Associated Press

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A leader in the Alaska state House says negotiators are making progress on a budget, but he could not say whether a budget might be passed before the current special session ends next week.

Rep. Paul Seaton commented Friday after House and Senate negotiators met to hash out differences in spending for several agencies.

Seaton, who is co-chair of the House Finance Committee, says the pace of progress will determine if a budget is settled by next Friday, when the special session is scheduled to end, or in another special session.

Lawmakers are under pressure to finalize a budget before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.

State agencies have begun making preparations in case a budget isn’t passed and government must shut down.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Division of Forestry officials say they’re busy fighting or monitoring 15 fires burning in southwest Alaska.

The fires have burned 65 square miles (168 sq. kilometers) from McGrath to Dillingham. They began after lighting strikes.

The division says firefighters are staffing five fires and monitoring the rest.

The highest priority is a 3.3 square mile (8.5 sq. kilometer) fire within two miles of the village of Crooked Creek on the Kuskokwim River about 275 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The division says the fire is backing toward the village of 92.

Air tankers on Wednesday dropped retardant in front of the fire closest to the village to slow its progress.

The division says 58 people are working on the fire.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A man has died after being stabbed on a downtown Anchorage street outside a soup kitchen, Anchorage police said.

No arrests have been made in the case, police say, and witnesses have been transported to police headquarters for questioning.

The stabbing happened just before 8 a.m. Thursday at Bean’s Cafe, 1101 E. 3rd Ave.

The man stabbed was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska volcano that has been active for nearly six months has erupted again.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says Bogoslof (BOH-gohs-lawf) Volcano in the Aleutian Islands erupted at 2:16 p.m. Sunday and sent a cloud of ash at least 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) high. The eruption lasted 55 minutes.

Ash can harm and stop jet engines. Ash from southwest Alaska volcanos is a threat airliners operating between North America and Asia when a cloud rises above 20,000 feet (6,096 meters).

After the eruption, the Aviation Color Code was raised to red, the highest level.

The agency says a person on nearby Unalaska Island reports seeing a large white-gray mushroom cloud form over Bogoslof, with ash falling out to the west.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A woman who had been hired to clean up the mess left after an embezzlement case has been sentenced for embezzling money herself.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday that Bonnie R. Adams was sentenced to six months in prison and three years of probation after being charged with theft, scheming to defraud and falsifying business records.

Alaska State Troopers discovered Adams wrote at least $33,604 of checks to herself from the Beaver Kwit’chin Corporation account between November 2012 and March 2013.

The BKC board of directors appointed Adams in April 2012 to help determine how many current living shareholders the corporation had after she exposed three embezzlers for stealing approximately $900,000 from the corporation.

Adams will be free on bail until after her restitution determination hearing July 21.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Federal investigators say 2 planes crashed more than 600 miles apart in Alaska almost simultaneously Saturday, killing a total of four people.

KTUU-TV reports the National Transportation Safety Board said two died and a third person was injured when their Piper PA-30 went down nine miles southwest of Haines at around 11 a.m. The injured person was flown by helicopter to Juneau for medical treatment.

Authorities said witnesses reported seeing the twin-engine plane crash shortly after takeoff.

Meanwhile, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports two people died when a single-engine Arctic Aircraft S-1B2 crashed east of Fairbanks, also at about 11 a.m.

Alaska State Troopers reported late Saturday that both the pilot and passenger died in the crash.