Alaska news

• Port MacKenzie gas project one step closer

  27-10-2015 23:33
  A Japanese energy company wants a state – to -state government agreement for an LNG export plan.  The plan would ship Cook Inlet gas oversees from a facility at Port MacKenzie.
  REI is based in Kyoto prefecture, but opened it’s Alaska arm, REI Alaska, about a year ago, when the company announced it’s plan to pursue an LNG export project. To that end, REI Alaska has leased land at the Matanuska Susitna Borough’s Port MacKenzie with the goal of building an LNG processin
  
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• Crew breaks though ice clot in Bethel’s frozen well

  27-10-2015 23:30
  The ice blocking an essential well for Bethel schools has finally cracked. Officials discovered the frozen well in September and spent almost a month thawing the impasse. Water is now pumping, but the well still isn’t in the clear.
  Kuskokwim Learning Academy in Bethel, AK. Photo courtesy of Dean Swope / KYUK.
  Maintenance crews spent 20 days melting 100 ft of ice, never knowing when the blockage would end. To prevent the school from closing, they began buying hauled water from the city.
  Jam
  
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• Alaskans weigh options as health insurance rates soar

  27-10-2015 23:06
  The Affordable Care Act was supposed to make health insurance accessible to all Americans. But in Alaska, the high cost of premiums on the individual market has some residents thinking about dropping their coverage.
  Victoria Cronquist shops for lower cost health insurance at her Anchorage home. She may drop coverage. Photo credit: Annie Feidt
  Gunnar Ebbesson is used to paying a lot for health insurance. But the small business owner from Fairbanks got a shock recently when his quote came in for n
  
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• Algo Nuevo: October 25, 2015

  27-10-2015 23:05
  Here’s the Sunday, October 25, 2015 edition of Algo Nuevo con Dave Luera — Something New with Dave Luera. If you have questions, comments or music requests for host Dave Luera, send email to algonuevo [at] alaskapublic [dot] org or post your comment at the bottom of this post. All tracks played are listed below in the following format:
  Song Title
  Artist Name
  Album Title
  CD Label
  Duration
  CanelaSantanaShape ShifterStarfaith522
  SubeleHugo Guerrero/Ruben RamosPromoUnknown318
  Que Pasa Am
  
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• New bridge dedicated to Alaska Native Brotherhood

  27-10-2015 20:41
  
  Glass-smooth Mendenhall River, Mendenhall Glacier, and the Juneau Icefield form the backdrop for one of the bronze medallions designed by Roy Peratovich Jr. Tlingit moieties Eagle and Raven stand upon a rock that represents the Alaska Native Brotherhood. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  State transportation officials and Juneau Native leaders dedicated a new bridge crossing the Mendenhall River as the Brotherhood Bridge Saturday.
  The new, wider structure was constructed for $25 million and it wa
  
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• Release of new state test scores hits unexpected delay

  27-10-2015 20:39
  
  An AMP flyer posted at Haines School. (Emily Files)
  School districts across the state are waiting on standardized test scores that were scheduled for release in early October. Third through 10th graders took the Alaska Measures of Progress tests for the first time last spring. State education officials say the test is more rigorous than the previous assessment. But finding out how students did on the new exams is taking longer than expected.
  “We’ve had some frustrations wit
  
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• Wasilla dancers shoot for the stars

  27-10-2015 20:37
  
  A group of Wasilla girls is using social media to shoot for the stars or, at least Hollywood – style stardom. Dance Team Alaska has already gotten one big break, and they are back in the Valley, now, after a  few days in Los Angeles,  where they were featured in the production of a pilot television show called “Dance Battle America.”
  Taylor Swift’s irresistible earworm, “Shake It Off”‘ shook the nation this summer. It’s also the music bac
  
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• On ‘Dance Battle America,’ Wasilla dancers shoot for the stars

  27-10-2015 20:37
  
  A group of Wasilla girls is using social media to shoot for the stars or, at least Hollywood – style stardom. Dance Team Alaska has already gotten one big break, and they are back in the Valley, now, after a  few days in Los Angeles,  where they were featured in the production of a pilot television show called “Dance Battle America.”
  Sierra Kistler, Courtney Millslagle and Penny Wojtacha. Photo: Ellen Lockyer/KSKA.
  Taylor Swift’s irresistible earworm, “Sha
  
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• Vacant Sitka Hotel gets new owner, remodel

  27-10-2015 20:35
  
  Texas-based businessman Robert Petrie bought the Sitka Hotel about a month ago. He has big plans for the historic hotel like remodeling all the hotel rooms, adding apartments and putting in a completely new bar and restaurant. (Brielle Schaeffer/KCAW photo)
  You’ve probably noticed the construction happening downtown on Lincoln Street. The Sitka Hotel has a new owner with big plans for the iconic building.
  After two years of vacancy, The Sitka Hotel needs a lot of work.
  Just ask James
  
