Alaska
Former NOPD captain, now a police chief in Alaska, has assault case dismissed
An indictment charging a former New Orleans Police Department captain with assault in Alaska, where he took a job last year as a police chief, has been dismissed after a judge found prosecutors misled the grand jury.
Jeffrey Walls, the police chief in Ketchikan, Alaska, argued that he acted within his rights as a peace officer when he restrained and detained a man who had twice come to physical blows with him and his wife as they dined out last September.
Walls, who led the Eighth District in New Orleans before taking the Alaska job, was accused of felony third-degree assault and five misdemeanor counts. The felony charge was dismissed last week, according to court documents.
State prosecutors wrongly told a grand jury that an officer’s ability to use force while detaining suspects is limited to times when they are on duty, court documents show. Walls filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, and Superior Court Judge Katherine Lybrand granted it.
A City of Ketchikan investigation had undermined that the state’s case, which rested on “the allegation that Jeff placed Mr. Wildes in a chokehold for 2-3 minutes,” according to an Aug. 14 city memo.
“The State’s case is fiction and should be thrown out,” the memo reads. Ketchikan city officials did not respond to a request for comment.
State prosecutors could still try Walls for the misdemeanors: three counts of fourth-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. It’s unclear if they will.
The brawl
The case stemmed from a scrap on Sept. 10, 2022, as Walls and another Ketchikan officer ate dinner with their wives while off duty at the bar of the Salmon Falls Fishing Resort.
Another patron, Matthew Wilde, collided with Walls’ chair, according to court documents. Wilde apologized and offered to buy the group a drink, which Walls declined. But later that evening, Wilde ran into the chairs of both Walls and his wife Sharon, knocking her to the bar and bruising her.
Jeffrey Walls pursued Wilde, knocked him into a stone wall, bloodying his head, and restrained him in a hold that he said was a headlock. State prosecutors claimed it was a chokehold that lasted up to three minutes, the city memo said.
Walls argued that he exercised a lawful, off-duty use of force and detainment while he waited for Alaska troopers to arrive and arrest Wilde.
Wilde was arrested five hours after the altercation with a blood alcohol concentration of .07%, according to a city memo. Police booked him on suspicion of assault, but prosecutors dropped the case, according to reporting by Alaska Public Media. On Dec. 29, Alaska prosecutors filed charges against Walls.
Tenure at NOPD
Walls arrived in Alaska in July 2022, just a few months before the scuffle, after 24 years with the NOPD. He’d most recently served as commander of the Eighth District, which includes the French Quarter and CBD. He moved to become top cop in Ketchikan, an island town of about 8,000 people with a cruise ship port terminal that brings in tourists.
Walls has been reinstated to his role as chief after being placed on administrative leave pending the outcome.
Alaska
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport busy with holiday travelers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) -Many of the people arriving to and departing from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Sunday agreed that Anchorage’s main airport isn’t as tough to navigate as most right now.
On Dec. 22, three days out from both Hanukkah and Christmas, travelers at the airport were lined up, checking in, waiting for baggage, or going through security; all of those, demanding a wait. However, several travelers told Alaska’s News Source about their experiences and what they were expecting during their flights.
Matt Howard departed from Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina around 5 a.m. “It was the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” Howard said. He estimated he touched down in Anchorage around 6 p.m., adding Ted Stevens was much “less frantic” than the other airports he was at, but thought the evening time frame might have been a contributing factor.
Flying in from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, Kimberly Lamar said she visits her mother in Alaska at least once a year.
“It was pretty overwhelming, trying to get through from Atlanta,” she said. “Then I got to Seattle; it was hard to get through to the gates of Seattle. And finally, this is the easiest airport I’ve actually been in all day.”
Born and raised in Alaska, Gideon Mahoney was traveling to Colorado where he recently relocated. “I’m actually really surprised, right now it’s easy and we were a little late, so…” Mahoney said, glancing at the line for security.
Growing up in Alaska, Mahoney said flying into Denver International Airport can be overwhelming at times.
