Anchorage news

• Containment efforts keep Swan Lake Fire away from communities

  17-07-2019 05:12 via KTOO
  The Swan Lake Fire on Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Photo by Kale Casey/Alaska Division of Forestry)
  Fire crews are making progress in ensuring the Swan Lake Fire stays far away from people and infrastructure.
  The fire, burning in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, was sparked by lightning in early June. It’s grown to over 100,000 acres as of Tuesday evening. Firefighters are not trying to put out the whole blaze: To the north, crews are letting the fire burn naturally.
  Suppression effo
  
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• Juneau’s Glory Hall will cut breakfast, lunch service in response to budget vetoes

  17-07-2019 04:04 via KTOO
  The Glory Hall homeless shelter in downtown Juneau. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
  Across the state, social service providers are already feeling the impact of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes.
  Juneau’s homeless shelter and soup kitchen is reckoning with an almost 25% reduction to its already-shoestring budget.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/16gloryhall.mp3
  Outside the Glory Hall homeless shelter in downtown Juneau, cruise ship passengers shopped for souvenirs along
  
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• Young votes against condemning Trump for racist tweets

  17-07-2019 03:41 via KTOO
  Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, in his Washington, D.C., office. (Photo by Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska Congressman Don Young declined an opportunity Tuesday to criticize President Donald Trump for tweets he wrote that are widely viewed as racist.
  The U.S. House of Representatives voted 240-187 to condemn Trump for “racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” In tweets on Sunday, Trump said four members of Congress &m
  
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• Newscast – July 16, 2019

  17-07-2019 03:27 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ktoo-update-2019-07-16.mp3
  In this newscast:A group of Alaskans begins organizing a recall campaign targeting Gov. Mike Dunleavy,
  Hours of split testimony in the House Finance Committee leans in support of a bill to moderate Dunleavy’s budget cuts,
  University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen takes questions on Talk of Alaska,
  the Alaska Legislature sues Gov. Dunleavy over school funding,
  the the Alaska State Council on the Arts shutters, and
  t
  
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• Alaska Legislature sues governor over validity of school funding law

  17-07-2019 02:45 via KTOO
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy, left, and Attorney General Kevin Clarkson discuss the governor’s proposed budget in January. On Tuesday, Clarkson’s office joined with lawyers for the Legislature in asking a judge to continue state payments to schools until a lawsuit over a school funding law passed last year is resolved. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  The Alaska Legislature sued Gov. Mike Dunleavy over school funding on Tuesday, a day after the administration didn’t send out the monthly st
  
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• Disability Pride Alaska celebrates the beauty of human diversity

  17-07-2019 01:30 via KTOO
  Sheli DeLaney hosts on Wednesday July 17, 2019.Disability Pride Alaska will share the details of their celebration planned for the next Summer Block Party. We’ll also hear the latest news and information about Juneau Montessori School. The Rainbow Crosswalk Working Group will be here to share updates on their fundraising efforts, and Juneau Contra Dancers talks about the upcoming Juneau Dance Camp!
  That’s Juneau Afternoon on Wednesday: 3 p.m. on KTOO 104.3 FM, and repeated at 4 p.m.
  
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• Effort to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy working to coalesce around legal grounds

  17-07-2019 01:21 via KTOO
  Meda DeWitt, who is volunteering as a spokesperson for the recall effort, speaks to the crowd at the Writer’s Block bookstore in Anchorage on July 15, 2019. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska Public Media)
  A group of about 100 Alaskans unhappy with Gov. Mike Dunleavy met at an Anchorage bookstore Monday to discuss launching a recall campaign.
  “There’s a lot of remorse — buyer’s remorse,” Meda DeWitt, a spokesperson for the effort, said before the event.
  The ev
  
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• Draft ferry schedule shows long gaps in service to coastal communities

  16-07-2019 18:47 via KTOO
  An Alaska Marine Highway ferry docked in Skagway. (Photo by Emily Files/KHNS)
  The Alaska Department of Transportation has released a draft winter schedule for the Alaska Marine Highway System with long gaps in service to coastal communities across the state.
  Legislators approved $46 million for the state ferry system for the 2020 fiscal year. That’s roughly half the amount of state funding it received last year. According to Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Aurah
  
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• ‘This needs to stop’: Murkowski rebukes Trump for tweet

