Lori Townsend, Alaska Public Media

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.

Public hearings on proposals for changes to the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex or JPARC started this evening in Anchorage.

Alaskans in some health insurance plans will be getting the biggest rebates in the country, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The rebates are part of the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to refund money to consumers if they spend more than 20 percent of their premium income on administrative costs. In Alaska, the largest rebates will be more than $500.

Prosecutors in the third day of the Fairbanks Peacemaker’s militia trial spent the morning introducing evidence and interviewing an FBI agent about the items that were seized. Throughout the course of the morning, evidence revealed weapons and ammunition that was taken from a white utility trailer belonging to Coleman Barney.

Portrayals of Peacemaker’s militia members as dangerous men plotting to kill federal employees were juxtaposed with characterizations of the men as hapless big mouths who exaggerated a lot but were harmless – during this morning’s opening statements in day two of the Schaeffer Cox, Lonnie Vernon and Barney Coleman federal trial in Anchorage.

Jury selection got underway in Anchorage federal court Monday in preparation for the trial of Fairbanks resident and Alaska Peacemaker’s militia leader Francis Schaeffer Cox. Cox is charged along with Coleman Barney and Lonnie Vernon of plotting to kill government employees. Cox founded the Second Amendment Task force and claims he is a sovereign citizen. The trial is expected to last at least a month.

A new agreement signed today between 14 Alaska Native tribal health programs and the department of Veterans Affairs will allow both Alaska Native and non-Native vets to receive health care services in tribal clinics in various parts of Alaska, so they won’t have to travel to Anchorage or Seattle to receive services.

The University of Alaska Anchorage is going to award its first doctorate degrees next week. The Ph.D.s in Clinical Psychology will go to two students in a program administered jointly by UAA and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In the past, UAF has handed out the doctoral degrees for the program, but now UAA’s name will also appear on the diploma.

The U.S. Department of Energy says it was able to safely extract a steady stream of natural gas from methane hydrates this winter on Alaska’s North Slope. The agency partnered with oil companies to test new technology to remove methane trapped in ice crystals beneath the sea floor. The federal government calls methane hydrates a vast untapped resource with enormous potential.

Governor Sean Parnell is laying blame for the failure of the Special Session squarely on the state Senate. The session wrapped up Monday evening when the Alaska House followed the Senate’s lead and adjourned. That left the in-state gas pipeline bill unresolved. Earlier, the governor pulled his oil tax bill from consideration. Lawmakers did pass one bill to strengthen the state’s human trafficking laws.

Mercury pollution is a growing problem in the Arctic. And new research is offering some insight into how mercury reacts with the sea ice that covers much of the Arctic Ocean. Sandy Steffen is a Physical Scientist with Environment Canada. She studied mercury pollution on the sea ice outside of Barrow and is presenting her work this week at the International Polar Year conference in Montreal.

Alaska tribal advocates are upset by a section in the federal reauthorization of the 2000 Violence Against Women Act. Section 905 of the act would expand tribal court jurisdiction by allowing those courts to issue protective orders against ‘any person’ including non-Native offenders.