Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Pollution warning dropped

Public officials have canceled an air pollution advisory from earlier this week. The change came following a turn in the weather, with a thin blanket of unexpected snowfall sweeping the air clean Wednesday night.

Fairbanks North Star Borough air quality specialist Jim Conner classified the air quality in downtown Fairbanks Thursday morning as “good,” leading the borough to lift the advisory, which on Wednesday had recommended that all Fairbanks-area residents curb any prolonged exercise.

By Thursday, the recorded levels of fine particulates — a type of air pollution consisting of tiny bits of dust, metals, soil or other material emitted by wood stoves, power plants, cars and industry — in the air had fallen to levels deemed healthy by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Snow actually knocks that stuff out of the air,” Conner said. “It just scrubs the air, just takes the dust out.”

Conner said air pollution in Fairbanks has been occasionally reported at significantly high levels this winter, and that problems could return if the weather turns cold and clear for a stretch of time.

The borough provides more information about air quality on its Web site (www.co.fairbanks.ak.us).

Recycling meeting scheduled

Organizers have nailed down specifics for a forum on recycling set to be held this weekend in Fairbanks.

The forum — a broad examination and discussion of recycling, conservation and community sustainability — will zero in on eight subtopics, according to Fairbanks North Star Borough Assemblyman Mike Musick, who chairs a task force that organized the forum.

The roundtable meeting, scheduled for Saturday from 1-4 p.m. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Wood Center Ballroom, will break the broad discussion — ranging from public engagement and possible incentives to management of the community’s public trash-collection “transfer” sites — into separate conversations to be held at eight tables.

Musick said each table will brainstorm before a representative reports back to those in attendance, after which each table will return to work on individual action plans.

Musick noted parking is free at UAF on weekends.

Frigid temperatures chill eastern Interior

While temperatures warmed slightly in Fairbanks, that wasn’t the case in the eastern Interior, where villagers awoke to bone-chilling temperatures on Thursday morning.

The coldest temperature reported was 57 below at an automated station on the Yukon Flats between Chalkyitsik and Fort Yukon. It was 56 below in Fort Yukon and Chandalar Lake north of Fairbanks and 55 below in Chicken on the Taylor Highway to the east. Arctic Village reported a temperature of 54 below. Elsewhere in the eastern Interior, it was 47 below in Northway and 46 below in Tok and Eagle.

The good news is that temperatures should rise significantly today and tomorrow similar to what Fairbanks experienced overnight Wednesday. A weak upper-level disturbance moving west to east pushed clouds and moisture into the Tanana Valley, which resulted in about a half-inch of grainy snow, said meteorologist Jim Brader at the National Weather Service in Fairbanks.

The low temperature overnight Wednesday was about 15 below at midnight and it had warmed up to 8 below as of 3 p.m. Thursday.

The clouds are expected to linger today and Saturday before beginning to clear out Saturday night. The forecast calls for highs around 10 below and lows around 30 below through early next week.

The influx of clouds eliminated any kind of inversion residents in the hills were enjoying. Temperatures in the hills were just about the same as the valley floor on Thursday. On Wednesday, temperatures at higher elevations were about 20 degrees warmer than the valley floor.

“Basically all it did was destroy the inversion,” meteorologist Rick Thoman said of the cloud cover.

PTSA meeting scheduled

The West Valley Parent Teacher Student Association is hosting a career technical education night Tuesday.

The event is scheduled to run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the high school’s commons area.

According to organizers, the event will allow parents and students to hear from professionals representing a variety of career, trade and technical fields. There will be information on various certification programs, technical and career training, and associate degree programs. Students and parents will be able to explore scholarship, apprenticeship and internship opportunities

For more information call 479-4221.

Aid available for prospective collegians

The fourth annual Alaska College Goal Sunday is scheduled in Fairbanks for Feb. 10.

College Goal Sunday is a national effort to help students clear the paperwork and financial hurdles to higher education.

In Fairbanks, the event start at 2 p.m. on Feb. 10 at Lathrop High School.

Students and their parents will be able to get expert advice on completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the FAFSA.

The FAFSA is students’ single access point to federal and most state support, including grants and low-interest loans. It is also required for many scholarships. However, completing the form correctly with detailed income, tax, and other information can be a daunting task. Financial aid professionals from Alaska’s higher education institutions and the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education will be on hand at Lathrop to help.

For more information visit www.alaskacollegegoalsunday.org.

Criminal charges won’t be filed in shootout

HOMER — Federal attorneys said on Thursday they will not file criminal charges against law enforcement officers involved in a fatal shootout nearly two years ago at the Homer airport.

The incident involved Jason Karlo Jacob Anderson of Duluth, Minn., who killed himself after badly injuring his two-year-old son by shooting the child in the face. A 6-month-old girl also in the vehicle was not wounded.

Authorities were trying to serve a federal arrest warrant on Anderson, 31, when witnesses said he began firing from his vehicle.

Authorities said Anderson was hit nine times by bullets before shooting himself in the head during the March 2006 incident.

A main question for federal prosecutors was whether the actions by law enforcement constituted a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable seizures.

“There is no reason to believe that any law enforcement officer acted willfully to violate the civil rights of Anderson or his son,” U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said in a statement. “In this case, a Fourth Amendment violation is not established and no federal criminal charges are warranted.”

Anderson was wanted on federal drug-trafficking charges. He had been living under an alias in Alaska for nearly a year with a girlfriend and their two children, Darla and Jason Jr.

—Staff and Wire Reports