  16-07-2019 18:46 via KTOO
  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has condemned President Trump for saying that four left-wing congresswomen should go back to where they came from. All four congresswomen are people of color. Democrats quickly denounced the president’s statements on Twitter as racist.
  What’s more surprising is that, starting last night, several Republican members of Congress also criticized the president’s tweets.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ann-20190715-04.mp3
  Murkowski issued her m
  
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• Gardentalk – Harvest potential exploders before the big rain

  16-07-2019 16:00 via KTOO
  In this picture taken in early June 2019, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables thrive in the scratch-built geodesic greenhouse that Tom Lafollette at the Annex Creek Hydroelectric Facility in Taku Inlet. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  As Juneau transitions from hot and dry weather to relatively cool rain showers, gardeners are being urged to do a little picking before their potential harvest gets ruined.
  Master Gardener Ed Buyarski said cherries and cabbage can burst or explode if the tree or pla
  
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• Five fishermen rescued near Ketchikan

  16-07-2019 04:39 via KTOO
  Five fishermen were rescued Sunday morning when their vessel sank near Back Island several miles north of Ketchikan.
  The U.S. Coast Guard base in Ketchikan is seen from a floatplane window. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  At about 11 a.m. Sunday, Coast Guard Sector Juneau received a distress call from the operator of the 49-foot fishing vessel Daffnie, stating the vessel had capsized and sunk. According to a Coast Guard news release, all five people on board had abandoned ship into a skiff. The occ
  
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• Molly of Denali is the first national children’s TV show with an Alaska Native lead

  16-07-2019 04:26 via KTOO
  A scene from the episode “Grandpa’s Drum.” (Photo courtesy of WGBH)
  The first nationally broadcast children’s show with an Alaska Native lead character premiered today.
  Molly of Denali is a production of Boston public TV station WGBH and features 10-year-old Athabascan Molly Mabray and the fictional Interior village of Qyah.
  Show co-creator Dorothea Gillim of WGBH knew from the get-go that she wanted to make a kids show about an outdoorsy girl who lived in a more rural se
  
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• Rural Alaskans brace for impact as Power Cost Equalization funds disappear

  16-07-2019 04:17 via KTOO
  In Unalakleet on July 13, where power costs are set to go up for residents and the city as the local utility prepares to lose funds from the state’s Power Cost Equalization program. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  It’s salmon fishing and berry picking season in Unalakleet. It’s also the first month of the new operating budget year for the state.
  Right now, when residents get together to swap stories about fishing, salmonberry pie recipes and the unseasona
  
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• Legislature seeks new path to fund vetoed programs

  16-07-2019 04:00 via KTOO
  While the Legislature failed last week to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s vetoes, lawmakers are trying again to fund the vetoed programs in a new bill. A draft bill the House Finance Committee discussed on Monday would also set permanent fund dividends at $929 to have a balanced budget. 
  House Bill 2001 would both reverse Dunleavy’s vetoes to the operating and capital budgets and set the dividend level. 
  Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, co-chair of the House Finance Committee, speak
  
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• Newscast – Monday, July 15, 2019

  16-07-2019 03:34 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ktoo-update-2019-07-15.mp3
  In this newscast:The University of Alaska Board of Regents delays its vote to declare a financial exigency,
  the Juneau School District looks at the state budget’s effects on its finances,
  Unalakleet braces for bigger energy bills after a state fund goes dry, and
  the creatives behind “Molly for Denali” explain some of the work that went into keeping the Alaska Native cultural representations authentic.
  
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• Despite governor’s legal challenge, Juneau School District expects to receive full funding

  16-07-2019 03:14 via KTOO
  The Juneau School Board approved an operating budget for fiscal year 2020 at a special meeting on March 26, 2019. (Photo by Zoe Grueskin/KTOO)
  The Juneau School District Board of Education approved a budget for the upcoming school year back in March. But it was prepared to revisit the numbers this July in the event of major cuts to state education spending.
  It’s now July, but even though Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration has challenged the legality of this year’s school
  
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• University of Alaska regents postpone vote on financial exigency

  16-07-2019 02:34 via KTOO
  The University of Alaska Board of Regent has postponed voting on a declaration of financial exigency, a contractual tool that allows more expedited cost cutting, including laying off of tenured faculty.
  UA is facing over $135 million in reductions for state funding from the current year, including $130 million vetoed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Exigency would be a serious hit to the university’s reputation, and Regent Darroll Hargraves, a Dunleavy appointee, suggested there may be a way to ease
  
