the Oklahoma ban pointed to a family court judge in New Jersey citing a man's Islamic faith in denying a restraining order to a woman who said she had been raped by her husband. The ruling was overturned by a higher court.
A model for the anti-Sharia bills around the country came from an Arizona attorney named David Yerushalmi. The Anti- Defamation League has called him a bigot for past writings such as, in an article commenting on murders of blacks by blacks in New York, said it appeared to be a "relatively murderous race killing itself" and that "Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization."
Yerushalmi said in an emailed response this week that his words have been twisted, that he doesn't countenance racism and that "Sharia is an objective and knowable legal system that is offensive to our constitutional liberties."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Gatto to drop his invitation for Stop Islamization of America Executive Director Pamela Geller to testify at a Wednesday hearing on his bill, saying she leads a hate group.
Gatto shrugged off the request. "Anybody can make a statement that if they are opposed to your point of view they're a hate group," he said.
A New York Times profile of Geller that ran last fall described the growing influence of her website, Atlas Shrugs, and her posting of doctored photos of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan in a Nazi helmet and suggestion that the State Department was run by "Islamic Supremacists."
Geller testified Wednesday by telephone to the Alaska House Judiciary Committee, which Gatto chairs.
"How can anyone oppose a law that seeks to prevent foreign laws from undermining fundamental Constitutional liberties?" Geller said.
Geller maintained "surveys in the Muslim world" show most Muslims want a unified caliphate with a "strict al-Qaida-like Sharia." She spoke of Muslim polygamy, jihad in support of Sharia, and said Muslims have demanded special accommodation in U.S. schools, workplaces and government.
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Lindsey Holmes objected.
"I'm getting very uncomfortable with what I see is some fairly negative testimony against a large segment of society. I think we're getting off into some pretty dangerous, divisive territory," Holmes said,
Geller responded that "I don't think I did anything offensive, I merely stated the facts."
Activist and former Muslim Nonie Darwish testified in support of the bill, talking about oppression of women in her home country of Egypt. Sam Obeidi, an Anchorage businessman, told the committee that American Muslims respect the U.S Constitution, and that Sharia was being mischaracterized.
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Max Gruenberg said the bill as written wouldn't apply to criminal law, and asked a lawyer for the state whether she could see a scenario where the bill would make any difference in how the laws are being applied in Alaska.
"I've had difficulty figuring out how it could ever be applied," said Assistant Attorney General Mary Ellen Beardsley.
Anchorage Rep. Holmes and ACLU of Alaska director Jeffrey Mittman said the bill could cause unintended problems with international contracts that are drawn up between individuals and corporations.
Gatto's own Italian-American forebears faced discrimination in this country from those who came before. According to numerous historical accounts, Italians, arriving in waves from the 1880s to the First World War, were at times seen as vastly different from the Northern Europeans who settled earlier.
Among the prejudices were the connection of ordinary Italians to the Mafia, leading to a notorious lynching of 11 Italian immigrants in Louisiana in 1891. Congress passed several bills in the era designed to stem immigration from southern and eastern Europe, culminating in the quotas of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. During World War II, fears that some Italian immigrants would support Mussolini led to the internment of several hundred, while 10,000 were ordered to leave sensitive military areas of the West Coast.

Today's oil, gas, gold, zinc prices

(03/30/11 17:37:16) North Slope oil: $114.97, down $2.17
U.S. natural gas (Henry Hub): $4.25 per million BTU, down $0.03
Gold (N.Y. Mercantile): $1,423.80 per ounce, up $7.80
Zinc: $1.0507 per pound, down 0.79 cents

Storm could drop 5-9 inches of snow tonight, Thursday

Don't put away those snow shovels just yet: The National Weather Service says Southcentral residents could see significant snowfall overnight and into Thursday.
Forecasters are predicting between 5 and 9 inches in Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley by noon Thursday. Winter weather advisories go into effect at 9 p.m. and include a warning of possible heavy snowfall after midnight.
"The snowfall intensity may diminish during the early morning hours before redeveloping in time for the Thursday morning rush hour," according to a special weather statement from the National Weather Service.
An early estimate put the snowfall at 3 to 5 inches Wednesday night, with another 2 to 4 inches Thursday. Those numbers would be updated as more information becomes available, the Weather Service said.
As a high-level disturbance from Interior Alaska interacts with a low-pressure system -- and an associated cold front -- in the northern Gulf of Alaska, forecasters expect dropping temperatures and precipitation.
"End of March, you know, April 1st, we get hammered, so it's not really out of the norm," said National Weather Service forecaster Dan Peterson. "I always expect it, to be honest with you, one last snow storm right about now."

Fortymile caribou hunt till open

Unless a big group of caribou turn around and head back toward the Steese Highway during the next week, the winter hunt for Fortymile caribou will almost surely remain open through the end of the month.

The season for the winter Fortymile hunt closed on Feb. 28 but was re-opened on March 5 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game because hunters hadn’t come close to killing the number of caribou allotted for the hunt.

Since the hunt re-opened, hunters have taken about 40 additional caribou but the quota allows another 90 or so to be harvested, Tok area biologist Jeff Gross said.

The hunt is scheduled to close March 31 or when the quota is reached but the chances of that happening are slim, said Gross.

“As the month has progressed (the caribou) have definitely started to thin out,” he said.

But Gross said hunters heading off the Steese Highway on snowmachines still stand a chance of bumping into a caribou.

“I talked to a pilot (on Monday) who still saw a few caribou up in that area,” he said.

The harvest quota for the Steese Highway hunt is 275 and hunters have reported taking about 185 animals.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - entry Fortymile caribou hunt till open

Aviation brigade divided between Fort Wainwright, Washington state

FAIRBANKS - The Department of Defense is splitting up the Fort Wainwright-based 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, dividing its personnel between the local Army post and one in Washington state.

The 1,400 soldiers and more than 60 helicopters in the brigade were temporarily stationed at Fort Wainwright in 2005. Since then, the Army has reviewed whether to permanently station the brigade at Fort Wainwright, bring in more troops and equipment, move the brigade, or divide it between more than one installation.

The Department of Defense announced on Wednesday that the headquarters of the brigade will move to Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash. That includes the relocation of 10 helicopters and 156 personnel from Fort Wainwright to Washington.

Fort Wainwright will retain assault and medevac capability under its 1-52nd General Support Aviation Battalion, which has more than 500 personnel and 32 helicopters.

“The Army recognizes Alaska as a strategic location and will continue to maintain a significant aviation presence there,” a Department of Defense statement said. “This stationing increases the invaluable medical evacuation strength in Alaska by three additional aircraft in fiscal 2013.”

Fort Wainwright spokeswoman Connie Storch said on Wednesday that Army Alaska is still working to determine exactly what personnel and equipment will remain in Alaska and what is headed to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Sen. Mark Begich’s office said the decision means a $521 million infrastructure investment at Fort Wainwright will continue to be funded and carried out over the next several years.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Aviation brigade divided between Fort Wainwright Washington state

Alaska politicians call for specifics after Obama energy speech

WASHINGTON -- In an energy security speech that focused heavily on increasing domestic oil and gas production, President Barack Obama mentioned the word Alaska just once.

