The cruise vessel Norwegian Star arrived in Juneau in the early morning hours on April 30, bringing with it about 2,000 eager visitors and approximately 1,000 crew members to kick off the 2008 tourism season.

Archie Cavanaugh was born in Wrangell and grew up in Kake, where he graduated from high school in 1969. Following graduation, he went to Everett, Wash. where he attended the Everett Community College under a basketball scholarship.

With college tuition on the rise nationwide, families should be more aggressive than ever before on making sure they're not missing out on financial aid available to them.

Gov. Sarah Palin released a statement April 29 supporting President Bush's call to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration in the face of surging gasoline prices:

Grocery store shelves where supplies of rice were once on display are now bare around Alaska following reports of a global rice shortage. A number of Juneau stores said they sold out of rice within the first few hours of business, reported the Juneau Empire.

Longtime Juneau resident Roger Healy, P.E., has been appointed to serve as the chief engineer for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Facilities (DOT&PF).

British Petroleum offered a $10,000 grant to the United Way of Southeast Alaska to assist the non-profit organization with distributing funds to families in need during the energy crisis.

The Ketchikan Visitors Bureau is welcoming two new full-time staff members to its organization. Dragon London has been hired to fill our Tourism Marketing coordinator position and Kerri Hassett joins us in a new position, serving as our Visitor Information Services coordinator.

Michael J. Burns, executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, along with the U.S. Treasury Department, attended an initial meeting on April 30 and May 1 in Washington D.C. at the International Monetary Fund to develop best practices guidelines for sovereign wealth funds.

Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) Commissioner Leo von Scheben offers career advice to more than 100 Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District students who attended the first ever Alaska Construction Career Day April 30 at the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer.

Backers of the proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska said April 21 that they have budgeted $140.1 million for 2008, about $15 million more than previously estimated.