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• Anchorage mayor unveils state’s largest rooftop solar project

  16-07-2019 00:31 via KTOO
  “All energy will be consumed by operations of Egan Center,” said Stephen Trimble, CEO of Arctic Solar Ventures, whose crew installed the panels on the rooftop of the Egan Center. “If there’s a day where there’s excess capacity then it would go back out into the utility grid [ML & P] as well.” (Photo by Amy Mostafa/Alaska Public Media)The municipality of Anchorage unveiled a new solar project last week at the Egan Center. It’s the state’s l
  
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• Flood warning cancelled after Saturday’s jökulhlaup releases water into Mendenhall lake and river

  15-07-2019 21:22 via KTOO
  U.S. Forest Service interpreter Isabel Dzaik helps a tourist at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on July 14, 2019 as a nearby sign shows the closure of the Nugget Falls Trail because of a jökulhlaup or glacial dam release. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  The National Weather Service has cancelled a flood warning for Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River after water levels started dropping on Monday morning.
  The source of the flood was Saturday’s jökulhlaup or glacial dam release
  
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• Bears try to move in, Angoon sets boundaries

  15-07-2019 21:00 via KTOO
  Village Public Safety Officer Bryan Shoemate shot a bear after it approached an Angoon resident in their home. (Photo/Josh Bowen)
  Furry visitors have kept the residents of Angoon on their toes for the past few weeks. Several bears have made a habit of passing through town.
  “We live on an island surrounded by bears,” said Angoon Mayor Josh Bowen. “It goes with the territory.” Locals understand that bears will walk around, and it’s not that big of a deal when they pas
  
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• Forest Service chief makes quiet visit to Tongass National Forest

  15-07-2019 20:48 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/12tongass-web.mp3
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen visited Naukati July 6 on Prince of Wales Island where the forest service completed a land swap with the Alaska Mental Health Trust. (Photo courtesy of Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee)
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski recently hosted the U.S. Forest Service’s top official in a visit to Tongass National Forest. The delegation kept a low profile during its
  
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• Acosta did right by Alaska, Murkowski and Sullivan say

  13-07-2019 04:39 via KTOO
  U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced his resignation, effective next week. (Public domain photo by U.S. Department of Labor)
  U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta has resigned amid criticism of a lenient deal he negotiated for accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in 2008, when Acosta was a federal prosecutor in Florida.
  Among those who wanted Acosta to stay on was U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
  “I’ve been impressed with his level of attention to the details of his job
  
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• Newscast – Friday, July 12, 2019

  13-07-2019 04:02 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ktoo-update-2019-07-12.mp3
  In this newscast:City officials lift its air emergency,
  NOAA Fisheries wraps its investigation into a cruise ship’s near miss of a pod of whales caught on video,
  scientists monitor glacial dam release data affecting the Mendenhall Valley,
  Alaska’s heat wave is literally killing salmon in the lower Kuskokwim,
  the deadline passes for state lawmakers to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes, and
  law
  
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• Record warm water likely gave Kuskokwim salmon heart attacks

  13-07-2019 02:54 via KTOO
  (Photo by Katie Basile/KYUK)
  As record high temperatures swept across Alaska, never-before-seen temperatures in the Kuskokwim River likely sent salmon into cardiac arrest.
  Earlier this week, water temperatures near Bethel broke into the lower 70s, marking the highest river temperature that’s ever been recorded in early July. This spell was part of a heat wave that shot thermometers to their highest point ever in towns across Alaska.
  During this time, residents along the lower Kus
  
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• Juneau officials lift borough-wide ‘air emergency’

  13-07-2019 00:28 via KTOO
  Theo Houck looks for pedicab passengers as Volendam passengers disembark in downtown Juneau on July 12, 2019. Houck had taken six days off because air quality had gotten unhealthy, and he experienced asthma-like symptoms. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  Friday morning, the City and Borough of Juneau ended the “air emergency” that had been in effect all week.
  Open burning and burning with a permit can resume.
  Anecdotal reports attribute this week’s poor air quality to respiratory p
  
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• Jökulhlaup watch: Scientists, Juneau officials waiting for Suicide Basin’s glacial dam release