The Alaska mention came just after Obama criticized oil companies for sitting on leases, and right before he suggested that there's also a need to focus on cleaner, renewable sources of energy that won't have as significant a contribution to climate change.
"We're also exploring and assessing new frontiers for oil and gas development from Alaska to the mid- and South Atlantic," the president said in the speech Wednesday at Georgetown University. "Because producing more oil in America can help lower oil prices, create jobs, and enhance our energy security."
Obama used the speech to lay out a four-part energy security policy with the ambitious goal of cutting U.S. imports of oil by one-third over the next decade. He called for increasing domestic production including of the nation's natural gas reserves, developing clean technologies such as nuclear energy, and promoting further energy efficiency.
Environmentalists called it a retreat from the president's sweeping campaign promises to combat global warming. Oil companies called on the president to "put words into action." And Alaskans were unhappy the state was mentioned just once as a domestic energy source.
"I'm disappointed to once again not hear specifics on how he intends to build incentives for production or tap Alaska's resources," said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, although he added he was pleased the president articulated an overall national energy policy.
"Not being negative about Alaska is a positive," Begich said, but added that it's his belief Alaska should be viewed "as the prime location for new, safe and responsible resource development."
"Clearing the way for responsible development of these energy sources is absolutely necessary if the President is serious about achieving his goal of cutting our imported oil by a third in the next decade," he said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who's the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she couldn't argue with Obama's message of increasing domestic production -- and she pointed to the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska, the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and even the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as places where it could be done, were the administration willing. "I like the words, but now let's translate those into actions," she said.
The president didn't single out Alaska's proposed pipeline specifically when he spoke about developing the nation's domestic natural gas resources, but Begich said he's been in "constant conversation" with the White House about the project.
Begich said he's convinced it remains on the president's list of top so-called green projects in the nation, although it's had diminished prospects since the state Legislature crafted the framework of it in 2007.
Begich said he believes the federal government is ready to do its part on the permitting end, if the state can do its part and get the project to the point where it's financially viable.
Young wasn't as optimistic about the proposed pipeline, though, "That's not going to happen," Young said. "Who would build one, if it could be built? Who would pay for it?"
Murkowski said she takes a longer-view approach to natural gas in Alaska. Although the president's proposal focused mostly on developing safe practices for shale natural gas, she believes the emphasis on great use of natural gas in vehicles and other uses will just increase the demand for it. That's good for Alaska and its more conventional reserves, Murkowski said.

Senator says proof of tax cut benefits needed

JUNEAU -- Senate President Gary Stevens said Tuesday the governor has failed to sell his plan to cut oil taxes by billions of dollars, and he expects it to die.
"It does seem to me like the administration has not done a particularly good job of defending its bill. They have not explained the repercussions of the bill. They have not been able delineate specifically the advantages that we get if we do away with those taxes," the Republican from Kodiak said "It all seems to be a hope, a wing, and prayer."
"The question has always been, show us. What is the proof, what do we get if we give away $2 billion a year. What does the state get out of it. And there have not been adequate answers," he said.
The governor didn't agree to a request for an interview but responded to Steven's remarks in an email.
"Sen. Gary Stevens' remarks are a bit shocking given he was in my office less than a week ago talking about a potential compromise to increase oil production and jobs for Alaskans," said the email from the governor. "His statements today appear to reflect those in his caucus who want to tax more so they can spend more. I'm not going to stand by and watch them grow government coffers at the expense of feeding Alaskan families." Senate leaders are more interested in a proposal by Kenai Republican Sen. Tom Wagoner than what Parnell is talking about. Wagoner has a bill offering tax credits for oil and gas exploration, an approach that supporters of Parnell's tax cut proposal described as a just "baby step."
"I don't think a baby step is in the right direction. I don't think it sends a strong enough message to the oil industry that we want them here, we want them in Alaska," said House Speaker Mike Chenault, a Nikiski Republican.
Wagoner responded that it might be considered a "baby step" compared to Parnell's sweeping tax cut.

Lawmaker opposes Interior bison herd

JUNEAU -- A herd of about 90 shaggy wood bison that mill around the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center south of Anchorage represent an opportunity to restore the endangered species to a habitat near the Lower Innoko River by spring of next year, conservationists say.
But to Rep. Alan Dick, R-Stony River, they are "Trojan bison," and their arrival on a 1,348 square-mile patch of land in the west-central Alaska Interior will lead to that land being closed off for human use.
Dick has proposed a bill that would require legislative approval before the bison could be moved into the Interior. He said the bill will ensure the animals are relocated only with legislative consent and the full understanding of the people who will share their surroundings.
"The bison are going to be roaming free but the people are going to be locked up," Dick said.
Randy Rogers, a wildlife planner for the state Department of Fish and Game, said the organization will not move the bison until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and locals negotiate an exemption to the Endangered Species Act.
An exemption would lower the bison's designation under the Endangered Species Act from "endangered" to "threatened" and allow people to injure or chase away animals that are interfering with agriculture, mining or any other sort of human activity, said Doug Vincent-Lang, the state endangered species coordinator.
Even without the exemption, he said, the act allows for Alaska Natives or residents of Alaska Native villages to hunt the bison for subsistence. The exemption also would specify the point at which non-natives could begin hunting the bison, Vincent-Lang said.
Locals use the proposed bison habitat for berry picking, root gathering and some moose hunting, said Eugene Paul, tribal chief in Holy Cross, a village that falls within the boundaries of the release area. Paul said he has not heard any dissent from his village or Grayling, Anvik and Shageluk, villages near the release zone that he represents on a regional tribal council.
Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director for the conservation group Center for Biological Diversity, said her organization supported the relocation. Noblin said her organization has no plans to sue the state to have the bison relisted.
"Certainly, any sort of ongoing activities such as hunting moose or gathering berries shouldn't be a problem," Noblin said.
Vincent-Lang said the project's future hinges on agreement by all parties involved, legislators included.
"We'll sit down and talk to Dick and his constituents in the Lower Innoko River area who are going to be affected," Vincent-Lang said. "At the end of the day, if we can't reach some kind of consensus, we're going to abandon the effort."

