Raven's mishap cuts power to parts of downtown

A raven on power lines took out the electricity for much of downtown for an hour beginning about 4 p.m. today, Municipal Light and Power officials said.
ML&P found the raven's carcass at a Post Road switchyard, said spokeswoman Cristina Petrilla.
The incident brought down three substations and about third of downtown, said ML&P director Jim Posey. He said if a bird touches two lines at once, which a bird with a wide wing span can do, it shorts out the system.
The Fur Rendezvous melodrama 5 p.m. showing at the Snow Goose Restaurant and Brewery had to be postponed until Tuesday, said Sheena Kaighin, marketing coordinator for Alaska Sound Celebration, the group staging it. And a choreographer was trapped in an elevator for awhile, Kaighin said.
Posey said former mayor, now U.S. Sen. Mark Begich called him from the Rondy poker tournament at the Egan Center to let him know it was out there, too.