  13-07-2019 00:12 via KTOO
  A helicopter arrives to pick up scientists left on the Mendenhall Glacier for the study of nearby Suicide Basin (background), the source of jökulhlaups that have flooded Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River in recent years. Water from Suicide Basin Falls (located just under the lips of ice on the ridge) accumulates in the basin and is trapped by Mendenhall Glacier until a glacial dam release starts. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  Scientists are currently watching an area next to the Mendenhall
  
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• How hospital ERs in Alaska are helping patients with opioid use disorder

  12-07-2019 22:40 via KTOO
  Justin and his mother, Vicki Brokken, at their home in Juneau. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/KTOO)
  Some hospitals in Alaska are changing the way they treat patients with opioid use disorder. A trip to the emergency room can be a crucial window to help people in their recovery.
  Now some providers are giving patients a medicine to ease the transition so they can seek additional care.
  Recently, a hospital in Juneau completed one year of this program with encouraging results.https://s3-us-west-2.amazo
  
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• PFD fight splits Alaska GOP, leaving some aligned with Democrats

  12-07-2019 21:43 via KTOO
  Labor leader Vince Beltrami ran for state Senate as an independent in 2016 against incumbent Republican Cathy Giessel. He lost, but he now finds himself agreeing with her on key fiscal issues. (Photo by Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)
  Typically, some of the most intense fights at the Alaska State Capitol are between factions of Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
  But one of the biggest ideological fractures complicating this year’s legislative session is within the GOP. And that’s
  
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• Pilot dies in Thursday afternoon plane crash near Ketchikan

  12-07-2019 08:51 via KTOO
  The pilot and sole occupant of a small private plane died Thursday afternoon when the aircraft crashed on the south end of Gravina Island near Blank Inlet.
  According to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the name of the pilot will not be released until next of kin have been notified.
  Coast Guard spokeswoman Amanda Norcross says the plane was reported overdue by Ketchikan Airport Flight Service at 3:04 p.m. The last communication with the plane was around 2:30 p.m. The plane was near Blank Inlet at t
  
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• As polar bears encroach on this Alaska village, feds charge man with illegally shooting one

  12-07-2019 08:50 via KTOO
  Chris Gordon, center, sits during a meeting about polar bear management in Kaktovik in June. Federal prosecutors charged him Wednesday with shooting and killing a polar bear in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz / Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  Federal prosecutors have charging a North Slope man with killing a polar bear in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ann-20190711-04.mp3
  Prosecutors said 35-year-o
  
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• Murkowski finds EPA criticism of Pebble Mine ‘substantial’

  12-07-2019 08:39 via KTOO
  The Environmental Protection Agency issued harsh assessments of the proposed Pebble Mine last week, and they’ve made an impression on Lisa Murkowski. But the senator says her powers are limited.
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ann-20190711-02.mp3
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Republican colleagues spoke at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. (Photo by Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  For years, Murkowski has stayed neutral on the mine itself while defending the permi
  
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• Warmer waters believed to be main cause for dead pink salmon in Norton Sound

  12-07-2019 08:25 via KTOO
  Pink salmon, plus an occasional silver and red, congregate in a pool in this file photo from 2015. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  Norton Sound residents have reported salmon die-offs in unusually large numbers during the last week.
  According to the Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation, dead pre-spawned pink salmon were found in multiple river systems over the weekend.
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ann-20190711-03.mp3
  The corporation’s Fisheries, Research, and Develo
  
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• NOAA closes investigation into close call between cruise ship and humpback whales

  12-07-2019 04:12 via KTOO
  The Eurodam, a Holland America Line ship, sits in port on Monday, June 24, 2019. Video posted to Facebook on Monday appears to show the ship passing close to a pod of humpback whales. (Photo courtesy of Anjuli Sastry)
  An investigation into an incident involving an apparent near-miss between a cruise ship and a pod of whales last month has been closed, concluding the vessel did not violate federal regulations.
  Julie Speegle of NOAA Fisheries confirmed that the agency’s Office of Law Enforce
  
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• Public media reporting on vetoes aims for consistency

  12-07-2019 04:05 via KTOO
  Alaska news organizations have reported that Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed $444 million from the state’s operating budget. But news coverage published by Alaska Public Media and KTOO have used a smaller number of $390 million. There are a few reasons for this.
  Unrestricted General Fund
  The $390 million figure is the portion of the overall cuts that come from state funding controlled by the Legislature in the annual budget process, technically known as “unrestricted general fund reve
  
