Alaska Digest
AARP to host seminar on reverse mortgages
JUNEAU - Elderly Alaskans considering a reverse mortgage to replace the loss of monthly Longevity Bonus checks can find out more information at noon Wednesday at Centennial Hall.
AARP, a seniors advocacy group, is conducting a free seminar to provide an overview of the benefits and drawbacks of reverse mortgages.
Reverse mortgages allow seniors to convert the equity in their homes into cash. Instead of making monthly payments to a lender, the lender makes payments to the owner. No repayment is necessary until the borrower sells the property or moves elsewhere.
For more information contact Jan Jones, AARP reverse mortgage counselor, at 907-677-8405 or Ann Seacrest, AARP director of communications, at 907-762-3302.
Minority students increase at UAA
ANCHORAGE - The number of minority students at the University of Alaska Anchorage is showing a steady increase in recent years.
Since 1994, minority enrollment has climbed by about 1,000 students, or about 25 percent, according to statistics published by the university. That means that about one out of five students at UAA is a minority.
The greatest growth in minority students has come in the number of Alaska Natives, Hispanics and Asian Pacific Islander students, with those groups growing by nearly 50 percent, according to the university's 2002 trend book, a compilation of statistics. The black community has shrunk, however, by 20 percent in the same period.
Part of UAA's minority enrollment is coming closer to matching Anchorage's overall ethnic makeup, and is nearly equal to the state's already. According to the 2000 U.S. census, the state is 4.1 percent Hispanic, while Anchorage's Hispanic population is 5.7 percent.
Two quakes reported in Aleutian Islands
AMCHITKA ISLAND - A 5.4 magnitude earthquake was reported Monday near the Aleutian Islands, 85 miles southwest of Amchitka Island.
It was the second quake in the area in two days.
The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the Monday quake occurred at 5:12 p.m. It was 47 miles deep.
At 9:43 p.m. Sunday, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded 55 miles southwest of Amchitka Island, the center said. A tsunami watch was briefly issued from Sand Point to Attu.
Subsistence hunters oppose NPR-A plan
ANCHORAGE - Subsistence hunters on the North Slope say expanding exploration in the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could hurt their way of life.
The Bureau of Land Management wants to revisit environmental protections approved in 1998 that officials say are keeping nearly two-thirds of the oil in the NPR-A's northeastern section off-limits.
They say that by amending provisions of the plan, the BLM can protect subsistence resources yet still enable oil companies to tap more than 2 billion barrels of crude.
But Inupiat hunters and fishermen say the protected area - more than 800,000 acres around Teshekpuk Lake - is a crucial nursery for fish, game and birds that feed hundreds of families. At meetings in Barrow, Nuiqsut and other North Slope villages in recent weeks, they asked the BLM to honor the habitat protections they helped develop in 1998.
Knik Arm authority plans to hire lobbyists
ANCHORAGE - A group overseeing plans to build a Knik Arm bridge may spend up to $150,000 in state funds hiring lobbyists to push the project in Washington, D.C.
The Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority recently authorized its executive director, Henry Springer, to begin the process of hiring firms to lobby for project funding and to address engineering, environmental and other regulatory issues.
The authority, which was created earlier this year by the Legislature, has $200,000 in state funding and about $2.5 million in federal funds.