Alaska news

• Fewer fish, fewer kids: St. Paul struggles to keep students

  14-12-2015 20:52
  School enrollment in the Pribilof Islands has been shrinking in recent years, along with the islands’ fishing economy.
  As the superintendent of one of Alaska’s smallest and most remote school districts, Connie Newman wears many hats. The Pribilof School District has 10 students at its school on St. George Island and 71 on St. Paul Island. The lightly inhabited, windswept islands sit 300 miles off Alaska’s west coast in the Bering Sea.
  St. Paul students line up to stick the
  
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• With understanding comes forgiveness: Turning ‘Yuuyaraq’ into film

  14-12-2015 17:30
  Juneau filmmaker Lisle Hebert is making a film based on Harold Napoleon’s essay “Yuuyaraq: The Way of the Human Being.” Napoleon gave Hebert his blessing to do the adaptation, but he says it’ll be a challenge to translate the message to film.
  (Video still courtesy Lisle Hebert)
  The beginning of Lisle Hebert’s film “Yuuyaraq” is a re-enactment depicting life on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta before Western contact. The narration stays true to Harold
  
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• Leaving a legacy: Family, friends remember Greg Fisk

  14-12-2015 16:59
  Hundreds in Juneau attended the celebration of life for Juneau Mayor Greg Fisk on Sunday. Fisk died of natural causes on Nov. 30, less than two months after being elected mayor. He was 70 years old.
  Family, friends and community members spoke about Fisk and his many passions and accomplishments. He was a father, Native rights champion, fisheries consultant, mayor and a proud Juneau resident.
  Many signed the guest book at the celebration of life for Greg Fisk on Sunday. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  W
  
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• University of Alaska regents prepare for budget cuts

  14-12-2015 16:57
  University of Alaska officials are working to prioritize programs as they face another round of cuts outlined in Gov. Bill Walker’s budget plan.
  The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the statewide university system would receive about $330 million for fiscal year 2017 under Walker’s plan released Wednesday. The new figure would reduce university funding by nearly $16 million from the previous year.
  UA President Jim Johnsen says the cuts will have a long-term effect on students,
  
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• Transportation officials pick route bypassing Cooper Landing

  14-12-2015 16:56
  Transportation officials are planning to move forward with a proposal for Sterling Highway that would bypass Cooper Landing, a crowded recreation area in the summer.
  The Alaska Dispatch News reports transportation officials announced Friday that the preferred route would build 5.5 miles of highway farther from Kenai Lake, crossing the lower Juneau Creek and Kenai River.
  Alaska’s Department of Transportation needs to get Federal Highway Administration approval before it can begin constructi
  
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• Jailed man faces charge in death of cellmate

  14-12-2015 16:56
  A man is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his cellmate.
  The Alaska Dispatch News reports 20-year-old James Clinton had been in an Anchorage jail cell with 53-year-old Mark Canul for about four hours Friday when a prison guard found the older man unconscious during a routine check.
  Canul was pronounced dead at a hospital.
  Troopers said in a dispatch released Saturday that Clinton assaulted Canul, contributing to his death.
  Both men had both been jailed on charges of refusing to
  
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• Hilcorp plans gravel island to extract Arctic offshore oil

  14-12-2015 16:55
  Arctic offshore drilling by Royal Dutch Shell PLC drew protests on two continents this year, but a more modest proposal for extracting petroleum where polar bears roam has moved forward with much less attention.
  While Shell proposed exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea about 80 miles off Alaska’s northwest coast, a Texas oil company wants to build a gravel island as a platform for five or more extraction wells that could tap oil 6 miles from shore in the Beaufort Sea.
  The U.S. Bureau of Oc
  
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• BlueCrest still working toward Cosmopolitan project

  14-12-2015 16:54
  BlueCrest Energy representatives updated Kenai Peninsula residents last week on their plans to drill for oil in Cook Inlet. Around 25 people attended a meeting Tuesday evening at Homer Middle School. The company also held meetings in Anchor Point and Ninilchik.
  The Cosmopolitan oil fields offshore of Anchor Point are BlueCrest’s target. The company is building a drill pad onshore about 10 miles north of Anchor Point. They plan to drill wells thousands of feet into the ground that
  
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