Tripp J Crouse, KTOO

An emergency tsunami warning alert that went out over the air was just a test.

“It was definitely a test,” said Joel Curtis, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Juneau. “The message that we got here at the forecast office was pretty clear about it being a test. And the format of the message was in its usual test form.”

According to the National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, a routine communications test message went out at 7 a.m. Friday, but it “has been misinterpreted.”

There is no Tsunami Warning currently for Alaska and/or the West Coast. We issued a routine communications test message at 7am AKST that has been misinterpreted. We are investigating this issue. Repeat: There is NO Tsunami Warning

— NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) May 11, 2018

“We’re thoroughly investigating as to how the test message got out and was interpreted as a warning on radio and TV,” Curtis said.

He says the investigation into how the alert happened will likely take a few days.

 

A man who served as Alaska’s attorney general in the late 70’s died.

A press release from the governor’s office says Avrum “Av” Gross served from 1974 to 1980 under then-Governor Jay Hammond.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that Gross died Monday night. He was 82.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a tugboat captain Wednesday morning.

The tugboat Maia H was in Chatham Strait about 30 miles east of Sitka, a Coast Guard press release said. The 61-year-old was experiencing possible stroke symptoms.

Sector Juneau watchstanders sent an Air Station Sitka helicopter crew to the scene. They took him to Sitka for medical care.

“The tugboat’s crew was monitoring the captain’s vitals, and they did a great job to get the man positioned for the hoist,” Petty Officer 3rd Class Tyler Sojka said in the release. Sojka is an aviation survival technician at Air Station Sitka and assisted with the hoist. “It was an efficient hoist, and we were able to get the man to EMS quickly.”

Weather at the time of the hoist was 25-mph winds with 2-foot seas.

The executive director of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation is nominated to be the assistant Interior secretary of Indian Affairs.

Tara Sweeney of Alaska will testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at noon Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

Police arrested a Juneau man in a coffee shop burglary. The Grind, located at 489 S. Franklin St. near the Goldbelt Mount Roberts tramway, reported that someone stole about $750 of items.

Police determined the burglary happened Sunday morning. Officers identified Joseph Yaletchko, 47, in security footage. He was arrested on felony burglary and theft charges.

An iPad, clothing, utensils, food and other miscellaneous property were among the stolen items.

Yaletchko is being held without bail at Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

A defense motion seeks clarification of a Utah man’s federal murder charge in a cruise ship murder case.

Kenneth Manzanares, 40, is charged in the murder of his wife in July aboard a cruise ship in Southeast Alaska.

The Federal Public Defender’s Office filed the motion Friday in the District of Alaska.

The motion says the U.S. government’s indictment is not specific enough to allow Manzanares to defend himself adequately:

“What evidence, including words or conduct by the defendant constitute evidence of the defendant’s malice aforethought, deliberation and premeditation?”

The Associated Press reported that the couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary on the cruise when the woman was killed. A cruise line press release called it a “domestic dispute.”

When security and medical staff entered the couple’s cabin, they found Manzanares’ wife dead. She had a severe head wound and there was blood throughout the room, including on the defendant.

Statements made in the case say Manzanares used his bare hands in the attack, which happened in a manner of minutes, the motion said.

“My life is over,” Manzanares said, according to the FBI’s complaint.

Both parties in the cruise ship murder case agreed to share blood evidence collected from Manzanares.

A jury trial is scheduled for Nov. 5. If found guilty, Manzanares could face life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.