Halibut anglers' catch limit cut by feds: Southcentral Alaska anglers using charter boats to reach halibut fishing grounds this summer will find themselves limited to a catch of a fish and a half. The International Pacific Halibut Commission has set the catch limit for Area 3A at 9.4 million pounds for 2014. A so-called "catch-share plan'' developed by the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council that's dominated by commercial fisheries had earlier set the charter catch at about 15 percent of that figure, or some 1.4 million pounds. To avoid exceeding the catch, charter anglers will be limited to one halibut of any size and one halibut smaller than 29 inches. The latter fish can be expected to weigh 10 pounds or less -- perhaps about half the size anglers seek. But Southcentral anglers continue to fare better than the state's Panhandle region, where the limit will be one halibut bigger than 76 inches or smaller than 44 inches. Alaska halibut stocks have been declining for years for reasons that remain unclear. Non-charter anglers will continue to fish under a limit of two fish of any size. The status of anglers who rent bare boats to go fishing is at this time unclear. The council is trying to declare them charter anglers. Action is expected its February meeting in Seattle.
Call it the Idiot's Guide to the Alaska budget: Apparently concerned that Alaskans are befuddled when it comes to fiscal matters, a pair of Democratic lawmakers have pre-filed a bill that would require the Legislative Finance Division to annually prepare a one-page summary of the state budget and finances in a "simple, easy-to-understand format." "Peanuts" is what the bill would cost if passed, because the budgetary Cliff's Notes would be distributed along with 1099 tax forms that are already sent by the Division of Revenue to all PFD recipients through email or snail mail, said one of the bill sponsors, Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. The other sponsor, Rep. Chris Tuck of Anchorage, said in a prepared statement: "Alaskans need to know how the Legislature is spending their money. The more the public knows, the more effective they will be at making sure their government is working for them." The Legislative Finance Division is nonpartisan. Using it to prepare this "taxpayer receipt" would ensure an impartial, nonpoliticized and objective summary of finances, a statement about the prefiled bill said. The bill was introduced with an "inclusive spirit." All lawmakers, including Republicans, will be invited to sign on as co-sponsors, the statement said.
Wasilla man remains in critical condition after Parks Highway crash: Alaska State Troopers have named the Wasilla man severely injured in a collision with a tractor-trailer near milepost 185 of the Parks Highway. Troopers said Roy E. Johnson, 27, remained in critical condition Friday morning at the Alaska Native Medical Center, in Anchorage. Troopers said Johnson crossed the center line of the highway and collided with the truck driven by 42-year-old Redd Bailey of Wasilla. Bailey was not injured in the wreck, but Johnson's truck, a Ford F-35, burst into flames after hitting a guard rail. Johnson sustained head injuries and was transported to Anchorage for medical treatment.
Road closure roundup: Drivers headed down the Seward Highway should expect about 45-minute delays as crews work to reduce avalanche dangers, according to the state Department of Transportation. From Bird Creek to Portage Glacier and from Summit Lake to the Seward Highway/Sterling Highway Y, drivers can expect to come to stops due to the conditions. In Kodiak, the Mill Bay Road Connector to Gibson Cove Road is also shut down due to high standing water on the road. The Canadian side of the Klondike Highway, between mile 2 and 14, is also closed because of freezing rain.The Elliot Highway, near Fairbanks, is not closed just yet, but DOT is reporting "zero" visibility due to blowing snow between milepost 92 to milepost 108. Check out Alaska 511 for road updates.
Things are looking up for Anchorage tourism: Anchorage bed tax collections for 2013 are expected to be up significantly to perhaps their highest year ever. Though final figures won't be available until the middle of next month, the city estimates that $23.5 million was collected. That's up from last year's total of $21.6 million. The figures were released by Julie Saupe, chief executive of Visit Anchorage, during the unveiling of the group's 2013 "Report to the Community" on Thursday. In 2013, Visit Anchorage said it met more than 1 million people as it reached out to spread the message about Anchorage and Alaska during travel agent training and consumer travel shows. The group also targeted areas such as Germany, Australia, Iceland, South Africa, India and Latin America. International travelers represent just 10 percent of visitors to Alaska, but they usually spend more and stay longer than other travelers, Saupe said. This is the fourth year of consecutive growth in Anchorage, she said. The bed taxes collected are split three ways, between the municipality's general fund, to service the bond debt and operations of the Anchorage Convention Centers, and to support Visit Anchorage's marketing efforts.
