Alaska News

AK Beat: JBER soldier pleads not guilty to Anchorage sexual assaults

Anchorage Soldier pleads not guilty to sexual assaults: Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier Tony Bullock pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he sexually assaulted two women in July in the Anchorage neighborhood of Mountain View. The 25-year-old, originally from Virginia, faces nine felony charges for the alleged attacks. Police say that DNA links Bullock to the crimes. Legal proceedings will continue this week, detective John Vandervalk said, with lots of evidence remaining to be analyzed.

Woman arrested after alleged ulu attack: Laura Johnson, 22, of Ambler, was arrested Saturday and charged with domestic violence assault after she attacked her husband with an ulu knife, according to Alaska State Troopers. Troopers said in a dispatch that Johnson left "multiple lacerations" on the 25-year-old man and alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the assault. Johnson was being held without bail in Kotzebue.

Small plane goes down in Wasilla, closes Seward Meridian Parkway: A small plane went down on the Seward Meridian Parkway in Wasilla early Monday morning. The Alaska State Troopers said they received a call about the incident at about 8:30 a.m. Troopers said the single-engine plane was on the roadway, and the sole occupant of the aircraft was seen up and moving after making an emergency landing on the roadway. Troopers said that the pilot was uninjured in the incident, and may have taken off from a nearby airstrip before running into trouble. Troopers asked people to avoid the area of the road where it intersects the East Meridian Parkway, as the incident had closed the road.

Air Force now questioning move from Eielson: U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, hinted last week that Air Force officials may be reconsidering plans to move an F-16 fighter jet squadron from Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks to Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson in Anchorage -- a proposal widely criticized throughout Alaska. "With every conversation I've had in the past couple months," Murkowski told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, "now I have a greater sense of confidence that the Air Force has recognized that what we have at Eielson is just too important, and that moving the F16s down to JBER is just the wrong move at the wrong time." Murkowski met last Thursday with Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning. The Air Force proposal was an effort to save money, but officials in both Fairbanks and Anchorage have called the idea into question, noting the lack of housing in Anchorage and the devastating impact such a move would have on Fairbanks' economy. "He said absolutely that when it came to the proposal to move the F-16s that the Air Force had not done their homework," Murkowski said of her meeting with Fanning, according to the News-Miner. "They were not able to back it up with numbers."

Silly stringing out the chief: After 25 years, longtime Kodiak police chief T.C. Kamai retired Friday, but not without a little fun. Colleagues of the chief -- who is the second-longest-serving ever in the island community of about 6,000 -- sprayed him down with silly string during his last morning on the job. Kamai said because he was ready for a change and for the department to benefit from new leadership. No new chief has been named yet, with Lt. Ray Ellis serving in the interim. Kamai will move from chief to his new job as village public safety officer coordinator with the Kodiak Area Native Association.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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