Trail for ATVs helps heal Hooper Bay tundra

This is a trail to somewhere, especially in a vast, roadless corner of Alaska.
For Bosco Olson and his neighbors, all-terrain vehicles are the ride of choice in negotiating the rough, boggy terrain near the village of Hooper Bay on the state's western coast, where they hunt and fish, dig for clams and gather edible plants and the driftwood they use for fires.
All that activity, however, was severely trampling the fragile habitat that is so crucial to their survival. After spring thaws, the four-wheelers destroyed bird nests and sliced up berry patches, wild vegetables and grasses used for basket weaving.
So the remote Yup'ik community of 1,200 residents sought a modern solution to a modern problem in order to continue pursuing their subsistence traditions. They teamed up with tribal and federal officials to pioneer construction of a nationally recognized trail consisting of rigid recycled-plastic grids. Villagers say the trail has greatly reduced damage to the environment in their section of an immense region far from Alaska's limited road system, a landscape speckled with wetlands and tundra that looks from the air like an endless sponge.
"Already the terrain that was mussed up is healing," said Olson, the village administrator, who has lived in Hooper Bay all of his 62 years.
Trail experts call the ongoing project a successful example of improving access to Alaska's most challenging settings. National Parks Service trails specialist Kevin Meyer, who helped get the project off the ground in 2007, said the effort fits in squarely with a national effort to create a wide range of sustainable trail designs to protect landscapes from the imprint of off-road vehicles.
"There's a scientific kind of approach, an ecological approach to these kinds of uses and these heavy mechanical-wear activities on very sensitive environments -- and you can't get much more sensitive than a wetland, permafrost environment like Hooper Bay," Meyer said. "Hooper Bay demonstrates that there is a response. Fifteen years ago, there wasn't a response."
More work planned for summer will extend the trail almost another mile, bringing the total length to 4 1/2 miles, said William Naneng, manager of Sea Lion Corp., the village Native corporation involved since the beginning. To date, Sea Lion has been reimbursed nearly $650,000 -- or the bulk of the project cost -- by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the corporation paid up front for various phases of construction.
To launch the project, residents enlisted the help of the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Ryan Maroney, a conservation planner with the agency, visited the village in 2006 and planning began in earnest, ultimately involving other federal agencies including the Park Service and the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.
"Public participation and community involvement really does lead to better projects," Maroney said. "It's really neat to have been a part of that."
Along with construction, involved villagers worked with the agencies to educate fellow residents about the land's vulnerability, spreading the message through posters, public service announcements and monitors who ensure that people use the trail. They've expanded the trail each year, with the ultimate goal to cover a few more miles to the beach, where travel is smoother.
Hunters aren't the only ones enjoying the 6-foot-wide trail. It's also a hit among bicyclists and residents who just want to go for a stroll.
In 2008, the team effort was among projects across the country to win a cooperative conservation award from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Other villages in the region have taken note of the technology and are implementing comparable projects of their own, hiring locals for the labor-intensive installation work.
A half-mile trail was just completed on the soggy tundra from the village of Kwigillingok to local subsistence streams. The village of Tununak is awaiting a similar trail to be built on half of the 7-mile distance to the larger community of Toksook Bay.
Tununak is working through various agencies including the federally funded Denali Commission, which supports road, energy, sanitation and other infrastructure projects in rural Alaska. Construction is expected to begin by next year, said Adison Smith with the commission's transportation program. The commission is investing $2.7 million for the Tununak project and another $218,000 for the Kwigillingok trail.
Tununak tribal administrator James James, who applied for the Denali assistance, said his village lacks services found in Toksook Bay, such as doctors, nurses and dental treatment. With no road between the Yup'ik communities, traveling by ATV through the saturated terrain is difficult. It's not unheard of to get stuck on the way to visit relatives, keep medical appointments and attend funerals, weddings or meetings in Toksook Bay. During medical emergencies, villagers often wait a long time for a charter plane to arrive from the regional hub town of Bethel, 115 miles away, when conditions are too rough for transporting ailing residents on the tundra.
James said the trail of rigid panels will make travel much easier.
"I think it will be a good project," he said. "It will enable the two villages to be more connected."

Fewer Prince William Sound shrimp means pot reduction

The growing popularity of tasty Prince William Sound shrimp has prompted Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists to cut the number of pots recreational shrimpers can soak this year.
A year ago, strong preseason population estimates allowed biologists to increase the number of recreational pots per boat to eight. That's three more than the five established by regulation. There's no limit on how many shrimp may be taken in each pot.
Sport, subsistence and personal use shrimpers ended up exceeding the target harvest of 79,200 pounds by nearly 11 percent.
This year, biologists are estimating a surplus of 132,000 pounds of spot shrimp -- down nearly 4 percent from 2009.
At the same time, the number of free permits issued to sports or personal use shrimpers has been growing. It's easy to see why.
"The shrimp are delicious," Fish and Game biologist Matt Miller said.
Jim Muhar, who sometimes takes clients shrimping aboard his Alaska Prince William Sound Charters, said he's noticed an uptick in the number of buoys attached to shrimp pots in popular areas.
"It sure seems like there are a lot of people shrimping now," he said. "All of the little boats now seem to have shrimp pots. Buoys are everywhere in areas where there's pretty good shrimping."
Since the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel to Whittier opened more than a decade ago, the western side of Prince William Sound has increasingly turned into a playground for boaters, anglers, hunters and other recreationalists. But the economy is a double-edged sword -- $4 a gallon gas prices keep some people close to home while, at the same time, boosting the desire to find recreational opportunities within easy driving distance.
"It was thoroughly amazing to me how many new faces I saw last year," Palmer shrimp pot builder Steve Kalek said after manning his booth at the Great Alaskan Sportsman Show in Anchorage a year ago. "A lot of people say, 'Hey we gotta try this too.'
"It amazes me to have such a nice fishery here -- in such a beautiful place."
Kalek supports the cutback to five pots per boat.
"I didn't think it was such a good idea going to eight," he said. "I believe in erring on the side of safety. Let's keep this fishery going.
"The only ones I hear whining about it is the people who only get out two or three times a year. Sure, you'll catch more shrimp with eight, but 10 years down the road they may all be gone."
For the next month or so until king salmon start nosing into Cook Inlet, there are few alternatives for those anxious to be on the water catching dinner. Halibut are available, though big fish won't show until mid-summer. Hooligan start returning next month.
A year ago, the state fisheries board passed a Prince William Sound commercial shrimping plan that allows a commercial harvest when the surplus estimate exceeds 110,000 pounds.
Some 155 commercial boats, hauling up to 20 pots apiece, registered for the first Prince William Sound commercial shrimp fishery in 19 years last year.
Several areas popular with recreational shrimpers are off-limits to commercial boats, however.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game regional biologist Dan Bosch said slightly lower water temperatures in the sound over the past few years favor crustaceans over finfish, triggering something of a population boom. That, in turn, has led to growing interest in sport shrimping, which entails an investment of several hundred dollars in pots, lines and buoys to get started -- as well as the cost of a boat or charter.

House vote on oil tax may come this week

JUNEAU -- The House Finance Committee unveiled what is intended to be a more limited version of Gov. Sean Parnell's plan to cut oil production taxes Monday.
Among other things, the bill limits to seven years the length of time a company can be taxed at a lower rate for new production and sunsets a tax credit for well-lease expenditures.
It also strips several provisions added by a prior committee, including a tax credit for hiring Alaska workers that the state officials said added an indeterminate cost to the bill.
The goal of the House's Republican leadership is to pass from committee a bill that a majority of members can support. Leaders of the GOP majority, including House Speaker Mike Chenault and Rep. Craig Johnson, believe -- as the governor does -- that urgent action is needed to address the issue of declining oil production.
House Democrats, though, remain unconvinced, seeing the bill as little more than a corporate giveaway with no assurances that industry will invest more. And members of the Senate's bipartisan majority have expressed skepticism, if not outright opposition, to Parnell's plan.
Revenue Commissioner Bryan Butcher told the committee Monday that the administration hopes this is the right answer, and he said he believes industry will see this as a material change. But he said he can't read the future, little comfort to Rep. Mike Doogan, D-Anchorage, who said he's heard nothing that makes him even slightly interested in passing the bill.
Chenault wants to get a bill to the House floor for a vote this week. Time is of the essence, with the Legislature currently scheduled to adjourn April 17. Parnell said he doesn't intend to call a special session but made clear his desire to have a bill pass this year. Last week, he indicated he was open to lawmakers' ideas, and possible compromise.
The current tax regime features a 25 percent base rate and a progressive surcharge triggered when a company's net profits top $30 a barrel. The tax structure, championed in part by then-Gov. Sarah Palin, was intended to have the state share with industry during the good times.
But critics of the tax say $100-a-barrel oil was virtually unheard of at the time the bill was passed, and industry representatives say the surcharge eats too deeply into their profits, ultimately affecting future investment decisions.
The Department of Revenue, in a report released in January, said it could not say whether the tax was helping or hurting industry because the state had tinkered so much with taxes over the last several years.
The bill under consideration by the finance committee keeps in place the tiered tax rate that Parnell proposed. But it sets a 15 percent base rate for wells that had not been in production before Dec. 31, 2008, and ends that lower rate after seven years of sustained production. (Parnell didn't have the sunset.)
It also retains a cap on progressivity and subjects incremental amounts to the surcharge, a key aspect of Parnell's proposal.
The committee asked the Department of Revenue to provide new estimates for what the bill will cost; those are expected by Tuesday.

