Inside Today State seeks Hartman case...
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By Weston Morrow [email protected] Two pillars went up on either side of the Barnette Street bridge in downtown Fairbanks this week. Who exactly designed them, how- ever, is a bit of a mystery. Barry Hooper, the prelimi- nary design group chief for the Alaska Department of Transportation, said the idea for the pillars came up years ago in meetings with com- munity members. “Those ideas go back years,” Hooper said. The rotating pillars are part of an attempt to beautify the downtown area in con- junction with the Illinois and Barnette Street construction. They are not the main art, however, which will be placed just north of the Chena River where the two roads split. The main art, which has been named the Polaris Sculpture, will consist of several large stainless steel pillars reaching up to 36 feet in the air. Constructed in a triangular fashion, the sculp- ture will have adjustable col- ored lights trained on it from all three sides. That piece of art will not be put in place until summer 2014. The two pillars put up this week are adorned with mountain climbers in an exterior pattern. At night, the features are lit with LED lights. “It’s a rotating, illuminating light of mountain climbers,” DOT spokeswoman Hannah Blankenship said. Blankenship said the proj- ect was put out for a bid as part of the original bridge project, which went to HC Contractors. Each of the pillars ran about $28,000 — $56,000 together. The design of the two pil- lars is meant to match other public art in the surrounding area on First and Second ave- nues and along the river. “We’ve (had) positive feedback with the silhou- ette theme, which portrays life and activities in Interior Alaska,” Blankenship said. In addition to their own aesthetic quality, the pillars are two parts of a “banner fea- ture” that will be able to hold community banners above the middle of the bridge as drivers pass by from north to south. Festival Fairbanks and the Fairbanks Downtown Asso- ciation have been involved in varying capacities with the placement of the pillars. Despite the group’s involve- ment, Festival Fairbanks Executive Director Julie Jones said she was just as surprised as anyone when the pillars went in earlier this week. Jones said Festival Fair- banks likely will end up using the banner feature to adver- tise events. 12415596-10-5-13 Ice Dogs vs. Corpus Christi Ice Rays Tickets available at Sport King, Play It again Sports, FT WW, Eielson, and Downtown Museum H O C K E Y S E A S O N H OCKEY S EASON IS HERE! Oct. 4 at 7:30 at Big Dipper Oct. 5 at 8:00 at Big Dipper Ice Dogs Home Opening Weekend! 75 cents FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013 newsminer.com THE VOICE OF INTERIOR ALASKA SINCE 1903 SOURDOUGH JACK: “What did the caribou say when it ran into a tree? ... Bou hoo.” The weather. Today should look a bit like yesterday — mostly cloudy. High today .............. 43 Low tonight ............ 29 WEATHER » A7 GOOD MORNING Classified » C1 | Comics » B4 | Dear Abby » Latitude 65 | Outdoors » B1 | Markets » B3 | Obituaries » A5 | Opinion » A6 | Weather » A7 INSIDE • • • • • • After devastating spring breakup flood, Circle gets most homes repaired or rebuilt. » A4 Inside Today MOVING ON Fortymile Caribou Herd makes waves by crossing Yukon River. OUTDOORS Page B1 • • • Aurora forecast. Auroral activity will be quiet. Weather permit- ting, quiet displays will be visible overhead from Barrow to Fort Yukon. This information is pro- vided by aurora forecasters at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. For more infor- mation about the aurora, visit http://www.gi.alaska. edu/AuroraForecast A bicyclist passes the two new artistic light fixtures on the Barnette Street bridge Wednesday afternoon. ERIC ENGMAN/NEWS-MINER By Matt Buxton [email protected] After three weeks of exhaus- tive and technical hearings about who should deliver natu- ral gas to the borough’s medi- um-density areas, Thursday’s closing arguments descended into name calling between Fairbanks Natural Gas and the Interior Gas Utility. “Who do you want running a utility? The cheerleading squad or the science club?” That was FNG’s attorney Mark Figura delivering just one of many biting remarks deliv- ered during closing arguments on Thursday, as he made the case that the municipal IGU has been a good cheerleader for bringing gas to the Interior but has been “clueless” when it comes to putting pipe in the ground. FNG, with its experience in processing Cook Inlet gas and trucking it to Fairbanks, has the necessary experience, he said. By Sam Friedman [email protected] The Alaska Department of Law announced Thursday it is asking law enforcement to re-examine the 1997 Fairbanks murder of John Hartman. New information filed by the Alaska Innocence Project led the Department of Law to ask the Alaska State Troop- ers’ Alaska Bureau of Investigation to conduct an “independent review,” according to a news release. “Although