Alaska news

• New cookbook touts Alaska-grown eats for kids

  09-12-2015 22:13
  Alaska cooks now have a new resource: the “Make it Local” cookbook released this month by the Alaska Child Nutrition Program. It’s a compilation of kid-friendly recipes that feature Alaska-grown ingredients.
  But as one Bristol Bay contributor says, it’s getting tougher for many school kitchens to source locally, even as demand for local food grows.
  Alaskan cooks now have a new resource: the “Make it Local” cookbook released this month by the Alaska Child
  
  Read more

• ‘I am Yup’ik’ makes its way to Sundance Film Festival

  09-12-2015 21:24
  
  Screen caption of “I Am Yup’ik,” film, featuring Byron Nicholai. (Still courtesy of Sundance Film Festival)
  The film “I Am Yup’ik,” has made it’s way to the 2016 Sundance Film Festival lineup, the nonprofit organization announced Tuesday.
  According to the lineup summary, the short film, directed by Daniele Anastasion and Nathan Golon, is about a 16-year-old Yup’ik Eskimo boy who leaves his village to travel across the snowy isolated 
  
  Read more

• Alaska predicts sharp oil tax decline amid low prices

  09-12-2015 21:21
  The state of Alaska is projecting revenue from oil and gas production taxes at $172 million this year, a dramatic drop from two years ago when production taxes totaled $2.6 billion.
  Continued low oil prices contributed to the decline.
  The state Revenue department says production taxes for the last fiscal year totaled nearly $390 million.
  Alaska relies heavily on oil revenues to fund state government and is currently grappling with an estimated $3.5 billion budget deficit amid chronically low pri
  
  Read more

• Gov’s budget plan adds income tax, reduces PFD

  09-12-2015 21:00
  Gov. Bill Walker released his battle plan today for dealing with the state’s behemoth budget deficit. It includes Alaska’s first income tax since 1980, and a complete overhaul of how the state uses the permanent fund — effectively cutting PFD checks in half next year.
  Gov. Walker unveils his budget plan on Wednesday, Dec. 9. Photo: Rachel Waldholz/APRN.
  The plan would also raise taxes on mining, fishing and tourism; on alcohol and tobacco; and on fuel for cars and trucks,
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Pollock skins for Fido!

  09-12-2015 20:58
  Like many pet owners, you may toss your dog tidbits from your plate – a fatty piece of meat here, a bit of fish skin there. Well, a couple of University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers are experimenting with turning some of Alaska’s finest scraps into dog treats.
  Chris Sannito with a block of pollock skins. Kayla Desroches/KMXT
  They’ve received almost $94,000 of funding from the Pollock Conservation Cooperative Research Center for their experiments, and will work with pollock,
  
  Read more

• In capital city holiday tradition, governor opens home

  09-12-2015 20:18
  
  Gov. Bill Walker and first lady Donna Walker welcomed the people of Juneau into their home Tuesday for the 2015 governor’s holiday open house. It’s an annual tradition that’s been going on for more than 100 years.
  The governor and first lady pose for photos inside the mansion. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/KTOO)
  At a press conference at the mansion, the governor estimated that he would shake over 3,000 hands. Walker said he was excited about Alaska’s future, although h
  
  Read more

• Galena elder Sidney Huntington dies at 100

  09-12-2015 17:13
  
  Galena elder Sidney C. Huntington passed away on Tuesday in Galena.  He was 100.
  The son of a Koyukon woman and a white gold miner, Huntington became an expert trapper, fisherman, boat builder and carpenter in the middle Yukon and Koyukuk valleys of the Interior.  He went on to serve 17 years on the Board of Game during the 1970s and ’80s, and ran a successful fish processing business out of Galena for many years.
  Sidney Huntington on the trapline, 1958. Photo: Alaska State Libra
  
  Read more

• Assembly migrates toward mail-in elections

  09-12-2015 08:51
  
  During its meeting Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly took a step toward handling future elections by mail.
  A unanimous vote green-lighted the municipal clerk’s office to increase education and outreach on switching over to mail-in elections. The idea is for local elections to be handled in a more flexible mail-in manner starting in April of 2017.
  Assembly elections committee chairman Ernie Hall said the city has the abilities to adjust to a vote-by-mail model once an official ordinance
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015

