Anchorage news

• Newscast – Monday, Feb. 6, 2017

  06-02-2017 23:09 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/02/2017-02-06-newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  City & Borough of Juneau contractors have broken ground on a 2.5-mile extension of North Douglas Highway,
  the head of the University of Alaska is under fire from the Fairbanks campus’s faculty Senate,
  the Alaska Forum on the Environment kicks off in Anchorage, and
  the Juneau School Board is soliciting public input on its upcoming budget.
  
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• After Alaska lawmaker’s fundraising controversy, Senate considers tighter rules

  06-02-2017 22:58 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Alaska state Sen. Kevin Meyer, left, is sponsoring Senate Bill 5, which would extend state campaign finance rules to PACs controlled by individual legislators. Meyer recently spoke at a Policymakers’ Fiscal Forum at the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau on Jan. 31, 2017. Cliff Groh was the moderator. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  The issue of money in politics got a lot of media attention this summer when Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux formed Gabby’s Tuesday PAC.  It’s the
  
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• Prosecutors: Bergdahl to get fair trial despite Trump jabs

  06-02-2017 22:48
  
  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Military prosecutors are arguing that President Donald Trump’s campaign-trail condemnation of Bowe Bergdahl – the army sergeant charged with desertion while serving in Afghanistan – won’t prevent the soldier from getting a fair trial.
  Prosecutors are seeking to rebuff Bergdahl’s assertion that Trump violated his constitutional rights to due process when, as a presidential contender, Trump called Bergdahl a “traitor” and made ot
  
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• ‘Celeste’ features a main character with autism

  06-02-2017 22:44
  
  Building a rocket to friendship, and using humor to explain Asperger’s Syndrome in the play, “Celeste.” Asperger’s is on the higher end of the autism spectrum and affects a person’s social interactions, among other things. Katey Hoffman, the actor who plays the title character, said besides that, the production has a strong anti-bullying message.
  “It’s about celebrating our differences,” she added. Hoffman went on to say that it shows to not make f
  
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• Naknek man charged in sexual abuse of young victim over two years

  06-02-2017 22:30 via ktoo.org
  
  A Naknek man is being held in custody on $25,000 bail on charges that he sexually abused a young girl over a period of two years.Benny Kevin Leon Angasan, 24, is facing two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, plus a charge of indecent exposure and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
  The Bristol Bay Borough Police Department received a call around the first of the year from a family member of the young victim alleging the crimes.Borough Police, with the assistance of the Chil
  
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• Teacher of the Week: Rebecca Julian

  06-02-2017 21:48
  
  Rebecca Julian says she may be strict, but her students know she cares about them
  “They [students] know the expectations and we get a lot done that way,” said  Julian, a third and fourth grade teacher at Nunaka Valley Elementary School.
  Julian has been teaching at Nunaka for 18 years, and says the school feels like one big family.
  “The kids here and the parents they welcome you,” she said. “The kids look up to. They say, ‘Mrs. Julian, you c
  
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• APD: Thieves use construction vehicle to steal ATM from Anchorage bank

  06-02-2017 21:45
  
  (Nick Swann / KTVA)
  Thieves used a “construction vehicle” to tear down a wall of a credit union on E. 36th Avenue early Monday morning and made off with an ATM located inside, according to a release from the Anchorage Police Department.
  Thieves ripped out a wall of the Denali Federal Credit Union early Monday morning, according to APD (Nick Swann / KTVA)
  The Anchorage Fire Department responded to the Denali Federal Credit Union at 440 E. 36th Avenue just before 2:45 a.m. a
  
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• Options dwindle for orphan sea otters

  06-02-2017 21:31 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In coastal Alaska, a bacterial infection has caused adult sea otter die-offs in record numbers. Meanwhile, researchers have seen a steep increase in the number of orphaned pups over the past several years.
  In North America, the places where rescued pups would normally live out their lives are nearly full, putting volunteers in a tough spot.
  https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kbbi/audio/2017/02/170203_orphanotter_pkg-ak-edit2.mp3A technician helps groom an orphan otter pup at the Alaska Sealife Center.
  
