Alaska news

• Troopers: New rural Alaska unit to focus on violent crimes - KTUU.com

  01-12-2015 23:22
  KTUU.com
  Troopers: New rural Alaska unit to focus on violent crimes
  KTUU.com
  Alaska State Troopers say a new unit has been created to focus on violent crimes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. Troopers say a patrol sergeant and two patrol troopers from the Bethel post have been assigned to the new violent offenders unit ...and more »
  

• Alaska posts slight job gains in first half of 2015 - Alaska Dispatch News

  01-12-2015 23:01
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska posts slight job gains in first half of 2015
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Job growth, however slight, continued in Alaska for the first six months of 2015, a result that was not particularly different from the same figures over the last decade, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor. The less ...and more »
  

• Southeast priest hospitalized after heart attack

  01-12-2015 22:16
  The Rev. Thomas Weise, who serves Catholic churches in Petersburg and Wrangell, celebrates communion during an Easter Vigil. (Photo courtesy Diocese of Juneau)
  A Catholic priest who serves parishes in Petersburg and Wrangell has suffered a life-threatening heart attack.
  The Rev. Thomas Weise, 46, was hospitalized Nov. 25, the evening before Thanksgiving while visiting family in Southern California.
  Michael Monagle is business manager of the Catholic Diocese of Juneau, which includes all of South
  
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• National Christmas Tree Lighting

  01-12-2015 22:16
  
  The 2015 National Christmas Tree Lighting will air on Alaska Public Media, Thursday, December 10. Among the performers include: Crosby, Stills and Nash; Miss Piggy; Andra Day; Trombone Shorty; and the United States Coast Guard Band.
  “In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge walked from the White House to the Ellipse to light a 48-foot fir tree decorated with 2,500 electric bulbs in red, white and green, as a local choir and a “quartet” from the U.S. Marine Band performed”
  
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• Study highlights habitat concerns on Kenai River

  01-12-2015 22:07
  A new report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game suggests that heavier human traffic along the Kenai River could be detrimental to salmon habitat.
  The report has been in a draft stage with ADF&G for more than a decade, but was only just released last month. It says that no single factor is posing a big risk to fish habitat, but the cumulative effects of human behavior can prove significant.
  Robert Begich is ADF&G’s area biologist for the sportfish division. He says the habi
  
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• Troopers: New rural Alaska unit to focus on violent crimes

  01-12-2015 22:06
  Alaska State Troopers say a new unit has been created to focus on violent crimes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region.
  Troopers say a patrol sergeant and two patrol troopers from the Bethel post have been assigned to the new violent offenders unit.
  Officials say the unit officially will be established on Tuesday. The changes have been occurring since mid-September, however.
  Trooper Capt. Barry Wilson says the establishment of the new unit will make it possible for other Bethel patrol troopers to
  
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• Anchorage LGBT non-discrimination ordinance faces opposition

  01-12-2015 22:05
  A new effort is underway to repeal the recently enacted Anchorage law protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination.
  The Alaska Dispatch News reports that the repeal referendum would ask voters to decide whether the ordinance should remain law. Assembly Ordinance 96 was passed in September, making it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
  The petition application filed Wednesday must be approved by the municipal attorney before supp
  
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• Board to discuss residency rules for legal pot businesses

  01-12-2015 22:04
  The board tasked with writing rules for Alaska’s recreational marijuana industry is set to discuss and possibly change residency requirements for pot business licenses Tuesday morning in Anchorage.
  On Nov. 20, the Marijuana Control Board approved using the residency requirements needed to vote in Alaska. That means living here and intending to stay or leaving the state with the intent to return. One also couldn’t be registered to vote elsewhere.
  This was meant to be less restrictive
  
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• Kotzebue city council member speaks at Paris climate talks

  01-12-2015 21:48
  Kotzebue city council member Maija Katak Lukin is in Paris fort he COP21 climate talks. Photo from Lukin’s Facebook page.
  Maija Katak Lukin made it to Paris after two days of travel and 17 hours of air time. The city council member from Kotzebue took part in a State Department panel this morning moderated by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. Lukin spoke alongside a leader from the Nature Conservancy and a representative from the Marshall Islands.
  Like Alaska, the Marshall Islands is deemed
  
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• Call the Midwife Holiday Special

  01-12-2015 21:00
  
  (Photo Courtesy of © Neal Street Productions 2015/ Nicky Johnson)
  Join the revels as Poplar readies itself for Christmas 1960. An unexpected surprise for a grieving mother brings the holiday magic home, while Nonnatus is rocked when one of its own disappears. A film crew promises to make this a memorable Christmas on CALL THE MIDWIFE HOLIDAY SPECIAL. 
  Friday, December 25. 8:00 p.m.
  
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• Juneau police confirm Mayor Greg Fisk found dead at home

  01-12-2015 15:53
  Juneau Police closed Kennedy Street between 5th and 4th Streets as they investigated the death of Juneau Mayor Greg Fisk on the evening of Monday November 30th. (Photo by: Mikko Wilson / KTOO)
  Juneau’s newly elected mayor was found dead in his home Monday afternoon. Greg Fisk was 70 years old.
  His body was found by his son, Ian Fisk, around 3:30 p.m. on Monday. He called 911 and police were on scene within minutes.
  Juneau police chief Bryce Johnson said the cause of death is still unknown.
  