More reality TV: Jewel's dad, 'Brother Roadkill,' & 'Mounted in Alaska'

Posted: March 28, 2011 - 5:20 pm

Alaska's next reality star?: Atz Kilcher hangs on to his overalls while running the Carhartt Relay Race at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer Aug. 28, 2007. Kilcher, father of the singer/actress Jewel, and his family star in Discovery Channel's 'Mountain Men of Alaska.' (Erik Hill / Anchorage Daily News)

From Kyle Hopkins in Anchorage --

The Alaska reality TV invasion continues with the Discovery Channel announcing today a new show tentatively called “Mountain Men of Alaska” that centers on the family of Atz Kilcher –- Jewel’s dad –- who live outside of Homer.

Discovery packaged the announcement with that of another new show slated to premiere this summer about Appalachian moonshiners and describes one of the Kilcher’s neighbors as a guy named “Brother Roadkill.”

Brother Roadkill “is not above eating animals lying dead on the side of the road,” Discovery promises.

So, yeah. Here’s hoping they do us proud.

If you can’t wait that long to see your home state on cable again, check out "Mounted in Alaska," a new History channel reality series about Knight’s Taxidermy shop in Anchorage.

The show debuts on April 7 and yes, that is the real title. (Picture the bumper stickers.)

From the History announcement:

“There's no job too challenging for (owner Russell Knight) to tackle. From mounting a charging warthog so that it's busting through a wall in one client's home to creating the world's first camel form to the complete restoration of an historic 50-year-old polar bear that's an Alaskan landmark ...”

Meanwhile, the first season of “Flying Wild Alaska" has wrapped on Discovery and a second season was already filming when we passed through Unalakleet this month to cover the Iditarod.

I saw maybe five minutes of the production, as a Discovery crew filmed one of the show’s stars walking up behind Lance Mackey to say hello and give him some banana pancakes after he arrived in the village.

The scene took two takes.

-- Related: Reality TV invades Alaska (Feb. 14)

Warming brings unwelcome change to Alaska villages CHANGE: Ice cellars melt, water is fouled.

Inupiat Eskimo villagers in the Chukchi Sea village of Kivalina rely on wild animals to survive, but a recent arrival associated with climate warming is causing health concerns.
Beavers have colonized the Wulik River, Kivalina's main source for water. Beaver feces carry a microscopic protozoa that can cause giardia, known to campers elsewhere in Alaska as "beaver fever." Diarrhea and vomiting are symptoms. Kivalina hunters using the Wulik as a corridor to inland caribou herds have been warned to boil water before drinking it.
Beavers are among the unwelcome changes associated with climate change, said Michael Brubaker, lead author of reports documenting how two northwest villages have been affected. The appearance of North America's largest rodent was a signal that a traditional water source had changed.
"It's a new health issue," Brubaker said. "It affects people's behavior. It can affect people's health and it also affects the cost of running water facilities."
Brubaker is director of community environment and safety for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, a health organization managed by tribal governments and their regional health organizations.
Warming is rotting the sea ice that villagers use to hunt marine mammals, thawing ice cellars used to store food, disrupting utilities and interrupting the rhythms of life that have sustained Arctic communities for centuries.
Kivalina, with a population of about 400, is on a barrier island 83 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Far off the road system, groceries have to come in by barge or air. Gasoline is $5.75 per gallon.
Residents hunt bearded seal, beluga whale and caribou and catch Arctic char. They have not killed a bowhead whale in a decade and speculate that warming has been a factor. Sea ice used to fracture into distinct leads, or open channels, that bowheads used as migration paths and hunters could monitor. Ice during the spring hunt now resembles a fractured mirror.
A decrease in sea ice had increased the fetch of wind and wave size, making travel in small boats more dangerous, affecting the hunting of other marine mammals.
Kivalina's sand and gravel island is held together by beach grass, and at one time, permanently frozen ground. Sea ice used to form sooner and protect against winter storms but a longer ice-free season has meant acres lost to erosion.
The possibility that Kivalina one day may have to move has discouraged public agencies from investing in infrastructure, including sanitation improvements. Human excrement is removed from homes with "honey buckets" -- 5-gallon pails lined with garbage bags. The bags are hauled by a snowmobile or an all-terrain vehicle to a dump. On bumpy roads in spring and summer, bags frequently leak, creating cesspool puddles.
"Climate change aside, you have these ongoing challenges in providing safe drinking water and sanitation systems," Brubaker said. "It's a challenge to acquire the resources to make improvements to a community's infrastructure. But when there's uncertainty about a community's future, all of that is just compounded."
Beavers are not the only change along Wulik River. Villagers have watched the tundra on the mainland turn green, first with shrubs and then with willow trees. The higher vegetation traps snow and retards ground freeze. Thawing of permafrost has resulted in sink holes and erosion of river soil.
"The other health concerns are the river bank slumps all along the Wulik River," said Millie Hawley, president of Kivalina's tribal council, in an e-mail response to questions.
The community collects water through an intake pipe mounted on a skiff tied to the shore bank three miles from town. Riverbanks have collapsed and sloughed into the main stream, creating turbidity. They also release organic material that reacts unfavorably with chlorine injected at the treatment plant. It's an example of climate change adding expense to operating infrastructure, Brubaker said.
"You design a water system, for example, and you expect it to perform under certain conditions for 20 or 30 years and those conditions are going to be the same," Brubaker said. "What's happening now is that a lot of things are different."
Warming has meant a longer berry season, Hawley said.
"We harvest blackberries, cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries," she said. "We also live off those year round when we get enough."
But villagers report that the useful period has shortened for drying fish, seal and caribou on drying racks.
Warming temperatures are making food security an issue at both Kivalina and Point Hope, 75 miles up the Chukchi Sea coast from Kivalina.
Both villages use ice cellars. Coast erosion at Point Hope has washed some away. Cellars now typically thaw in the summer, filling with water, resulting in unsafe meat and attracting scavengers such as polar bears.
Catching whales also is compromised. Hunters who formerly worked on a 12-foot-thick ice platform are now seeing 4 feet. Three years ago, a huge slab of ice broke free and three Point Hope hunting crews were set adrift. The hunters returned by boat but their gear had to be recovered by a helicopter.
Point Hope gets its water from a tundra lake seven miles away. When the lake thaws in late June, raw water is piped to a treatment plant and filtered. Operators work round the clock to produce about 8 million gallons to get the community through the year.
In 2007 and 2008, low precipitation and high temperatures led to an increase in biologic slime, possibly insect larvae and algae. In 2008, instead of cleaning filters four times per day, operators were doing it nearly 50 times. Colder temperatures had limited organic growth.
"Most of the stuff we're having to deal with is problems," said Brubaker.

