Alaska news

• JBER on lockdown; Report of shooter untrue

  16-10-2015 23:20
  As of of 1:20 p.m. Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson is still on lockdown after earlier reports prompted fears of an active shooter.Renee Oistad with the Anchorage Police Department says those reports turned out not to be true, and no injuries are reported at this time. However, one individual has been taken into custody, but no officials from the base have yet named the cause.–Original story, 1:11 p.m.–According to officials, an incident on Joint-Base Elmendorf Richardson has put the
  
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• George the Magpie

  16-10-2015 23:07
  
  “George” is a crowd favorite at the Alaska Zoo. The magpie voluntarily came to the zoo years ago, and was eventually adopted. George now has his own Facebook page and is known for his ability to talk.
  
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• Climate Change and Cook Inlet

  16-10-2015 23:00
  
  Climate change has the potential to affect weather, water temperature and salmon numbers in Cook Inlet, as well as the biology of the lands of our region. On this edition of Hometown Alaska, experts explain the changes that have already happened in the Inlet at our front door, and make educated predictions about what the future might hold. 
  HOST: Charles Wohlforth
  GUESTS:
  Sue Mauger, Cook Inletkeeper
  Nancy Fresco, research professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks
  John Morton
  
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• ‘State of Reform’ — Medicaid in Alaska

  16-10-2015 22:30
  
  Health Commissioner Valerie Davidson and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announce the state’s plan for Medicaid expansion and reform. (Photo by Annie Feidt, APRN – Anchorage)
  Many questions remain in the wake of Gov. Bill Walker’s move to unilaterally expand Medicaid in the state of Alaska. How will the state coordinate funding for the program with the federal government? And how will Walker coordinate with a Legislature that is taking action to upend the expansion effort?&n
  
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• Are big energy projects the solution for Alaska’s budget crisis?

  16-10-2015 22:00
  The sun sets on the Polar Pioneer in Unalaska’s Broad Bay on Monday. (Photo by John Ryan, KUCB – Unalaska)
  What’s the prognosis for big energy projects in Alaska? Shell’s abandoned the Arctic and state lawmakers are about to duke it out over an expensive new natural gas line. We’ll dig into fossil fuel projects. Is the proposed gas line a real solution for the state’s budget crisis or CPR on a flailing economy?
  HOST: Lori Townsend
  GUESTS:
  Mark Meyer, 
  
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• What’s new in epilepsy

  16-10-2015 21:00
  “Cerebral lobes” by derivative work of this – Gutenberg Encyclopedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
  Recurrent seizures, or epilepsy, can be a frustrating and occasionally debilitating problem, but newer diagnostic techniques and treatments are leading to improved outcomes. Today’s program will provide new information about seizures and epilepsy pertinent to listeners in Alaska.
  HOST: Dr. Thad Woodard
  GUESTS:
  Dr. Jeffrey Sponsler, neurologist,
  
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• YK Delta sex offender rehabilitation program enters 7th year

  16-10-2015 20:42
  
  The Yukon Kuskokwim Delta has a program that focuses specifically on sex offenders. Unlike any other program in the state, it combines both Western and Yup’ik ways of rehabilitation.
  The Y-K Delta Sex Offender Treatment program is in its seventh year, and has plans to keep going.An informational video about the program starts off with an old Yup’ik story about a young boy who upsets his mother. The boy’s father takes him outside to hammer nails into a piece of wood. After the b
  
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• State seeks feedback on pot regs

  16-10-2015 20:37
  
  Last November, Alaska voters legalized limited pot possession, and directed the state to start writing the regulations for a commercial industry. Now the Marijuana Control Board is looking for feedback on what it hopes is the final version of those rules.
  Bruce Schulte is chair of the state’s marijuana board, which took public testimony on its proposed rules Thursday.
  “We’re getting a lot of very thoughtful feedback, much of it is very focused and thankfully folks are zeroing i
  
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• 49 Voices: Martin Lee Woods of Kotzebue

  16-10-2015 20:35
  
  
  Martin Lee Woods. (Photo by Anne Hillman, KSKA – Anchorage)
  This week we’re at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention talking with Martin Lee Woods, from Kotzebue. He started learning to Eskimo Dance in 1975 and by the mid-80s he realized he needed to learn how to make drums.
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• AK: Tlingit carver featured in small-town, large-scale Smithsonian project

  16-10-2015 20:19
  
  
  Tlingit master carver Wayne Price has a relationship with the ocean and the tides that runs deeper than most.
  He carves dugout canoes in Haines and his work and words are set to hit the road in the spring as part of the Smithsonian’s Water/Ways exhibit.
  It’s a traveling show from the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street designed for rural museums.
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  (Photo by Jillian Rogers, KHNS – Haines)
  Wayne Price is standing in his home studio, explaining the
  
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• The current and future authority of Alaska’s tribal governments

