Anchorage news

• Togiak herring fishing gets windy start

  23-04-2018 03:00 via KTOO
  The state’s largest sac roe herring fishery got underway Sunday in the midst of high winds and a NOAA gale warning. (Photo by Tim Sands/Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
  The Togiak herring fishery, the state’s largest sac roe herring fishery, opened Sunday morning with a windy start.https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kdlg/audio/2018/04/herring_4.22_pkg.mp3
  More than 30 mph gusts posed a challenge for fishermen, area management biologist Tim Sands said.
  “The seine fleet is over
  
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• Alaska unemployment rate remains at 7.3 percent in March

  22-04-2018 00:45 via KTOO
  JUNEAU — Alaska’s unemployment rate remained at 7.3 percent for the third straight month in March.
  Federal labor statistics show that’s the highest the unemployment rate has been in the state since early 2012.
  The preliminary, seasonally adjusted rate of 7.3 percent in March was up slightly from a year earlier, when it stood at 7.1 percent.
  The state labor department says total employment in Alaska was down about 2,600 jobs last month from March 2017.
  Nationally, unemployment s
  
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• Alaska Airlines sets new limits on emotional support animals

  21-04-2018 22:30 via KTOO
  An emotional support pig (Photo by Ken Dodds/Flickr creative commons image)
  Alaska Airlines has announced a new policy to limit emotional support animals on airplanes.
  A passenger is already required to have a letter from a mental health professional and a health certificate for the animal.But starting May 1, they’ll also need a signed affidavit that the animal is trained to behave in public and that the owner accepts liability for its actions.
  And they’ll now have to provide all of
  
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• Sitka bear sanctuary making room for more black bears

  21-04-2018 19:42 via KTOO
  SITKA — A Sitka bear sanctuary is getting ready to unveil its new black bear enclosure when it opens for the tourist season.
  Fortress of the Bear Manager Claire Turner said during a presentation at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the new enclosure will add about 10 times the space of its previous black bear habitat.
  The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports that Les and Evy Kinnear opened the fortress in 2002 with only brown bears.
  They added a separate 4000-square-foot enclosure af
  
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• Undead Arctic microbes feel the heat, unleash disease

  21-04-2018 06:15 via KTOO
  Graves under stones on top of permafrost, on a small hill near Kulusuk, Greenland.
  (Photo courtesy Markus Trienke)
  For hundreds of years, animals and people have been buried in the frozen ground in the Arctic. Now, that permafrost is thawing and it’s exposing those bodies, and whatever killed them, to the outside world.
  Michael Bruce is a public health physician and medical epidemiologist based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Anchorage. He told a crowd last week a
  
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• Gardentalk — Prepare the way for perennials, national primrose show

  21-04-2018 03:26 via KTOO
  Primroses and daffodils simultaneously bloom in a North Douglas flower bed. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  Embrace the rain.
  The Captial City’s recent rain doesn’t just knocks down the dust and alleviates recent dry conditions, Master Gardener Ed Buyarski said.
  It also accelerates the melting of snow still present in some Juneau yards and gardens.
  He also recommends removing the plastic or spruce bough covers protecting bulbs and perennials from the winter’s cold temperatures.
  Buy
  
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• A Juneau Afternoon 4-23-2018

  20-04-2018 23:11 via KTOO
  Scott Burton hosts A Juneau Afternoon on Monday:
  Learn how you can help plan the new Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center;
  Discover the art of oil painter Dan Fruits;
  Run, wearing all the colors of the rainbow, through downtown Juneau;
  Get the inside on how to buy city-owned lots near DZ Middle School;
  And hear a preview of a poetry, music and live drawing concert with Marian Call and her mini-comic convention friends.
  
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• Making a better “hot dog of the sea”

  20-04-2018 22:42 via KTOO
  A pallet of raw surimi at UniSea’s plant in Unalaska. UniSea planned to export about 500 tons of raw surimi to Russia this season. (Photo by Lauren Rosenthal/KUCB)
  When people think of Alaska seafood, salmon and halibut come to mind. But the state also produces a lesser-known fish product sought after all around the world: surimi, the base for imitation crab.Now the guy who helped establish surimi in America — more than 30 years ago — is on a mission to improve how it’s m
  
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• What’s the deal with Juneau’s barefoot guy?

