Heather Bryant

Anchorage police are warning of a credit card scam that has resurfaced, this one involving hotel guests.

Police say people are calling hotel rooms at random. When a guest answers, the caller identifies themselves as being from the front desk. They say there was a problem with their credit card, and ask the guests to repeat their card information.

Police say in a release that charges are put on the card from other locations within minutes.

Officials remind people to never give out information to anyone whose identity is uncertain. In cases like this, the Better Business Bureau suggests you hang up and call the front desk to ensure authenticity.

Police say oftentimes, the people behind this scam are in foreign countries and can’t be tracked down.

 

Alaska’s congressional delegation says restrictions on land proposed for the 36,000-square mile National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could create problems for Arctic offshore drilling.

Sens. Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young say the restrictions proposed to protect wildlife in the 36,000-square mile reserve could add expense to or block a pipeline transporting oil from the Chukchi Sea to the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Begich says the Bureau of Land Management’s new preferred alternative seems to close off several options for building a pipeline across the reserve.

Murkowski said she’s hearing concerns that a non-direct route will make a pipeline so expensive that an oil company could instead consider moving crude in tankers instead of the 800-mile pipeline.

An Anchorage softball team won the Little League Junior Softball World Series in Kirkland, Washington over the weekend.

The Nunaka Valley girls won the world championship for 12-to 14-year-olds Saturday with a 6-2 win over Victoria, British Columbia.

The team finished fifth in last year’s World Series.

About 70 people were rescued on Sunday from a sightseeing boat that struck a rock near Glacier Bay waters.

The 79-foot Allen Marine vessel “Baranof Winds” reported it was taking on water Sunday morning. The Coast Guard, National Park Service, and a Holland America Cruise ship responded, said Petty Officer David Mosley with Coast Guard public affairs.

“The cruise ship was already there on scene and when they heard about the need for assistance they immediately diverted. They were there before our helicopter could get there from Sitka,” Mosley said.

Most of the passengers transferred to the cruise ship Volendam. It took them to Bartlett Cove where another vessel was planning to bring them back to Juneau.

Two passengers were transported by the National Park Service. Mosely said four crew members remained on the boat to ensure it would stay afloat until it can be towed to Sitka.

“They’re going to stay on board until they can get the vessel taken care of, meaning a response will be planned by the owner of the vessel to come out and to salvage it, to tow it back into port, where they can make repairs,” Mosley said.

The MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Sitka delivered a dewatering pump to the Baranof Winds. The cutter Anacapa also diverted to assist the crew.

Mosley said Coast Guard Sector Juneau is sending response personnel to investigate the cause of the grounding and look for potential fuel leaks. No pollution had been discovered as of Sunday afternoon.

Allen Marine offers tours near Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said his agency discovered nearly half a billion dollars of previously allocated money. The money was earmarked between 2003 and 2006. For whatever reason, states never spent the money.

“You know I don’t know every reason, but it really doesn’t make any difference,” Secretary LaHood said on a Friday conference call. “The fact is the money was not spent, and in the no-earmark era, we need to spend it. And in an era when unemployment and the construction building trades much higher than other industries, we need to get the money out the door.”

Alaska is slated to receive more than $20 million. It must submit its plan for federal approval by October 1st, then obligate it by the end of the year. The state must select construction-ready-projects and show how the money will be spent. Construction can wait until next year, or at least warmer, brighter weather.

Governor Sean Parnell will accept the money, even though he’s been reluctant to take federal dollars in the past.

The announcement caught the state Department of Transportaion by surprise, said Brenda Hewitt, with the state DOT. Officials there are deciding which projects to fund, and according to Hewitt, that should not be a problem.

“There are so many needs for transportation for Alaska. We have such a huge state and our transportation needs are pretty diverse,” she said.

The move is part of President Barack Obama’s “we can’t wait” approach.  The president is sidestepping Congress in hopes of showing would-be voters he’s more proactive than the legislative branch.

The announcement comes just three months before voters take to the polls to elect a president in an election where jobs and unemployment are the major themes.

Politics, Secretary LaHood insisted, had nothing to do with the announcement.

The state has issued a permit allowing for archaeological work at the site of a sunken Gold Rush-era ship in southeast Alaska.

This comes months after a federal judge approved a recovery plan for the SS Islander by Kent, Wash.-based Ocean Mar Inc.

The permit application was filed earlier this month by an archaeologist under contract with Ocean Mar. It lists August as the start of the proposed work and the Alaska State Museum as the proposed repository of collected items.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the application and project proposal through a public records request.

State Archaeologist Dave McMahan says he’s not aware of any other permits that might be needed for work to commence. An attorney for Ocean Mar did not return a message.