  16-10-2015 18:00
  
  The state and tribes have a relationship that is at times tense but there has been progress on some fronts. This week there was an announcement that the first joint tribal/state court would be starting up in Kenai as a partnership with the Kenaitze Indian tribe and the state. A tribal and state judge will sit side by side and preside together over a wellness court, dealing with substance related criminal cases.
  It was not many years ago that the state would not recognize tribal court adoption or
  
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• VPA’s Bell, Book and Candle

  16-10-2015 12:45
  Todd Broste
  Barret Barge
  A “bewitching” tale is being told in Wasilla as Valley Performing Arts brings to the stage John Van Druten’s comedy/drama of a woman who may be willing to give it all to get a guy in Bell, Book and Candle performing Oct. 16 through Nov. 8. Join director Todd Broste and “Sydney Redlitch,” otherwise known as actor Barret Barge this week on Stage Talk.
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  HOST:
  Steve Hunt
  GUESTS: 
  Todd Broste, director VPA’s Bell, Book and Cand
  
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• Alaska OKs Hunting of Musk Oxen Stranded on Sea Ice - ABC News

  16-10-2015 10:33
  Alaska OKs Hunting of Musk Oxen Stranded on Sea Ice
  ABC News
  Alaska big game officials have legalized an unusual hunt that will take a boat and a bold hand. Starting Thursday, Alaska residents can harvest musk oxen that wander onto Bering Sea ice and become stranded when floes break and drift off. Musk oxen ...and more »
  

• DOC group aims to reduce recidivism for Alaska Natives

  16-10-2015 08:41
  
  The Department of Corrections is convening an Alaska Native Focus Group to develop solutions for reducing recidivism for Alaska Natives. Alaska’s recidivism rate is 63 percent for everyone leaving the prison system. For Alaska Natives, it’s 74 percent.
  “We’re concerned about the higher rates of recidivism among that group and looking for ways to improve those outcomes,” said Department of Corrections Commissioner Ron Taylor. “How do we do a better job of provi
  
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• Traveling Music 10-25-15

  16-10-2015 04:14
  
  Traveling Music
  Shonti Elder
  10-25-15
   
  Format:
  Song TitleArtist / Composer
  CD Title
  Label
  Duration
   
   
  Another Side of Home
  Andrea Zonn / Thomm Jutz, Bill Lloyd, Andrea Zonn
  Rise
  Compass Records
  3:34
   
  Windandsea (banjo instrumental)
  Alison Brown / Alison Brown
  The Song of the Banjo
  Compass Records
  4:09
   
  Hartfordtown 1944
  Laurie Lewis /Mark Erelli
  Skippin’ and Flyin’
  Spruce and Maple Music
  5:24
   
  Glory (instrumental)
  Mean Lids / Cherokee Trail by John
  
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• Traveling Music 10-18-25

  16-10-2015 04:13
  
  Traveling Music
  Shonti Elder
  10-18-15
   
  Format:
  Song TitleArtist / Composer
  CD Title
  Label
  Duration
   
  Upcoming Event: Samhain Celebration, Celtic New Year. Anchorage Senior Activity Center, 6:30 PM. with the pipe band Bagad New York. Presented by the Celtic Community of Anchorage
   
  Ton Bale Pier Baudoin / Dans Fisel (instrumentals)
  Celtic Fiddle Festival – Christian Lemaitre / Traditional
  Live in Britanny
  Loftus Music
  4:57
   
  Both Sides the Tweed
  Jim Malcolm / jim Hogg,
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015

  16-10-2015 03:44
  
  
  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
   
  Hearing ends 26 years of litigation over Exxon Valdez oil spill
  Rachel Waldholz, APRN – Anchorage
  Twenty-six years of litigation over the Exxon Valdez oil spill ended today (Thursday, Oct. 15) in a federal district court in downtown A
  
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• Hearing ends 26 years of litigation over Exxon Valdez oil spill

  16-10-2015 03:37
  
  
  Exxon Valdez tanker aground. Off-loading of remaining oil in progress. Photo courtesy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council.
  Twenty-six years of litigation over the Exxon Valdez oil spill ended on Thursday, Oct. 15, in a federal district court in downtown Anchorage.
  Download Audio
  The state and federal governments have decided not to pursue a final $100-million from ExxonMobil over its 1989 oil spill in Prince William Sound.
  It was an anticlimactic end. The hearing Thursday morning laste
  
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• For Sen. Sullivan, Rep. Young an easier AFN

  16-10-2015 03:36
  
  
  At its convention last year, AFN endorsed Dan Sullivan’s opponent in a tense campaign, and Congressman Don Young apologized to the audience for remarks he’d made about a teen’s suicide.
  Download Audio
  What a difference a year makes. Sullivan today addressed the audience as their junior U.S. senator, and Young was all smiles.
  Sullivan focused his speech on one of his political strengths: military issues. More specifically, veterans.
  “We have in this room, we have a room fu
  
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• FBX 4 witnesses recall aggressive police questioning

