Northwest Digest
Volcano stirs after 10,000-year slumber
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HOMER - Alaska Volcano Observatory scientists confirmed this week what earlier photographs of steam plumes coming from near Cape Douglas suggested: Fourpeaked Volcano has become active after last erupting more than 10,000 years ago. Scientists are saying the volcano, about 100 miles southwest of Homer, is no longer extinct.
"This one caught us on our toes. We had Fourpeaked in that category of volcanoes we didn't need to worry about," said Michael West, a seismologist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, one of the partner agencies with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys and the U.S. Geological Survey at AVO.
Last Wednesday, AVO assigned Fourpeaked a level of concern of yellow in its four-color system, defined as elevated seismic activity with the potential of an eruption. Fourpeaked previously was not assigned a level of concern.
AVO warned Monday that an eruption in the next few days to week is possible.
Fourpeaked is acting somewhat like the Augustine Volcano before it erupted in mid-January, West said. On a flight Sunday, scientists photographed a line of fumaroles, or volcanic vents, steaming through a glacier along the west flank of Fourpeaked. West said some ash was seen around some of the vents. Measurements at the vents showed temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and the presence of sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, all in high amounts. Ash samples were taken, but have not yet been fully analyzed.
Testimony begins in road rage murder trial
FAIRBANKS - The attorney for a man charged with a road rage murder claimed his client was not the aggressor in collisions that killed another driver.
Defense attorney James Hackett said Thursday his client, Michael Bolton, 43, drove a Geo Metro that weighed less than a ton and that he was afraid of a 31/2-ton Excursion driven by the man who died in the accident, Jimmy Walters, 43.
"It pushed the Tonka toy Geo Metro," Hackett said as Bolton's trial opened.
Prosecutors tell a different story.
Bolton is accused of ramming Walters from behind, causing the Excursion to swerve. When Walters overcorrected, the big sport utility vehicle rolled, crossed into the oncoming lane and landed on top of a minivan, trapping Walters between the two vehicles, according to prosecutors.
Bolton faces additional charges of felony assault, failure to render assistance and tampering with evidence. Authorities said he fled the scene and hid his car.
Two groups plan new Alaska planetariums
ANCHORAGE - Alaska's largest city is a community without a planetarium. In a few years, it could have two.
One is planned as part of the Anchorage Museum expansion downtown. The other is part of the new Integrated Science Building at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Each will seat 60 and have a high-end star show projector. Plans call for them to come on line within several months of each other at the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010.
Planetarium organizers only recently discovered each other's plans and some question whether the city can support both.
"I don't think so, personally," said Pat Wolf, museum director, after she got the news last week.
The museum and the Imaginarium joined to develop the downtown planetarium project. It will put on shows that cater to schoolchildren, tourists and the general public, including movies and laser light shows.
The UAA planetarium will serve first as a lecture hall and classroom for astronomy students. Public shows will be offered on weekends and evenings.
Seattle consolidates medical students from five states
SEATTLE - When Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz was growing up on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, doctors seemed to come and go.
She saw her dad die in his 40s of a heart attack and other family members suffer deal with chronic health problems without the benefit of consistent, quality medical care. A member of the Salish and Kootenai tribes, Muzquiz decided as a kid she wanted to grow up and do something to help her people.
"That was my plan: to go to medical school and then try to make health care better for the people here on the reservation," said Muzquiz, 35, who lives in Polson and practices in Ronan, Mont.
A 2003 graduate of the regional medical school program of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho based at the University of Washington in Seattle, Muzquiz now works for the tribes as a primary care physician.
The program's goal is to train primary care doctors and send them back to work in small towns and rural areas in the five states. Students are offered incentives to participate, such as in-state tuition for the University of Washington.
In Wyoming and Alaska, students must return to the state for a few years after their residency or repay some of the money the state invested in their education.
The program currently accepts up to 120 medical students each year from Washington, 20 from Montana, 18 from Idaho, 10 from Alaska and 10 from Wyoming, though each of the states has been offered a chance to underwrite more students within the next few years.