2012 in News, Part 2

A look back at last year's top stories

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By Bill McAllister
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Story Created: Jan 1, 2013 at 12:45 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Jan 1, 2013 at 12:45 PM AKDT

Part 2 (For Part 1, click here)

ANCHORAGE - The second officer-involved fatal shooting of the year occurred on July 1, when police fired on Harry Smith in his back yard as he pointed a BB gun at them.

"The caliber and the type of weapon really don't matter in a critical incident where an officer believes this weapon is going to cause serious physical injury or death," Parker said.

The Department of Law again ruled that the shooting was justified, although Smith's son said he had warned APD that his father was attempting suicide by cop.

In natural resource development news, Shell embarked on the first drilling program in the outer continental shelf in 20 years.

"And once you do that to about 1,500 feet, you have basically the foundation of a well,” said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith. “And you can move off that well and move back on at any time. Basically, a top hole takes about half the time it takes to drill a well to total depth, so whatever work we put in this year will put us that much closer for 2013."

In September, heavy rains led to flooding in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and on the Kenai Peninsula.

The fall was dominated by election campaigns for the Legislature.

In the November election, Republicans gained a solid majority in the state Senate, ending the six-year-run of the bipartisan majority and establishing one-party rule in Juneau.

On December 2, Israel Keyes, charged in the abduction and murder of Samantha Koenig, killed himself in his Anchorage jail cell.

That prompted police and federal prosecutors to open up about what Keyes had been telling them for the previous eight months about Koenig’s murder and up to ten others Keyes said he committed in the Lower 48.

"The main reason we're doing it is because our only source of generating leads is through media attention nation-wide, so we want people to know what kind of person this fellow was," Mew said.

And last Friday, the state Supreme Court ordered the Alaska Redistricting Board to come up with a new legislative map for the rest of the elections this decade.
 

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