  16-10-2015 03:35
  
  
  People who say they were with the Fairbanks Four the night of John Hartman’s 1997 murder, recount aggressive questioning by police trying to build a case against the men.
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  The witnesses, who were also teenagers at the time George Frese, Keven Pease, Marvin Roberts and Eugene Vent were arrested for beating the 15-year-old Hartman, took to the stand yesterday at a month long hearing being held to determine if the four convicted of the crime are in fact innocent.
  Conan Goeb
  
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• ‘Fairbanks 4’ supporters stage protest during Gov’s AFN speech

  16-10-2015 03:34
  
  
  Fairbanks Four supporters protested during Governor Bill Walker’s address to the crowds during opening day at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage Thursday. People held up four fingers, and held a banner reading “Justice Fairbanks Four.”
  Download Audio
  The pictured handout circulated at AFN on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. 
  The protest began about a third of the way through Gov. Bill Walker’s address to the crowd during the
  
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• AFN keynote, Haida master weaver talks on family, heritage

  16-10-2015 03:33
  
  
  Alaska Natives from all over the state are in Anchorage for the annual Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, Oct. 15-17. The keynote speaker is Haida master weaver Delores Churchill and her grandson, Haida master carver Donald Varnell. This fall, Churchill was in Petersburg to hold a weaving workshop.
  Download Audio
  Delores Churchill shows a photo album of her weaving during a recent visit to Petersburg. Photo/Angela Denning
  Dressed in black with her silver hair neatly parted to one side Delo
  
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• Utah housing expert who cut chronic homelessness 90% pitches Alaska solutions

  16-10-2015 03:32
  
  
  Gov. Bill Walker says he’d “love for Alaska to be the first state without homelessness.” With a little inspiration from the state of Utah, some are hopeful that could become reality.
  Download Audio
  In 10 years, the number of people who are chronically homeless in Utah dropped from 1,964 people to 178. Lloyd Pendleton, director of Utah’s Homeless Task Force, was a guest at the meeting. He said the solution was relatively simple — Utah used the Housing First 
  
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• Hunting season opens for musk ox stranded on sea ice

  16-10-2015 03:30
  
  
  The Dept. of Fish and Game has issued an emergency order, allowing hunting for musk oxen stranded on sea ice.Download Audio
  The department issued a press releaseWednesday afternoon, stating that the resident hunting season for musk oxen begins Thursday.The order affects Unit 18, in southwest Alaska.
  The area’s assistant biologist, Patrick Jones, says the order is meant to help curve musk oxen overpopulation.
  “The big danger of overpopulation whether it’s caribou or musk ox, is
  
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• Juneau campground closes for winter, displacing homeless

  16-10-2015 03:27
  
  
  Several of Juneau’s homeless live at the city-run Thane Campground. For $25 a week, it may be the cheapest rent in town. Today, the campground closes for the winter, leaving some occupants wondering where to go.
  Download Audio
  The Thane Campground is primarily used for housing, not recreation. It closes for the season Oct. 15. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  Elliot Scott, 33, moved from his hometown of Bakersfield, California, to Juneau in April.
  “It’s a good place to get a new start,
  
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• Borough waits for mayor’s race outcome

  16-10-2015 02:56
  No mayor yet for the Matanuska Susitna Borough.  The vote count in the Matanuska Susitna Borough mayor’s race remains close. Incumbent Larry DeVilbiss and challenger Vern Halter were separated by 169 votes after the close of the polls last Tuesday.  Lonnie McKechnie, Borough clerk, says a candidate has to have 40 percent of the vote to win the election.
  “And since the two top candidates have received more than 40 percent of the vote, there will not be a runoff election.&rdq
  
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• Fish council looks at Gulf of Alaska trawl plan

  16-10-2015 01:53
  
  Salmon bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska trawl fishery has been under scrutiny since 2012, when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council proposed a revision in the Gulf trawl fishery’s management structure. The Council is slowly making headway on the issue.　
  Pacific halibut and Chinook salmon are taken as prohibited species, or bycatch, by the Gulf groundfish trawl fleet, and the Council wants to provide tools for better managing the prohibited species catch.
  In October of last year
  
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• The Russians are coming! Or…. are they? Sitka waits

  16-10-2015 01:05
  
  A huge performance ensemble from Moscow is traveling to Sitka this week for the Alaska Day Festival — or not. The offer to send 68 artists, support personnel, and camera crew to Sitka came about only three weeks ago, along with diplomatic communication to the local historical society.
  But are the Russians really coming?
  Does Sitka’s situation sound familiar? Then you’re probably a fan of the 1966 film “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” which feature
  
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• Dutch Harbor rats (unwittingly) help save Pribilof seabirds from their kind

  16-10-2015 00:25
  Biologists and tribal officials in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska are working to protect one of the world’s greatest gatherings of seabirds. With a little unwilling help from wharf rats in Alaska’s Dutch Harbor, the nation’s busiest fishing port, they aim to keep rats as far away as Seattle from devouring the birds of the rat-free Pribilof Islands.
  A rat trap outside the Trident Seafoods plant on St. Paul Island. KUCB/John Ryan photo.
  The Pribilofs — a handfu
  
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