News

A 14-year old boy from Kake has been identified as a suspect in the homicide of a young girl in Kake earlier this month and has been taken to a Department of Juvenile Justice holding facility in Ketchikan, according to a statement released Saturday by the Alaska State Troopers. The statement did not identify the suspect nor offer any additional details of the investigation or charges against the suspect.

A dozen states across the country have school voucher programs. Now, some legislators are trying to bring vouchers to Alaska. APRN’s Alexandra Gutierrez reports that push for directing state funding to private schools has more momentum than it’s had in the past.

The State Department of Health is investigating an outbreak of a food borne illness linked to raw milk. Officials have confirmed four cases of Campylobacter infection in people who drank raw milk on the Kenai Peninsula. The illness causes diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

Rick Swenson won't make the trip to Nome this year. Race officaials say Swenson withdrew from the Iditarod on Thursday. Swenson, the only five-time champion in the history of the race, cited personal reasons.

The state of Indian Country is strong, according to the president of the National Congress of American Indians. Today Jefferson Keel presented the State of Indian Nations Address in Washington D.C. Despite advancements in tribal governing, leaders are worried about the coming sequester, and what it means for Indian Health Services.

Yesterday, the Alaska State Senate was expected to vote on a bill that would change the way that waste from cruise ships is regulated. But instead, they opened the bill up to amendments and put off a real vote on the measure until next week. The bill is a priority of the governor, and the administration had hoped for passage by this week. APRN’s Alexandra Gutierrez is here with us to explain why that didn’t happen.

Bringing justice to all Alaskans. That was the major theme of state Supreme court Chief Justice Dana Fabe’s speech at the Capitol today. Fabe stressed the importance of preventative approaches – like an early resolution process to help settle divorce cases quickly – to improve outcomes for both the participants involved and taxpayers.

A vote on a controversial bill involving cruise ship waste has been put off until next week. The legislation would strike provisions of a citizen’s initiative requiring cruise ships to meet clean water standards at the point of discharge by the 2016 season, instead of allowing them to release their waste into mixing zones. The bill was introduced by the governor’s office, and it easily passed in the House last week.

In the latest setback to Shell’s Arctic drilling plans for this summer, the company says it’s sending both of its drilling rigs to Asia for dry dock repairs. The company says the Noble Discoverer needs an engine overhaul and the Kulluk needs major repairs to its internal electrical systems and hull after running aground near Kodiak on New Year’s Eve. Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith says the Kulluk was damaged inside when seawater came through open hatches, and that the hull was “compromised” in some areas.

The Senate Energy Committee held its first meeting of the new Congress. It wasted no time in discussing one of the most controversial issues the committee will tackle this session – exporting liquefied natural gas.

Legislation that would limit the circumstances in which public funds can be used to pay for abortions was introduced in the Senate on Monday, and the bill may have trouble standing up to court scrutiny.

Alaska’s Redistricting Board met Tuesday in Anchorage to consider its options in the wake of an Alaska Supreme Court ruling requiring a revision of the 2012 redistricting plan. The Court allowed the current plan to be used in only last November’s general election, but has required the Board to redraw the plan so it is in line with the Alaska Constitution. The Board has filed a motion for a reconsideration.

The U.S. Senate has just passed a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Its future in the House is unclear. The Senate passed a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act last Congress, only to see it fester in the House.

Democratic legislators have rolled out their oil tax proposal, and the bill is more of a modification of the current tax structure than an overhaul. It would cap the windfall profits tax at 30 percent, and create credits for heavy oil research and development and the construction of new processing facilities on the North Slope.

Oil taxes remain the legislature’s top issue this week, with six hearings scheduled on Gov. Sean Parnell’s bill to bring them down. But there’s also plenty else going on in Juneau, from consideration of education and home energy bills to visits from state dignitaries.

A light snow fell on a small crowd gathered on the Chena River in Fairbanks as Allen Moore’s eleven-dog team pulled the musher across the Yukon Quest finish line early this morning. The win is fitting after a narrow miss last year.

The recently ousted leader of the Alaska Republican Party is fighting his removal. Russ Millette, who was elected chair in April, is appealing his dismissal on a technicality. In a letter e-mailed to the party’s executive committee, Millette alleges that the committee “illegally met … to prevent [him] from becoming Chairman” and that the group was wrong to have him expelled before he was actually seated as chair.

The across the board government spending cuts go into effect three weeks from Friday. This week President Barack Obama proposed a short term mix of spending cuts and tax increases to delay the sequester, but Republicans on Capitol Hill called it dead on arrival.

The conclusion of the investigation into the shooting death into the shooting death of 24-year-old Sam Alexie Jr. has spurred the Bethel police department to release the name of the shooting officer. It is Andrew Reid, who is still with the department. He had only been on the force for three months at the time of the shooting although he had been an officer in Massachusetts for four years prior to that.