Body of missing Anchorage man found: Anchorage Police announced Thursday that Stephen Gingrich, reported missing on Nov. 16, has been found dead, apparently as the result of an accident at home. The release says that a relative found his body on Thursday afternoon in the basement/crawlspace of his Eagle River home, covered with debris. Gingrich, 58, appeared to have been digging underneath a heavy concrete slab when it collapsed. Police say that the area had been searched when he was first reported missing, but a large amount of debris and clutter obscured his remains. His next of kin have been notified.
Alaska telecom looking to buy 3 more TV stations: GCI -- through its subsidiary, Denali Media Holdings, has agreed to buy three Southeast Alaska television stations. The deal -- for Juneau's KXLJ-LD, Ketchikan's KUBD, and Sitka's KTNL, all CBS-affiliated stations -- still needs to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission. The purchase would mean the cable and communications company would own more than one station on both Juneau and Sitka. In addition to Anchorage CBS station KTVA, GCI recently took over NBC stations in both Southeast cities. GCI is currently in a contract dispute with Anchorage NBC station, KTUU, and has pulled the station's broadcast from several Alaska communities, including Bethel, Juneau and Sitka.
Anchorage man raids ski resort kitchen: An Anchorage man staying at the Alyeska Resort in the Southcentral ski town of Girdwood was charged with criminal mischief in the fourth degree after allegedly raiding one of the hotel's kitchens early Tuesday morning. Hotel security was doing its rounds around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday when they ran into Sean Redfern, 26, of Anchorage, walking out of one of the resort's kitchens carrying a large pizza box overflowing with food. He had stuffed a banquet into the box, including cooked chicken, beef and vegetables, Alaska State Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said. The total haul amounted to $486 dollars worth of food, which the hotel discarded for reasons of food safety. Alaska State Troopers remanded Redfern around 6:30 a.m. and took him to the Anchorage correctional complex. Alcohol is considered a factor in the incident; Redfern was given a preliminary breath test around 9:40 a.m., and his blood alcohol level measured in at a little over .08, according to Peters.
Not guilty plea: A father and daughter from Washington state have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the death of an 81-year-old pedestrian from Wasilla, Alaska on Interstate 90 in southern Montana, the Associated Press reported. Thirty-one-year-old Wyran Young of Oak Harbor, Wash. pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal vehicle accident and tampering with evidence while her father, 50-year-old Westley Young, pleaded not guilty to guilty to tampering. Wasilla resident Elgie Bedford was struck and killed between Big Timber and Greycliff. Prosecutors allege the Youngs' vehicle hit the man but did not stop to check on him or offer assistance. The father told investigators a semi driving in front of them hit Bedford first. The tampering charges stem from the Youngs' alleged pit stop to clean the car at a Livingston carwash, where they left parts of Bedford's body.
Barrow-bound booze bust: A North Slope Borough Police detective based in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, nabbed a $6,600 alcohol shipment bound for Barrow. The northernmost police in the nation have stepped up efforts to curb the flow of drugs and alcohol to the Arctic, busting people for substances ranging from Miller Light to marijuana. On Monday, the detective seized 18 bottles of various alcohols, described as "336 12-ounce cans of assorted beers," which may be 14 24-packs; 16 bottles of wine, and eight 5-liter boxes of wine. Thirty-six-year-old Barrow resident John Soriano is accused of attempting to ship the booze, though online court records indicate the state has yet to file any charges against him. Many rural communities in Alaska opt to ban the sale and importation of alcohol, while regional hubs may choose to make booze available with strings attached. Barrow is a "damp" town that prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages but allows for import, possession and consumption with a government-issued permit. Soriano allegedly did not have that permit; he now faces five years behind bars and a fine of up to $50,000.
White Christmas?: Get ready for a White Christmas, Anchorage. The National Weather Service says that after a snow-short winter that's left the slopes at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood with more barren alder than powder, the white fluff may finally be on the way. Hopefully. Maybe. The National Weather Service was still hedging its bets Thursday with a report saying "snow amounts will vary widely across the (Southcentral) region, as is common with such storm systems. Forecasted amounts are still being determined.'' Nevertheless, the agency issued a "special weather statement'' heralding the prospect of snow returning to Southcentral. Normally, Anchorage has usually seen about 30 inches of snow by now. This year has been different. Anchorage witnessed a precipitation record on Nov. 10 when 1.27 inches of precipitation fell. The problem was it came mostly as rain, not snow. Overall, snowfall for that month was only 85 percent of the norm, and a lot of what fell washed away. December continued the trend, but the Weather Service is now hinting that winter may finally be on the way in time for the holidays.
Juneau ski area in North America finals: In late October, when Juneau's Eaglecrest Ski Area was pitted against the mammoth Whistler-Blackcomb in Powder Magazine's 2014 Ski Town Throwdown, the odds seem more than just long -- they seemed almost unthinkable. (Especially after Girdwood's Alyeska, Alaska's closest approximation to the huge resorts of Canada and the Lower 48 and a perennial favorite in such lists, bit the dust in the first round.) But in online voting the little four-lift Eaglecrest laid low the 2010 Olympic host site and proceeded to carve through the bevy of big British Columbia mountains it faced off against, before downing a Michigan slope to reach the finals. It's now pitted against Colorado's Crested Butte, in the final showdown. Voting in the competition ends Friday, which should give Juneau residents time to dig out from underneath the latest round of snow and represent.
Parks Highway snowmachine chase leads to DUI: A Wasilla man landed in jail Wednesday evening with felony DUI charges, after briefly leading Alaska State Troopers on a snowmachine chase on the Parks Highway. Troopers reported that 29-year-old Eric Earl Hunter was driving a Polaris on the Parks at around 8:44 p.m. Wednesday near mile 51 when police contacted him. He initially failed to stop, but when he did, troopers found his driver's license had been suspended for previous DUIs. Hunter was charged with felony DUI, failure to stop, and driving while license revoked.
Clergy push EPA on Pebble study: A group of Alaska religious leaders from various denominations sent a letter on Wednesday petitioning the federal Environmental Protection Agency to finish its study of the Bristol Bay watershed, reports Dillingham Public Radio KDLG. The watershed report will likely have an important influence on the future of the Pebble Mine, which the clergy note will have a large impact on their Bristol Bay parishioners. "In our theology, care of God's creation has been a hallmark of what we do. This doesn't mean we are totally opposed to mining, we are not," wrote Bishop-elect of the Orthodox Church in Alaska Father David Mahaffey in the letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, according to KDLG. "But we just want to see them mined in a way that does the least damage to the environment and upholds the needs of the people in the area."