Anchorage

The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday (April 14) that the Anchorage Chamber Citywide Cleanup Week has been moved to May 4 to 11. The popular spring cleanup program has been delayed due to colder temperatures than normal and a significant amount of snow still on the ground. "Before making a decision to change the date of Citywide Cleanup Week, we consulted the Anchorage National Weather Center for historical data," said Anchorage Chamber president Andrew Halcro.

STORY UPDATED AT 9:00 p.m. at 5/3/13: STORY UPDATED AT 4:51 p.m. at 5/3/13: (Photo: Deb Lincoln-Parker, NorthWay Mall, 5-3-13) The USS Anchorage tour remains the hottest ticket in Anchorage and if you waited to line up late Friday afternoon, then you're out of luck. Lindsey Whitt, a spokeswoman for Mayor Dan Sullivan's office, says lines were shut down at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday due to heavy demand. Aves Thompson, the transportation coordinator for the Commissioning Committee, said there was about 800 people in line at the Sullivan arena, and more than 1,100 people waiting at the Northway Mall.

The USS Anchorage's arrival created a unique opportunity for pilots of the Alaska Air National Guard this week, with five HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter pilots training on takeoffs and landings from the moving warship as it cruised into Anchorage.  Maj. Brian Kile was one of the Pave Hawk pilots who became deck-landing certified during the Tuesday training with the Anchorage. He said it was the first opportunity in 15 years that members of the ANG's 210th Rescue Squadron have had to land on a Navy ship.

Two people have been arrested in Anchorage as part of a 10-person indictment in a sprawling drug conspiracy, which federal officials say distributed heroin and methamphetamines in Alaska and California then laundered money received from the drug sales. According to a Thursday statement from U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler's office, the men arrested in Anchorage -- 24-year-old Kyle Wilson of Chugiak, as well as 23-year-old George “Nino” Little of Stockton, Calif. -- distributed heroin in Alaska from April 2012 to April 2013.

A new Navy ship named after Alaska's largest city arrived Wednesday for its Saturday commissioning at the Port of Anchorage, with plans to offer scheduled public tours Thursday and Friday afternoon. The USS Anchorage arrived in town Wednesday morning, with a party for the crew planned in Downtown Anchorage Wednesday night. The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, designated LPD-23, is meant to support landing operations, launching boats and hovercraft from a floodable aft well deck as well as helicopters from its upper flight deck.

The National Labor Relations Board has largely sided with union workers at a Downtown Anchorage hotel in a long-running labor dispute, ordering its Texas-based management company to implement a series of reforms. According to a 74-page Wednesday decision posted on the NLRB's website (PDF), the board has decided to uphold administrative law judge Gregory Meyerson's August 2011 findings that Sheraton Anchorage Hotel operator Remington Lodging and Hospitality failed to recognize UNITE HERE Local 878 and unfairly infringed on members' rights.

The Municipality of Anchorage has crews out sweeping up gravel left over from the winter nearly 24-hours a day and crews could still on the streets for another eight weeks, according to Street Maintenance Foreman Paul Vanlandingham. He says approximately 10,000 pounds of gravel was scattered on city streets, to give drivers traction, and now they have to pick it all up. Vanlandingham says it's a big task and mother nature isn't helping.  "The last snowfall we got here a couple weeks ago put us back 10 days to a couple weeks but we are in full sweep mode now," said Vanlandingham.

A federal judge in Anchorage sentenced a man from St. Louis, Mo. to 10 and a half years in prison for trading child porn, including 15 years of supervision after his release. 29-year-old Leland Paster used an Internet email account to collect over a thousand images and 50 videos of children being sexually abused. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle G. French, who prosecuted the case, Paster's collection reflected the “international scope of child sex abuse that feeds the demand created by Paster and others who collect and trade child pornography.” Some of the child victims identified were abused in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Republic of Moldova, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It's an attempt to preserve Alaska's traditional languages by sparking renewed interest. A two-day language summit took place on Friday and Saturday at the Alaskan Native Heritage Center in Anchorage. The Alaska Native Language council was formed through legislation last year to preserve the languages at a time when so many elders are passing on.   People from all parts of Alaska attended to work on a plan to spread awareness and set goals on better teaching methods.

On Friday, automotive minds from across the state tested their skills at the University of Alaska Anchorage in the Auto Skills Challenge. The top students from Juneau, Ketchikan, North Pole, Fairbanks, and Anchorage raced against the clock to diagnose and repair vehicles. Each team worked on their own car - all the same model, and all with the same "bugs. " The competition was designed to get young people interested in automotive repair and was sponsored by Ford and Triple A.      “Even though they may not end up in a dealership, it keeps them in the field to where we can keep your car going,” said Don Polich, AAA Automotive Dept.