Don't be a moron, avoid backcountry: Add avalanches to the plagues Mother Nature is bringing down on Alaska's urban heartland heading into the weekend. On the heels of warnings from the National Weather Service that parts of the state's populous Southcentral region could be hit with 3 to 5 inches of cold rain and that winds gusting above 80 mph could rake the Anchorage Hillside, the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center is now warning that the mountains could tumbling down, too. Or at least the white coating atop them could. Heavy snow and rain coupled with high winds are expected to cause natural avalanches to release -- at least through Saturday, the center warned. "Human-triggered avalanches are certain,'' it said. This does not appear to be a good weekend to go into the mountains anywhere. Even Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, where large amounts of ammunition are shot at the surrounding slopes to bring down avalanches, was closed on Friday due to rain and high winds. Obviously, the skiing might also be a little wet this weekend. Avalanche condition updates can be found here.
Soldier awarded Purple Heart: An Alaska U.S. Army soldier has been awarded the Purple Heart, the oldest military award still being given, for wounds he received while deployed to Afghanistan, according to an Army press release. Sgt. Rigoberto Luviano was wounded last year when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. Luviano's family looked on as he was presented the medal by a commander of the Warrior Transition Battalion on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a base that expects to lose 780 troops by the end of fiscal year 2015. Luviano is from Lexington, N.C., and arrived at JBER in 2012 after serving at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Benning, Ga. The 2013 rotation to Afghanistan was his third deployment. He also deployed to Kuwait in 2011 and to Iraq in 2005
Alaska hunting guide faces charges: A 62-year-old, big-game guide from Wasilla is getting a lesson in why you want to keep the clients happy. Alaska Trophy Hunters owner Richard A. Kinmon Sr. apparently didn't, because Alaska Wildlife Troopers say "one of Kinmon's former clients" complained to them in July of last year year that "another client on a guided hunt had killed a Dall sheep in September of 2009 without possessing a valid, non-resident sheep tag." That's not a huge deal; more than one Alaska big-game guide has been known to let a client kill an animal and then get a tag. The problem for Kinmon was that the report from an ex-client sparked an investigation that led troopers to conclude he made a habit of sidestepping the law. A Department of Fish and Game license vendor since 2008, Kinmon was discovered to have "sold big game tags to four of his clients in hunting camp after they had harvested their animals,'' according to a trooper press release. "Kinmon also guided a client for caribou without being certified for that species ... baited brown/grizzly bear with a moose carcass that he moved from the kill with with an Argo (off-road vehicle), allowed his assistant guide (Colin) Marquiss to harvest a moose while guiding clients, assisted a client in taking a sub-legal moose, and falsified public records." Kinmon now finds himself now charged with a total of 30 hunting and guiding violations. Meanwhile, Marquiss, 23, also a Wasilla resident, faces three counts of unlawfully guiding, and a former Kinmon client -- 24-year-old Joseph Hahn from Pittsburgh, Pa. -- is charged with taking a brown/grizzly bear without a valid tag, unlawful possession of game, and falsifying public records. If found guilty, Kinmon could be facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines and looking at up to a year in jail. Troopers have already seized a pair of Argos he allegedly used in illegal hunts. Those vehicles are worth $10,000 to $20,000 each.
Former Alaskan nominated for second Oscar: Ben Grossmann, 36, has again been nominated for Best Visual Effects for the 86th Academy Awards. Grossmann, who grew up in Alaska's Interior -- living in Delta Junction and Fairbanks -- won the award in 2012 for his work on the animated movie "Hugo." Grossmann's latest nomination comes for his visual effects work on the movie, "Star Trek: Into Darkness." But the former Alaskan said he doesn't expect his team -- which includes co-nominees Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, and Burt Dalton -- to win this year. Grossmann told the Fairbanks Daily News Miner that he thinks "Gravity" -- a movie about astronauts being stranded in space -- will get the Oscar nod this year. But that doesn't mean Grossmann won't get some hardware for his "Star Trek" work: He has also been nominated for awards from the Visual Effects Society, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Yellowstone's brown bears may soon lose "endangered" designation: While they're flourishing in Alaska, brown bears elsewhere have struggled, even landing on the Endangered Species list. But now there's momentum in a bid to delist the bears of the Yellowstone area, and a new study suggests that the destruction of whitebark pines, once the bears' primary fall source of food, may not have had the dramatic impact first predicted. As High Country News explains, in a detailed report on the bears -- and the politics surrounding their status: "The delisting debate is now caught between two competing scientific narratives: Either the ecosystem is collapsing out from under bears, due partly to climate change (which is no good for whitebark pine), or else grizzlies' built-in adaptability is helping them weather yet another change to their landscape."