Associated Press

JUNEAU — The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that some sex offenders convicted outside the state are not required to register in Alaska.

The Juneau Empire reports the court ruled Friday that the Alaska Department of Public Safety does not have leeway when determining if out-of-state sex crimes match with offenses under Alaska law.

For registered sex offenders who moved to Alaska, it was up to the public safety department to determine if their names would be entered into Alaska’s sex offender database.

Defense attorney Darryl Thompson, whose client’s case was one of two that spurred the ruling, says the department was unrestricted in making that determination. He says the ruling calls for legislative solutions.

The state Department of Law declined to comment, saying it was still reviewing the court opinion.

ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Volcano Observatory is getting $12 million in additional federal funding to update equipment and hire more staff.

KTVA-TV reports the budget increase will replace the aging and outdated equipment used by the observatory, which is a joint program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the state Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

The observatory monitors 33 of the 52 historically active volcanoes in the state, but nearly half its networks are either impaired or inoperable because of past funding cuts.

Observatory coordinating scientist Jeff Freymueller said the new equipment will be “like trading in your ratty old pair of glasses, where you can’t see very well, for a new pair.”

ANCHORAGE — An Austria man has died in a pack-rafting accident in Alaska.

National Park Service officials say Aidan Don, 22, of Salzburg, Austria, died Thursday in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

His body was recovered Friday from the Nizina River.

Don and a friend were dropped off by plane Thursday around a lake at the base of the Nizina Glacier for a daylong trip on the river.

Officials say the novice pack-rafters became separated a few miles downriver. The surviving rafter made an emergency call for help after seeing Don’s capsized raft but no sign of him.

According to officials, aerial searchers located Don’s body and also picked up the survivor. Because of the difficulty reaching the body, a helicopter was required to recover the body the next day.

ANCHORAGE — A North Carolina man driving a classic convertible through Alaska learned his car isn’t impenetrable to bears.

Tom Cotter found his red Shelby Cobra with a gaping hole in the roof and claw scratches all over the body, after staying the night last week at Alyeska Ski Resort, southeast of Anchorage, KTUU-TV reports.

Cotter was touring the state with three friends in classic Shelby Cobras. He said the car’s value is “approaching seven figures.”

The 53-year-old roof was able to survive all these years, but it “couldn’t manage to survive 11 days in Alaska,” Cotter said.

The bear likely entered the car for a snack. A friend of Cotter’s admitted to leaving Fig Newtons behind the seat.

A study paints a more optimistic economic portrait for Anchorage over the next three years, projecting the city will exit its economic recession by 2019.

The outlook study released Wednesday by the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation expects the city to see positive indicators by next year, with job losses leveling out and economic confidence rising, KTUU-TV reported .

The city has lost about 6,000 jobs since 2015, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. There were hundreds of job losses for the petroleum and construction sectors while industries health care expanded. The city also experienced economic strain with the recent closure of some major retail chains.

While unemployment increased earlier this year, those losses are expected to smooth out by next year, effectively ending the period of economic recession, according to the Anchorage study. The study projects limited employment gains through 2020, but 800 new jobs are expected in 2021.

The economic development corporation expects disposable income for residents to increase over the next several years. That disposable income projection is tied to the Permanent Fund Dividend, the annual money paid to Alaska residents from investment earnings of mineral royalties.

“The anticipated 2018 Permanent Fund Dividend of $1,600 will pump more money into the economy toward the end of the year,” the study stated.

The city’s population decline is projected to stop this year and remain stagnant for the next two year. The city is projected see marginal population growth in 2021.

A wildfire burning in remote eastern Alaska has grown significantly and firefighters are taking steps to protect cabins and private property.

The state Division of Forestry says the fire southeast of Tok (tohk) started Monday and quickly covered 1 square mile (2.6 sq. kilometers).

By Tuesday, the fire had expanded and covered 7.3 square miles (19 sq. kilometers). Most of the fire’s growth was on the southeast edge.

Forestry officials initially tried to fully suppress the fire. Their strategy changed Tuesday to protect cabins.

The fire is burning 38 miles (61 kilometers) southeast of Tok on the Alaska Highway and 14 miles (22.53 kilometers) southwest of the village of Northway.

Hot, dry weather is forecast through the end of the week.