Alaska news

• The Wolf Pack

  12-11-2015 22:29
  
  Tim Lescher spends his days caring for the Alaska Zoo animals as if they were his own. But one family of wild canines sits closest to his heart. Having spent two years working at the zoo, Tim now strives to show the public that wolves are friendlier creatures than often portrayed in myth and popular culture.
  
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• Ninilchik Tribal Council files suit over inability to subsistence fish

  12-11-2015 21:00
  The 2015 fishing season on the Kenai River was tough for a lot of fishermen. But one user group is alleging it was illegally bad.
  The Ninilchik Tribal Council contends that the federal government’s slow response and inefficient processes denied the community its federally mandated subsistence salmon harvest opportunity in the Kenai River last summer.
  The council filed suit Oct. 23 in Alaska Federal Court against representatives of the Federal Subsistence Board, the U.S. Department of Inter
  
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• City of Sitka seeks legal counsel in wake of landslides

  12-11-2015 16:37
  A new home under construction on Sitka’s Kramer Avenue was obliterated in the slide. A neighboring home is unscathed. (Photo by Joel Curtis/National Weather Service)
  The Sitka Assembly convened in executive session Wednesday night to discuss legal matters affecting the municipality, as a result of the August 18th landslide.
  That included the city’s ongoing communication with legal counsel David Bruce and geotechnical expert Bill Laprade.
  The Assembly would not comment on the nature o
  
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• 2 University of Alaska officials step down

  12-11-2015 16:35
  The University of Alaska is looking to fill positions on the president’s executive team following the abrupt resignation of two officials.
  The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that Chief Finance Officer Ashok Roy and Chief Human Resources Officer Erik Seastedt submitted their resignations Monday.
  UA President Jim Johnsen, who started in September, said in a memo that Roy and Seastedt had resigned after speaking with him.
  University spokeswoman Robbie Graham wouldn’t comment on why
  
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• Anchorage Spice ordinance aims at dealers and distributors

  12-11-2015 05:03
  Mayor Ethan Berkowitz poses with students after a unanimous vote to restore the Youth Commission during the same Assembly meeting that saw passage of a revised Spice ordinance. (Photo: Zachariah Hughes, KSKA)
  The Anchorage Assembly passed a measure giving law enforcement more options to combat the synthetic drug spice. First responders and public officials have called the months-long outbreak “unsustainable,” but few believe the new ordinance is a silver bullet for the city
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015

  12-11-2015 03:51
  
  
  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
   
  Alaska vets by the numbers
  Zachariah Hughes, KSKA – Anchorage
  For Veteran’s Day, we’ve drawn a statistical sketch of Alaska veterans, using figures from the Census Bureau.
  Fugitive Bethel police officer arrested in An
  
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• Alaska vets by the numbers

  12-11-2015 03:38
  
  
  For Veteran’s Day, we’ve drawn a statistical sketch of Alaska veterans, using figures from the Census Bureau.
  Download Audio
  A group of military personnel march past a brass band during a unit dress parade at the 179th Station Hospital, Adak, Alaska, August 1943 – October 1945. Photo: Alaska Digital Archives.
  As you may have heard, Alaska has the highest rate of veterans in the nation. Not the most vets — our 70,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to bigger sta
  
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• Fugitive Bethel police officer arrested in Anchorage

  12-11-2015 03:37
  
  
  Authorities arrested Aaron Fedolfi, the former Bethel police officer on the run, Tuesday evening in Anchorage, where he was arraigned Wednesday afternoon.
  Download Audio
  He’ll be taken back to Bethel for future court appearances.
  Facebook photo of Aaron Fedolfi
  Fedolfi is charged with attempted third-degree sexual assault and third-degree official misconduct. Both of these are Class A misdemeanors, which can carry a one-year jail sentence and up to a $10,000 fine, in Alaska.
  
