Alaska news

• New highway tanker for carrying natural gas across Alaska goes under review - Alaska Dispatch News

  16-12-2015 23:27
  Alaska Dispatch News
  New highway tanker for carrying natural gas across Alaska goes under review
  Alaska Dispatch News
  FAIRBANKS — A new trailer specially designed to haul natural gas across Alaska will be under review to determine whether it will see widespread adoption. The 53-foot liquefied natural gas trailer will hit the roads for the first time this weekend as ...
  New tanker to carry natural gas across Alaska under reviewKTUU.comall 18 news articles »
  

• Teen Marijuana Use Holds Steady Despite Legalization

  16-12-2015 22:57 via takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com
  Opponents of marijuana legalization say it will encourage teens to try the drug. A new study suggests otherwise.
  
  Read more

• Forest Service awards new tour permits for Mendenhall area

  16-12-2015 22:01
  (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  U.S. Forest Service officials have awarded 15 companies with lucrative rights to bring tourists into the Mendenhall Glacier National Recreation Area.
  The Juneau Empire reports that among the companies announced Friday are Admiralty Excursions, World Cycling Tours and Alaska Weddings on Ice, which allows couples to get married on top of the glacier.
  The Forest Service manages the Mendenhall area to support about 465,000 tourists each year.
  The agency changed the way it of
  
  Read more

• Will the ferry system face deeper cuts?

  16-12-2015 21:59
  
  Passengers enjoy the scenery during a Sept. 3, 2015, fast ferry Chenega sailing between Sitka and Juneau. Sitka would lose most of its ferry service under a schedule based on a reduced budget proposed by Gov. Bill Walker. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
  Budget cuts have already dramatically reduced Alaska Marine Highway sailings. And the recently-released spending plan for the next fiscal year calls for more. So, how does the ferry system fare in the governor’s budget? And w
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Alaska lawmakers see wins in broad federal spending bill - Alaska Dispatch News

  16-12-2015 18:56
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska lawmakers see wins in broad federal spending bill
  Alaska Dispatch News
  WASHINGTON -- Congress' just-released “omnibus” spending bill and companion tax package have Alaska fingerprints all over them -- including provisions to lift a 40-year ban on crude oil exports, protect the fishing industry and support military ...
  Renaming 'Alaska Pollock' may curb Seattle fleet's Russian rivalsThe Seattle Times
  Following year of pressure, 'Alaska pollock' name will c
  

• Feds extend health care enrollment period

  16-12-2015 18:54
  
  (Photo by Lisa Phu, KTOO – Juneau)
  The federal government has extend an important deadline for people who need individual health insurance in 2016. High demand on healthcare.gov prompted officials to extend the deadline for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1.
  Health insurance shoppers now have until 11 p.m. Alaska time on Dec. 17 to buy a health plan that begins the first day of the new year.
  The open enrollment period lasts until the end of January, but customers who bu
  
  Read more

• Christmas at Belmont

  16-12-2015 18:50
  (Photo Courtesy of Belmont University.)
  Join Grammy-winning host Kathy Mattea and nearly 700 student musicians, Belmont School of Music faculty and Nashville Children’s Choir for a production of traditional carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites.
  Monday, December 21. 9:00 p.m. 
  Friday, December 25, 7:00 p.m. 
  
  Read more

• HealthCare.gov enrollment deadline extended

  16-12-2015 18:49
  The federal government has extend an important deadline for people who need individual health insurance in 2016. High demand on healthcare.gov prompted officials to extend the deadline for coverage that takes effect January 1.
  Health insurance shoppers now have until 11 p.m. Alaska time on Dec. 17 to buy a health plan that begins the first day of the new year.
  The open enrollment period lasts until the end of January, but customers who buy plans after December
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Alaska's Disconnected Schools - The Atlantic

  16-12-2015 18:31
  The Atlantic
  Alaska's Disconnected Schools
  The Atlantic
  The only way to visit the Pribilof School District is by airplane. On two islands—St. Paul and St. George—800 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, in the south Bering Sea, the district encompasses two schools with a combined 78 pupils from kindergarten to ...
  

• Sitka gets certificate for ship-shape harbor practices

  16-12-2015 17:30
  Sitka is the fourth recipient of a statewide “Alaskan Clean Harbors” certificate. Along with Homer, Seward, and Haines, Sitka’s harbor system was recognized in October by the Alaska Clean Harbors Advisory Committee for meeting 88 best management practices.
  From L to R: Chuck Hackett, Brett Farrell, and Stan Eliason hold the flag, designating Sitka as an “Alaskan Clean Harbor.” (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)
  The Alaska Clean Harbors  checklist of best management pract
  
  Read more

• Bethel woman places at international powerlifting event

  16-12-2015 17:00
  Last month 25-year-old Alaskan Natalie Hanson placed fourth at an international powerlifting competition in Germany.
  Profile photo of Natalie Hanson. (Photo courtesy of Ryan Carrillo of Lurchman Productions)
  Hanson, who’s originally from Bethel, loves a good underdog story. Partly, because she has one of her own.
  “It’s really fun being an underdog–it’s a lot of fun–because nobody even looks at you or thinks twice about you,” Hanson said.
  She st
  
  Read more

• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015

  16-12-2015 03:38
  
  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
   
  Shell asks for extension on offshore drill leases
  Rachel Waldholz, APRN – Anchorage
  Despite its decision to abandon offshore drilling in Alaska this fall, Shell still has its eye on the Arctic.
  NOAA report outlines impacts of warming Arcti
  
