Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media

A new report finds that alcohol and drug abuse cost Alaska’s economy $1.2 billion in 2010. That number includes direct, immediate costs, such as the $217.7 million spent on criminal justice and protective services and $237.3 million on health care costs. But the report, which was commissioned by the Alaska Mental Health Board and the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, says the largest impact comes from lost productivity. What that means is the number of hours in which a person could have been working and producing goods and services that contribute to the economy, but didn’t.

The CEO of Anglo American, the company that makes up half of the Pebble Partnership, has resigned. Cynthia Carroll was the first woman to head the international mining conglomerate. Shareholders asked her to resign after a 55 percent drop in profits for the first half of 2012. She's credited with improving safety agendas in the company.

A 60-year-old Palmer man died of burn injuries earlier this week becoming the state’s 19th fire fatality this year. The man was severely injured while burning trash on Oct. 3.

State troopers report that two adult men were shot at an apartment complex in the University West area of Fairbanks last night. One man shot the other before turning the gun on himself. Both were transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for immediate treatment. The investigation is ongoing. No identities have been released.

Anchorage Police have identified the woman who was found dead in a van in east Anchorage on October 21 as 52-year-old Anchorage resident Barbara Jean Thomas. The case is still under investigation.

A 52-year-old woman was found dead in a van in east Anchorage last night. The person reporting the death to the police said that the van owner allowed the woman to sleep in the vehicle. A department press release says that the responding officers did not see any immediate signs of foul play, but the cause and manner of her death will be determined by the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office. Her identity will not be released until her next of kin have been notified.

The annual Alaska Federation of Natives convention closed on Saturday after passing 40 non-binding resolutions, some in response to recent events.

Anchorage Police Department detectives spent the weekend searching for a missing woman from Fairbanks. Thirty-three year old Mary Anne Alexie arrived in Anchorage on Oct. 9 and was last heard from at about 3 a.m. on Oct.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski will host a Senate field hearing focused on Alaska Native education during this year's annual convention of the Alaska Federation of Natives. During the hearing, educators from around the state will talk about culturally-relevant approaches for educating Alaskans such as those developed by the North Slope Borough School District and through partnerships with Native organizations. The hearing will take place at 4 pm on Friday in the Dena'ina Center. The AFN convention starts today.

Alaska State Troopers have released the name of the man shot in a cabin 25 miles west of Willow, though they still do not have a clear picture of what happened that night. Sixty-one year old John Charles Lamb was shot once at his residence on Hiline Lake. His wife and two young children were present when the shooting occurred. The investigation is ongoing.

Divers have successfully recovered the remains of the pilot who died in Tikchik Lake just north of Dillingham. Seventy-one-year-old Newt Ball crashed into the lake on Oct. 7 when going out to pick up a hunter and a guide.

Troopers are investigating the death of a 61-year old man in a cabin about 25 miles west of Willow. Law enforcement was notified of a gunshot victim needing help at about 7:45 on Monday evening.

An autopsy reveals that the man involved with the Trooper shooting near Wasilla early on Saturday morning died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

The First Alaskans Institute is hosting the Elders and Youth Conference in Anchorage this week. The conference gives elders and youth from around the state a chance to learn from each other and pass on Native cultures.

A Fairbanks man was sentenced to nearly 5 years in jail for his role in a drug conspiracy. Twenty-two year old Adrian Steele and his co-conspirators trafficked crack, cocaine, and oxycodone through fake record labels, one of which was named after the south Fairbanks area where they sold most of their drugs.

Alaska State Troopers seized a meth lab in Hoonah on Friday. Forty-nine year old Gary Chamblin of Hoonah and 36-year-old David Pierce of Oregon had methamphetamines and the chemicals and equipment used to make more in a commercial storage facility in the village of 750 people in Southeast Alaska. They were sent to a correctional facility in Juneau with a bail set at $50,000 each.

The Anchorage Police Department identified the body found in Mountain View as 62-year-old Marie Andrews. The cause of death is still under investigation. Two bodies were found outdoors in Anchorage last week. They are thought to be unrelated.

An army sergeant was found dead in his car last week in Anchorage from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 25-year-old Sgt. Brent Steven Barnett-Lamothe was stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and originally from Highland, California. He returned from a deployment to Afghanistan last month. His next of kin have been notified. The army has reported over 210 suspected suicides this year, one of the highest rates ever.

The Ted Stevens International Airport was shut down for about three hours at around midnight on Sunday after a passenger made a joke about a bomb in a suitcase. The Anchorage Daily News reports that 44-year-old Peter Friesema, a hockey referee from Colorado, joked that his friend’s bag could have a bomb in it. The airport was evacuated, people were stuck waiting in the cold, and about half a dozen flights were impacted.

An Alaska State Trooper was shot and a man died during a traffic stop near Wasilla around 4 a.m. on Saturday. According to department reports, the trooper was gathering information on three people in the vehicle when 22-year-old Nicholas Leo Frazier of Anchorage got out of the van and started shooting at the trooper with a handgun. The trooper was wounded but returned fire.