“We’re working on figuring out how to deal with that,” he said. “We’re getting it.”
As for travelers who haven’t left just yet, Lamar’s advice was aligned with a prepared statement from Alaska Airlines: both said arriving early is the key for holiday travels.
“If you’re flying, make sure you leave early because those lines are crucial,” Lamar said.
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Alaska
Hydroponics provide year-round growing for Alaska farmers
On a recent December afternoon, Soldotna farmer Taylor Lewis preps for a day of harvesting crops. She walks to a tray filled with ripe lettuce and snips a head of it by the stem.
It’s just one of about 900 plants that Taylor and her mother-in-law Jayme Lewis will harvest and process this week – despite freezing temperatures and slushy snow outside. That’s because the duo works for Edgy Veggie, an indoor farm that grows produce year round.
“In the summer, a lot of our business drops off because folks are gardening at home. But in the winter, they’re not, because it costs money to heat your greenhouse,” Jayme said. “It costs a lot of money to heat your greenhouse.”
The company is a hydroponic farm, meaning they grow plants without soil. Hydroponic systems recycle and reuse nutrient-filled water, which minimizes waste. Specially made lighting and climate controlled conditions make it possible for Edgy Veggie to grow indoors during the winter months.
Around Thanksgiving, the company harvested 150 pounds of lettuce, enough to make about 800 salads. That took two days and was one of their biggest hauls of the year. Although not a typical harvest for the company, Jayme says she does see an uptick in business during the winter when Alaska’s produce is almost exclusively shipped up from the Lower 48.
“If you go to the grocery store and pick up a head of lettuce right now, by the time you get it home it will be wilted,” Jayme said. “That’s sad. Literally, that’s sad.”
Jayme says some local restaurants have sourced their vegetables from Edgy Veggie because they last longer and are fresher than grocery store produce.
Nestled between two train cars-turned-restaurants on the other side of town, Henry Krull walks inside his shipping container farm. He points to a wall that’s growing hundreds of bunches of butter lettuce.
Krull is the owner of fresh365, another Kenai Peninsula based hydroponic farm. Just like Edgy Veggie, the farm operates entirely indoors.
“The advantage of growing indoors, in a container like we have, is that we can control the environment,” Krull said. “We can grow no matter what’s going on outside. It can be 30 below outside, but it’s always 70 degrees or so inside.”
fresh365 also sees an uptick in direct-to-consumer sales in the winter. Otherwise, most of their sales go to other businesses, like local restaurants.
And while indoor farming means fresh, local produce year-round for Alaskans, it faces a number of challenges. Krull says growing in a hydroponic setting is much more expensive than traditional farming methods. So, to offset his farm’s energy costs, he installed solar panels, which were partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP.
But, Krull says the property doesn’t get much sunlight in the winter.
“The sun is a very valuable commodity, it’s valuable for not only producing electricity, but it helps to lower the energy costs,” he said. “And the energy costs of the farm containers we have is actually very, very high, because we can’t take advantage of the sun.”
Edgy Veggie, on the other hand, doesn’t even have solar panels. Jayme says their energy costs are high year round.
“Electricity, especially, is outrageous,” she said. “I wish that the state had some sort of option with the electric companies to help support farming. We’re providing a service to the community, honestly. We’re trying to, but it might run us out of business.”
Other challenges to hydroponics include faulty pumps and timers, ventilation issues and water leaks. Like traditional farming, hydroponic farmers say it’s backbreaking work.
But, for farmers like Taylor Lewis, offering fresh and local produce year round is a labor of love.
“Being able to supply our community with anything fresh is great,” Taylor said. “What we have as options in the grocery store – it’s not cutting it.”
“These belong in every community,” Krull said. “We’ve been able to prove that as a business model, it works. You can make a profit doing it, you can provide a good service to your community, and I think we can really do good for our community by providing something that is not readily available on a year-round basis.”
According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, only 5% of food Alaskans consume is grown locally. The state also has very short growing seasons.
Alaska
Nature: Northern Lights above Alaska
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