JUNEAU — A company that operated a drill ship off Alaska’s Arctic coast has agreed to plead guilty to environmental and maritime crimes as part of a deal with prosecutors.

The agreement calls for Noble Drilling U.S. LLC to plead guilty to eight felony counts and pay an $8.2 million fine, plus $4 million in community service payments.

The charges and the agreement, which must be approved by a judge, were made public Monday.

Noble operated the drill ship Noble Discoverer and the drill unit Kulluk in support of efforts by Royal Dutch Shell PLC to drill offshore in 2012.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s new attorney general said he will review issues related to the Alaska National Guard, including ensuring that proper prosecutions were brought for wrongful behavior.

JUNEAU — In his first speech after taking office, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker said his administration would begin work immediately to expand Medicaid in the state.

Walker took the oath of office Monday in Juneau — becoming the state’s first governor not affiliated with a political party — on a Bible that his spokeswoman said had been in his family since the 1800s. He was sworn in, surrounded by family and by Alaska Supreme Court Justice Daniel Winfree, who joked at the end: “You may now kiss the bride.”

And Walker did, leaning over to kiss first lady Donna Walker.

JUNEAU — Over the last five years, Gov. Sean Parnell has left his mark on education, oil tax policy and efforts to advance a long-hoped-for natural gas pipeline project. He made the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska part of the public conversation through the “Choose Respect” initiative.

It is a legacy he is proud of, one he hopes endures after he leaves office Monday.

“I really had, and have, a vision of a brighter future for Alaska and articulated that as economic growth and economic opportunity and stronger, safer families,” he said.