Alaska news

• Sitka’s disaster response bills approach half-million mark

  23-09-2015 22:30
  Sitka has spent almost a half-million dollars since August on emergency cleanup, and is counting on having most of that reimbursed by the state.
  City administrative officer Jay Sweeney gave the assembly a rundown of emergency expenses, in the wake of back-to-back disasters last month.
  The grand total so far is $459,000, itemized as follows:
  The Jarvis St. diesel spill: $71,500.The Kramer Avenue landslide: $314,000.The Sawmill Creek Road landslide: $37,000.All other slides and floods on August 18
  
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• State’s only coal mine to halt exports for remainder of year

  23-09-2015 20:03
  Alaska’s only working coal mine plans to halt exports for the rest of the year as the slow coal market has forced a temporary closure of its coal loading facility.
  The Alaska Dispatch News reports that Usibelli has already cut workers at its Seward facility down to eight as exports slowed in the past year and that additional layoffs are planned.
  Officials from Usibelli and subsidiary Aurora Energy Services met with employees Tuesday to discuss how to transition the facility into idle mode.
  
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• Group fights to keep Consulate of Mexico in Anchorage

  23-09-2015 20:00
  Mexicans living in Alaska will soon have to travel out of state to receive services from the Consulate of Mexico, but a group is petitioning to keep the Anchorage office open.
  KTVA-TV reports that the consulate plans to close its doors in November, citing economic issues and a lack of participation. However, Anchorage community leader Daniel Esparza is finding signatures to stop the move.
  Esparza says nearly 4,000 Mexicans in Alaska receive services at the consulate annually. So far he has colle
  
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• Oil tax credit working group tackles Cook Inlet impacts

  23-09-2015 19:56
  As Alaska continues to grapple with a major budget shortfall, one line item promises to be particularly controversial: tax credits for oil and gas producers.
  The state projects that credits will reach $700-million this year. That number has about tripled since 2010, with much of the increase going to producers outside the North Slope, especially in Cook Inlet.
  Now, a group of lawmakers is tackling the issue head-on.
  On Tuesday, State Senator Cathy Giessel opened the second session of her tax cre
  
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• Cook Inlet companies defend oil and gas tax credits

  23-09-2015 19:56
  
  As Alaska continues to grapple with a major budget shortfall, one line item promises to be particularly controversial: tax credits for oil and gas producers.
  The state projects that credits will reach $700-million this year. That number has about tripled since 2010, with much of the increase going to producers outside the North Slope, especially in Cook Inlet.
  Now, a group of lawmakers is tackling the issue head-on.
  On Tuesday (Sept. 22), State Senator Cathy Giessel, Republican of Anchorage, ope
  
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• Brown Bear With Cubs Mauls Texas Moose Hunter in Alaska - ABC News

  23-09-2015 17:54
  WFAA
  Brown Bear With Cubs Mauls Texas Moose Hunter in Alaska
  ABC News
  A Texas man who was mauled by a brown bear while moose hunting in Alaska was expected to survive serious injuries, authorities said Wednesday. The bear with two cubs attacked 47-year-old Gregory Joseph Matthews of Plano, Texas, as he hunted ...
  Plano man survives brown bear mauling in AlaskaWFAA
  Moose hunter from Plano mauled by brown bear with cubs in AlaskaDallas Morning News
  Brown bear mauls moose hunter in AlaskaCBS
  

• Alaska Airlines, Icelandair are partners again - USA TODAY

  23-09-2015 15:05
  USA TODAY
  Alaska Airlines, Icelandair are partners again
  USA TODAY
  Alaska Airlines and Icelandair are back together again. The airlines announced plans for a codeshare and frequent-flier pact on Wednesday. The tie-up is something of a surprise since the carriers ended a previous partnership only about two years ago.
  Alaska just inked a deal with Icelandair – here's why that matters to DeltaPuget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) (blog)
  Delta vs. Alaska Airlines: Where are the best airfare
  

• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015

  23-09-2015 04:01
  
  
  Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn.Download Audio
  Murkowski missed – didn’t duck – abortion vote, staffer says
  Liz Ruskin, APRN-WashingtonIn Congress, a bill to ban abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy has failed to advance in the Senate. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has angered bot
  
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• Murkowski missed – didn’t duck – abortion vote, staffer says

  23-09-2015 02:24
  
  
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (File photo)
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  In Congress, a bill to ban abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy has failed to advance in the Senate. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has angered both sides of the abortion debate in the past, did not vote on today’s bill.
  As her spokeswoman Karina Petersen explains it, Murkowski did not intentionally duck the abortion vote.
  “The senator missed the vote this morning because she had prior travel commitments,” Petersen said. “She
  
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• New dinosaur species discovered in Alaska

  23-09-2015 02:16
  
  
  Art by James Haven Copyright 2014
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  A new dinosaur species has been discovered in Alaska. Bones of the plant eating Hadrosaur were excavated by researchers working in a known fossil rich zone north of the Brooks Range.
  
