Alaska: NOAA announces limited access program for sport charter halibut fishing in Alaska - NOAA Fisheries has announced a new fishery management program passed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council that limits the number of charter boats in the guided sport halibut fishery in Southeast Alaska and the central Gulf of Alaska.

"The new program will stabilize the guided charter fishing sector, maintain access to the fishery for businesses that participated in recent years, and allow access for others who can obtain transferable permits," said Alaska's Acting Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, Doug Mecum.

"The guided sport charter halibut sector in these areas has been growing steadily and exceeding harvest levels set to protect the halibut population. This new program adds incentive for fishermen to conserve the halibut population over time," Mecum added.

Sport charter halibut businesses will have to obtain a permit from NOAA to be able to have clients legally catching halibut in Southeast Alaska and the central Gulf of Alaska. NOAA Fisheries will publicize the 60-day permit application period, which likely will begin in early February 2010.

Charter halibut guides will be required to carry their new permit on board starting February 1, 2011. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Alaska: BBB REPORTS THE TOP 10 SCAMS AND RIP-OFFS OF 2009 - 2009 will be remembered as a year when consumer finance, employment and pop-culture trends were at the forefront of everyone's minds-especially scammers, who preyed heavily on emotions. Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington reports on the top 10 scams of 2009:

1. Lottery checks - Consumers receive phoney letters in the mail from supposed lotteries like "Publisher's Clearing House" telling them they've won millions, and must wire hundreds of dollars back to the scammers to cover taxes or some other bogus fee. The letter is accompanied by a check for as much as $5,900 with instructions to call the Publishers Clearing House representative listed in the letter. Over the phone, the victims are told that, in order to receive their prize, they must cash the check and then wire approximately $4,000 to Publishers Clearing House and then the rest of the winnings will be sent to them. The check, however, is fraudulent and any money wired to the scammers cannot be recovered.

While this scam predominantly takes advantage of individuals, business owners also need to be aware that their company's name could potentially be used by fraudsters to pull off this con. The fraudulent checks sent to the supposed prize winners with the letter are copies of checks from legitimate businesses which have been stolen by the scammers. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Sitka: First baby born in Sitka in 2010 - Kaelyn Hallin Olsen was the first baby of 2010 born at the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka.

Kaelyn was born at 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010. Her parents are Holly and Jeffrey Olsen of Sitka. Kaelyn weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and she was 20 inches long at birth. Kaelyn was delivered by Dr. Grace Hwang of SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital.

Kaelyn is her parents' first child. Her grandparents are Pam and Carl Samuelson of Sitka and Shirley and Knud Olsen of Seattle.

As the first baby of the new year born at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, Kaelyn and her parents received several special gifts from local businesses. The donated gifts included a variety of baby supplies and numerous gift certificates. The gifts were presented to the family by Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital Administrator Norma J. Perkins. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Craig: University Closes Educational Support Center in Craig - The University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan announced today the closure of the Educational Support Center in Craig, Alaska, effective January 1, 2010.

The University will continue to support UAS students on Prince of Wales Island through continually growing distance-based student support services. Students can access student services via the web at ketch.alaska.edu. Students may call the toll free number at 1-888-550-6177 for information on classes, registration and advising appointments. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

National: Federal judge asks prosecutors to put a price on child porn By JAMES WALSH - She goes by the name of "Amy," and the photos her uncle took of her a decade ago -- when she was 8 or 9 years old -- are among the most widely circulated series of child-pornography images in the United States.

Now her fight for damages from those who possess or distribute those photos is emerging as a big issue in federal courtrooms across the country. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Health - Fitness: Alcoholism vs. drinking too much By LEE BOWMAN - We're at the time of year when people who tend to over-imbibe in the alcohol department, perhaps, make resolutions about changing that behavior.

Officially, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says its surveys indicate three quarters of American adults never pass the threshold for problem drinking -- five or more drinks for men or four or more drinks for women (some guidelines say six and five) in any one day. The other danger sign is two drinks a day for men, one for women, daily. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Personal Finance: IRS cracks down on tax preparers By KATHLEEN PENDER - Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman has announced plans to increase the agency's oversight of paid tax preparers.

For the tax-filing season that's just beginning, the IRS will send letters to about 10,000 preparers whose returns include large volumes of certain types of errors and remind them to be vigilant about areas where mistakes frequently occur. These include the earned income tax credit and the first-time homebuyer credit, both of which involve "quite a bit of fraud," Shulman said. Others include Schedule C business income and expenses and itemized deductions. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

JAY AMBROSE: Tea party wisdom - The hoity-toity crowd took a look at tea party protesters this past year, told us what fools these peasants were and no doubt felt they had thereby helped diminish the menace, but look what's happening now -- widespread popularity along with all kinds of sophisticated policy analyses consonant with tea party positions.