  Read more

• Shell seeks to extend drilling rights off Alaska

  16-12-2015 02:38
  
  A Shell station in Anchorage after a fall snow storm. Photo: John Ryan/KUCB
  Despite its decision to abandon offshore drilling in Alaska this fall, Shell still has its eye on the Arctic.
  Download Audio
  The company filed an appeal on Tuesday, asking the federal government to reconsider extending its drilling rights in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, which are set to expire by 2020.
  In October, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement turned down Shell’s r
  
  Read more

• Alaska Air among plaintiffs doggedly pushing back on SeaTac min. wage

  16-12-2015 02:36
  
  
  Alaska Airlines and other plaintiffs are continuing their long legal battle over SeaTac’s $15 minimum wage law. They’ve asked a King County Superior Court judge to set a trial date so they can present evidence about how the higher minimum wage would interfere with airport operations.
  Download Audio
  Alaska Airlines jet. Photo shared via Wikimedia Commons.
  The Washington Supreme Court ruled in August that SeaTac’s voter-approved $15 minimum wage law applies at
  
  Read more

• IEP tests LNG tanker for safety on Alaska roads

  16-12-2015 02:35
  
  
  A liquefied natural gas tanker truck is being tested for possible future use by the Interior Energy Project.
  Download Audio
  The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority has leased the 75-foot long semi rig from a Lower 48 company for road testing in Alaska. AIDEA spokesman Karsten Rodvik says the tanker has more capacity than LNG hauling trucks currently in use in the state.
  “The design of this tanker allows it to be loaded to capacity — and that’s the difference, the
  
  Read more

• Marijuana regs largely on track, but hurdles remain

  16-12-2015 02:34
  
  
  The chairman of the state’s Marijuana Control Board says the state is on track with its regulatory process work. On Talk of Alaska Dec. 15, Bruce Schulte said the state had to finalize regulations by Nov. 24 and finished a few days before that date. Schulte says the next deadline is Feb. 24, 2016. 
  Download Audio
  “And that’s the last date by which the state must begin accept applications for the various licenses and we’re on schedule to hit that date as well.&rd
  
  Read more

• Sitkans, police review tasing event in community ‘talking circle’

  16-12-2015 02:33
  
  
  While police issues continue to divide communities and make national headlines, the Sitka Police Department is trying to restore confidence locally, after disturbing video from the Sitka jail surfaced on social media this fall. Police officers and community members convened to talk about troubling points in the case — like the fact that one of the officers involved had previously been involved in a fatal tasing event in New Mexico.
  Download Audio
  The video of the arrest of 18-year-old
  
  Read more

• Alaska graduation rate among lowest in the country

  16-12-2015 02:32
  
  
  Data released by the U.S. Department of Education shows Alaska has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country.
  Download Audio
  Only the District of Columbia, New Mexico and Nevada had lower graduation rates during the 2013-14 school year than Alaska, whose graduation rate was 71.1 percent. Federal data shows Alaska’s rate has hovered around 70 percent since at least 2010-2011.
  Nationally, the graduation rate was 82.3 percent.
  Brian Laurent with Alaska’s education department say
  
  Read more

• POW wolf season closes after 5 harvested

  16-12-2015 02:01
  The contentious wolf hunting and trapping season on Prince of Wales Island will close on Sunday. 
  (Alaska Department of Fish & Game photo)
  According to the U.S. Forest Service, hunters have reported taking five wolves since the season opened. Trappers have two weeks to report their take, so the various agencies have agreed to close the season to ensure the overall kill doesn’t exceed the quota of nine wolves for Game Management Unit 2.
  The season officially closes for the winter a
  
  Read more

• Gov. Walker considers Fairbanks 4 pardon

  16-12-2015 00:58
  
  Alaska’s governor is considering granting pardons to four men accused in the 1997 death of a teenager, the first time a pardon would be issued in nearly a decade.
  Alaska’s executive clemency process has not been used since the law was changed eight years ago in response to a controversial pardon by then-Gov. Frank Murkowski.
  Under state law, Alaska governors are authorized to grant pardons, reprieves and commutations of sentences.
  The law that was signed by Murkowski’s predeces
  
  Read more

• Narcotics worth $24K stolen from Bethel clinic

  16-12-2015 00:50
  
  The Bethel Family Clinic is cleaning up after a recent break-in.
  Among the items stolen are about $300 in cash, syringes, and narcotics with a street value around $24,000, according to Latesia Guinn, executive director of the clinic.
  Bethel Family Clinic with Bethel police vehicle parked outside. (Photo by Dean Swope/KYUK)
  Guinn estimates the break-in occurred sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.
  Clinic workers arrived at the clinic to find the front door busted, the safe forced o
  
  Read more

• NOAA report outlines impacts of warming Arctic

  16-12-2015 00:27
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released its annual Arctic Report Card, covering everything from rising temperatures on land and sea, to sea ice declines and its impact on Arctic ecosystems and the rest of the world.
  Since the beginning of the 20th century, the report finds surface air temperatures in the Arctic have increased by 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
  Jackie Richter-Menge is with the the Army Corps of Engineer’s Cold Regions Research and Eng
  
  Read more

• At $1.50/lb., lamprey harvest tops Yukon salmon

  16-12-2015 00:27
  The commercial harvest of lamprey eels on the lower Yukon wrapped up over the weekend, with just under 37,000 pounds harvested and sold.  That’s 7,000 pounds less than a quota set by the Department of Fish and Game.
  Lamprey harvested around Grayling last week. Photo by Kwikpak Fisheries.
  The commercial harvest of lamprey brings a welcome infusion of cash to village fishermen during the Christmas season, but the overall health of the lamprey population is a mystery.
  
  Read more

Follow @News_Alaska on Twitter!