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    A former Alaska Aerospace Corporation employee has been indicted by the federal grand jury in Anchorage. Today (Yesterday) U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler announced Jodi Ann Andres, 48, of Anchorage, was indicted for violating federal conflict of interest laws.
    The indictment says Andres worked for the Department of Defense’s Defense Contract Audit Agency, or DCAA, as an auditor from January 2003 until September 2006. She worked on cost proposals, labor rates and claims for the Missile Defense Agency, which is responsible for developing and testing the U.S.’ Ballistic Missile Defense System. According to the indictment, Andres left the DCAA in 2006 and began working for Alaska Aerospace as a controller. In July 2008, Andres allegedly represented the corporation during negotiations with the DCAA about a missile defense contract she had previously audited while employed by the agency. Court documents suggest Andres intended to influence the DCAA about the missile defense contract.
    Conflict of interest statues impose permanent communication restrictions on behalf of an organization or company on items that an individual participated in as a government employee. The maximum penalty for a violating this restriction is up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
    Retta-Rae Randall is the Assistant U.S. Attorney and said Andres is currently out on bail with an arraignment date set for March 22. She said the investigation behind Andres’ indictment was a few years in the making. Indictments act only as charges and do not mean the individual is guilty.
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           Coming up this week, last year’s weak Chinook salmon runs prompts action in the Alaska Legislature, discussion about the same issue among interior Alaska Native villages and painting a picture of one woman’s experience in commercial fishing. All that and this year’s projected salmon catch, coming up, on the Alaska Fisheries Report.    

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            Museum Advocacy Day was on Tuesday and a handful of representatives from Kodiak’s museum community spoke on KMXT’s Talk of the Rock about the week-long push to garter support for local, statewide and national museums. Tiffany Brunson is the interim executive director of the Baranov Museum and said a lot of the action on museum advocacy day occurs in Washington D.C.
 

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            There’s a new group in town, and it’s looking to learn more about Kodiak’s history. Anjuli Grantham is the curator of collections at the Baranov Museum and brainchild behind Kodiak History Detectives. She said the idea for the group came to her after hearing about something similar in Washington State. She said various organizations are working together in Washington to train individuals on how to collect, research and better document information about the state’s relatively unknown role in the Civil War. Grantham said the state’s method of crowd sourcing research isn’t just effective in gathering information, but also educating and engaging a community in local history.

            While born from the mission in Washington, Kodiak History Detectives aren’t researching the Civil War. Instead, Grantham organized the group to look at various under researched eras in Alaska’s history.