The Associated Press

The Anchorage Daily News reports that a federal Department of Defense inspector general is questioning an Air Force report on the cause of an F-22 Raptor crash in Alaska. The Air Force's Accident Investigation Board report indicated that the pilot of the plane, which crashed in November of 2010, " failed the recognize and initiate a timely dive recovery, due to unrecognized spatial disorientation. " But in a report released this week, the inspector general says the AIB's opinion is not supported by the facts.

The Anchorage Assembly has given the go-ahead for a large jet to land at the city airfield. The 100,000-pound Boeing 727 has been donated by FedEx to the University of Alaska Anchorage, which wants it for its aviation technology program based at Merrill Field. The busy airfield for small planes is just a mile from downtown.

Confessed serial killer Israel Keyes was mistakenly issued a razor before he committed suicide, according to a report released today by the Alaska Department of Corrections. The report also says “it appears that razor was not retrieved.”

Medically necessary abortions would be defined as those needed to avoid serious risk to the life of the woman under a bill introduced in the Alaska Senate.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue a final report this year on the impacts of large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region. That’s according to regional director Dennis McLerran.

Extreme cold has thwarted Minnesota climber Lonnie Dupre’s third attempt to become the first person to summit Denali solo December or January. The 51-year-old told his support crew early Sunday that it was 35 below zero in a snow cave he had built at the 17,000 foot level of the mountain. His crew says Dupre is making his way down the mountain and will proceed as the weather permits.

Witnesses have told the National Transportation Safety Board that a pilot who disappeared in mid-October was last seen intoxicated at the Soldotna airport.

Federal marine mammal authorities have proposed a recovery plan for a rare large whale, the North Pacific right whale. The National Marine Fisheries Service published the proposal today for the marine mammal that has been listed as endangered since the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973.

Divers and remotely operated underwater vehicles have completed a review of the hull of a Royal Dutch Shell drill barge that ran aground two weeks ago on a remote Alaska island.

A federal judge in Alaska has set aside a plan designating more than 187,000 square miles as habitat for threatened polar bears. U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline said in a written order that the purpose behind the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designation was admirable, because it is important to protect the polar bear. But he said such protection must be done correctly, and found the current designation went too far and was “too extensive.”

The Alaska Redistricting Board wants the state’s highest court to reconsider its decision requiring Alaska’s political boundaries be redrawn. Attorneys for the board, in a petition filed this week, say the court misconstrued or overlooked important facts in the case. They say the court ignored its duty in failing to answer whether the plan adopted by the board was constitutional.

The leader of an Alaska militia convicted of conspiring to murder federal officials will spend nearly 26 years in prison. Judge Robert Bryan on Tuesday sentenced Schaeffer Cox during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

An Alaska militia member will serve nearly 26 years in a federal prison after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and to amass weapons. Lonnie Vernon was sentenced today during a combative session in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, at which he denied the authority of the court, the judge and prosecutors.

When it comes to snowfall, this winter and last winter in Anchorage are wide apart. So far the difference is more than 45 inches when comparing last year’s bounty and this year’s skimpy amounts of the white stuff.

Starting Tuesday, health insurance policies in Alaska will be required to cover treatment of autism spectrum disorders. A portion of that bill, setting up a task force to study such things as the state providing insurance coverage for autism, took effect earlier.

Anchorage police have arrested a 50-year-old man suspected of local collection-mailbox thefts. Clifford Earl Dancer was arrested Saturday night after police spotted him sitting in the passenger seat of a truck in a parking lot outside a liquor store.

Calista Corp. says it has created a new subsidiary to provide engineering, energy and environmental consulting services.

A divided Alaska Supreme Court has ordered the state's redistricting plan be redrawn for the 2014 elections. The court had allowed for an interim plan to be used for this year's elections. But in a decision released Friday, the court found the board did not follow the process it was instructed to follow.

A federal judge has given final approval to BP PLC's settlement with businesses and individuals who lost money because of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP estimates it will pay $7.8 billion to resolve more than 100,000 claims by businesses and individuals.

An Anchorage state representative and a foster child advocacy group are again collecting used laptop computers for foster children. Democrat Les Gara says about 200 laptops have been collected and distributed over two years. He's working on collecting more with Facing Foster Care In Alaska.