News Briefs

Houston welcomes new police officers

HOUSTON – Houston Police Department approved the hiring of seasonal police officer Brandon Gray as a full-time regular employee. He joins Officer in Charge Charles McAnally.

The department has hired a new seasonal police officer who will start Dec. 17, and will focus on patrols and keeping the streets in and around Houston safer, according to a press release from the city of Houston.

This will provide the city of Houston with two full-time regular police officers, one seasonal police officer, and 10 reserve police officers.

According to the press release, the police department also hired two new support services staff who are responsible for tracking police officers while they are on duty and providing information such as searching the state database for warrants on individual with whom police officers are making contact.

Wild crash leaves SUV perched atop guardrail

BUTTE — A crash on the Old Glenn Highway Saturday left a Wasilla woman perched atop a guardrail.

According to a trooper press statement, Gretchen Buswel, 21, was northbound driving a Dodge Durango near Mile 7.5, in the section of the highway that follows the Matanuska River, when she lost control on the ice.

“Her vehicle collided with the guardrail and then slid on top of the guardrail for approximately 60 feet before coming to rest, half on and half off the guardrail,” according to the report.

Buswel was not hurt but was cited for driving too fast for road conditions.

MTA warns of scam targeting Internet customers

PALMER — The Matanuska Telephone Association is warning members of a scam targeting users of its Internet service.

MTA said they’ve received reported that a person is calling local households and claiming to be from Microsoft. The caller tells the customer his or her computer is “transmitting errors on the Internet” and then pumps the victim for information to supposedly log onto the victim’s computer remotely.

MTA says the real intent is to hijack the computer or steal personal information.

“It is highly unlikely that Microsoft would call customers, and if you receive such a call we strongly recommend that you hang up immediately or contact Microsoft directly,” MTA’s Support Center Manager Les Helfrich wrote in an e-mail.

Man arrested for forging 2 Demerol prescriptions

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers say that an hour after being detained and questioned for one allegedly forged prescription, a 50-year-old man tried to pass another one.

According to a trooper press statement, the Mat-Su Narcotics Unit was called to a Wasilla pharmacy — the press release doesn’t say which one — at 2:55 p.m., Thursday.

There they helped Wasilla police investigate the prescription for Demerol that John Kidrick Jr., 50, of Wasilla, had allegedly tried to pass off as legitimate. Troopers say Kidrick was released while police put together and filed charges against him.

But he apparently wasn’t done yet. Troopers say they arrested him at 4:10 p.m., just over an hour later, at a second pharmacy again attempting to pass a forged Demerol prescription.

This time he was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $10,000 bail, charged with forgery and attempted drug misconduct. Jail records Saturday evening showed he was still in jail.

Demerol is a prescription painkiller.

Houston City Hall home to new seismometer

HOUSTON — A piece of new equipment installed by the United States Geologic Survey will make new earthquake data available to researchers worldwide.

The seismometer installed in Houston City Hall Dec. 3 is the only one between Wasilla City Hall and Fairbanks’ Geological Institute, according to a press release from the city of Houston.

Houston hugs the Castle Mountain Fault and as such, earthquake events are very common, according to the press release.

Many of the earthquakes aren’t detected by humans in the area, said Mayor Virgie Thompson, but the data collected is useful to scientists.

“Being a part of the solution feels good, especially when there is no cost to the city or its residents,” she said.

Since the machine was installed, the press release says it has recorded 12 minor earthquake events,

Information is recorded and published from the sensor with every event and is online at earthquake.usgs.gov/monitoring/netquakes