  09-12-2015 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
   
  Budget director uses money game to illustrate state’s plight
  Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka
  Gov. Bill Walker will unveil his FY17 budget on Wednesday. And the backdrop isn’t pretty — if the price of oil remains low, Alaska cou
  
  Read more

• Budget director uses money game to illustrate state’s plight

  09-12-2015 03:38
  
  
  In an effort to get Alaskans on the same page, state budget director Pat Pitney has spent the past six months leading fiscal dialogues in communities throughout Alaska. And on Thursday, she brought her talking points to Sitka, along with a wooden scale to illustrate the state budget crisis.
  Download Audio
  The “balance the budget” game invites Alaskans to set the state on a sustainable financial path. Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins looks on as 8th grad
  
  Read more

• After inmate deaths, report finds multiple flaws in DOC protocol

  09-12-2015 03:36
  
  
  In Anchorage today, state House and Senate Judiciary Committee members listened to recommendations from the authors of a Department of Corrections administrative review.
  Download Audio
  The independent review, released in November, was conducted at the request of Gov. Bill Walker. It focuses on the failure of state prison policies. A spate of prisoner deaths within Alaska prisons over the past two years spurred the review.
  Dean Williams, a special assistant to the governor and one of the review a
  
  Read more

• EPA fines Army for toxic leaching at Ft. Wainwright

  09-12-2015 03:35
  
  
  The Environmental Protection Agency has fined the Army nearly $60,000 for failing to notify the agency of a munitions dump on Fort Wainwright.
  Download Audio
  The base near Fairbanks has been an EPA superfund site since 1990. According to an EPA statement Tuesday, the Army discovered an old munitions and explosives dump at the fort’s small arms firing range in June 2013, with lead and other heavy metals eroding into the Tanana River.
  The Army was supposed to notify the EPA within 15 days. B
  
  Read more

• Denali wolf numbers up slightly

  09-12-2015 03:34
  
  
  A fall count of Denali National Park wolves indicates a slight rebound of the predator’s depressed population in the park. The overall population remains near a 30-year low, and fewer visitors report seeing the animals.
  Download Audio
  A wolf carrying a caribou leg. (File photo: NPS)
  Sixty-two wolves were counted in Denali National Park this fall, a tally up from last spring’s 52, a change park biologist Bridget Borg says reflects positive and negative trends among Denali’s 11 w
  
  Read more

• Troopers rework south Kenai area road kill list

  09-12-2015 03:33
  
  
  An Alaska State Trooper cruiser parked on Nome’s Front Street in January 2015. Photo: Matthew F. Smith, KNOM file.
  The state is using a new application process to select recipients of big game killed on southern Kenai Peninsula roads as well as fish or game confiscated by authorities. The changes are supposed to improve the fairness and efficiency of the Road Kill Program.
  Download Audio
  Getting the call to come pick freshly killed game up from the side of the road is like winning the lott
  
  Read more

• Alaska boasts 8th highest volunteer rate in US

  09-12-2015 03:32
  
  
  Thirty-four percent of Alaskans volunteer with organizations. That’s the 8th highest rate in the United States, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. The number one contribution in Alaska is providing transportation for seniors and others who have difficulty getting around.Download Audio
  The organization’s CEO, Wendy Spencer, says many things influence whether or not people chose to volunteer.
  “Education rates, home ownership rates, poverty rates, the
  
  Read more

• Tlingit elders write boarding school history for future generations

  09-12-2015 03:30
  
  
  By talking about boarding school experiences, Tlingit elders in Juneau are turning painful memories into sources of healing – healing for themselves and generations still living with the consequences.
  The nonprofit arm of the local urban Native corporation is using those stories to create a K-12 curriculum that will focus on the impacts of colonization on the Tlingit people.
  Download Audio
  Tlingit elder Della Cheney talks during a panel discussion on boarding schools at the “Sharing
  
  Read more

• ‘I am Yup’ik’ documentary to screen at Sundance

  09-12-2015 01:55
  The film “I Am Yup’ik,” has made it’s way to the 2016 Sundance Film Festival lineup, the nonprofit organization announced Tuesday.
  According to the lineup summary, the short film, directed by Daniele Anastasion and Nathan Golon, is about a 16-year-old Yup’ik Eskimo boy who leaves his village to travel across the snowy isolated tundra. The film chronicles his journey to compete in an all Yup’ik basketball tournament in order to bring pride to his
  
  Read more

Follow @News_Alaska on Twitter!