Anchorage Daily News

Bishop leaving Alaska. The leader of the Alaska Russian Orthodox Church, who has been the target of criticism over his leadership style, plans to leave Alaska, a KTUU Channel 2 story reports. “I’m going to be leaving Alaska and taking some time to visit family and friends whom I've neglected for the last seven years since I've been in Alaska,” the bishop told the station.

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The Saint Elias Mountains from the window of a Twin Otter aircraft en route to an ice core drill site in May 2002. See item below. (Cameron Wake, UNH)

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The bishop has been on a leave of absence since last month. “When I came here the diocese was divided and that was because of the bishop prior to me,” he told KTUU. “And to divide or to continue to allow that division to be here, I just don't think it's the right thing to do, and sometimes you need to go where you can be appreciated for your talents and your efforts.”

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Helping hand. With its city facing an energy crisis, the Juneau Assembly has approved an assistance package for residents and small-business owners who are looking at big increases in their power bills, a Juneau Empire story says. The emergency action involves about $3 million that will go to United Way of Southeast Alaska and the Juneau Economic Development Council, which will distribute the money, according to the story.

The city has been anticipating skyrocketing power bills after an avalanche knocked out links to cheap hydroelectricity. Generators running on expensive diesel fuel have been fired up to fill in.

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West Coast salmon fisheries declared a failure. Based on the collapse of California’s Sacramento River chinook fishery, federal officials Thursday closed the West Coast ocean salmon fishery and paved the way for disaster relief for fishermen, according to a story in the Seattle Times.

Salmon fishing off California and most of Oregon will be closed. Targeted closures in a small portion of northern Oregon and Washington — designed to protect Columbia River chinook — will allow only limited tribal, sport and commercial fishing. Officials are calling 2008 a “bleak year,” the worst harvest in the history of the West Coast fishery. Prices on Alaska salmon are expected to rise as a result.

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Tougher in Fairbanks. Fairbanks will show up often in the History Channel series “Tougher in Alaska” to begin airing this month, according to a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story. Fairbanks figures in about five shows of the 13-part series, the story says.

“I bet throughout the time that our film crew and I were out, we spent more time in Fairbanks than anywhere else in the state,” Geo Beach, host of the show, told the newspaper. “We didn’t do anything in Anchorage because it’s more of an urban area. Fairbanks, on the other hand, is truly a suburban area, but it’s in the middle of the wild.”

Meanwhile, Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” series, which features Alaska crab fishermen, is reeling in huge ratings, according to Multichannel News. The Web site posting says the season premiere this week drew 3.5 million viewers and “was also the No. 1 prime-time nonsports cable program for viewers between 25 and 54 years of age and for people between 18 and 49 years of age. It also pulled the highest rating for men between 25 and 54 years of age and between 19 and 49.”

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Eat lower on the fish food chain. Montreal-based author Taras Grescoe’s new book, “Bottomfeeder,” due out Saturday, argues that fish lovers should avoid overfished and overeaten big species like tuna, cod and swordfish, and head for sardines and smaller sea dwellers that reproduce quickly and feed on plankton, krill and algae, according to a story on the book and the author in the The Globe and Mail.

Big fish can be bad for your health, he says, their bodies bearing concentrations of pollutants like dioxins and mercury. He likes Alaska’s sustainable fisheries, too, including Pacific halibut and wild salmon.

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Global warming study in Denali National Park. This month, scientists from the universities of Maine and New Hampshire will locate specific drill sites from which to take surface-to-bedrock ice cores in the national park, according to a report in Science Daily.

“Layer-cake” ice from core samples can tell the story of volcanic activity, solar energy variations and greenhouse gas fluctuations. High-altitude weather stations and samples from shallower snow pits and ice cores will be used to gather data on temperature and atmospheric circulation changes. Scientists want to better understand heavily polluted air masses, called “arctic haze,” that have been drifting into the region for decades from North America, Europe and Asia. The National Science Foundation funds their work.

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Rooting among the couch cushions for nickels. A report on CNNMoney.com says that’s what oil exploration has come to in Alaska’s slowly drying fields. But $100-per-barrel oil has enticed companies like Conoco Phillips to spend some big bucks to go back over the old territory, squeezing out more oil. The company is investing in heavy-oil technology and preparations for a natural gas pipeline.

“We think the Arctic is the new frontier,” says Conoco CEO Jim Mulva, “and it's not just in Alaska. The potential exploration opportunities go all the way around the Arctic Circle.”

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Northern Edge 2008. The largest military training exercise in Alaska begins Monday and will involve about 5,000 people from all branches of the U.S. services, according to an Elmendorf Air Force Base web posting. The exercise will last through May 16.

“Alaska residents may see and hear increased flying activity during the exercise,” the posting says. Eielson Air Force Base also is involved in the training.

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New fishing. Sea ice receding from the north coast of Alaska is making for a new fishery of sorts, and a Scientific American story looks at efforts to figure out exactly what’s going on before the area is swarming with fishing vessels. A key move in the works is the proposal to close areas north of the Bering Strait to fishing, which is backed by scientists, environmentalists and some in the fishing industry itself.

“We don't know the full scope and effect as sea ice recedes and climate changes,” said David Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, a Juneau-based industry group. “We need to close the Arctic until we understand what the effects are going to be in the environment.” The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is due to consider the issue in June.

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And then there’s this selection of items from the always arresting police log of The Unalaska Advertiser:

> Drunk Disturbance — Caller requested assistance removing an intoxicated person from his residence. The caller later changed his mind and told officers the man could stay.

> Noise Disturbance — Caller reported two vehicles filled with noisy people at Memorial Park. Responding officers found one vehicle, void of occupants, upon their arrival.

> Traffic Crime — Driver reported a taxi driver had executed a U-turn in the middle of the S-curves, creating a traffic hazard. An officer contacted the suspect driver, who admitted to having performed said maneuver. The taxi driver was issued a citation.

> Animal — Loose, barking fox.

> Animal — Loose, barking dog.

> Animal — Secured, barking dog.

> Trespass — Sports Bar management reported a woman in the bathroom refused to come out “without a fight.” Officers contacted the woman, who completed her business in the bathroom then left the bar without incident.

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