State Brief
Barrow man dies after stabbing
ANCHORAGE - North Slope Borough police on Thursday were investigating the stabbing death of a Barrow man.
Charles "Butch" Morrison, 48, was found unconscious in the kitchen of a Barrow home late Tuesday night. Another man, Simeon Ahmakak, 47, was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, police said.
Paramedics took Morrison to Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:56 a.m. Wednesday.
Morrison's body was flown to Anchorage for an autopsy by the state medical examiner.
Man robs Anchorage credit union
ANCHORAGE - A man robbed a South Anchorage credit union Thursday afternoon, the FBI said.
The 2:52 p.m. robbery at the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union was the second robbery in Anchorage this week and the third in Alaska this year, according to the FBI.
In Thursday's robbery, a man demanded money from a teller and made a threat that suggested he had a gun, although no weapon was displayed, said Special Agent Eric Gonzalez. The man ran off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
On Tuesday, a different man robbed a Northrim Bank in midtown Anchorage. Gonzalez said there have been no arrests in that case.
Bank surveillance cameras recorded images of both robbers.
JDHS kicks off canned food drive
JUNEAU - Members of the Juneau-Douglas High School Student Council, National Honor Society and Interact Club have teamed up to put on this year's canned food drive.
Through Nov. 21 students are asked to bring nonperishable items to their third-period class. The class with the most canned food items at the end of the week will earn a pizza party.
All items will be donated to a local charity in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Students are asked to bring in instant potatoes, canned vegetables, canned soups, stuffing, canned pumpkin pie mix, beets and other instant products.
ANWR activists end trek to D.C.
WASHINGTON - Two activists who criss-crossed the country to rally opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge reached their goal.
Ken Madsen, a writer and photographer from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and Tim Leach, a freelance environmental educator, reached Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
The two started at opposite ends of the country with their road trips.
Madsen rode 3,450 miles from Seattle after starting Aug. 23. Leach started in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in early September and traveled 1,600 miles via bicycle and sea kayak through northeastern states.
The journeys were billed as the "Walk to Washington." They were organized by the Caribou Commons Project, a collaboration between Native groups, artists and environmental groups.
The activists arrived just over a week after the general election put the U.S. Senate back on the road to Republican control. With a Republican in the White House and Republicans controlling the House, Congress may be more inclined to open the refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling, Leach said. Stopping such legislation "will be a bit of a challenge," he said. He said activists have to focus on members of Congress from the Northeast.
"That's a stronghold we need to keep," he said.
Board maintains MD's suspension
ANCHORAGE - The Alaska State Medical Board has voted unanimously to uphold a hearing officer's recommendation that Dr. Jay Van Houten's medical license remain summarily suspended.
The suspension was handed down in late August after a state review said irresponsible and erratic practices by Van Houten led to the deaths of two patients. A state review found that two patients died of drug overdoses from medication prescribed by Van Houten.
Van Houten can request reconsideration by the board or judicial review by the state Superior Court, said Gary Veres, chief investigator for the Division of Occupational Licensing.
Paul Stockler, Van Houten's attorney, said last week that he planned to appeal the case to the Superior Court if the board approved the suspension.
Members OK Mat-Su hospital deal
PALMER - Valley Hospital, the only such facility in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, will enter into a joint venture with a Texas company that has promised to build a $75 million hospital in the Palmer-Wasilla area.
By a vote of 1,331-206, members approved the joint venture with Triad Hospitals Inc., the nation's third-largest for-profit hospital company.
Valley Hospital is a nonprofit organization controlled by its membership, and its bylaws called for a two-thirds vote by those members for any such arrangement. Membership is available to anyone in the hospital service area who pays a $5 fee.
The new hospital would replace the existing one in Palmer and be nearly twice the size, with 75 beds, compared to the current facility's 39.
Valley Hospital officials spent thousands of dollars on a campaign to convince members to approve the venture. The deal still needs approval from the state health department and may need to be reviewed by the state attorney general's office.
Opponents said they were not surprised by the vote.
"It sounded really good to build a brand-new hospital, and for a lot of people that was a no-brainer to vote for it," said Al Strawn, head of a local credit union and one of the main opponents.
Hospital executives argued the hospital needed a new building to stay competitive but couldn't afford to build one on its own. Many residents already bypass the hospital to get their care in Anchorage.
Opponents agree the hospital must expand, but questioned teaming up with Triad, which manages more than 200 hospitals nationwide.
They questioned the 3-year-old company's short track record and said they didn't believe a large for-profit company would share control with the smaller nonprofit Valley Hospital Association.
"I hope it turns out well," Strawn said. "I hope some of the assumptions I'm working under turn out not to be the case."
Valley Hospital was started in 1935 as the Matanuska colony was getting under way.
Under the deal, Triad would provide most of the financing and get most of the profits, but would share control through a governing board made up equally of Triad representatives and local residents. Construction would begin next summer at the earliest and take two years.
Compiled from staff and wire service reports.