there has never been any credible or serious allegation about the integrity of the investigation, or the prosecution, which led to these convic- tions, the department will conduct an independent review,” the news release stated. Last week, Anchorage-based non- profit the Alaska Innocence Project asked for the exoneration of the four men convicted in Hartman’s killing — Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts, Eugene Vent and George Frese. The Innocence Project identified five alternate suspects in Hartman’s killing, including William Z. Holmes, who wrote a confession and identified the other four. The independent review does not mean the new information calls into question the four convictions, the Department of Law press release stat- ed. “The Department of Law remains confident that all four convictions were properly obtained based upon the evi- dence presented at the trials. Notwith- standing, doubts have been expressed in the community where these crimes occurred, and the department believes a review of this new information is warranted,” the news release stated. April Monroe, a friend and con- temporary of the four men jailed for Hartman’s death, called the state’s announcement “a step in the right direction but a very tiny step and a very slow one.” Monroe writes the advocacy blog “Free the Fairbanks Four.” She said the good news is that the Alaska State Troopers are handling the investiga- tion, bringing the case out of the Fair- banks Police Department, which con- ducted the 1997 investigation. State seeks Hartman case review HARTMAN » A8 A PEEK AT FIRST FRIDAY What’s in store this month LATITUDE 65 New to the area Two pillars go up along Barnette bridge PILLARS » A8 Closing remarks get nasty at RCA hearing GAS » A8 By Becky Bohrer ASSOCIATED PRESS JUNEAU — A broker estab- lished to enroll Alaskans in in- surance plans via a new online marketplace reported Thurs- day that technical problems with the website continue. Tyann Boling, chief operat- ing officer for Enroll Alaska, said late Thursday morning that agents were running into “functionality difficulties” with the government-run website. Enroll Alaska receives com- missions from insurance com- panies offering plans on the Alaska marketplace. Two com- panies, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska and Marketplace website still having problems HEALTH INSURANCE HEALTH » A8
Transcript of Inside Today State seeks Hartman case...
By Weston [email protected]
Two pillars went up on either side of the Barnette street bridge in downtown Fairbanks this week. who exactly designed them, how-ever, is a bit of a mystery.
Barry Hooper, the prelimi-nary design group chief for the Alaska Department of Transportation, said the idea for the pillars came up years ago in meetings with com-munity members.
“Those ideas go back years,” Hooper said.
The rotating pillars are part of an attempt to beautify the downtown area in con-junction with the illinois and Barnette street construction. They are not the main art, however, which will be placed just north of the chena river where the two roads split.
The main art, which has been named the Polaris sculpture, will consist of several large stainless steel pillars reaching up to 36 feet in the air. constructed in a triangular fashion, the sculp-ture will have adjustable col-ored lights trained on it from all three sides.
That piece of art will not be put in place until summer 2014.
The two pillars put up this week are adorned with mountain climbers in an exterior pattern. At night, the features are lit with LeD lights.
“it’s a rotating, illuminating light of mountain climbers,” DoT spokeswoman Hannah Blankenship said.
Blankenship said the proj-ect was put out for a bid as part of the original bridge project, which went to Hc contractors. each of the pillars ran about $28,000 — $56,000 together.
The design of the two pil-lars is meant to match other public art in the surrounding area on First and second ave-nues and along the river.
“we’ve (had) positive feedback with the silhou-ette theme, which portrays life and activities in interior Alaska,” Blankenship said.
in addition to their own aesthetic quality, the pillars are two parts of a “banner fea-ture” that will be able to hold community banners above the middle of the bridge as drivers pass by from north to south.
Festival Fairbanks and the Fairbanks Downtown Asso-ciation have been involved
in varying capacities with the placement of the pillars.
Despite the group’s involve-ment, Festival Fairbanks executive Director Julie
Jones said she was just as surprised as anyone when the pillars went in earlier this week.
Jones said Festival Fair-
banks likely will end up using the banner feature to adver-tise events.
12415596-10-5-13
Ice Dogs vs . Corpus Christi Ice Rays
Tickets available at Sport King, Play It again Sports, FT WW,
Eielson, and Downtown Museum
H OCKEY S E AS ON H OCKEY S E AS ON IS HERE! Oct. 4 at 7:30 at Big Dipper Oct. 5 at 8:00 at Big Dipper
Ice Dogs Home Opening Weekend!