  20-04-2018 17:41 via KTOO
  “Barefoot Guy” Ezra Strong looks out on Dredge Lake during a hike. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
  Xtratufs, Bogs, Muck Boots — comfortable, waterproof footwear is pretty much a necessity here in Juneau. But not for the local some know as “the barefoot guy.”
  Curious Juneau stars you and your questions. Every episode we help you find an answer. Catch up on past episodes, or ask your own question on the Curious Juneau page.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/04
  
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• A Juneau Afternoon 4-20-2018

  19-04-2018 22:43 via KTOO
  Andy Kline hosts A Juneau Afternoon on Friday:
  We’ll hear why you should thin out your old record collection this weekend;
  Get the scoop on how to join next weekend’s big wetlands cleanup;What not to miss at this Saturday’s Travel Fair;
  How to support Polaris House — a clubhouse for adults diagnosed with mental illness;
  And we’ll get a preview of this weekend’s Orpheus Project concerts.
  
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• Telling Tales – 4-18-18

  19-04-2018 20:37 via KTOO
  Telling Tales w/MsG celebrated “April as the Cruelest Month”, with some Woosh Kinaadeiyi poets.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/04/TT041718.mp3
  *POEMS*
   
  Bill Merk (“the Juneau Poet Laureate”) performed Sam Hamill’s “To Live & Die in Portland”
   
  Mike Christenson recited one of his own works, “If”
   
  Audrey Kohler recited her beautiful poem “Winter Thaw”
   
  MsG performed Nikki Giovanni’s (&ld
  
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• Trump administration kicks off process for oil development in ANWR

  19-04-2018 20:20 via KTOO
  The Porcupine caribou herd in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain. (Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  Today, the Trump administration took the first official step towards allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  The Department of Interior released a notice saying it will hold “no fewer than two” oil lease sales in a 1.6-million acre portion of the refuge, known as the 1002 area or the Coastal Plain. It adds those lease sales mus
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, April 19, 2018

  19-04-2018 20:10 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/04/noon041918.mp3
  Stories include Trump administration starting plan to drill in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, latest developments in the Legislature in public school funding, and internet outages in Southwestern Alaska.
  
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• Facebook to offer users opt-outs that comply with new European privacy rules

  19-04-2018 17:11 via KTOO
  Facebook on Wednesday announced it is introducing “new privacy experiences” aimed at complying with European Union regulations that will give users worldwide a chance to opt out of some features that could expose their personal data.
  “Everyone – no matter where they live – will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy on Facebook,” said Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer and Ashli
  
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• Haines Fishermen’s Alliance to for salmon, habitat in face of large mine

  19-04-2018 17:03 via KTOO
  A new Haines fishermen’s group called the Haines Fishermen’s Alliance will work to advocate for salmon and salmon habitat.
  “It is a group of fishermen outside of the group that was already started and has been around for many, many years, which is the Lynn Canal Gillnetters Association— a group of like-minded people who have serious questions about having a large-scale industrial mine above the watershed that is feeding our industry, our fish,” said Haines resident
  
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• Haines Fishermen’s Alliance to advocate for salmon, habitat in face of large mine

  19-04-2018 17:03 via KTOO
  A new Haines fishermen’s group called the Haines Fishermen’s Alliance will work to advocate for salmon and salmon habitat.
  “It is a group of fishermen outside of the group that was already started and has been around for many, many years, which is the Lynn Canal Gillnetters Association— a group of like-minded people who have serious questions about having a large-scale industrial mine above the watershed that is feeding our industry, our fish,” said Haines resident
  
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• Boroughs, university, private companies to explore trade with China

  19-04-2018 03:37 via KTOO
  Alaska Gov. Bill Walker peeks out for a photo after a group signs an agreement to study a partnership between China and Alaska to build a gas pipeline megaproject on Nov. 9, 2017, in Beijing, China. (Photo courtesy Alaska Governor’s Office)
  An Alaska delegation will explore new trade opportunities in China at the end of May. The group includes a baby food maker, several seafood processors and the Mat-Su Borough.
  The trip is part of a trade mission that Gov. Bill Walker’s office annou
  