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• Fairbanks Four hearing wraps up; Case in hands of judge

  12-11-2015 03:36
  
  
  The Fairbanks Four exoneration case is in the hands of Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle.
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  Closing arguments were heard Tuesday in a five-week hearing to consider innocence declaration requests by George Frese, Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts, and Eugene Vent, the four men convicted of the 1997 murder of John Hartman.
  The Fairbanks 4 petitions focus on alternative Hartman murder suspects William Holmes and Jason Wallace, 2 men already imprisoned for unrelated 2002 drug killings, who peg t
  
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• Forecast: $80 oil at decade’s end

  12-11-2015 03:35
  
  
  The International Energy Agency is predicting the return of higher oil prices, but not soon enough to end the gut punch to Alaska’s budget.
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  “We think that the market will gradually recover and we see about $80 oil price around 2020 to balance the markets,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based organization, explaining one of the key findings in this year’s World Energy Outlook.
  Alaska North Slope crude has been selling for about $48 a
  
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• Anchorage Spice ordinance takes aim at dealers, distributors

  12-11-2015 03:35
  
  
  The Anchorage Assembly passed a measure giving law enforcement more options to combat the synthetic drug spice. First responders and public officials have called the months-long outbreak “unsustainable,” but few believe the new ordinance is a silver bullet for the city’s woes.
  Listen now:
  For all the attention it gets, though, there is little agreement about  some of the most concrete details regarding Spice in Anchorage. Basic questions like where its comin
  
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• Wind storm blows out windows, rips roofs in Unalaska

  12-11-2015 03:31
  
  
  A powerful windstorm blew through Unalaska on Wednesday, closing schools and causing minor damage.
  Download Audio
  Winds gusting at 90 mph and above ripped off part of this Trapper Drive home Wednesday morning. Greta Mart/KUCB
  Meteorologist David Kochevar at the National Weather Service office in Anchorage said his agency clocked wind speeds of 91 miles per hour at the Dutch Harbor Airport around 6:30 a.m. A wind gust clocking in at 93 miles per hour hit the Akutan airport at 6:35 a.m.
  
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• Delays, quality concerns plague AMP test

  12-11-2015 03:31
  
  According to the Alaska Measures of Progress test results, less than half of Alaskan students meet educational standards. But distress over those numbers is just one part of AMP’s troubles.
  Reporting delays and issues with the test’s format have some superintendents and lawmakers calling for an end to the new annual test.
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  On Monday, Alaska Education Commissioner Mike Hanley framed the less-than-stellar AMP scores as a helpful new baseline that raises the bar for Alaska
  
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• Traveling Music 11-15-15

  12-11-2015 03:16
   
  Upcoming Concerts:  Dan Bern, Sat. Nov. 21, 7:30 PM Taproot, Anchorage
  Sun., Nov. 22, 6 PM Vagabond Blues, Palmer
   
  Format:
  Song TitleArtist / Composer
  CD Title
  Label
  Duration
   
  Merle, Hank and Johnny
  Dan Bern / Dan Bern
  Hoody
  www.danbern.com
  3:59
   
  Dirty Old Town
  Steve Earl / Ewan MacColl
  Joy of Living / A Tribute to Ewan MacColl
  Compass Records
  3:20
   
  Lifeline
  Dan Bern (with Eric Kufs/ Dan Bern
  Hoody
  www.danbern.com
  3:06
   
  My Old Man
  Chaim Tannenbaum / Ewan
  
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• Mat-Su educators critical of AMP scores

  12-11-2015 03:01
  Results of the new Alaska Measures of Progress standardization tests were made public Monday. And some school districts are not pleased with the results, nor with the testing itself.
  Although state education commissioner Mike Hanley says the AMP scores mark a new era and a new baseline for educational standards assessment, some educators say the scores say little about individual student achievement. One critic of the tests is Matanuska-Susitna Borough school superintendent Dr. Deena Paramo:
  &ld
  
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• NTSB says fuel gauges read empty before Lynn Canal plane crash

  12-11-2015 02:11
  The National Transportation Safety Board released the preliminary report on last Wednesday’s plane crash in the Lynn Canal, which injured four Haines residents.
  Eldred Rock, looking east. (Pam Randles). Shared via KHNS.org.
  According to the NTSB report, after an uneventful flight from Haines to Juneau, pilot Mike Mackowiak walked around his Cessna 180 and didn’t see anything unusual. In Haines, he had filled the plane with 38 gallons of fuel. Before departing Juneau, he said the
  
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• State considers changes to ANC proxy protocol

  12-11-2015 02:06
  
  The proxy forms mailed out to Alaska Native Corporations’ shareholders could get a little longer next year. The state Division of Banking and Securities is proposing new regulations that would require more information on the proxy solicitations sent to shareholders when they elect board members, and impose a new fee for the corporations.
  The state Division of Banking and Securities is proposing new regulations for the Alaska Native corporations under its purview, including requiring addit
  
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