It's a good movement, say 41 percent of Americans in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that also showed just 23 percent thinking it a lousy movement. The Democrats? Some 35 percent viewed them positively, it's reported. The negative view was 45 percent. And nobody much likes Republicans -- well, 23 percent do, while 43 percent are holding their noses. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

TOM PURCELL: New Year's Resolutions, Fed-style - Get this: The federal government is offering tips on New Year's resolutions.

I stumbled upon its "Popular New Year's Resolutions" page on usa.gov, the official Web portal of the United States government. - More.
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

FLOYD & MARY BETH BROWN: Obama Executive Order Alters Your Legal Protections - With the signing of an under-publicized amendment to Executive Order 12425, Barack Obama has fundamentally altered your constitutional rights. His actions are undermining your rights to protect personal privacy from a foreign internationalist police agency named Interpol. A one-paragraph executive order may seem inconsequential to many, but this action has far reaching implications and threatens the sovereignty of America. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

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KPU Sale By John A. Beck - I am responding to the letter by Mr. Edwardson. The sale of KPU Telephone is a much discussed item around our breakroom table. My personal view, and I have stated this in front of the City Council, is how can a resident of the City vote on a sale if the price and the buyer is not disclosed. Let me sell your house but the price will surprize you. The whole thing stinks. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Fine qualities, yet NOT SUBJECT TO CONSIDERATION By Jose Garcia - The purpose of this letter is to react on how the HR Manager of the Ketchikan Borough composes letters to job applicants. It appeared to be vague and rather not within the norms of an equal rating good ethics, much more coming from the government employee as such. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

High school cop By Robert McRoberts - We've got to make up our mind about this. I've heard people say just having the cop car parked outside the school is a deterrent. I feel the students are use to the cop and they know how to avoid the cop now. What I would like to see is what has been accomplished by having a cop at the high school for the last few years. How much drugs have been confiscated and have the people that supplied the drugs been caught? This is where I feel we are wasting money if nothing is done. If we're not going to make life a living hell for the cooks and the dealers that supply the kids, we are wasting our time. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Make a difference, Healthy Living! By Terri Bermudez - Recently I did a PSA radio ad, what I feel is a honest attempt to reach out to an addict, or someone who may still be suffering with Meth addiction. I learned the hard way, and believe me it does not need to end up like my situation did. Long story short, I was BAD. I sold drugs in this little town to SUPPORT MY METH habit. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Evan Bolling's Rants By Richard Easbey - Time to get a new schtick Mr. Bolling. - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

RE: Obamas Czars (Ooooh Please) By Bill Nelson - When I was in Biology class, Evan, we respected our teachers, classmates and the learning institution enough that we were not disruptive or trying to draw attention to ourselves. We were there to learn, Evan, can you say the same? - More...
Wednesday - January 06, 2010

Officer in our Schools - SAFETY FIRST By Roberta "Bobbie" McCreary - Thank you Chas for speaking out about our responsibility to support measures that protect our youth... we DO need to make our community safe for our youth and we DO need to take our community's rep down a few points (quite a few actually). What about our rep as the community in the US that has highest per capita prescriptions for the drug OxyContin? How do we stack up with meth labs, domestic violence, drop outs? Not so good, I'm told. - More...
Monday PM - January 04, 2010

RE: Obama Czars (Ooooh Please) By Evan Bolling - When I was in biology class, we would have "periodic" lab hours (lame pun, I know). I strolled into class one day, rather groggy but was immediately stimulated by the congested smell of formaldehyde, latex and VERY raw pork. "Heck Yes! We are going to be dissecting pig fetuses today!" I said out-loud. We picked and pried at all the little parts inside, and that is exactly what Al Johnson's article "Obama Czars" is in desperate need of, a painstaking dissection. - More...
Monday PM - January 04, 2010

Be a part of the Solution By Diana Chaudhary - You are right Teri J. Wilson.... there are a lot of serious problems in our community and it sounds like you have ideas on how to solve them. I would urge you and everyone else with concerns and ideas to come to the Community Conversation on January 12th to participate in a discussion that will address not only problems, but also what is currently being done or needs to be done to help solve those problems. - More...
Monday PM - January 04, 2010

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