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• Legislature passes school funding bill, likely averting mass layoff notices to school workers

  19-04-2018 03:14 via KTOO
  Rally participants cheer in the rain at the second annual March for Science in Juneau on April 14, 2018. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
  The Alaska House took a major step Wednesday toward preventing layoff notices from going out to teachers and other school workers this spring.
  The House voted to agree with changes the Senate made to House Bill 287 to fund schools separately and before the rest of the budget.
  Anchorage Democratic Rep. Les Gara voted for the bill. He said it was important to act q
  
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• Alaska Legislature passes school funding bill

  19-04-2018 01:25 via KTOO
  Rally participants cheer in the rain at the second annual March for Science in Juneau on April 14, 2018. Their message advocated for public school funding. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
  The Alaska Legislature has passed a school funding bill.
  The measure covers two years. First-year funding, which takes effect July 1, comes with no strings.
  But the second year of funding, along with an additional $30 million, hinges on passage of separate legislation that would establish structured draws from th
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, April 18, 2018

  18-04-2018 23:12 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/04/2018-04-18-newscast.mp3
  In this newscast:The Alaska Legislature adopts a two-year school funding bill,
  a legislative attorney and the state’s attorney general are at odds about the constitutionality of a bond proposal,
  the head of the federal Denali Commission is stepping down at the end of the week,
  dangerous drugs have gone missing from Bartlett Regional Hospital, and
  Anchorage officials have certified the results of their first vote-by-ma
  
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• A Juneau Afternoon 4-19-2018

  18-04-2018 22:21 via KTOO
  Julie Coppens hosts A Juneau Afternoon on Thursday:
  She’ll be joined by UAS’s Emily Wall to highlight Friday’s Tidal Echoes launch;
  Comedians from Club Baby Seal will preview their weekend shows;
  We’ll hear about Gastineau Humane Society’s Run Fur Fun;
  And the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council will preview the weekend’s happenings with Arts Up.
  
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• Renewable energy competition wants Alaskans to ‘fail fast’ to eventually find ‘gold’

  18-04-2018 21:27 via KTOO
  Huey Winston, Forest Masters and Suzanna Caldwell discuss their website design for the Volt49 renewable energy competition. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  “Failing fast” sounds like a bad thing. But when it comes to fostering the state’s growing renewable energy sector, the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development thinks failure can be useful. So this spring, it designed a unique competition called Volt49. The organizers want Alaskans to com
  
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• Morning update — Wednesday, April 18, 2018

  18-04-2018 19:20 via KTOO
  In this newscast:Anchorage officials certify vote-by-mail results: Anchorage officials finalized the city’s vote count Tuesday night, the last step in an election where one of the biggest surprises was the success of the newly implemented vote-by-mail system.  About 79,295 ballots were cast, pushing turnout to just over 36 percent, a high figure relative to Anchorage’s normal local election returns.
  Denali climb season underway with rescue, successful summit: The Denali climbing
  
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• Denali climb season underway with rescue, successful summit

  18-04-2018 19:14 via KTOO
  Denali from the air in a photo dated March 29, 2013. (Public domain photo by Jacob Frank/National Park Service)
  ANCHORAGE — The Denali climbing season has begun and the National Park Service has already performed a rescue and noted a successful summit of North America’s highest mountain.
  Mountaineering rangers on Saturday rescued a climber who broke his leg in a 49-foot on West Kahiltna Peak.
  A ranger suspended from a short-haul rope below a high-altitude helicopter reached the climb
  
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• Anchorage officials certify vote-by-mail results

  18-04-2018 19:11 via KTOO
  Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. (Photo by Josh Edge/Alaska Public Media)
  Anchorage officials finalized the city’s vote count Tuesday night, the last step in an election where one of the biggest surprises was the success of the newly implemented vote-by-mail system.  
  About 79,295 ballots were cast, pushing turnout to just over 36 percent, a high figure relative to Anchorage’s normal local election returns.
  Many praised the municipal Clerk
  