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• ARCS TV stations are going digital

  27-10-2015 20:26
  
  (Credit APB)
  The Alaska Rural Communication Service, which provides free TV programming in much of rural Alaska, is switching its stations from analog to digital in the coming months.
  The FCC started requiring stations to switch to digital in 2009, but Alaska is one of the last places to get around to it.
  Steve Hamlin is the technical manager for Alaska Public Broadcasting, Inc. He says when ARCS stations make the switch, viewers will need either a digital TV or a “set top box converter&rd
  
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• The Alaska LNG project explained

  27-10-2015 19:04
  Lawmakers have one hot and messy item on their hands right now: the Alaska LNG project. It’s a giant pipeline the state hopes to build, along with three or four other industry partners, to bring natural gas from the North Slope to market.
  Let’s look at some of the details. First off, this is a big and expensive endeavor — $45 to 65 billion bucks. For comparison, that’s roughly the GDP of Bulgaria.
  And that figure accounts for three big things: A gas treatment plant, the
  
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• State introduces first witnesses in Fairbanks 4 hearing

  27-10-2015 18:15
  
  The state has begun calling witnesses in the Fairbanks Four evidentiary hearing.
  As the proceeding stretches into its 4th week, the focus has shifted from witnesses summoned by attorneys representing exoneration petitioners George Frese, Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts and Eugene Vent to those offered by state lawyers trying to uphold the men’s convictions for the 1997 murder of John Hartman.
  Monday, Fairbanks resident Stephen Paskvan testified that he gave Eugene’s Vent’s mother,
  
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• The North Slope puzzle: more gas means less oil

  27-10-2015 05:40
  
  An image from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s Oct. 26 presentation to the Senate Natural Resources Committee.
  During this week’s special session in Juneau, most lawmakers have been focused on whether the state should take a larger stake  in the Alaska LNG project, which would build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.
  But on Monday afternoon (Oct. 26), the Senate Resources Committee met to hear about another crucial, if little-discussed issue: if you tap
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Oct. 26, 2015

  27-10-2015 02:42
  
  
  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
   
  Deep-draft Arctic port study in Nome gets shelved
  Matthew Smith, KNOM – Nome
  A highly anticipated study looking into a deep-draft Arctic port for Alaska is being shelved for at least a year by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—due to
  
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• To buyout, or not to buyout? The Legislature debates

  27-10-2015 02:36
  
  
  The Legislature is meeting in Juneau this week for a special session on the Alaska LNG project — that’s the proposal to build a giant natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.
  Download Audio
  The big question before lawmakers this session is whether the state should take a larger stake in the project, by buying out one of its partners. APRN’s Rachel Waldholz is covering the legislative session.
  TOWNSEND: Rachel, what did lawmakers talk about today?
  WALDHOLZ: The focus toda
  
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• Park Service bans controversial methods to hunt wolf, bear

  27-10-2015 02:35
  
  
  A wolf carrying a caribou leg. (File photo: NPS)
  The National Park Service has published its final rule on hunting in Alaska’s national preserves, turning a corner in a long-running tussle with the state. While most state hunting rules continue to apply, the Park Service is now enacting a permanent ban on several controversial hunting practices allowed under state law. The new Park Service ban includes using artificial lights to shoot black bears in the den, and using bait to hunt bears.
  D
  
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• Walker appoints attorney general to Permanent Fund board

  27-10-2015 02:34
  
  
  Gov. Bill Walker has appointed state attorney general Craig Richards to the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board.
  Download Audio
  Craig Richards is replacing Larry Hartig, who is commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Hartig was appointed to the board in 2009.
  In a statement, Walker said he appointed Richards because of his extensive financial experience. Among other things, Walker noted that Richards practiced in the fields of public finance and project development
  
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• Former Dutch Harbor fisheries observer missing at sea off Peru

  27-10-2015 02:31
  
  
  With crab season under way in the Bering Sea, some 70 crab boats are bobbing around Alaska’s Bristol Bay and the Aleutian Islands. About a dozen of those boats have a fisheries observer on board. The observers keep tabs on what the boats haul up from the deep.
  Download Audio
  Keith Davis was supposed to be one of those observers, but he went missing in September while working on a boat off the coast of South America.
  Fisheries observer Keith Davis on board a transshipment vessel in 2012. Vi
  
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• Proposed increase to minimum enrollment threatens funding for dozens of small schools

  27-10-2015 00:16
  Alaska schools need at least ten students to qualify for state funding. In recent months, rural superintendents have been troubled by rumors that lawmakers might seek to raise to raise the minimum enrollment in their efforts to trim state spending. Now, as at least one state representative says she will propose that legislation, rural Alaska schools and communities are beginning to push back.
  CREDIT VILLAGE OF IGIUGIG
  Since 1998, 10 students has been the minimum size an Alaskan public school nee
  
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