Associated Press

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — Officials in Ketchikan have approved an ordinance that more than doubles water rates for the southeast Alaska city’s seafood processors over the next three years.

The Ketchikan Daily News reports the City Council approved the ordinance Thursday. Water rates will increase by 35 percent each year over the next three years for Ketchikan’s three fish processors — E.C. Phillips and Son, Trident Seafoods and Alaska General Seafoods.

The new water rates come in response to a consulting firm’s study that found the companies accounted for nearly half the cost of providing water service but were paying less than 5 percent of generated revenue.

Paul Cyr, with E.C. Phillips and Son, has spoken out against claims that seafood processors are being subsidized by the city or other ratepayers.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The state will start charging fees for the popular Chena River State Recreation Area and other recreational sites in Interior Alaska next month.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that visitors to the 12 sites within the Chena recreation area will have to pay a $5 entrance fee starting in May. The daily fees will also go into effect at the Salcha River, Clearwater and Delta state recreation sites.

The Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation says in a Friday news release the new fees will go toward making park operations more self-sustaining and less reliant on the state’s general fund.

Fees will be charged in most areas until snow falls in late fall. In areas where the park plows, fees will be collected year-round.

MIAMI (AP) — A defense lawyer says the mental condition of an Alaska man accused of killing five people and wounding six at a Florida airport has stabilized.

An attorney for 27-year-old Esteban Santiago of Anchorage, Alaska, said at a hearing Friday he continues to take anti-psychotic medication for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and is competent to assist in his defense.

Santiago has pleaded not guilty to a 22-count indictment in the Jan. 6 mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The Justice Department is considering whether to seek the death penalty, and trial is many months away.

The FBI says Santiago told agents after the shooting that he acted under government mind control, then claimed inspiration by the Islamic State extremist group. No terrorism ties have been found.

ANCHORAGE — Critics of the new Inupiat Eskimo name of the nation’s northernmost town are taking their opposition to trial, despite losing a key legal fight last month.

Alaska Superior Court Judge Paul Roetman on Wednesday set a Jan. 22 trial date in Utqiagvik, the city formerly known as Barrow.

The new name is being challenged by a local Alaska Native corporation that argues the city broke its own laws by failing to publish a public notice before the renaming question was put before local voters last October.

In March, Roetman denied the plaintiff’s request to halt implementation of the new name until the lawsuit is resolved.

Roetman said opponents failed to show that continuing the transition process would harm them or that they would probably succeed in making their case.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A North Pole man charged with breaking into a woman’s home and fatally shooting her boyfriend as she and her daughter hid in a closet has been sentenced to 42 years in prison.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports Matthew Burton Davis was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to murder last year.

John Adam Chilcote was shot eleven times after Davis broke into the woman’s North Pole home and found them in her bedroom in 2015.

Davis reportedly had a romantic interest in the woman and had sent her text messages earlier that day threatening to shoot Chilcote.

The woman testified via telephone during Friday’s hearing that she feared for her life the night of the shooting.

The judge sentenced Davis to 65 years, with 23 years suspended.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Fairbanks Police Department is looking for a driver who fled after hitting a 44-year-old woman who was walking alongside a road.

Police say the woman was walking north along Kathryn Avenue to College Road at 12:40 p.m. Saturday when she was hit by the vehicle. She suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

Police say the vehicle is described as a dark Chevrolet or GMC SUV or pickup with large tires, and the vehicle has damage to the front and/or passenger side.

Police ask anyone with information to contact Officer Rob Hall at 907-450-7468 or rhall@fairbanks.us