Denali glacier pilots celebrate new Talkeetna weather cam

The Federal Aviation Administration has installed Alaska's 150th weather webcam at the Talkeetna airport, and Talkeetna-based aviators -- gearing up for the 2011 Mount McKinley climbing season -- are celebrating today with a barbecue at the airport. Dave Lee of Sheldon Aviation told Alaska Dispatch the camera will give vital information to the pilots who fly climbers and tourists into the Alaska Range. "This camera is located in a position that shows the whole Alaska Range and (Mount McKinley) -- that will save us from having to take a run up to the mountain to check weather," he said. FAA officials will be attending the event, says Dispatch. Click here for a map with links to all FAA aviation webcams in Alaska.

Lobbying is big-money business in Juneau LEGISLATURE: Companies, cities, even villages spend millions to get views heard.

Lobbying the Alaska Legislature is an increasingly lucrative job for the top professionals, with nearly a dozen lobbyists reporting they collected over $400,000 in fees last year from interests looking to influence the state's lawmakers.
Developers of the proposed Pebble mine led spending on Alaska lobbyist salaries. Oil companies and the cruise industry were also among the major spenders and treated lawmakers to meals as they pushed for tax reductions, according to disclosure reports. Municipalities spent their tax dollars on lobbyists to get state money from the Legislature.
The leader of Alaska's lobbyist corps, Wendy Chamberlain, brought in more than $1 million in 2010. Her clients included the Pebble Partnership, Marathon Oil and the Municipality of Anchorage. The municipality paid $110,000 for her services.
Companies, utilities, local governments, unions and others with business before the Legislature spent nearly $17 million to lobby Alaska lawmakers and public officials last year. That comes out to an average of $283,000 spent for each of Alaska's 60 state legislators. The information is contained in spreadsheets recently released by the Alaska Public Offices Commission based on required disclosures from lobbyists and the entities that pay them.
"People are often shocked when they hear how much money is spent," said University of Tennessee political science professor Anthony Nownes, who specializes in lobbying. "There's a lot of money in the business."

MINING, DINING
The Pebble Partnership, developers of the huge Pebble Mine prospect in Southwest Alaska, spent more on Alaska lobbyist salaries than anyone else last year. The group laid down $378,000 to employ four of the professional lobbyists at the Capitol.
That includes both Chamberlain and her ex-husband, former Anchorage state Rep. Eldon Mulder.
Pebble's lobbying expenses also include paying for legislators and staffers to tour the area around the proposed mine. The Pebble Partnership last year paid $742 apiece, including airfare and meals, for Sen. Charlie Huggins and Rep. Neal Foster to make the trip. Pebble paid for 12 staffers and seven lawmakers the year before.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wiel-echowski and other lawmakers pushed for a study last year of the environmental impacts of developing Pebble, the giant prospect that is hugely controversial because of its location in the headwaters of two of the five major rivers that feed Bristol Bay's world-class salmon runs. Funding was approved, but the study has been shelved amid disputes among lawmakers over who should do the research and what exactly ought to be asked.
Wielechowski said Pebble lobbying at the Capitol isn't nearly as visible as the oil companies.
"They have always had a dominant, consistent presence in the building. You just have to walk into an (oil tax) hearing and you'd see at least probably five or six lobbyists there for the oil companies," he said.
Exxon Mobil is the state's third-biggest spender on registered lobbyists, BP and Conoco Phillips maintain offices in Juneau and Conoco paid several thousands of dollars last year bringing executives to Juneau to talk to the state's lawmakers.
Lobbyists also wine and dine legislators, and they have to report if it's over $15. BP lobbyist Paul Quensel and Exxon lobbyist Dan Seckers treated the co-chairs of the Senate Finance Committee, Bert Stedman and Lyman Hoffman, and Hoffman's wife last year.
They also picked up the tab for Wasilla Sen. Charlie Huggins, Anchorage Sen. Lesil McGuire, North Pole Sen. John Coghill, Kenai Sen. Tom Wagoner, as well as Wagoner's wife.
Exxon's Seckers had another event where he reported treating "all Alaska legislators."
Seckers reported that he spent just over $900 on food and beverages for legislators, spouses and staff last year. BP's Quesnel put down expenses of nearly $500.

PROVIDERS OF INFORMATION

Sometimes it's an organization, rather than the lobbyist, who picks up the bill. Organizations are not required to report which specific legislators they treated, just what they paid. The Alaska Cruise Association, which successfully pushed to reduce cruise taxes, reported "sponsorship of legislative dinner," last year at Alaska's Capital Inn, a high-end bed and breakfast in Juneau. The cost was just over $1,000.
Nownes, the professor who has researched legislative lobbying nationwide, said he thinks wining and dining isn't going to change a legislator's mind on a policy issue but might help with lawmakers on the fence.
"We don't have a lot of good solid evidence those things corrupt lawmakers or tend to make a huge difference. One the other hand logically it seems pretty clear it probably has some impact, especially on the margins," he said. "Most of us simply can't do that."
Nownes is author of the book "Total Lobbying: What Lobbyists Want (and How They Try to Get It.)"
Lobbyists often describe their role as helping clients keep up to speed and interpret what's happening in the Legislature, something like a lawyer hired to navigate the legal system.
They say their role is to educate legislators on what a bill would mean for their client, whether it be a company, labor union, municipality or nonprofit.
"I think they tend to describe themselves fairly accurately as providers of information, I think that's their primary modus operandi. ... Clearly the information is biased in that it might play up one side more than the other. But there's not a lot of evidence that, for example, they lie. They just have a point of view," Nownes said.
Lobbying is about relationships and knowledge of how the Legislature and its culture work. The list of legislators-turned lobbyists includes Mulder, Jerry Mackie, Dave Donley, Al Adams and Joe Hayes. Gov. Sean Parnell spent time as a lobbyist for Conoco Phillips after he served in the Legislature.
State officials also go into the business. Kevin Jardell was the legislative liaison for Gov. Frank Murkowski, working on oil tax and gasline legislation, and then went to work as a lobbyist for Exxon Mobil. Jardell's total salary last year, including money from Exxon and other lobbying clients, was almost $327,000.
Ray Matiashowski, the state commissioner of administration under Gov. Murkowski, is now a lobbyist with several clients and brought in $373,000 last year. Mike Tibbles, who was the chief of staff for Gov. Sarah Palin, lobbies for the cruise industry. John Bitney, who was an aide to Valdez Rep. John Harris and ran Sen. Lisa Murkowski's primary election campaign last summer, picked up a contract this year as the lobbyist for the city of Cordova.

LOBBYING WITH GOVERNMENT MONEY

Alaska cities and school districts are among the major employers of lobbyists.
The Municipality of Anchorage and the Fairbanks North Star Borough each paid lobbyists more than $100,000. The North Slope borough put about $120,000 toward its lobbying, making it the seventh highest spender on lobbyists in the state.
The North Slope borough's main lobbyist is former state Sen. Adams, a power broker when he represented Kotzebue in the Legislature. Adams, who also works for other Northwest Alaska government, nonprofit and Native corporation interests, reported spending over $1,500 on food and drink for legislators, spouses and staffers last year, paying bills at such establishments as the Baranof Hotel and the Canton House in Juneau, as well as The Dish sushi restaurant in Anchorage.
Nome and Unalaska, communities that have less than 4,000 people apiece, each paid nearly $80,000 to their lobbyists. Even tiny Alaska communities like Galena, White Mountain and King Cove have Juneau lobbyists on the payroll.
Lobbyist spending in Alaska hit an extraordinary spike during the heated debates over oil taxes in 2006, with the oil and gas industry spending nearly half the statewide total when cash for executive time in Juneau, advertising and wining and dining was factored in.
The FBI raided legislative offices later that year and launched an investigation into corruption during the oil tax debate. Two executives of the oilfield services company Veco were convicted for bribing legislators as they operated out of the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, but none of the registered lobbyists for oil was implicated.
Overall spending on lobbying went down after that, although fees are now on the upswing. Employers reported spending more on fees last year than in 2009 and 2008, and the total combined salaries of the top 10 lobbyists are higher.