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• Dog team nearly killed by river erosion

  23-09-2015 02:07
  
  
  Approximately 50 feet of land that eroded from Mike Williams’ backyard. (Photo courtesy of Mike Williams)
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  Just as it was getting dark Saturday evening, Akiak resident and dog musher Mike Williams Sr. stepped outside to see his dog lot falling into the Kuskokwim River and seven of his sled dogs being pulled into the water.
  “They were beginning to choke,” Williams said, “but they’re alive, they’re okay now. They got them just in time,”
  
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• Kodiak police respond to allegations of excessive force

  23-09-2015 02:02
  
  
  Kodiak resident Brent Watkins silently demonstrated outside the Kodiak Police station Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, two days after a friend with learning disabilities was contacted by three Kodiak police officers. (Photo by Jay Barrett/KMXT )
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  Last Wednesday evening, a little after 5 pm, an autistic 28-year-old Kodiak man walked down his quiet neighborhood street to check the mailbox, as he does most days. His condition is such that it’s one of the few tasks that he’s comfort
  
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• Electronic cigarette tax vexes vapers

  23-09-2015 02:00
  
  
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  A hefty excise tax on wholesale tobacco products sold in the Matanuska Susitna Borough is under scrutiny. At last [Sept 15] week’s meeting of the Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly, e -cigarette users spoke out against the new tax.
  The new ordinance went into effect when it was passed in August. It puts a a 55 % tax on wholesale purchases of e cigarette products in the Mat Su Borough. That Borough ordinance, was followed by outcries from owners of fledgling ” vape &rdq
  
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• Friendly Dictators: Should America Embrace or Shun Them? – featuring Dr. Ted Galen Carpenter

  23-09-2015 01:00
  
  
  SPEAKERS:
  Ted Galen Carpenter, Senior Fellow for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute
  Ted Galen Carpenter is senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Dr. Carpenter served as Cato’s director of foreign policy studies from 1986 to 1995 and as vice president for defense and foreign policy studies from 1995 to 2011. He is the author of nine and the editor of 10 books on international affairs, including The Fire Next Door: Mexico’s Drug Vio
  
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• UAE’s Emergence on the World’s Stage: Overview of UAE-US Relations

  23-09-2015 00:42
  
  
  SPEAKERS:
  Consul General Abdulla Alsaboosi, consul general of the United Arab Emirates in Los Angeles
  Consul General Abdulla Alsaboosi
  The Honorable Abdulla Alsaboosi has been appointed consul general of the United Arab Emirates in Los Angeles covering the West Coast in July 2013. Prior to this assignment, he was the director of the American and Pacific Affairs Department with the title of ambassador at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  Abdulla, a senior career diplomat, served two tours
  
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• Scientists exploring what caused deadly Sitka landslide

  23-09-2015 00:39
  
  A screen capture of a 3-D image of the Kramer Avenue slide area, from data produced by the state Division of Geophysical Survey. (3-D image Joshua Houston/City & Borough of Sitka)
  One month after a deadly landslide struck in Sitka, a group of scientists and agency officials are starting the complicated task of learning what happened. The Geo Task Force has been meeting informally at the Sitka Sound Science Center. The center’s director, Lisa Busch, believes these gatherings are an impo
  
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• Walker to Call Special Session on Alaska LNG

  23-09-2015 00:22
  
  Gov. Bill Walker plans to call a special session this fall to discuss Alaska LNG, the proposed natural gas pipeline project.  (File photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  Alaska’s massive natural gas pipeline project is tiptoeing forward.
  Governor Bill Walker told KTVA Monday night (Sept. 21) that he plans to call a special session of the legislature this fall to discuss the project, dubbed Alaska LNG. That’s a turn-around from just a few weeks ago. Earlier this month, Walker told reporter
  
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