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• Lawmakers remain far apart, physically and politically, as time runs out for veto override

  12-07-2019 03:54 via KTOO
  State representatives and senators mill around the Alaska House floor during a break in a joint session on Thursday. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska’s legislators remained in different physical and political places Thursday, with little likelihood of another vote on overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s line-item vetoes. 
  Dunleavy issued a second round of line-item vetoes, this time on the capital budget. Legislators in Juneau criticized the changes, b
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, July 11, 2019

  12-07-2019 03:40 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ktoo-update-2019-07-11.mp3
  In this newscast:State lawmakers in Juneau ramp up their rhetoric against the governor and dissident lawmakers meeting in Wasilla,
  UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield walks through the budget veto impacts on his branch of the university,
  UAA students and faculty brace for 700 layoffs and the elimination of a third of the school’s academic programs, and
  the city and rainbow enthusiasts in Juneau work out a way to legally
  
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• With no veto override, UAS chancellor expects layoffs at Southeast campuses

  12-07-2019 03:17 via KTOO
  A scale model of the humpback whale sculpture at the University of Alaska Southeast campus, Aug. 14, 2015. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  The vote to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s line-item vetoes fell short again Thursday in Juneau. With more than a third of legislators absent, there was little suspense, but University of Alaska Southeast student India Busby said that didn’t make the news any easier.
  “I mean, I knew that it was going to fail, which I hate. I hate that. I feel in
  
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• ‘Who are the 100?’ If budget vetoes stand, Anchorage shelter says it must choose who stays and who leaves.

  12-07-2019 02:30 via KTOO
  Brother Francis Shelter near downtown Anchorage. (Photo By Anne Hillman/Alaska Public Media)
  On Wednesday, a few hours before the Alaska Legislature’s vote to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes would fail, Catholic Social Services executive director Lisa Aquino was all smiles as she greeted volunteers at the St. Francis House Food Pantry in Anchorage.
  But alone in a conference room upstairs, it was clear that this was not a good day.
  “I don’t have a lot of hope,&
  
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• Coffee, cookies, and culture with Sacred Grounds

  12-07-2019 02:19 via KTOO
  Andy Kline hosts on Friday, July 12th 2019.
  Sacred Grounds are our featured guests for Foodie Friday! Learn how they came to be, and why you should come and eat.  The Juneau Jumpers will be here to hype up their Jump Rope Summer Camp. And we’ll learn how to compete in the battle of the BBQ with Family Promise.
  That’s Juneau Afternoon on Friday at 3 p.m. on KTOO 104.3 FM or KTOO.org, and repeated at 4 p.m. on KRNN 102.7 FM or KRNN.org.
  
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• Someday we’ll fund it: Juneauites plan to install downtown rainbow crosswalk

  12-07-2019 01:49 via KTOO
  An unidentified couple pose for the recently painted rainbow crosswalk at the intersection of 7th and Gold streets in August 2016. (Photo courtesy Sue Warner)
  What began as a debate over public art versus public safety may finally be approaching a resolution.
  A group of residents is planning to install a rainbow crosswalk in downtown Juneau — this time with the city’s blessing.
  A crosswalk at 7th Street and Gold Street had to be repainted several times in the past few years after uni
  
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• As a bat-killing disease spreads westward, volunteers gather data on Southeast Alaska populations

  12-07-2019 01:05 via KTOO
  A cluster of little brown bats exhibiting the symptoms of white-nose syndrome. (Photo courtesy New York Department of Environmental Conservation/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  Volunteers in Petersburg and several other Southeast Alaska communities are taking a tally of the region’s bat population for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The agency launched the project in 2014 and has been racing against the clock to get accurate data before a deadly bat disease reaches Alaska.https://s
  
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• Anchorage leaders brace for ‘unprecedented’ budget situation

  11-07-2019 22:52 via KTOO
  A view of downtown Anchorage. (Creative Commons photo by Daniel Hoherd)
  Elected officials in Anchorage are bracing for the effects of the governor’s line-item budget vetoes and a stalemate in the Alaska Legislature over future funding. Local leaders expect a broad range of impacts affecting just about every area of residential life.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/ann-20190710-03.mp3
  Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz isn’t mincing words about what he thinks of the pendin
  
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• Watch: Alaska Legislature continues discussion of veto overrides

  11-07-2019 20:56 via KTOO
  After a failed vote yesterday to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s vetoes, Alaska lawmakers are in another joint session to discuss veto overrides. 
  The nearly $400 million in vetoes to the state’s operating budget impact funding for the state’s university system, Medicaid, school bonds and rural construction and benefits to low-income seniors in the state, among other items. 
  The cuts have prompted a backlash and statewide calls for lawmakers to overturn them. 
  
