Lori Townsend, Alaska Public Media

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan says the city is facing a $30 million budget gap. Speaking to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Monday Sullivan says that is the amount needed if the city expects to have the same size of government next year.

Longtime Alaska wolf biologist Tom Meier has died. The National Park Service reports that the 61 year old Meir, who worked at Denali National Park, was found dead in his home Tuesday. No cause of death has been released.

When you flush the toilet or toss kitchen waste down the drain, where does it go? If you live in Anchorage, you may be surprised to learn it eventually ends up in Cook Inlet. A recent visit to the wastewater treatment facility was an eye opening education in what is and isn’t taken out before it dumps into the water.

This week Anchorage School District Superintendent Jim Browder released the latest student test scores and introduced a multi-year, district wide plan to boost them. Scores over the last five years shows overall achievement remains relatively flat. Browder says the new plan will focus on strengthening the basics.

Governor Parnell has said he’d like to see the Senate bipartisan working group broken up and he’ll strive to help more Republicans get elected this fall. Part of the Governor’s frustration with the group centers around his failed efforts to get his oil tax reduction legislation HB110 passed. Parnell’s efforts are being challenged by members of the resurrected Backbone organization that is working to support the bipartisan group. But the Governor says the coalition is bipartisan in name only.

Shell has modified plans for drilling in the Arctic this summer. Shell spokesman Curtis Smith says lingering sea ice and logistical challenges are shrinking their window for work.

Alaska has a few athletes competing in the summer Olympics in London. The two athletes with the strongest connections to Alaska are trap shooter Corey Cogdell who grew up in Eagle River and long jumper Janay DeLoach, who went to high school at Eielson in North Pole. Two other Olympic athletes attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Matt Emmons and Jamie Beyerle-Gray. Both are shooters.

Public Policy professor and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich is in Anchorage this week. The Berkeley economist is a prolific author and commentator on the current plight of the global economy. He has some thoughts about Alaska’s economy too. He thinks natural gas is set to become a primary energy source for developed nations. And given that, he doesn’t think Congress should ban natural gas exports, as one Democratic Representative has proposed.

The late Senator Ted Stevens received a posthumous honor last week when he was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Stevens is credited with leading the congressional effort to pass the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. It was later re-titled to include his name.

Planning for disasters in Alaska is a job on scale with the size of the state – huge. The state is prone to tsunamis, wildfires, lethal storms and earthquakes.

A long awaited U.S. Supreme court decision is being celebrated by tribes across Alaska and the nation today. The Ramah Navajo case is a 22-year-old class action lawsuit against the federal government that sought full payment for contracts the tribes held for health services, law enforcement and land programs. Anchorage Attorney Lloyd Miller has worked on the litigation. He says government attorneys told the Supreme Court justices during the trial that if it was held responsible for the damages it would be a billion dollars.

Justice Dana Fabe is preparing for her third term as Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. She was recently voted into the position by her colleagues on the bench. She says she’s thrilled about the appointment and says she’ll make it a priority to strengthen the relationship between state courts and tribal courts.

The federal trial for the founder of the Peacemaker’s militia, Francis Schaffer Cox and two militia members Coleman Barney and Lonnie Vernon continued in Anchorage today. Kyle Hopkins is a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and is covering the trial. He says the defense brought Cox to the stand yesterday and today – working to portray him as someone concerned about citizen and family safety, not a violent threat to law enforcement.

After 37 years in the Anchorage School District, Carol Comeau is retiring. She started her career in the district as a teacher’s aide, became a teacher in Anchorage and eventually superintendent. That’s a position she’s held for more than a decade. Comeau is moving to Bellingham to spend more time with her kids and grandkids.

Anchorage Police Department Detective Glen Klinkhart recently retired from APD after 17 years on the force, but he's hardly kicking back. Klinkhart helped launch the cyber crimes unit at APD a decade ago. Now, five full-time officers work not only on computer forensics but are online catching child predators. Moreover, he's written a new book to aid parents in keeping their kids safe on line. He says the Internet has allowed those with ill intent to have access to children and communicate with them, but it's also lets law enforcement have access too. Klinkhart says his book gives an overview of the Internet and also gets into specifics parents should know about.

The trial of Peacemakers militia leader Schaeffer Cox, Coleman Barney and Lonnie Vernon continued today in federal court in Anchorage. The prosecution wrapped up with their star witness, FBI informant Gerald Olsen. Richard Mauer is an investigative reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and is covering the trial. Mauer says for two days Olsen told of his observations while undercover in the militia, but today under defense cross examination, there were revelations about his character.

The trial of Peacemaker’s militia leader Schaeffer Cox and militia members Coleman Barney and Lonnie Vernon continued today in Anchorage. The prosecution is still presenting evidence and witnesses. Yesterday jurors heard from a former militia member who became alarmed at Cox’s behavior and another man who said he’d still take orders from Cox. Sam Friedman is a reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News Miner and has been covering the trial. He says Philip Clark’s testimony started with his recollection of meeting Schaeffer Cox in 2009.

Shell Oil officials are hoping to begin exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea this summer, searching for off shore oil and gas. Environmental organizations have filed suit throughout the permitting process, claiming not enough is known about the fragile arctic ecosystem. But Shell leaders say there is a substantial amount of science from numerous sources that has been compiled over at least four decades. Michael Macrander is the lead scientist for Shell Arctic research. Shell is using acoustic monitoring to better understand how whales respond to noise. This is a sample of the whale calls they’ve recorded.