Tongass Narrows
Taken on Dec. 28th from the South Tongass area by Totem road.
Front Page Photo by ROSY RIGLEY

Alaska: Mat-Su Pretrial Escapee Captured – After a six-hour multi-agency manhun Wednesday, Mat-Su Pretrial Escapee Kent C. Matte was successfully taken into custody without incident.

Mat-Su Pretrial Facility - Palmer, Alaska
Photo courtesy Mat-Su Pretrial Faciltiy

Matte, a convicted felon and considered to be dangerous, escaped from the Palmer-based Mat-Su Pretrial Facility recreation yard at 8:05 Wednesday morning. Law enforcement officials were able to track Matte to a residence near the intersection of the Parks Highway and Stanley Road where Matte was apprehended trying to flee a house as law enforcement surrounded the premise. Matte was apprehended at approximately 2:30 Wednesday afternoon.

Troopers arrested one other individual in connection to Matte's escape. Kosha Lynae Jacob, 22 of Wasilla, was arrested Wednesday night for her involvement as an accomplice. She was charged with Escape in the Second Degree as an Accomplice and Hindering Prosecution. Her bail was set at $5,000 cash only. - More...
Thursday PM - January 06, 2011

Alaska: Governor Outlines Strategy to Fight Federal Overreach – In a speech before hundreds attending the Rotary Club of Fairbanks, Governor Sean Parnell today focused on how recent federal restrictions have crippled resource development and blocked jobs for Alaskans. From the offshore drilling moratorium, to ocean zoning, to the effort to lock up the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the governor outlined numerous ways Washington is encroaching on Alaska’s sovereignty in developing its natural resources.

“What the federal government owns, it regulates. And, what it doesn’t own, it seeks to control – by regulatory mandate,” Governor Parnell said. “For our economy, it’s death by a thousand cuts.”

The governor said job creators in Alaska and across the country face a tough battle. He called on Alaskans to stand together, build alliances outside the state, and fight to force the federal government back into its constitutional limits. - More...
Thursday PM - January 06, 2011

Southeast Alaska: Vessel refrigeration workshop training for fishermen offered - Top quality Alaska seafood products begins with properly chilling the catch aboard vessels at sea. To help commercial fishermen improve their operation and maintenance of onboard marine refrigeration systems, the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program is partnering with Integrated Marine Systems, Inc., to offer a one-day workshop February 1, 2011, in Petersburg.

The workshop will focus on how to maintain, operate, and troubleshoot onboard refrigeration equipment. Additional topics include refrigeration theory, system winterization, controller programming, refrigeration safety, and system sizing. Participants will use a marine refrigeration training unit for hands-on activities. - More...
Thursday PM - January 06, 2011

Alaska: Father, Son Plead Guilty to Big Game Guiding Violations in Brooks Range – A father and son pleaded guilty in Anchorage District Court Tuesday to misdemeanor violations involving big game guiding in the Brooks Range in 2007. Michael C. Vanning Jr., 42, of Washington, was convicted of taking his clients to hunt where he couldn’t legally conduct hunts because the area was registered under his father, Michael H. Vanning Sr., 62, of Idaho.

The elder Vanning was convicted of falsifying records that deceptively showed he guided these hunting trips. In order to prevent an over-harvest of game and an overcrowding of hunters, Alaska law prohibits big game guides from registering and operating in more than three guide use areas at a time. The younger Vanning was essentially operating in six guide use areas by using his father’s three areas as well as his own, giving him an unfair competitive advantage over other lawfully operating guide businesses.

The case was initiated by a Fairbanks-based Alaska Wildlife Trooper who contacted the younger Vanning and his guiding business employees near Chandalar Lake in August of 2007 after receiving a complaint of an aircraft harassing sheep. - More...
Thursday PM - January 06, 2011

Alaska Science: Mummified forest tells tale of a changing north By NED ROZELL - Mummified forest tells tale of a changing north By NED ROZELL - Two summers ago, Joel Barker was measuring gases wafting from the tundra on Ellesmere Island in Canada’s far north. One day he took a break from his duties to check out a report from a warden stationed there at Canada’s northernmost national park - in a land that has not hosted trees for thousands of years, the warden had seen some wood protruding from mud near a glacier.

“It was surreal,” Barker said in December 2010 during a press conference held at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco. “I had been very skeptical.”

He and the warden gathered a few samples of the wood and then jumped on the helicopter after being on the ground less than one hour. On the ride back to his base camp, Barker felt the flush of discovery. - More...
Thursday PM - January 06, 2011

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