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• While Dunleavy’s budget vetoes survive override vote, Alaska’s Legislature remains divided

  11-07-2019 03:59 via KTOO
  The Alaska Legislature meets to consider an override of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s line-item budget vetoes. (Photo by Aidan Ling/Gavel Alaska)
  The Alaska Legislature failed to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s state budget vetoes on Wednesday.
  Without enough lawmakers present to reach the required 45 votes, the vote in Juneau fell eight votes short.
  The floor debate in the Alaska State Capitol focused on the consequences of the $390 million in state funding Dunleavy vetoed. Anchorage Sen. Nata
  
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• Artists call on Legislature to fund state arts council

  11-07-2019 03:46 via KTOO
  Juneau artists hold up their work at a demonstration outside the Walter Soboleff Building protesting the budget cuts to the Alaska State Council on the Arts on Tuesday, July 9, 2019. (Photo by Annie Bartholomew/KTOO)
  Unless 45 lawmakers vote to override Governor Dunleavy’s veto by Friday, the Alaska State Council on the Arts will be completely defunded. Artists gathered in Juneau last night to protest the cut.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/10ArtsProtest.mp3
  Around 5 p
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, July 10, 2019

  11-07-2019 03:31 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2019/07/448newscast1.mp3
  In this newscast:The Alaska Legislature fails to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes,
  Juneau artists protest funding cuts to the Alaska State Council on the Arts,
  another line item veto eliminates funding for Local Emergency Planners across the state,
  two state agencies issued burn bans across large portions of the state Tuesday.
  
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• University of Alaska president: Campus closures, program elimination and layoffs on the table under Dunleavy vetoes

  11-07-2019 02:35 via KTOO
  University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen appears on an episode of Forum@360 in Juneau in April 2018. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  The University of Alaska stands to lose $134 million in state funding if Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s line-item vetoes are not overturned by legislators.
  After the Legislature failed to override the vetoes this afternoon, university president Jim Johnsen said that the university’s Board of Regents will meet on Monday to discuss the opti
  
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• Gov. Dunleavy vetoes funding for Alaska’s local emergency planners

  11-07-2019 01:53 via KTOO
  A young crowd gathers around the earthquake simulator in August 2016 during an emergency preparedness event organized by Juneau’s Local Emergency Planning Committee. Gov. Dunleavy’s veto canceled funding for LEPC causing this year’s expo to be canceled. (Photo by Tripp J Crouse/KTOO)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy has eliminated funding for local emergency planners around Alaska.
  A line item veto deleted $225,000 to be distributed among 21 Local Emergency Planning Committees: local of
  
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• Governor’s vetoes cancel state funding for library broadband program

  11-07-2019 00:59 via KTOO
  One of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s vetoes has canceled state funding for broadband internet in Alaska libraries. The roughly $670,000 in savings could have far-reaching consequences for Alaska’s smallest towns.
  The state’s website for Alaska Online With Libraries has a pink banner informing visitors that the program has been terminated. Video conferences will end and no assistance awards will be issued next year. The OWL program ceased to exist at the end of June.
  A banner visible on
  
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• Re-living the moon landing on its 50th anniversary

  11-07-2019 00:29 via KTOO
  Sheli DeLaney hosts on Thursday, July 12, 2019.
  On Thursday’s show, we’ll hear what’s happening with the Juneau Public Libraries in the month of July, including their webcast of the 1969 Apollo 11 landing on the moon. We’ll also get a monthly update from the Zach Gordon Youth Center, and Juneau Arts and Humanities Council will highlight the weekend’s arts and entertainment happenings on Arts Up.
  That’s Juneau Afternoon on Thursday at 3 p.m. on KTOO 104.3 FM or
  
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