75 cents FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013 newsminer.com
T h e v o i c e o f i n T e r i o r A l A s k A s i n c e 1 9 0 3
Sourdough Jack:
“What did the caribou say when it ran into a tree? ... Bou hoo.”
The weather.Today should look a bit like yesterday — mostly cloudy.
High today ..............43Low tonight ............29
WEAThER » A7
GooDMorninG
Classified » C1 | Comics » B4 | Dear Abby » Latitude 65 | Outdoors » B1 | Markets » B3 | Obituaries » A5 | Opinion » A6 | Weather » A7INSIDE
• • •
• • •
after devastating spring breakup flood, circle gets most homes repaired or rebuilt. » a4Inside Today
MoVINg oNFortymile caribou Herd makes waves by crossing Yukon river.
OUTDOORSPage B1
• • •
Aurora forecast.Auroral activity will be quiet. weather permit-ting, quiet displays will be visible overhead from Barrow to Fort Yukon.
This information is pro-vided by aurora forecasters at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. For more infor-mation about the aurora, visit http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast
A bicyclist passes the two new artistic light fixtures on the Barnette Street bridge Wednesday afternoon. eric engmAn/news-miner
By Matt [email protected]
After three weeks of exhaus-tive and technical hearings about who should deliver natu-ral gas to the borough’s medi-um-density areas, Thursday’s closing arguments descended into name calling between Fairbanks natural gas and the interior gas utility.
“who do you want running a utility? The cheerleading squad or the science club?”
That was Fng’s attorney mark Figura delivering just one of many biting remarks deliv-ered during closing arguments on Thursday, as he made the case that the municipal igu has been a good cheerleader for bringing gas to the interior but has been “clueless” when it comes to putting pipe in the ground.
Fng, with its experience in processing cook inlet gas and trucking it to Fairbanks, has the necessary experience, he said.
By Sam [email protected]
The Alaska Department of Law announced Thursday it is asking law enforcement to re-examine the 1997 Fairbanks murder of John Hartman.
new information filed by the Alaska innocence Project led the Department of Law to ask the Alaska state Troop-ers’ Alaska Bureau of investigation to conduct an “independent review,”
according to a news release. “Although there has never been any
credible or serious allegation about the integrity of the investigation, or the prosecution, which led to these convic-tions, the department will conduct an independent review,” the news release stated.
Last week, Anchorage-based non-profit the Alaska innocence Project asked for the exoneration of the four men convicted in Hartman’s killing —
Kevin Pease, marvin roberts, eugene Vent and george Frese.
The innocence Project identified five alternate suspects in Hartman’s killing, including william Z. Holmes, who wrote a confession and identified the other four.
The independent review does not mean the new information calls into question the four convictions, the Department of Law press release stat-ed.
“The Department of Law remains confident that all four convictions were properly obtained based upon the evi-dence presented at the trials. notwith-standing, doubts have been expressed in the community where these crimes occurred, and the department believes a review of this new information is warranted,” the news release stated.
April monroe, a friend and con-temporary of the four men jailed for Hartman’s death, called the state’s
announcement “a step in the right direction but a very tiny step and a very slow one.”
monroe writes the advocacy blog “Free the Fairbanks Four.” she said the good news is that the Alaska state Troopers are handling the investiga-tion, bringing the case out of the Fair-banks Police Department, which con-ducted the 1997 investigation.
State seeks Hartman case review
hARTMAN » A8
a PEEk aT FIrST FrIdaYwhat’s in store this month
LATITUDE 65
new to the areaTwo pillars go up along Barnette bridge
PILLARS » A8
closing remarks get nasty at rcA hearing
GAS » A8
By Becky BohrerAssociATeD Press
JUNEAU — A broker estab-lished to enroll Alaskans in in-surance plans via a new online marketplace reported Thurs-day that technical problems with the website continue.
Tyann Boling, chief operat-ing officer for enroll Alaska, said late Thursday morning that agents were running into “functionality difficulties” with the government-run website.
enroll Alaska receives com-missions from insurance com-panies offering plans on the Alaska marketplace. Two com-panies, Premera Blue cross Blue shield of Alaska and
Marketplace website still having problems
HEALTH INSURANCE
hEALTh » A8