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• Barrow’s new Inupiat name to stay – for now

  06-02-2017 21:16
  
  Alaska voters in the nation’s northernmost town won’t get a chance at the polls after all to repeal the community’s new Inupiat Eskimo name.
  The City Council in the town formerly known as Barrow voted 5-1 against the proposal by Mayor Fannie Suvlu last week. Suvlu was voted into office in the same October 2016 election that saw voters approve the town’s new name, Utqiagvik, by six votes.
  Suvlu says the council’s Jan. 31 rejection of her proposal came after locals ha
  
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• Central Council plans constitutional convention

  06-02-2017 20:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska’s largest tribal government is revamping its constitution with an eye toward greater efficiency and cultural context.
  The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska plans a constitutional convention April 19-21 in Juneau. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
  The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will hold a constitutional convention at this spring’s tribal assembly.
  Delegates representing the Central Council’s more than 3
  
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• Winter storm hits Pacific Northwest, causes Alaska Airlines flight cancellations

  06-02-2017 16:32
  
  Last updated at 6:36 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 6
  More than 10,000 Alaska Airlines passengers traveling in the Pacific Northwest were affected by a winter storm that kicked off on Super Bowl Sunday, the company wrote in a blog post.
  “If you’re traveling from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport or Portland International Airport this morning, chances are your flight is either canceled or significantly delayed,” the company said Monday.
  Alaska and Horizon cancelled 82 fl
  
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• Rush for entry as court denies bid to reinstate travel ban

  06-02-2017 06:55
  
  Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries who were turned away from the United States due to President Donald Trump’s travel ban are rushing to try again, hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges.
  The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Mr. Trump’s effort to immediately reinstate the ban early Sunday. For now, it remains blocked by a judge’s temporary restraining order, and federal officials have told their staffs to comply.
  Advocat
  
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• Alaska lawmakers eye changes to criminal justice law

  06-02-2017 05:33 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Senate is eyeing changes to sweeping criminal justice legislation passed last year.
  North Pole Republican Sen. John Coghill, who sponsored the law, says several areas have emerged as needing to be re-examined, including penalties for petty thefts. Legislation is expected to be introduced soon.
  House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, a Dillingham Democrat, says he expects the House to prioritize legislation addressing changes to the law. He cited concerns that have been raised with some sentencing
  
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• Mat-Su homeschool program offers families variety in education options

  06-02-2017 05:27 via ktoo.org
  
  Shelby Whitecar, a Mat-Su Central School student, works on her assignment. (Photo courtesy of Debbie Whitecar)
  The Mat-Su Borough School District has made diversity of education options for it students a high priority in recent years. One aspect of that diversity is helping homeschool parents integrate their students with options only available to students in brick and mortar schools in other areas.
  Mat-Su Central is the homeschool program for the Mat-Su Borough School District and has just over
  
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• Brand-new surgery suite in Ketchikan needs modifications

  06-02-2017 05:27 via ktoo.org
  
  Hospital Foundation Director Matt Eisenhower and Surgery Manager Kimm Schwartz at the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center during an open house last summer. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  The Ketchikan City Council agreed Thursday to move forward with some recommended modifications to the new hospital surgery suite, at a cost of about a million dollars.
  The modifications are the result of code changes that happened after the design work had been completed. City Manager Karl Amylon told the Council
  
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• UAF Faculty Senate considers vote of no confidence in Johnsen

  06-02-2017 05:14
  
  Faculty at University of Alaska Fairbanks could become the second campus to vote “no confidence” in university president Jim Johnsen.
  The Faculty Senate in Fairbanks will be taking up the issue on Monday. The Fairbanks Daily News-miner reports the vote was caused by Johnsen’s decision to consolidate the school of education on the Juneau campus instead of at Fairbanks as it was previously planned.
  The UA Board of Regents approved of the decision in December after Juneau law
  
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• At 21st annual Ski for Women, a cherished Alaska tradition continues

  06-02-2017 05:01
  
  Snow conditions on Kincaid Park’s cross-country ski trails are the best they have been in years. It was exciting news for people participating in the timed races at the 21st annual Ski for Women Sunday morning.
  There were four total races on the four-kilometer course: one each for classic- and skate-style skiers, a “duathlon” combining the two styles, and an untimed party wave. The latter is perhaps for what Ski for Women is most renowned.
  Participants in the party wave ar
  
