The arrival of Escopeta Oil and Gas Spartan 151 jack-up rig in Kachemak Bay yesterday is just the beginning of the company’s development plans for Cook Inlet.

“We plan to keep it here for eight years, possibly more,” said Escopeta representative Steve Sutherlin.

Sutherland said the company has a multiwell drilling program planned for Cook Inlet.

Drilling on the first well could be under way in as little as a week, Sutherlin said.

“The rig is currently just inside the Homer Spit,” he said.

An emergency order from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game brought an end to the setnet commercial fishing season Sunday, about a week earlier than the normal Aug. 15 end of the season.

The emergency order closes commercial fishing with set gillnets in the Kenai, Kasilof and East Forelands Sections of the Upper Subdistrict for the remainder of the 2011 season, effective Sunday night.

The department's announcement said the closure was in an effort to meet the late-run king salmon escapement goal.

Gov. Sean Parnell is trying to rein in his energetic lieutenant governor, Mead Treadwell, who won a hotly contested race for the position with Parnell’s backing.

The Alaska office of lieutenant governor is one of only two statewide offices, and succeeds to the governorship if the position becomes vacant, but has few other duties.

In addition to overseeing the state’s Division of Elections, the lieutenant governor’s official duties are mostly symbolic and administrative, as well as special duties assigned by the governor.

Spending for medical care in Alaska is ticking along at 8 percent annual growth rates and could reach about $8 billion in 2011, according to an analysis by consulting economist Mark Foster, who tracks the health care industry.

Foster has been retained by the Alaska Health Care Commission, an advisory group to the state, to track trends in health spending.

If the current trend continues, it would reach $10 billion in 2015 and $14.5 billion in 2020, Foster said in an interview.