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• After lawmaker gives birth, Senate poised to allow Infants in for votes

  18-04-2018 17:58 via KTOO
  Sen. Tammy Duckworth, seen here in February on Capitol Hill, announced the birth of a daughter, making her the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office. (Photo by Alex Brandon/Associated Press)
  Maile Pearl Bowlsbey is just over a week old and already she’s helping force more change in the Senate than most seasoned lawmakers can even dream.
  She’s doing it with the help of her mom, Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
  Duckworth gave birth to Maile, her second child, on Apr
  
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• Potentially lethal medications stolen from hospital

  18-04-2018 17:33 via KTOO
  Potentially dangerous drugs from Bartlett Regional Hospital have gone missing.
  Hospital staff reported April 10 that a medication kit was missing from the emergency department, according to a Juneau Police press release.
  The kit includes narcotics, painkillers, sedatives and a medication that will paralyze a person but leave them unable to breath on their own.
  The release said that without following medical procedure, the drugs are very dangerous and can result in death.
  Anyone with information
  
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• Watch: Central Council holds 83nd annual tribal assembly ~ Day 3

  18-04-2018 16:43 via KTOO
  The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is holding its annual tribal assembly Wednesday through Friday at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau.
  You can follow Day 3 of the tribal assembly here:
  You can follow Day 2 of the tribal assembly here:
  You can follow Day 1 of the tribal assembly here:
  You can view the agenda at a glance and an event summary here.
  
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• Watch: Central Council holds 83nd annual tribal assembly ~ Day 2

  18-04-2018 16:43 via KTOO
  The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is holding its annual tribal assembly today through Friday at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau.
  You can follow Day 2 of the tribal assembly here:
  You can follow Day 1 of the tribal assembly here:
  You can view the agenda at a glance and an event summary here.
  
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• Watch: Central Council holds 83nd annual tribal assembly ~ Day 1

  18-04-2018 16:43 via KTOO
  The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is holding its annual tribal assembly today through Friday at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau.
  You can follow Day 1 of the tribal assembly here:
  You can view the agenda at a glance and an event summary here.
  
  Read more

• Alaska Native leaders imagine divergent ‘Arctic futures’

  18-04-2018 16:33 via KTOO
  Leaders of Arctic communities discuss possible scenarios for the future of the region at the Arctic Futures conference (Photo courtesy Kenton Media)
  The Arctic is changing, and the people living there are trying to change with it.http://media.aprn.org/2018/ann-20180417-07.mp3
  Alaska Native community leaders discussed the challenges — and opportunities — facing an evolving Arctic at the Arctic Futures conference at University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus, Nome.
  Arctic Dom
  
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• The IRS’s online payment service is back up and everyone gets more time to file

  18-04-2018 04:14 via KTOO
  The IRS has extended the filing deadline because of technical problems. Taxpayers now have until midnight Wednesday to file their returns or extension requests and pay their taxes. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
  Updated at 8:05 p.m. ET
  Tax filers have little longer to get their paperwork in to the Internal Revenue Service.
  In a statement, the IRS announced it is giving taxpayers an additional day to file and pay their taxes after technical issues on the agency’s website mad
  
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• A Juneau Afternoon 4-18-2018

  18-04-2018 03:16 via KTOO
  Sheli DeLaney hosts A Juneau Afternoon on Wednesday:
  We’ll get a preview of NAMI’s fundraiser Comedy for a Cause;Daughters of the New Moon will highlight their workshop and performance;
  Nikki Love will outline the 10th annual Early Learning Fair;
  And we’ll get the details on this year’s Empty Bowls fundraiser.
  
