Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has a habit of striking gold with his adult-oriented films. His family films, however, have always been hit or miss.

Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The first “Spy Kids” a decade ago surprised Rodriguez fans with an extremely talented and energetic, if not unexpected, break from his typical body-count fare. The quality dipped with the sequels and hit major lows with his other kids’ titles. Now he’s added a new chapter to his most famous franchise and it captures some of that quality back, but just barely.

Alaska Ship & Drydock, Inc. has received more than $1 million as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration Small Shipyard Grants Program. The program is to stimulate productivity and encourage modernization to make small shipyards more competitive in the global market place.

A ranking U.S. Department of Agriculture official made his third trip to Alaska this week as the federal government prepares to transition the Tongass National Forest into its second-growth management plan. Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment Harris Sherman was off to a busy start on Saturday, holding meetings with various entities that have stakes in the forest’s future.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s large whale disentanglement team rescued a baby humpback on Wednesday.

The calf had become entangled in a trailing buoy line.

NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle said a charter fishing vessel made the initial report early in the morning when the passengers noticed the calf with its mother near Halibut Cove in Lynn Canal.

Speegle said the team then spent several hours monitoring and assessing the situation to determine if the line could be appropriately cut.