Book recounts career of The 'Eskimo Clark Gable'

In the prologue to her biography of Ray Wise Mala, "Eskimo Star," historian Lael Morgan tells how she kept seeing a photo of the same man in house after house while doing research in the Kotzebue area in the 1980s. Who was that handsome man? she asked.
"Cousin Ray, the movie star," she was told.
After years of work, Morgan has produced the first biography of the only Alaska Native to make it to the big time in Hollywood. Subtitled "From the Tundra to Tinseltown: the Ray Mala Story," the book will be officially released this week. Appropriately, the release coincides with a statewide Ray Mala film festival -- probably the biggest screening of films by Alaska's best-known movie actor ever planned.

Lucky breaks
Mala was born in 1906 in Candle, on the north side of the Seward Peninsula. His father was a Jewish trader from Russia who wouldn't show any interest in his son until the boy started making big bucks in the movies. His mother was an Inupiaq who left the child with her mother and married a Swedish bar owner.
Bullied by the village kids on account of his mixed blood, Mala got tough fast. His grandmother, Nancy Armstrong, raised him very traditionally. She couldn't afford a gun, so he learned to bring home game with bows and spears, enduring arctic blizzards in hand-sewn furs. At the same time he took full advantage of the local school, learning everything he could about the outside world -- English, writing, math and machines -- during the few years of education available in Candle.
At 14, with his extended family devastated by the flu epidemic, he strapped on snowshoes and walked 100 miles to Nome. There he supported himself with odd jobs requiring brutal physical work. His youth on the tundra had given him a rock-hard physique.
By the early 1920s, adventurous movie-makers were bringing their new-fangled cameras into Alaska for shoots in exotic remote locations. Mala was hired, initially as labor. But it was quickly discovered that he had natural-born camera skills.
Mala could crank the handle or rotate the lens smoothly in freezing temperatures that left other men incapable of moving their fingers. His hunter's eye helped him capture precisely focused images. When the footage was processed and reviewed back in Hollywood, producers and directors wanted to know the name of the artist who had shot it.
By the end of the decade, he was in California as an assistant cameraman for Fox Studios. Management noticed his good looks and took some head shots. In the early 1930s, he scored his first acting success in "Igloo," a staged documentary shot in Barrow. Universal Studios' press machine dubbed him "The Eskimo Clark Gable."
In 1932 MGM sent an army of production people to Nome to film Peter Freuchen's fictional drama "Eskimo." It was billed as "the biggest picture ever made" and was, in fact, the first full-length major studio picture ever shot in Alaska.
Mala was suggested for the lead but the director rejected him because the cameraman from Candle was half-Jewish. He only changed his mind when the original lead actor walked out in a dispute involving his wife and a member of the crew.
It turned out to be a lucky break for everyone else. Mala wasn't just handsome, he had a face that the camera adored. There was no "bad" angle.
He also knew the language. "Eskimo" used Inupiaq dialogue, but bilingualism also came in handy for translating between local Natives and Hollywood people. He was comfortably familiar with the traditional gear he wielded in the script. But, most importantly, he had considerable acting instincts honed by years of close observation of stars while working with them on the set.
Even before it debuted, "Eskimo" generated national industry buzz. Mala's many friends in the business chatted it up enthusiastically. Awesome raw footage had been beautifully edited. (The film would win the first Academy Award for editing.) Rave reviews poured in from critics in both America and Europe. "Eskimo" was an instant classic -- and Mala became a matinee idol.

Hollywood elite
The roles that followed were largely, though not exclusively, those of indigenous characters -- including more Eskimos, a lot of Polynesians and the occasional "bad Indian" in westerns. But he played a number of other characters, including an extraterrestrial in "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe." Mala acted side by side with performers like Charles Laughton, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Vincent Price, Ray Milland, Dorothy Lamour, Jane Wyatt, Barbara Stanwyck, Anthony Quinn, Robert Preston and Ralph Bellamy.
But within the business, he was most admired as a cinematographer. He worked camera for Howard Hawks, Otto Preminger and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. Big names on the other side of his lens included Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, John Wayne, Joseph Cotton, Merle Oberon and, yes, Balto.
Morgan -- who is probably best known as the author of "Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush" -- provides details about Mala's movie career, his friendships with people like Stan Laurel and Johnny Weissmuller of "Tarzan" fame. (Weissmuller envied Mala's ability to land roles that required real dialogue and real acting.)
But she also documents the history of his Alaska years, his relatives and friends in the villages. She follows the lines of parents, siblings, stepparents and, finally, his own wife and son, recounting private stories while searching out the personality -- somewhat obscured by studio hype and legend -- of a man who led, she concludes, "an unusually lonesome life."
Morgan will be signing copies of her book at screenings of the Mala films planned over the next month. Movies scheduled will include his first credited film, as the cinematographer in the 1925 Pathe News recreation of the Nome Serum Run, "How Death Was Cheated in the Great Race to Nome," and his last on-screen work, the Cold War thriller "Red Snow," released in 1952, the year of his death.
Still regarded as classics, "Eskimo" and "Igloo" are also to be featured in the festival, but fans may be especially delighted by his role as a tropical islander in "Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island," the campy 14-part serial in which he shared top billing with Rex the Wonder Horse -- one of the best-paid and most nasty-tempered stars of the time.
No actor in his right mind would take a job that included Rex, Hollywood pros said.
The fact that Mala did so reveals one facet of his personality that comes out again and again in the book. He understood the studio system better than a lot of Hollywood folks whose rising fame splattered against their own egos. He worked past or overlooked indignities with the same grace as he handled a harpoon or finessed the most technically complicated mechanical camera.
"He knew there was nothing to be gained by reacting harshly," Morgan writes with regard to one occasion that roused anger in others. "A naturally quiet man, Ray just let it slide."
He may have let his health slide too. He died at age 45 of heart problems exacerbated by a strenuous shoot in the steaming jungles of Mexico.
He had recently run cameras for "Les Miserables" and was being considered for a role in "The Ten Commandments" among other parts. Television, in its infancy, needed adroit cinematographers and photogenic actors who did not look their age.
In Mala's case, the cliche is fact: He really did die too soon.

Bail denied for suspect in Fairbanks road rage stabbing death

FAIRBANKS - A road rage dispute Friday morning escalated into the fatal stabbing of a local man in front of his adult son and other witnesses, according to court documents.

Michael Bostic, 44, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 56-year-old Timothy Lund. He was denied bail during his arraignment on Saturday by Magistrate Nikole Schick, who cited the seriousness of the charge and Bostic’s extensive criminal history.

Lund was returning to his job at Frontier Outfitters from a supply run when he got into a traffic dispute with Bostic, according to charging documents. When Lund parked his Ford Ranger pickup behind the store, Bostic reportedly emerged from his Chevy Suburban, pulled up his shirt and displayed a sheathed knife.

Bostic was apparently angered by a gesture that Lund had made earlier, and according to a witness he said, “Why don’t you show me your finger again, old man?”