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• At crucial moment, Denali Commission faces leadership gap

  18-04-2018 00:52 via KTOO
  Joel Neimeyer of the Denali Commission, right, speaks with DEC Commisioner Larry Hartig on a 2017 visit to Mertarvik, the site where the village of Newtok hopes to rebuild. Neimeyer’s last day on the job is April 20. (Photo by Christine Trudeau/KYUK)
  The top job at the federal agency tasked with coordinating the relocation of Alaska villages threatened by climate change will soon be vacant.
  Joel Neimeyer will step down as federal co-chair of the Denali Commission when his term expires
  
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• Alaska Aerospace Corporation denies plans to build more launchpads at Kodiak spaceport

  18-04-2018 00:48 via KTOO
  Alaska Aerospace Corporation launch facility in Narrow Cape. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Aerospace Corporation)
  Some Kodiak residents are not happy with a seemingly harmless landscape photo recently posted online.
  The reason — the picture was taken from a proposed launch pad for the space technology company Vector Launch incorporated at Kodiak’s Pacific Spaceport Complex.
  Locals worry any more development at the spaceport will deface the vistas and limit access to public land.http://km
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, April 17, 2018

  17-04-2018 22:44 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/04/20180417-newscast.mp3
  In this newscast:State lawmakers propose a raffle to benefit schools and PFD donations to the state treasury,
  all residents and pets are accounted for after a Monday night fire in downtown Juneau,
  ConocoPhillips announces three new oil discoveries on the North Slope, and
  entry fees at Denali National Park are going up by $5.
  
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• NPR newscaster Carl Kasell dies at 84, after a lifelong career on-air

  17-04-2018 22:31 via KTOO
  NPR’s Carl Kasell delivers one of his last newscasts during Morning Edition on Dec. 30, 2009 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
  Every weekday for more than three decades, his baritone steadied our mornings.
  Even in moments of chaos and crisis, Carl Kasell brought unflappable authority to the news.
  But behind that hid a lively sense of humor, revealed to listeners late in his career, when he became the beloved judge and official scorekeeper for Wait Wait… Do
  
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• Facebook faces class-action lawsuit challenging its use of facial recognition data

  17-04-2018 21:59 via KTOO
  Cardboard cutouts of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington as he testified before a Senate panel last week. (Photo by Kevin Wolf/Associated Press)
  A federal judge in California has ruled that Facebook can be sued in a class-action lawsuit brought by users in Illinois who say the social network improperly used facial recognition technology on their uploaded photographs.
  The plaintiffs are three Illinois Facebook users who sued under a state law that
  
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• Morning update — Tuesday, April 17, 2018

  17-04-2018 19:01 via KTOO
  In this newscast:Fire disrupts businesses, residents of 6 apartments in downtown building: All residents at a century-old building and their pets are safe and accounted for after a fire Monday night in downtown Juneau. Emergency vehicles blocked the streets around the mixed-use building at the corner of Second and North Franklin streets.
  Weigel named new director of City Museum: Beth Weigel replaces outgoing museum director Jane Lindsey, who worked for the museum for 18 years.
  Alaska House
  
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• Homer residents, officials get up-close look at oil spill response

  17-04-2018 17:57 via KTOO
  Several fishing vessels in Homer run through oil spill response drills put on by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. (Photo by Aaron Bolton/KBBI)
  Every year Alyeska Pipeline Service Company trains more than 2,000 fishermen from Valdez to Kodiak how to respond to an oil spill in Prince William Sound and surrounding areas.
  Homer residents can see a mock response every spring off shore in Kachemak Bay.
  The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council gave the public and local decisi
  
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• Sitka Tribe to co-manage interpretation at Sitka National Historical Park

  17-04-2018 17:12 via KTOO
  Sitka National Historical Park is home to the Tlingit fort site Shis’gi Noow and battleground, where the Kiks.adi Tlingit clashed with the Russian American Company in 1804. (Photo by Katherine Rose/KCAW)
  After a year of negotiations, Sitka Tribe of Alaska will partner with the National Parks Service to begin co-management of historical interpretation at the Sitka National Historical Park — the first compacting agreement of its kind in U.S. history.https://www.kcaw.org/wp-content/uplo
  
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• Fire disrupts businesses, residents of 6 apartments in downtown building

  17-04-2018 09:34 via KTOO
  All residents and their pets are safe and accounted for after a fire at a century-old building in downtown Juneau on Monday night.
  Emergency vehicles blocked the streets around the mixed-use building at the corner of Second and North Franklin streets. Some 40 firefighters responded, breaking through some siding, walls and ceilings amid the acrid air and flashing lights of emergency vehicles.
  By about 10 p.m., they were mopping up the remains of the fire as water and soap suds flowed into s
  
