The Anchorage municipal clerk says
residents who want to vote in the April 3 municipal election must
be registered before the deadline March 4.
Absentee voting is available in person and for people with
special needs and can be done by mail or fax.
The clerk's office says applications for absentee voting by mail
and fax can be printed directly from the Municipal Elections
website, http://www.muni.org/elections. Voters can also request an
absentee vote by phone or by e-mail.
In-person absentee voting or early voting begins March 19 at

An air permit granted by the
Environmental Protection Agency to Shell Oil for a drilling ship in
Alaska's Chukchi Sea is being challenged by nine
environmental and Alaska Native groups in federal appeals court.
The groups want the permit sent back to the EPA for
reconsideration.
Earthjustice attorney Colin O'Brien says the EPA failed to make
sure all standards were met for a major new source of pollution in
the Arctic.
Shell hopes to use the ship to drill three exploratory wells in
the Chukchi Sea this summer.
Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh says Shell

Dozens of coffee stand workers showed
up for a safety class offered by the Anchorage Police Department
following the abduction of a barista three weeks ago.
The class was given Tuesday
at the police training center in Anchorage. Police spokesman Lieutenant
Dave Parker told the baristas there's a lot they can do to protect
themselves. He says it is important to develop a security plan and
be consistent about following it.
He also encouraged them to keep logs of customers who behave
strangely and have an escape plan.
Eighteen-year-old Samantha Koenig was abducted from a coffee

A recent spike in HIV infections has
been linked to military men in Fairbanks.
Newly-released public health data shows that the increase is linked
to military men finding sex partners online.
Data shows that the outbreak involves nine cases of HIV
infection from January 1, of last year to Jan. 31 of this year.
The state Department of Health and Social Services says from
2007 through 2010, the number of HIV cases reported in the
Fairbanks area was fairly stable.
However, that changed this last year. Health officials say of

Alaska lawmakers this week will address
ethics questions raised by redistricting as they seek clarification
over whether they can use state resources to send mailings, such as
newsletters, to residents outside their elected districts.
This year's elections will be the first since the state's
political boundaries were redrawn based on results of the 2010 U.S.
Census, and existing guidelines that allowed for blending campaign
and constituent lists didn't take redistricting into consideration,
said Joyce Anderson, administrator of the Select Committee on
Legislative Ethics.

State permits have been approved for
Usibelli Coal Mine's planned development of a new pit mine
northeast of Healy.
Usibelli has received the permitting from the Alaska Department
of Natural Resources.
Jumbo Dome Mine will be about six miles from Two Bulls Mine,
operated by Usibelli for the past decade.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner says both
mines will extract from the same coal seam.
Mine officials say that strategy helps keep production costs
down.
Usibelli vice president of engineering Fred Wallis says the new

Alaska environmental regulators say
cleanup preparations continue at the site of an exploratory well
blowout on Alaska's North Slope.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation says crews
Sunday began clearing ice and drilling fluid from the drill floor
area.
A crew drilling on a lease held by Repsol E&P USA Inc.
penetrated a pressurized pocket of natural gas at 2,523 feet
Wednesday. The resulting kickback spewed out natural gas and an
estimated 42,000 gallons of freshwater-based drilling fluid - also
known as drilling mud - onto three acres.

The state legislature has passed a bill delaying
a campaign finance law requiring electronic filing of financial
disclosures.
Passage came ahead of the Wednesday filing deadline.
Current law requires candidates for elected office to file their
campaign finance information online, instead of by paper, but a few
legislators were caught in limbo over the past week as they
expected a delay would go through undeterred. That didn't happen.
The Senate Rules Committee added a controversial amendment that
would have forever exempted current politicians from the filing

A Texas crew is arriving at the
North Slope to control an exploratory well that apparently blew
out.
No workers were injured or oil spilled at the well near the
mouth of the Colville River when drilling hit a natural gas patch
the 2,600-foot level Wednesday, forcing mud back up the rig.
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Ty
Keltner said about 42,000 gallons of drilling mud were released on
the gravel pad and snow-covered tundra.
Spanish oil company Repsol evacuated workers from the site over
concerns about the methane gas.

An Eagle River man's video of an
Anchorage police officer driving erratically on the Glenn Highway
is causing a stir.
David
Moore posted the video shot Tuesday by his wife Jessica on YouTube
and then sent it to police and local news media.
Moore says he was driving behind the police cruiser when he
noticed the officer making sudden lane changes, slowing and
speeding up for no apparent reason and nearly hitting a pickup
truck after moving out of his lane. Moore says at one point the
patrol car almost hit his own.
Anchorage Police Department spokesman Dave Parker says the