The comment was followed by “heated words” between the two men, followed by a pushing match that led to the two men falling to the ground. The victim’s son, Wally Lund, who also works at Frontier Outfitters, reportedly hit Bostic with a wooden broom handle during the scuffle and told him to get off his father.

Both men stood up after the fight, but Timothy Lund said he had been stabbed and fell back over. Witnesses reported seeing Bostic standing with a bloody knife in his hand.

Timothy Lund was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a stab wound to the lower abdomen soon afterward. Police say there’s no evidence Lund was carrying any weapons during the dispute.

Bostic, who a witness said took the first swing during the altercation, was held at gunpoint after a weapon was retrieved from inside the sporting goods store. The defendant reportedly said “he cut me off at the intersection” to the store employee while being held, although Bostic refused to talk to police.

Bostic has a lengthy criminal past, according to Assistant District Attorney Arne Soldwedel. His record includes convictions in California and Florida for a variety of crimes that include drug possession, assault, robbery, drunken driving and shooting at an occupied house. Soldwedel said Bostic has a previous assault conviction that includes the use of a knife.

He appears to have a more limited criminal record in Alaska. A defendant named Michael Bostick with the same birthdate was arrested on misdemeanor criminal mischief and drug charges in 2009, according to online court records.

Bostic didn’t enter a plea on Saturday and said he intends to hire his own lawyer. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 5.

The first-degree murder charge is punishable with a maximum of 99 years in prison.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Bail denied for suspect in Fairbanks road rage stabbing death

Begich balks at what he calls 'ocean zoning'

Alaska Senator Mark Begich is quick to name the issue that's giving him the biggest earful so far in his new post as chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, and Coast Guard: "marine spatial planning."
The concept is listed as a top priority by the 2010 National Ocean Council, which is already preparing to draft action plans on nine coastal/ocean objectives. It would affect all users and uses, on and beneath the oceans.
"I hear it over and over again," Sen. Begich said in a phone call from Washington, D.C. "Let's call it like it is, pure and simple -- ocean zoning."
"I don't think Dr. (Jane) Lubchenco, the director of NOAA, appreciated my blunt categorization of it," Begich added, "but as a former mayor, that's what it is. You are determining winners and losers in terms of utilization of the oceans, and that is what zoning does.
"What is the value in it? And by what authority are they able to do this?" he continued. "In land use zoning there is a whole process you must go through by law. Here they are talking ocean zoning, but there has yet to be any stakeholder involvement or economic analysis."
And just who are "they"?
"It is a classic situation of people within the bureaucracy believing it's a good thing to spend their time on regardless of cost," Begich said, "When in reality, they have not worked with the stakeholders and they haven't done their homework."
His biggest beef with ocean zoning plans is the $60 million price tag.

BEGICH OBJECTS TO COST
"It's money we don't have," Begich said. "With Congress reducing funding in so many areas, we can't get ourselves stretched so thin that NOAA is doing new stuff that takes away from research and all the rest of the work that's necessary to maintain our core missions."
The deadline to comment to the NOC on ocean zoning and other objectives is April 29: www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans

POACHING A THREAT
Begich said among the biggest threats to Alaska and U.S. fisheries is widespread poaching by foreign fleets, called Illegal Unregulated Unreported fishing (IUU).
"I will echo the late Sen. Ted Stevens that IUU fishing is growing to be more of a problem," Begich said. "Foreign poachers are taking almost 20 percent of the worldwide seafood catch. That's huge! And it is hurting the fishery resources and taking away from the people who are following all the rules."
Begich said a first line of IUU defense comes from the Coast Guard.
"The Coast Guard needs additional resources for patrols and enforcement. Even though we have tight fiscal constraints, this is one area that is worth the additional investment," he said.
What's the holdup with the U.S. not ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty, needed in order to negotiate Arctic uses and boundaries?
"Part of it is we have a couple senators who believe that it will take away our sovereignty and our ability to manage our own waters," Begich said, adding that he is hopeful the LOST will be ratified this year.
"When you think of the countries that have not signed on to it -- Libya, Iran, North Korea -- I'm not sure I want to be in that company, but we are. The reality is, every day we are not part of this agreement, we are losing part of our sovereignty.
"It is estimated that there is an area of the outer continental shelf the size of California that could be available for the U.S. to take rights to. But because we are not part of the treaty, we are unable to be at the table with other countries to negotiate boundaries and parcels that are under our control."
Speaking of his quick rise to the No. 5 leadership spot out of 51 Democrats, and his chairmanship of the oceans/fisheries/Coast Guard subcommittee, Begich said:
"If you asked me two years ago if I thought I'd have this opportunity so quick in my term, I would have told you no. I feel very honored. This is the committee that Ted Stevens had for many years, and it's where the Magnuson- Stevens Act was developed. It's very much what I would call an Alaskan committee, with huge national interest as well."

HALIBUT DIPS
About two weeks into the season, halibut prices took a tumble, which is typical after the buying frenzy for the first fresh deliveries.
Opening prices at Homer topped $7 per pound when the fishery opened on March 12; ditto in major Southeast ports. Halibut prices at Kodiak started at $6.50, dropped to $6 by the second deliveries and last week were at $5 to $5.25 and $5.75 per pound, depending on fish size. Likewise, Homer prices dipped to $6 and $6.50 for 20 ups, and $5.50 to $6.25 and $6.50 at Southeast.
Those prices are nothing to sneeze at, but Alaska fishermen need every penny they can get in the face of big reductions to their halibut catches -- down 47 percent in Southeast to just 2.3 million pounds, and down 28 percent to 14.3 million pounds in the Central Gulf.
Despite the overall shortfall in supply, buyers believe the market is starting to resist the record high prices. At retail, halibut fillets were fetching $17.99 per pound at Costco; at 10th & M Seafoods in Anchorage, fillets were $18.95 per pound, and customers were happy to have a taste of the year's first fresh fish. The halibut fishery remains open this year through November 18.
HELP WITH HYDRAULICS
Many a fishing trip has been cut short by a breakdown in any number of hydraulic systems, from a single pot hauler or anchor winch on skiffs to huge freezer compressors or deck cranes on floating processors.
"We jokingly refer to the hydraulics as the 'ghost of the machine' because a lot of fishermen have a real understanding of their engines and most of their gear, but very few have a really good working knowledge of how the hydraulics actually work," said Paul Rioux, a Sitka-based marine hydraulics technician and instructor for an online marine hydraulics course starting next month.
Fishermen brought the need for training to university program planners, who helped craft the online hydraulics classes -- a first of its kind. It includes animation on system basics, troubleshooting, and hydraulics lingo -- plus direct interaction with instructors and classmates via online forums.
"Modern communications have really opened things up for online classes," Rioux said. "It allows us to reach setnetters in Bristol Bay or trollers in Yakutat Bay."
Rioux said student feedback will fine-tune the course to what people really need. The six-hour marine hydraulics course is open to everyone and can be taken over four days during three sessions in April starting on the 12th, 19th and 26th. The charge is $95. Contact the University of Southeast/ Sitka. www.uas.alaska.edu/sitka, or call 907-747-7762

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Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her information column appears every other Sunday in the Anchorage Daily News. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your website or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.

