State Briefs
Murkowski town meetings next week in Juneau
JUNEAU - Town meetings aimed at giving Alaskans an opportunity to voice their priorities for state government will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 29, at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School in Juneau.
The meetings will break into six discussion groups to review the areas of public safety, revenue, education, human resources, natural resources and transportation.
The recommendations will be forwarded to Gov.-elect Frank Murkowski's transition team.
Retiring Juneau Rep. Bill Hudson and his wife Lucy will serve as group leaders for the Juneau meetings.
"... (Murkowski) is interested in hearing ideas and suggestions that his administration should look into," Rep. Hudson said.
Other meetings in Southeast will be held in Ketchikan, Sitka, Craig, Metlakatla, Petersburg and Wrangell.
More information can be found at www.state.ak.us/murkowski/meetings.htm, which was expected to be operational today. Written comments can be submitted by e-mail to anchtransition@alaska.net.
Salcha flooding recedes
FAIRBANKS - The flooding in Salcha caused by an ice jam in the Tanana River has receded.
The National Weather Service called off its flood warning Wednesday.
"It appears the ice jam had loosened a bit and some of the water has gone downstream," said meteorologist Ed Plumb.
The roughly mile-long, 200-foot-wide jam in the Boondox Bar area remained and was likely to freeze in place, said Tim Biggane, director of emergency operations for the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Biggane has been monitoring the situation, along with Salcha Rescue, since it began Tuesday and will continue to watch the ice until freeze-up.
At its height, the jam dammed up the river. Water backed up into residential areas, surrounding one home and washing into the yards and across the driveways of about a dozen others. The water also made its way to the Old Richardson Highway and crossed a culvert.
Rescue workers went door-to-door Tuesday alerting residents to prepare for an evacuation in case the water rose too high. But by midnight Tuesday, the water level had declined.
"It's flowing underneath the ice, and it's probably found a way back toward the main channel," Biggane said.
Ice jams are more a spring occurrence than an early winter one, so Tuesday's jam came as a surprise to many. The higher-than-normal temperatures, preventing a proper freeze-up on the Tanana River, have been blamed for this week's jam.
6-year-old boy dies when dresser falls
FAIRBANKS - A 6-year-old boy died when a dresser tipped over on him Monday while his mother was checking on laundry at a local women's shelter, according to police.
Wayne Simmonds and his mother were staying at the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living when his mother went to check on her laundry at about 8 a.m., Fairbanks police Detective Aaron Ring said.
The mother told police she was gone only long enough to take a load out of the dryer and fold the clothes. "When she came back to the room, the dresser was blocking the door," Ring said.
She and another shelter resident were able to lift the dresser off the small boy, but he didn't have a pulse and wasn't breathing, Ring said. Simmonds was rushed to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital where workers spent several hours trying to revive the boy, Ring said.
The death is considered an accident.
Compiled from Empire and Associated Press reports.