Alaska Digest
Judge orders 517,000 ballots reprinted
ANCHORAGE - An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered the state to rewrite, reprint and redistribute all 517,000 of its ballots for the Nov. 2 election.
Judge Morgan Christen ruled the ballot summary of an initiative to change how the state fills its U.S. Senate vacancies was inaccurate and biased.
The initiative is one of four propositions that will appear on Alaska's general election ballot, along with presidential, Senate and state candidates.
It would abolish temporary appointments the governor can now make when a Senate seat is vacated. A special election would be called in all cases except when the vacancy occurs 60 days or less before the primary.
The four-sentence summary on the ballot wrongly estimates how long a Senate seat would be vacant under the initiative, Christen wrote in her order.
The summary also says the measure would leave Alaska without full representation in the Senate - wording which is not impartial, she said.
"Emphasizing one consequence to the exclusion of others is impermissible advocacy," Christen wrote.
Christen ordered the state to write a new initiative summary, submit the new language to initiative sponsors and file it with the court. The sponsors, Trust the People, will have a day to object to the new summary.
Former Gov. Knowles gets Teamsters endorsement
ANCHORAGE - U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Tony Knowles received the endorsement Wednesday of the Alaska Teamsters union, which represents more than 7,000 workers in the state.
Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said in a news release that the Teamsters organization is offering its full support to help Knowles, a Democrat, get elected.
"We're going to provide every resource we possibly can to educate our members in Alaska and make sure that they vote on Nov. 2," Hoffa said. "We're going to put staff on the ground, visiting our work sites, working full-time between now and Election Day to take this campaign directly to our members."
Knowles, 61, a former two-term governor, is challenging Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is standing for election Nov. 2 for the first time since her father, Gov. Frank Murkowksi, appointed her to fill the Senate seat he vacated in 2002.
Local Union 959 Secretary-Treasurer Mike Kenny said during Knowles' tenure as governor he "created jobs, strengthened Alaska's economy, and renewed our state's commitment to education.
Fairbanks seeks $1,000 in restitution for rescue
FAIRBANKS - The city of Fairbanks wants to be reimbursed $1,000 for rescuing a 21-year-old thrill-seeker from a 120-foot crane two weeks ago.
Stan Vernon Hughes spent a week in jail following the incident and was released on his own recognizance. He faces a charge of disorderly conduct.
Hughes told police he crawled up the 120-foot steel boom of a Lima 300-ton truck crane on a dare. The crane is being used to build a Lowe's home improvement store.
At the top of the boom, Hughes slid down about 25 feet of steel cable to an 1,800-pound steel hook, where he was stranded nearly 100 feet in the air.
Trial begins in death of Palmer youth
PALMER - The trial of an 18-year-old man accused of killing his best friend is under way with his lawyer stating he may be guilty of negligence but not murder.
Shane Harapat and Kenny Alcantra, friends since kindergarten, were sitting on Harapat's bed in the family's Palmer home in February 2003 when Harapat's .44 Magnum Ruger Super Red Hawk revolver fired.
Harapat told police the gun fired as he was handing it to Alcantra.
However, Harapat, now 18, was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. His trial began Tuesday.
His parents had bought the pistol for him months before the shooting, when he turned 16.
Harapat's parents are on trial too, in the same courtroom, for buying the gun and allowing their son to use it unsupervised.