Juneau

State office candidates rushed to file for this year's primary elections Friday, producing several surprises before a 5 p.m. filing deadline. Fifty-nine of the state Legislature's 60 seats -- all 40 House seats and 19 of 20 Senate seats - are up for votes due to redistricting. The only seat not open is Senate District P, currently held by Sen. Dennis Egan (D-Juneau) after he was selected in 2009 by then-Gov. Sarah Palin to replace resigning Sen. Kim Elton. Alaska's 2012 elections are being conducted under an interim redistricting plan approved for use by the Alaska Supreme Court, despite its March rejection of the Alaska Redistricting Board's original plan as insufficiently compliant with the state constitution.

The Service Cougars, who rolled to the second perfect league season in Cook Inlet Conference history, will open the ASAA Baseball Tournament against Kenai in Thursday's quarterfinals.  If the Cougars survive that game, they could face a formidable challenge, as four-time state champion Juneau awaits on the same side of the bracket.  The Crimson Bears take on Monroe in the round of eight. Action takes place at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage starting May 31 with the champion crowned on Saturday.

An Alaska State Lawmaker is angry after learning that testimony which may have influenced important health-safety legislation was actually false. Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchoratge)  was talking about he testimony of a respected Washington Burn-Unit Surgeon, David Heimbach. In testimony before the Alaska Senate in 2010, Dr. Heimbach told a dramatic story about how he saw the suffering of a 6-week-old baby who suffered terrible burns over 75% of her body because he was sleeping in a crib which did not contain flame-retardant chemicals in its mattress.

Loved ones, friends and fellow legislators paused Sat. to memorialize former Palmer Rep. Carl Gatto as a family man first, and a state lawmaker second. Gatto, 74, died April 10 of kidney failure in a Seattle Hospital after a long prostate cancer battle.  He left behind a wife and four grown children.  Among those who attended the Lazy Mountain Bible Church service was Gov. Sean Parnell.   Gatto's family seemed touched as Parnell memorialized the late lawmaker as a man with integrity.

The first cruise ship of the Alaska tourism season, the Carnival Spirit, arrived Thursday afternoon. It was scheduled to leave Thursday evening after a brief eight-hour stay. Another ship was expected to arrive Friday, with a total of 38 different vessels and nearly a million passengers expected to make port calls to Alaska's capital over the course of just five months.   Each year the tourist season in Juneau arrives at the most opportune time: right after lawmakers leave. Many here say that, were it not for the cruise ship season, the town would become a ghost town in summer.

A Juneau high school wants your online vote in the Vans custom culture shoe design contest for a $50,000 grand prize. The online voting ends on May 3 at midnight, Eastern Time. An art class at the Thunder Mountain High School customized several of the shoe company's sneaker models based on the following themes: Action Sports, Music, Art, and Local Flavor. The Juneau school was chosen among 50 schools as semi- finalists and has a shot to make the top 5. Finalists will travel to Los Angeles for an exclusive event that will determine the winner and each runner-up will receive $4,000 prizes.

After state lawmakers failed to pass legislation that might have brought a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope, new hope for such a project has been revived Tuesday -- by officials with the government of Japan. On Monday night, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) had dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. During that dinner, held by the State Department in Washington, D.C., Murkowski talked with Noda about a key concern of his: electrical power for Japan. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake of March 2011 was the most powerful in Japanese history, producing a tsunami more than 60 feet tall.

According to a press release from Senate Majority Leader Kevin Meyer, on Sunday lawmakers in Juneau passed Senate Bill 140 which will criminalize synthetic cathinones, throughout Alaska. The drug, often marketed as 'bath salts,' has an effect similar to that of methamphetamine, ecstasy, or cocaine and includes symptoms such as paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, suicidal behavior and violence. This legislation follows last year's bath salt ban in the Anchorage municipality.  With it, the possession, distribution or manufacturing of synthetic cathinones is a Class "C" felony offense if it amounts to 500 milligrams or more.  Possession of less than 500 milligrams warrants a Class "A" misdemeanor.  The Bill now heads to desk of Governor Parnell for his signature.

A National Transportation Safety Board report says a pilot and his wife, who died when their plane crashed into a mountain near Juneau last summer, were likely flying through poor weather conditions, with improper navigation instruments, and may have been in a rush to catch another flight. Charles Luck, 77, and his wife, 51-year-old Liping Tang-Luck, were flying from Hoonah to Juneau on the morning of July 24 when their Cessna 182 slammed into a slope roughly six miles southeast of Juneau.

Lawmakers in Juneau are feeling the pressure, with less than 23 days left in the session. Time is running out for them to deal with important issues such as changing the way oil companies are taxed, considering whether an in-state gas pipeline should be built, determining funding for education and passing an overall budget. When that happens, the partisanship can get a little bitter -- and the work environment can turn tense. That's why 25 years ago a far-seeing legislator, state Sen. Tom Kelly, organized a weekly bowling night for lawmakers.