Alaska News Nightly: October 24, 2008

Jury deliberations in the Ted Stevens trial are put on hold until next week.  Also, AFN focuses on rural energy crisis. Plus, the southeast village of Kake has run out of fuel. Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly, broadcast statewide on APRN stations.Individual news stories are posted in the Alaska News category and you can subscribe to APRN's news feeds via e-mail, podcast and RSS.Download Audio (MP3, 30 min)Jury deliberations in the Ted Stevens trial on hold until next weekLibby Casey, APRN - Washington, DCJury deliberations in the trial of Senator Ted Stevens are ON HOLD. Judge Emmet Sullivan decided to send the jury home this morning, in order to accommodate a juror who had to leave town for a family emergency. The delay drags out deliberations, and will force the trial into its sixth week.AFN continues to focus on energy crisisDuncan Moon and Lori Townsend, APRN - AnchorageThe second day of the Alaska Federation of Natives annual 3 day convention started off with more discussion of the urgent need to address soaring energy prices in rural Alaska.Kake runs out of fuelBonnie Sue Hitchcock, KCAW - SitkaThe village of Kake has been out of fuel for the past three days. After rationing low supplies for a week, Kake Tribal Fuel Corporation says they finally ran out of unleaded fuel completely. President Matthew Bell says it’s put everyone in Kake in a bind, but it’s beyond his company’s controlIBU digs in its heels over split wagesRosemarie Alexander, KTOO - JuneauThe Palin Administration hopes to do away with so-called split-wages for all Alaska Marine Highway System employees. The practice has been part of union contracts for years and its demise apparently caused the Inland boatman’s Union, the IBU to reject its latest tentative agreement.New mineral claims staked near YakutatBonnie Sue Hitchcock, KCAW - SitkaNew Mineral claims worth billions of dollars in iron ore and other precious metals have recently been staked near Yakutat.  The claims cover nearly 50,000 acres of mostly federal but some state land. Some local residents are concerned about the effects mining would have on the area, including its proximity to the Setuk river and impacts on Yakutat’s fishing industryInterior Department unveils geothermal energy initiativeDan Bross, KUAC - FairbanksAn interior department initiative hopes to pave the way for geothermal energy development across the western United States.  The plan announced this week by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne  makes nearly 200 million acres in 12 western states, including Alaska, available for leasing for geothermal projects.  Land use plans have been modified to accommodate geothermal leasing in dozens of areas in the interior, northwest, south central and southeast Alaska.Most of Porcupine Caribou herd wintering in AlaskaCheryl Kawaja, CBC - WhitehorseMany Yukon hunters are headed to the Dempster Highway this week.  Some of the Porcupine Caribou Herd have arrived in the area, as part of its traditional winter migration. But there are fewer caribou than usual.