NATION IN BRIEF : ALASKA : State Acts to Avert Hunting Takeover

Gov. Steve Cowper called for a special session of the Alaska Legislature to deal with the unprecedented federal takeover of hunting on public lands in the state next month. Cowper called the special legislative session for June 25--six days before the federal takeover. Interior Department officials made it clear that the only way Alaska can stop the takeover is to comply with a federal law that mandates special subsistence hunting rights for rural Alaskans. Alaska had such a law, but the state Supreme Court struck it down last December. The divided state Legislature failed to revise the law before adjourning May 8, so the federal government announced that it would step in on July 1.