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• Juneau mayor found dead in home

  01-12-2015 07:57
  Police have confirmed that Juneau mayor Greg Fisk, 70, was found dead in his home on Monday afternoon. JPD said in a news release that they received a 911 call at 3:34 p.m. from a male reporting the discovery of a dead body inside Fisk’s home. Fisk is identified as Stephen “Greg” Fisk in the release. Police are investigating.
  Juneau mayor Greg Fisk, left, watches election results come in with supporter Marc Wheeler, center, and campaign manager Greg Smith.
  (Photo by L
  
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• How a shameful Alaska jail death took a decorated hero - Alaska Dispatch News

  01-12-2015 06:48
  Alaska Dispatch News
  How a shameful Alaska jail death took a decorated hero
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Joseph Murphy's Alaska National Guard unit in Iraq, 2005. Murphy is kneeling, on the left. Ed Irizarry, standing left of Murphy, led the unit. He called Murphy, "One of the bravest men I had the honor of serving with." Mike Mercer, far right, remembers ...
  

• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Nov. 30, 2015

  01-12-2015 03:37
  
  
  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
   
  First day out: Reconnecting and ordering the perfect eggs at Denny’s
  Anne Hillman, KSKA – Anchorage
  Every month about 1,000 people are released from prison in Alaska, and within three years, about 63 percent of them will return.
  
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• Bethel tries to bolster screening process for police officers

  01-12-2015 03:33
  
  
  In a little over a year, the Bethel Police Department has had two high-profile cases of police misconduct–one involving police brutality and the other an attempted rape.
  Download Audio
  The department is still working to improve its hiring practices, and its unclear if either of these men still have their police certification.
  In early November, former Bethel police officer Aaron Fedolfi was caught in Anchorage after evading arrest for charges of attempted sexual assault and police mis
  
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• Forced to flee: Juneau residents recall arrival as refugees

  01-12-2015 03:31
  
  
  Persecuted her whole life as a Bahá’í in Iran, Parisa Elahian came to Juneau as a refugee in 2005. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  Alaska receives about 120 refugees from all over the world each year.
  About 10,000 Syrian refugees will come to the United States. While none are expected to end up in Alaska, the state still has a significant refugee population based mostly in Anchorage. However, some have made Juneau their home.
  Download Audio
  As a child in Iran, Parisa Elahian wa
  
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• State: Alaska seafood is radiation-free

  01-12-2015 02:40
  
  Alaska seafood has not been tainted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster four years ago, according to test results announced today by a state agency.
  Alaska health authorities working with the federal Food and Drug Administration pronounced Alaska salmon, cod, halibut and other species free from radioactive contamination connected to the power plant damaged in Japan more than four years ago.
  A 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, generated a 130-foot wave that devastated Japan.
  Among the damaged facil
  
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• Obama nudges locality pay for federal workers

  01-12-2015 02:13
  Federal workers aren’t getting much of a pay increase next year, but those in Alaska will get a small extra bump.
  President Obama today announced changes to the locality pay for civilian employees, intended to account for differences in living costs.
  Alaska’s locality pay will increase 0.47 of a percentage point, to just over 25 percent, in 2016. That comes in addition to the increase in federal base pay, which for the third year in a row will be 1 percent.
  Alaska’s locali
  
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• First day out: Reconnecting & ordering the perfect eggs at Denny’s

  01-12-2015 02:08
  This is the first of a five-part series looking at prison re-entry. Want more? Alaska Public Media is hosting a live community forum on Thursday, Dec. 3, at 7:00 p.m. to dig deeper into life after prison.
  Every month about 1,000 people are released from prison in Alaska. In November, April Wilson was one of them.
  It’s 6:45 a.m. and 43-year-old April Wilson waits inside the entrance of Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River. It’s her first day out after two and a half year
  
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• Education bill aims to give power to states

  01-12-2015 01:57
  Congress appears close to passing an education reform bill that would give Alaska and other states more flexibility than the current 14-year-old education law.
  “It’s so much better than where we have been with No Child Left Behind,” says Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the negotiators who worked on the final version of the reform bill.
  The bill does not abolish testing requirements, one of the most hated elements of No Child Left Behind. Annual math and reading tests woul
  
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• In Unalakleet, auction unifies community in low times

  01-12-2015 01:29
  A charity auction in Unalakleet over Thanksgiving weekend raised nearly $20,000, with all the proceeds going to needy folks and worthy causes in the village of just over 700. The community is pulling together amid half a dozen recent deaths in just the last month.
  Hand-made booties and gloves were some of the big-ticket items. Although the night’s final item was a quilt that sold for $1,200. Photo: Zachariah Hughes.
  It’s about 11 p.m., and a crowd of a hundred or so people is sp
  
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• Testing Finds No Nuke-Disaster Radiation in Alaska Seafood - ABC News

  01-12-2015 00:21
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Testing Finds No Nuke-Disaster Radiation in Alaska Seafood
  ABC News
  Alaska seafood has not been tainted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster four years ago, according to test results announced Monday by a state agency. Alaska health authorities working with the federal Food and Drug Administration pronounced Alaska ...
  Testing finds no nuke radiation in Alaska seafoodAlbany Times Union
  Alaska seafood again tests free of Fukushima radiationAlaska Dispatch Newsall 76 news a
  

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