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Juneau Police reported that all three of the injured came from a Plymouth Neon, which officers concluded was on Yandukin headed in the direction of the airport. A Ford Explorer was headed away from the airport on Yandukin, attempting to turn left onto Old Dairy Road.

Police reported the Neon hit the Explorer in the side. Two people in the Explorer were not injured, but officers reported citing the driver, a man, 18, on a charge of failing to yield when making a left turn.

Investigators determined the Neon was a total loss. Damage to the Explorer was estimated at $8,000.

Leman OKs gas initiative application

JUNEAU - Lt. Gov. Loren Leman on Monday approved a second initiative application for a natural gas reserves tax that sponsors say would spur development of a gas pipeline from the North Slope.

Initiative sponsors, led by state Rep. Eric Croft, D-Anchorage, can now collect the required 31,451 signatures - equal to 10 percent of the turnout in the 2004 general election - needed to put the proposal on the 2006 general election ballot.

The plan calls for a tax of 3 cents for every 1,000 cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves under lease that the North Slope oil and gas producers do not extract and ship to market. The tax would generate $1 billion a year, Croft has said.

Leman approved a similar application on Aug. 3 that called for a 2-cent tax. Leman said Monday, as he did the first time, there were potential legal problems in the initiative, but not enough to deny certification of the application.

Croft's proposal is meant to compel North Slope producers to build a gas pipeline and ship Alaska's natural gas to market. The state is in negotiations with the three major producers, TransCanada and the Alaska Gasline Port Authority to set fiscal terms for building a gas line.

The oil industry and Gov. Frank Murkowski's office oppose a reserves tax because it could invite lawsuits and create uncertainty, they have said.

Wildfire season to rank among worst

FAIRBANKS - Officials predict 2005 will likely rank as one of the state's top three most devastating years for wildfires, with more than 3.8 million acres consumed so far.

Officials expect the burnt acreage to surpass previous records by sometime late this week.

Combined with 2004's record burn, fire has blackened more than 10.5 million acres in about 16 months.

"We have hit a lot of benchmarks in a very short period of time," said Randi Jandt, a fire ecologist for the Alaska Fire Service.

The three worst fire seasons occurred in 2004, 1957, with 5 million acres burned and 1969, with 4.2 million acres consumed.

The number of blazes still burning late in the season when the weather changed led to 2005's high totals. By Aug. 1, 541 fires were responsible for 1.7 million acres burned, but over the next three weeks, a high-pressure weather system spurred more than 100 fires over more than 2 million acres.

During the 2004 season fire quickly ate through more than 100,000 acres on nine different days.

Last Stryker soldiers head to Middle East

FAIRBANKS - The last five soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team left Fort Wainwright on Sunday to join the rest of their 3,800 fellow brigade soldiers already in Kuwait or Iraq.

The five soldiers are part of a 25-member team that coordinates transportation of soldiers, gear and equipment for deployment.

Sgt. 1st Class Barbara Cash, who leads the team, said she was relieved after sending off 15 planeloads of soldiers, a navy ship of more than 300 Strykers and other vehicles, and untold amounts of gear and supplies for the brigade's estimated yearlong deployment in Iraq.

"I can take a breather now," she said.

Cash said she has been in contact with the rest of the brigade already in Kuwait or Iraq. She packed some extra repellent used on uniforms to deter sun fleas at the request of troops who have been in the desert for almost a month now.

Rehabilitated trail nearly impassable

FAIRBANKS - A 33-mile trail cut as a fire break last year and adopted over the winter by mushers and snowmobilers was "rehabilitated" into a nearly impassable path.

The state spent about $100,000 on the fire break near Two Rivers east of Fairbanks to keep four-wheel-drive vehicles from using the trail. Large berms were constructed to form 180-degree S turns at several points.

When musher Mike Green saw what the state Division of Forestry had done to the fire break cut last year during the state's record fire season, he said, he "wanted to cry.".

The trail was reduced to a quagmire of trees and giant root wads that had been pulled over the fire line.

"I've been dealing with trails for 35 years and I've never seen a mess like they made up there," said Green, trail boss for the Two Rivers Dog Mushers' Association. "They destroyed that trail for all uses except for hiking, and nobody would go hiking up there because it's so ugly."

The berms prevented travel by sled, both motor- and dog-powered.

In response to complaints, the state Division of Forestry has decided to "fine-tune" the fire break trail to make it usable for dog sleds, snowmobiles and four-wheelers.

"This isn't quite how we envisioned it," said Fairbanks area forester Marc Lee, who inspected the trail after getting calls from Green and Kelly.

Two slain men were sex offenders

BELLINGHAM - Two men shot to death at a Bellingham apartment building were Level III sex offenders, police confirmed Monday.

The men were identified by police as Hank Eisses, 49, and Victor Vasquez, 68, both convicted child rapists.

Police are looking for a man who may have posed as an FBI agent to gain access to their apartment. A roommate who found the bodies says the man wore a blue jumpsuit and a cap with the FBI emblem, and said he wanted to talk to the men about their status as sex offenders. The man was also seen Friday by neighbors.

The fake FBI agent told the three roommates that one of them was on a "hit list" on an Internet site, according to the police.

The roommate who reported the deaths left about 9 p.m. while the FBI impostor was still there, police Lt. Craige Ambrose said previously. He found the bodies when he returned about 3 a.m. Saturday, police said.