Computer fails, cancels 140 Alaska Air flights

An Alaska Airlines computer system failed early Saturday, causing a cascade of flight cancellations and delays nationwide, including in Alaska, the company said.
The cancellations and delays for Alaska Airlines its Horizon Air affiliate affected about 11,700 passengers, with 140 flights canceled, the company said.
Alaska said some flights were delayed as much as two hours and further cancellations were possible.
Technicians were installing a back-up power system for computers used to prepare vital flight information, the airline said. A transformer malfunctioned, and the system went offline at about 3 a.m., the airline said.
Outages came and went for about seven hours. Alaska and Horizon scrapped about 15 percent of their combined schedule before technicians fixed the system, which returned at 9 a.m. Alaska time.
Of the 10 flights cancelled in the state of Alaska, five were scheduled to depart from Anchorage. The airline cancelled two flights from Juneau and one flight each from Fairbanks, Kodiak and Bethel, according to company spokesman Paul McElroy.
Flights out of Seattle, where Alaska Airlines is based, were hit the hardest, with 58 canceled there. The problem coincided with the start of spring break for many schools in the Seattle area.
"We have delays and cancellations from day to day, but for an event of this magnitude, it's very unusual," McElroy said. "The computer system provided flight plans and other crucial information we need for flying, so when that went down, we're at a standstill."
McElroy said customers had trouble getting flight-status updates on the airlines' website because of the outage.
"We're working to get our operation back to normal as quickly as possible and are very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers," Alaska Airlines President Brad Tilden said in a statement apologizing to passengers. "We are doing all we can to book them on other flights."
The problems ripped through the system, with delays still affecting Alaska passengers Saturday afternoon. About 20 passengers expecting to depart from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport stood in line at the Alaska Airlines customer service counter about 1:30 p.m. Many of them were just learning about the delays.
Lesa Chircop and Tess, her fluffy Pomeranian, were among those waiting.
Chircop said she'd received an email from Alaska Airlines that said her flight from Seattle to Sacramento was cancelled. Her flight out of Anchorage hadn't been reported as delayed or cancelled, she said.
"I'm trying to confirm that with an actual body," Chircop said.
Alaska Airlines' McElroy said stranded passengers were rebooked on later planes or put on other airlines and Alaska will consider adding flights. Passengers will not be charged a flight-change fee, he said.
Juneau passenger Willow Olson's connecting flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks was one of those cancelled. Olson said she missed seeing a family friend's 2 p.m. funeral in the because of the fiasco.
"We wanted to show them that we cared in their time of great loss, that we wanted to be there for them, and that was just unable to happen," Olson said. "It's bad, and I'm disappointed."
Alaska Airlines reimbursed Olson's credit card for the cost of the ticket, she said.
McElroy urged customers to call 1-800-ALASKA-AIR before leaving for their flights. Agents on the phone are likely to have more updated information than the website, www.alaskaair.com, which was also affected by the outage, he said.
The company reported long hold times for customers calling for information, but McElroy said those lines had cleared by evening.
Alaska Airlines encouraged its passengers to contact its Customer Care team online.
"Rest assured, we're going to make it right for our customers," McElroy said. "Depending on the length of the delay or the cancellation of their flight, that will have a bearing on what we do for them."
Seattle-based Alaska Airlines flies to cities in the U.S., focusing on the West Coast, and to Canada and Mexico. Alaska and Horizon are owned by Alaska Air Group Inc.

State kills 9 wolves on base PREDATORS: Risk of attacks reduced, Fish and Game officials say.

Ten Anchorage wolves have been killed -- nine of them trapped or shot by the state -- as a six-month predator-control effort on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson wraps up.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game regional supervisor Mark Burch said the effort to remove wolves considered dangerous to humans and their pets succeeded. All the wolves that were killed were on base property.
"We believe we've mitigated the risk," said Burch, who added that one wolf died after being hit by a car not connected to the control effort. "We're not trying to eradicate wolves; we're trying to reduce the risk."
He estimates four wolves remain in the area.
As spring approaches, trapping conditions worsen and bears begin emerging from their dens, hastening the end of the program.
But some contend the wolves didn't pose much risk to begin with.
"I'm not a biologist in any way, shape or form," said Gary Gustafson, chairman of Chugach State Park Citizens' Advisory Board, which criticized Fish and Game for nearly wiping out the wolf population in that portion of the half-million-acre park. "But what's troublesome to us is that the department has decided one size fits all and that the plan is to exterminate all wolves."
Burch disagrees, saying that wolves often repopulate areas quickly.
"We want and expect other wolves to move into the area," he said. "We know how valuable that is for diversity."

PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS
Fish and Game and base wildlife officers say there was a clear pattern of increasingly bold wolf behavior. Last November, a man walking his dogs on base was briefly surrounded by four wolves. Two women running on Artillery Road with a dog nearly a year ago were treed for about two hours.
Some homeowners in the Eagle River area have reported their pets killed by wolves.
"It's not common for wolves to become aggressive toward people, but when they do, it's a public safety issue," Burch said. "While wolf attacks on humans are rare, this lack of fear and aggression is the kind of behavior seen by wolves that have attacked people in the past -- so we are doing what we can to minimize the risks."
Pete Panarese, another member of the advisory board and a former state parks deputy director, thinks the fears are overblown.
"If somebody sees a wolf and it just looks at them and doesn't run away, is that grounds to shoot the wolf?" he asked. "Sometimes wolves, when they show up, they're checking something out to see if it will go away. They're predators, looking at you to see what you're going to do. A very small number of them keep pushing the envelope."
Food, trash, unsecured dog food and habitation to humans tends to draw them in, Panarese added.
Burch agreed.
"We have suspicions some of those (wolves) were intentionally fed by people and, of course, we hope that won't happen," he said. That didn't change what he considered his obligation to act.
"We had a public safety threat that was ongoing," he said. "Something could happen, and somebody could get hurt. We don't dither with public safety."
However, he noted Fish and Game had not received a single wolf complaint in Anchorage so far this year.

MONITORING MODE
The wolf-control project was a partnership between Fish and Game and Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. Burch said the state spent $12,374, mostly in staff time.
"If there's a public safety problem, we should give wide discretion to Fish and Game to deal with it," said Kneeland Taylor, a board member with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. Taylor's bigger concern is a proposal before the Alaska Board of Game, meeting in Anchorage today, to open the far reaches of Chugach State Park to wolf hunting and trapping.
The wolves killed ranged from about 65 pounds to 115 pounds, said state biologist Sean Farley. He and his colleagues will examine bone, hair and tissue samples in an effort to learn more about the wolves' diet. Hides will be sold at the next Fur Rendezvous fur auction.
The winterlong control effort is over for now, but the state may not be done killing wolves.
"We're moving to more of a monitoring mode," Burch said. "But Fish and Game employees continue to have authority to take wolves opportunistically by shooting if in their judgment it's appropriate. It's the same judgment that's involved with dealing with moose, bears and wolves on a daily basis. The public accepts the judgment of professionals on matters like this that involve public safety."
A glimpse into the public attitudes towards wildlife in Anchorage can be gleaned from a survey conducted for Fish and Game last year using telephone interviews and focus groups.
When asked what was the most important wildlife issue facing Anchorage residents, 56 percent pointed to increasing wildlife numbers in populated areas. Most singled out moose and bears. Only 1 percent mentioned wolves.
At the same time, about 70 percent of those surveyed thought Anchorage residents should learn to live with some conflicts or problems with wildlife. Just 17 percent agreed with a statement that some wildlife is dangerous and that they did not want potentially dangerous species in town.