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• Utah representative wants Bears Ears gone and he wants Trump to do it

  06-02-2017 05:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The Bears Ears buttes near Blanding, Utah, have been named a national monument by President Obama. Rick Bowmer/AP
  Republicans want to eliminate one of the nation’s newest national monuments.
  Former President Barack Obama created the 1.3 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in Utah just days before he left office.
  At the center of the brewing legal fight is a relatively obscure federal law called the Antiquities Act that dates back to President Teddy Roosevelt, who famously used it ear
  
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• Trump backers want ideology test for extreme vetting

  06-02-2017 05:00 via ktoo.org
  
  An employee delivers new passports at the main Baghdad Passport office in the Iraqi capital in 2015.
  Hadi Mizban/AP
  The Trump administration says it is suspending all refugee admissions to the United States until it can come up with a plan for “extreme vetting.”
  So what could that mean?
  Refugees are already subjected to multiple interviews and a security vetting by nine U.S. law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies that check their backgrounds, social media activity and th
  
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• French soldier shoots machete-wielding attacker at Louvre

  06-02-2017 05:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Officers cordon off an area outside the Louvre Museum near the shopping area where a man attacked soldiers in Paris on Friday. Christophe Ena/AP
  A machete-wielding man shouted “Allahu Akbar” and attacked a security patrol near the Louvre Museum on Friday, prompting a soldier to shoot the man, wounding him, the head of Paris police says.
  The attack was “obviously of a terrorist nature,” French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says, according to France 24.
  One soldier susta
  
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• 2 dogs killed in fire that destroyed Chugiak home

  06-02-2017 04:24
  
  Two dogs died in a fire that destroyed a Chugiak home Sunday afternoon, according to the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department.
  The fire was reported in Chugiak around 1 p.m., according to fire officials. Fire crews were on scene within three minutes and a total of 12 units responded.
  The home is considered a total loss, fire officials confirmed. Two people living at the home were displaced. The American Red Cross of Alaska was contacted and responded to assist the family.
  No people were injured by
  
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• APD: Suspect wanted for alleged involvement in shooting

  06-02-2017 04:17
  
  The Anchorage Police Department says it is investigating a shooting that occurred in West Anchorage Saturday morning. Officers are also asking for the public’s help in locating a man allegedly involved in the shooting.
  The shooting was reported at 9:45 a.m. by residents in the area of Jewel Lake Road and Raspberry Road, according to police. The callers reported that people in two vehicles were shooting at each other.
  “APD Patrol Officers responded and found one of the vehicles i
  
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• Trump says Obamacare replacement plan could take until next year

  06-02-2017 01:35
  
  President Trump is giving an extended timeline for when his administration could be expected to roll out a new plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), former President Obama’s landmark healthcare legislation.
  In an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that aired Sunday, Mr. Trump made the vague assertion that it could take “’til sometime into next year.”
  Asked if Americans could expect a replacement plan in 2017, the president said, “yes, in the
  
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• Remembering Rod Udd: Late Anchorage businessman honored for generosity, spirit of community

  06-02-2017 01:27
  
  Many Alaskans are here because they love where they live, and Rod Udd showed it every day. The longtime businessman died last week on Jan. 22, following a lengthy illness. He was 78.
  Rod Udd. Courtesy Alaska Aces
  Friends and family gathered at the Anchorage Baptist Temple Saturday to remember his life. 
  “The sounds you heard on Jan. 23, was the express elevator taking Rod straight to heaven,” Chuck Talsky, a longtime friend to Udd, said at the funeral. “He e
  
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• Police and CCFR rescue man pinned in a car

  06-02-2017 01:21 via ktoo.org
  
  (Photo by Tripp J Crouse/KTOO)
  Juneau Police Department and Capital City Fire/Rescue rescued 48-year-old Juneau resident Lance McVay who was found pinned inside a vehicle Sunday morning.
  Police wouldn’t release McVay’s name, but his family identified him in messages to KTOO.
  McVay may have gone off the road, crashed into some trees on Saturday and spent the night in his car, Juneau police Sgt. Shawn Phelps said.
  The accident was at the end
  
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