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• BIA building near Bethel could burn for up to two days, fire chief says

  17-04-2018 03:25 via KTOO
  An abandoned Bureau of Indian Affairs building on the outskirts of Bethel caught fire on April 15, 2018. (Photo by Teresa Cotsirilos/KYUK)
  An abandoned Bureau of Indian Affairs school building on the outskirts of Bethel caught fire this weekend and could burn for a long time.https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kyuk/audio/2018/04/170815_bia_building_fire_pkg_1_0.mp3
  The fire was reported to Bethel Fire Department about 7 a.m. Sunday morning, Fire Chief Bill Howell said.
  He suspects the building had been
  
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• John Oliver offers movie memorabilia to Anchorage Blockbuster

  17-04-2018 03:18 via KTOO
  Blockbuster on Debarr Road in Anchorage is one of the few remaining in the U.S. (Photo by Emily Russell/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska made comedy headlines this weekend.
  HBO host John Oliver offered to donate some unique items to a business in Anchorage.
  The state may be the Last Frontier, but on Sunday night, comedian John Oliver highlighted a different kind of status – the last holdout of Blockbuster Video.
  “Despite the fact that Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010, there are ap
  
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• ConocoPhillips announces three new oil discoveries on the North Slope

  17-04-2018 01:00 via KTOO
  Pipelines stretch toward the horizon on NPR-A land leased by ConocoPhillips. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  ConocoPhillips announced today it made three new oil discoveries on the Western North Slope.
  Conoco didn’t release many details about the discoveries, including how much oil was found. But in a press release, the company called the results of this winter’s drilling season “promising.”
  Conoco drilled a total of six wells this winter, one of i
  
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• Newscast — Monday, April 16, 2018

  16-04-2018 23:59 via KTOO
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/04/newscast3.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau-Douglas City Museum has a new director,
  Salmon estimates for Bristol Bay are in,
  and the Legislature passed two bills related to education funding over the weekend.
  
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• Alaska House votes to limit access to marijuana convictions

  16-04-2018 22:48 via KTOO
  (Creative Commons photo illustration by Chuck Grimmett)
  JUNEAU — The Alaska House has passed legislation restricting access to records showing past convictions for simple marijuana possession.
  Democratic Rep. Harriet Drummond, who sponsored the measure, said Alaskans should not be passed up for jobs or promotions for possessing something that is now legal.
  Alaska voters in 2014 approved recreational use of marijuana by those 21 and older.
  The bill pertains to convictions for possessio
  
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• Young holds cash-on-hand edge in Alaska U.S. House race

  16-04-2018 22:43 via KTOO
  JUNEAU — Independent U.S. House candidate Alyse Galvin raised more than Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young during the first quarter of the year. But Young holds a big edge in available cash on hand.
  Galvin plans to run as an independent in the August Democratic primary.
  She reported first-quarter contributions of more than $280,000 and ended the quarter, March 31, with just under $200,000 available.
  Young, meanwhile, reported contributions of just over $100,000 between January and March. He en
  
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• Weigel named new director of City Museum

  16-04-2018 21:23 via KTOO
  Juneau Public Libraries librarian Andrea Hirsh, left, and program coordinator Beth Weigel. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  Juneau-Douglas City Museum has a new director.
  Beth Weigel replaces outgoing museum director Jane Lindsey, who worked for the museum for 18 years.
  Weigel comes from the Juneau Public Libraries, where she has served as program coordinator since 2013.
  Weigel previously was Discovery Southeast executive director. She’s also an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Southe
  
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• Technology helping small communities cut high energy costs, conference organizer says

  16-04-2018 20:00 via KTOO
  Fairbanks North Star Borough Energy Management Engineer Ben Loeffler talks with conferees about a biomass-gasification combined heat and power plant project at the Big Dipper Ice Arena during Tuesday’s Rural Energy Conference (Photo by Tim Ellis/KUAC)
  About 400 people from around Alaska and elsewhere converged on the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel and Conference Center this week to talk about how residents of the state’s rural and remote communities can reduce high energy costs during the
  
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