News

Shell’s Noble Discoverer drill rig is docked in Unalaska and the Kulluk is on its way after a series of delays. Popular Mechanics reports that detaching the Kulluk from its mooring system and getting it under tow was delayed. The drilling season ended last week, but because of deteriorating weather conditions in the Beaufort Sea, the company hadn’t been able to refuel the Aiviq - an icebreaking tug that will tow the Kulluk - and below-zero conditions were keeping helicopters grounded.

The sentencing of the former director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission continued today in federal court in Anchorage. Ahmaogak was director of the commission for 17 years until she was fired in 2007 from the commission, which receives federal funds. She pleaded guilty in May to two counts of theft and misapplication of funds.

Two members of the all-volunteer Indian Law and Order Commission came to Alaska last week to gather information for recommendations to the President and Congress on ways to make Indian Country safer and more just. They say all Alaskans would benefit if the state worked more cooperatively with tribes.

The Department of Interior conducted its own lease sale today, as well. The Bureau of Land Management accepted 14 bids in the NPR-A. The 160,000 acres bid on today is a fraction of the 4.5 million that were available.

Bethel may be 400 miles off the road system, but it’s no stranger to fraud. Most recently, there have been office supply scams. Bethel Native Corporation was approached last week with a Xerox scam, but President Ana Hoffman suspected something was amiss.

Fire officials are still working to determine the cause of last night’s fire at an apartment building in downtown Juneau. The four-story Gastineau Apartments will be written off as a total loss. But fire crews were able to keep the blaze from spreading to other buildings along South Franklin Street.

The lure of the big city can be irresistible for a young person leaving home. But danger awaits many teens and young adults who are led into a life of drugs and prostitution by sex traffickers on city streets. The State of Alaska Task Force on the Crimes of Human Trafficking held its initial public hearing in Anchorage on Monday to hear from experts on sex crimes in an effort to determine how widespread sex trafficking is in the state.

There will be two lease sales in Anchorage on Wednesday. The state will announce the winning bids for its annual North Slope drilling lease sale in conjunction with a federal lease sale for drilling rights in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

A local organization marks National Homelessness Awareness Month with a candlelight vigil Wednesday night in Fairbanks. The annual downtown walk is put on by Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption’s Street Outreach and Advocacy Program or “SOAP.” SOAP supervisor Randy Lewis says the event is aimed at raising awareness of homeless youth.

John Marvin Junior will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing two police officers in Hoonah. A Juneau jury returned guilty verdicts Saturday. The sentence will be no less than 119-years once it’s handed down in February.

Alaskans voting for president have four, not just two, choices. Green Party and Libertarian Party candidates qualified for spots on Alaska's ballot and could siphon popular votes away from the major parties.

The Coast Guard rescued two men and their dog on Sunday from Gem Cove, 23 miles east of Ketchikan. The two men were on two different 39-foot vessels that were lashed together.

A jury of ten men and two women returned with guilty verdicts in the trial of John N. Marvin, Jr. A note from jury said they had reached guilty verdicts at about noon Saturday on two charges of murder in the first degree. That was for the deaths of Sgt. Anthony Wallace and Officer Matthew Tokuoka in Hoonah on August 28, 2010.

As modern development speeds toward some of the last truly subsistence-based economies and tribes in the world, researchers are working to better understand this way of life. Two anthropologists from Kenai Peninsula College have been working on a project just like that for the past two years and recently presented what they learned in Soldotna.

The three-day American Indian Science and Engineering Society – or AISES – convention drew about 2,000 people to Anchorage this week.

The case of a Hoonah man accused of shooting and killing two police officers is now in the hands of a jury. Ten men and two women will begin deliberations Friday in the John Marvin trial that is now underway in Juneau.

Radar data revealed in a preliminary accident report says the plane that went missing on Oct. 13 from Soldotna may have crashed in the very early hours over Cook Inlet.