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Alaska: Governor
Files State Action; Lawsuit to Quiet Title to Brooks Range Area
Right-of-Way Announced - Governor Frank H. Murkowski announced
Monday the filing of a lawsuit against the United States and
Gale Norton, in her capacity as Secretary for the Department
of the Interior, to quiet title to the state's rights-of-way
for the Coldfoot-Chandalar Lake Trail and Caro to Coldfoot trail.
Several other non-federal stakeholders with claims to land adjoining
or surrounding the trails were named as defendants in this lawsuit.
"As far back as 1906 this
trail was used to access gold in the Chandalar area," said
Murkowski. "As such, the trail is one of many rights-of-way
under federal law located within Alaska. Establishing clear title
to these historical routes, including the Coldfoot-Chandalar
trail, is key to preserving our statehood rights and critical
to this administration's priority to open access across the state."
- More...
Tuesday - April 12, 2005
Alaska: Alaska
Senate Passes Retirement Security Act; Said To Deliver Fiscal
Certainty to Public Employee Retirement Systems - Monday
the state Senate passed the Retirement Security Act (SB 141)
that reforms and strengthens the state's public employee and
teacher retirement systems. The legislation addresses the $5.7
billion dollar shortfall in the retirement systems and gives
future public employees more control over their retirement accounts.
Sen. Bert Stedman (R - Sitka)
and Sen. Lyda Green (R - Wasilla) introduced the Retirement Security
Act after months of research and hard work by the senators and
their staffs. "This bill is designed to protect the benefit
structure for existing retirees and current public employees
while creating a more attractive retirement plan for future workers
by giving them greater control over investment decisions,"
said Sen. Stedman.
SB 141 creates a new defined
contribution plan for future public employees, similar to the
401-K plans currently used by millions of American workers. The
defined contribution plan gives employees greater control over
their investment choices. It also gives them the ability to take
their retirement account with them if they choose to leave state
service before reaching retirement age. - More...
Tuesday - April 12, 2005
Medical: Possible
insight into what causes insomnia and obesity By LEE BOWMAN
- Unconventional wiring that leaves brain circuits governing
sleep and wakefulness overly active may explain the prevalence
of both insomnia and obesity in many people, according to a new
study.
Insomnia, a chronic inability
to fall asleep or stay asleep, is estimated to affect as many
as one in eight Americans. Other recent research has found that
the less people sleep, the more likely they are to gain weight,
apparently because the lack of sleep triggers hormone imbalances
that boost the desire to eat.
Now, in a study using mice
and human cells, researchers at Yale University's School of Medicine
found that specialized brain cells called hypocretin neurons
are particularly susceptible to over-stimulation and lack the
ability of most other neurons to filter out signals from other
regions of the brain that aren't meant for them. - More...
Tuesday - April 12, 2005
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