A Coast Guard helicopter crew spent Tuesday morning performing back-to-back medevacs between King Cove and the community of Cold Bay.
A fisherman from the crabber Miss Courtney Kim got hurt on Monday night when a crab pot fell on him, inflicting multiple injuries. The vessel was near Sanak Island -- not far from King Cove, which has a health clinic.
The vessel headed into town, while the Coast Guard made arrangements for an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew to leave its forward-deployment in Cold Bay and meet the fisherman the next morning.
Alaska's legislature is still searching for ways to connect King Cove and Cold Bay by building a road through a federal wildlife refuge.
Their latest effort is a joint resolution introduced by Aleutians representative Bob Herron. The six-page resolution urges Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to reconsider a land swap plan she turned down in December.
Alaska’s legislature has passed a bill that would tie the validity of driver’s licenses to immigration visas.
Usually, an Alaska driver’s license is good for five years after it’s issued. Legislation introduced by Republican representative Bob Lynn of Anchorage would make licenses expire on the same day as a foreign driver’s visa.
If the driver has an indeterminate immigration status, meaning they can stay in the country indefinitely, their license will only last for one year. Their renewal fees will be waived every year for up to five years.
The White House has nominated the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area commander to be its next commandant.
Vice Admiral Paul Zukunft was nominated Friday to replace outgoing Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert Papp. Papp gave his final “State of the Coast Guard” address of his four-year term on Wednesday.
Zukunft has served as Pacific Area commander since 2012. Before that, his duties included serving as the federal on-scene coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew conducted their fourth Bering Sea medevac of the past two weeks Monday.
The Jayhawk helicopter was sent from Kodiak to the 272-foot fishing vessel American Dynasty. The Seattle-based boat was about 95 miles northwest of Cold Bay.
The helicopter crew medevacked a 48-year-old Dynasty crew member reportedly suffering from severe abdominal pain. The Coast Guard reports that the unidentified man was taken to the Cold Bay Clinic and then on to Anchorage for treatment.
Representative Bob Herron, a Bethel democrat, received a second ethics citation tied to his co-ownership of a school bus company.
Joyce Anderson is the administrator for the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics. She says the committee received a complaint about Herron's participation in a vote on Senate Bill 57, in April 2013.
"It was regarding the per-pupil rate for transportation, set by the state," Anderson says. "And then, the funding for transportation comes from state funds."
