Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced the appointment of Ben Nageak, Barrow resident and former mayor of the North Slope Borough, as the Bureau of Land Management representative in Barrow.
Nageak, an Inupiat Eskimo, will serve as a natural resource program coordinator for the BLM's Arctic field office, which is based in Fairbanks and manages roughly 25 million acres of public land, including the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the North Slope. As the BLM's point of contact in Barrow, he will be the BLM liaison with local government officials, special interest groups, Alaska Native organizations on the North Slope, state government and other federal agencies.
Nageak's primary responsibility will be to help the BLM better understand the cultural, economic and natural resource issues of Alaska's North Slope and to coordinate with all interested constituents.
Nageak began work Dec. 10. Arrangements for office space in Barrow were pending and details will be released at a later time.
Abused Women's Aid in Crisis (AWAIC) in Anchorage received a $15,000 Allstate Foundation grant to help fund its community education and financial literacy/workforce preparedness programs.
AWAIC's community education program is dedicated to the idea that community members are partners in reducing domestic violence in Anchorage.
Through its financial literacy/work force preparedness programs, AWAIC works with victims of domestic violence to provide them with information and skills that allow them to become empowered to manage their own financial affairs. Computers are made available to the women for resume writing and personal financial management activities. The organization also provides transportation for clients to travel to and from interviews.
AWAIC offers safe shelter, information and referral assistance, support and advocacy.
Six Allstate representatives in Alaska also delivered grants of $500 each — collectively totaling $3,000 — to nonprofit organizations in 2006 as part of The Allstate Foundation's “Agency Hands in the Community” program.
Receiving grants were Alaska State PTA, YWCA of Anchorage, The Salvation Army, Chugiak-Eagle River Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Aurora Dog Mushers.
The Allstate Foundation is an independent, charitable organization made possible by the Allstate Corp.
The Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau and Fairbanks International Airport said that Japan Airlines on Dec. 22 began operating the first of 10 winter non-stop charters directly to Fairbanks. Japan Airlines, using the largest aircraft in their fleet, brought almost 2,300 Japanese visitors to Fairbanks last winter over seven rotations from Narita Airport, located outside of Tokyo.
The additional flights this year will make it possible for up to 3,500 people to visit Fairbanks. This winter's schedule also features flights from Osaka and Nagoya, offering services to Japanese visitors from outside of Tokyo.
Koji Mochizuki with Japan Airlines international passenger sales said that the flights were selling well and in late December were already more than 85 percent full.
Traditionally the peak season for Japanese travel abroad, the New Year's flights look to set new records for inbound international arrivals to the Fairbanks airport, with more than 360 passengers expected on one flight.
The Japanese visitors will stay four nights in and around Fairbanks, spending their nights hoping for a big auroral display and participating in optional tours during the day that include dog-sledding, snowmachining, Arctic Circle excursions and Mount McKinley flightseeing.
Fairbanks is the smallest U.S. market with any form of non-stop scheduled or charter passenger service to both Europe and Asia.
GCI has announced the launch of its Family Ultimate Package. GCI created the Family Ultimate Package to meet customer demand for family-friendly programming packages.
The Family Ultimate Package includes 73 family-friendly programming networks such as Boomerang, Great American Country, Biography and American Life, as well as all local/national broadcast channels, religious programming and public access programming.
The new Family Ultimate Package comes with the family-friendly cable channels, plus Internet, long distance and local phone service for $79.99 a month.
The Family Ultimate Package is currently available in Anchorage, Mat-Su, Fairbanks and Juneau and is offered as part of GCI's Ultimate Package.
GCI is the largest telecommunications company in Alaska. GCI provides local, long distance and wireless telephone, cable television, Internet and data communications services throughout Alaska.
First National Bank Alaska's board of directors during its Dec. 28 meeting declared a cash dividend of $25 per share, payable on March 15, 2007, to shareholders of record as of March 1, 2007.
