Associated Press

An Anchorage moose hunter plans to put his lawsuit about federal authority on the state’s rivers before the U.S. Supreme Court again.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports John Sturgeon said Friday in Fairbanks he plans to file a petition pushing the Supreme Court to review his case for a second time.

Sturgeon says he feels more confident the court will take his case than when he filed his first petition to the court in 2015.

Sturgeon has been fighting the federal government since 2007, when a National Park Service employee tried to enforce a Park Service hovercraft ban on the Nation River, within the boundaries of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Sturgeon argues Park Service regulations aren’t valid on rivers inside Yukon-Charley, based on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

WASILLA — Sarah Palin’s oldest son, Track, has been arraigned on charges that he assaulted his father at the family’s home in Alaska.

Police were called to the home Saturday night, after Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, told police her son was “freaking out” and on some type of medication, according to an affidavit by Wasilla Police Officer Adam LaPointe.

The affidavit states that Todd Palin was bleeding from cuts on his head. He told police the dispute began when Track Palin, 28, called to retrieve his truck.

Todd Palin said he told Track Palin not to come but that his son said he would come anyway to beat him up. Todd Palin told police he got his pistol “to protect his family.”

Track Palin told police he broke a window, disarmed his father and put him on the ground.

LaPointe wrote that Todd Palin and Sarah Palin had left the home when police arrived and that Sarah Palin was visibly upset.

Track Palin yelled at officers, calling them peasants, and “moved around in a strange manner” before being arrested without incident, the affidavit states.

Track Palin told police he “consumed a few beers earlier,” the affidavit states.

Track Palin was arraigned Sunday on domestic violence-related charges of burglary and assault. Court records did not immediately list an attorney for him. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next week.

This is the second time in two years that Track Palin has been arrested in a domestic violence case.

In 2016, Palin was suspected of punching his girlfriend, who then became concerned that he was going to shoot himself with a rifle, court documents said.

He faced several charges but pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm while intoxicated and the other charges were dismissed.

His then-girlfriend later filed for custody of their child, and in January she requested a protective order against Track Palin.

Attorney John Tiemessen, who said he represents Sarah Palin, acknowledged the arrest Sunday.

“Given the nature of actions addressed last night by law enforcement and the charges involved, the Palins are unable to comment further,” Tiemessen said. “They ask that the family’s privacy is respected during this challenging situation just as others dealing with a struggling family member would also request.”

Track Palin served in Iraq for a year in 2008.

Sarah Palin indicated when her son was first accused of domestic violence in 2016 that post-traumatic stress disorder might have been a factor.

ANCHORAGE — A federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska, has sentenced a Washington state man to 10 years in prison for defrauding Alaskans out of $2.7 million.

Floyd Mann Jr., 56, of Puyallup was convicted in July of 11 wire fraud counts and eight money laundering counts.
Judge Timothy Burgess called Mann a “dogged, determined, charlatan” who caused permanent financial and emotional damage to dozens of people.

Mann told victims in Dillingham and elsewhere that he’d won a multi-million-dollar settlement from a class-action lawsuit with a pharmaceutical company.

He promised victims large returns if they paid his medical bills and expenses related to the lawsuit.

Mann used victims’ money to gamble and collected more than $1 million in jackpots while receiving need-based Social Security benefits.

He was ordered to pay full restitution.

FAIRBANKS — Sometime between calling an ambulance for chest pain and being airlifted to Anchorage for heart surgery, Nenana Fire Chief Joe Forness found the time to help take a car crash victim to the hospital.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that Forness called 911 on Nov. 22 because he was experiencing chest pain, but about 10 minutes into the ambulance ride to Fairbanks, Forness said his symptoms disappeared.

Around the same time, the ambulance passed a car wreck with a victim in need of immediate attention.

So Forness did what he’s done since 1990.

He jumped off the gurney, ripped some electrodes off his chest and helped.

The Nenana crew got the victim to the hospital — where Forness then had a heart attack.

He was airlifted to Anchorage, underwent quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery and is recovering at home.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has signed a crime bill passed this month during a special legislative session.

Lawmakers acted in response to a public outcry over crime and concerns that arose from a criminal justice overhaul approved last year.

Walker, an independent, says Senate Bill 54 is a first step in returning important tools to law enforcement.

The bill changes presumptive sentencing ranges for class C felonies. First offenses change from a probationary sentence to a jail term of zero to 2 years.

The law creates a new graduated sentencing structure for theft of property valued at less than $250.

Violating conditions of release returns the offense to a misdemeanor and clarifies that a person may be arrested and held until bail is set on the new offense.

ANCHORAGE (AP) — The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority will spend $3 million on additional exploratory drilling next year on trust land northwest of Yakutat.

The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports officials are continuing to analyze data on heavy minerals prospects collected at the trust’s Icy Cape heavy mineral prospect.

The Alaska Mental Health Trust is a state fund with resources designed to ensure that Alaska has a comprehensive mental health program. The authority administers the trust.

The mineral prospect is a stretch of more than 30 miles of coastline at the entrance to Icy Bay. It covers about 75 square miles.

Trust land office director Wyn Menefee says exploration has not covered the western portion of the property.

Menefee says development is a long way off.

Editor’s note: KTOO’s building sits on land leased from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. KTOO has also applied for and received occasional grants for special reporting projects from the authority.