Alaska news

• Alaska school districts advised to adopt transgender policies - Alaska Public Radio Network

  29-12-2015 23:41
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  Alaska school districts advised to adopt transgender policies
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  The Southwest Region School Board took up the new non-discrimination policy at a December meeting. (KDLG photo). School restrooms and locker rooms have become legal battlegrounds recently as courts in the Lower 48 puzzle over how schools should ...and more »
  

• Alaska school districts advised to adopt transgender policies

  29-12-2015 23:36
  The Southwest Region School Board took up the new non-discrimination policy at a December meeting. (KDLG photo)
  School restrooms and locker rooms have become legal battlegrounds recently as courts in the Lower 48 puzzle over how schools should treat students who don’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
  Now, two statewide education organizations are trying to equip Alaska school districts with policies regarding transgender students.
  “Gender identity” and &ldq
  
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• Drone pilot struggles with federal regulations

  29-12-2015 23:34
  Ash Churchill. (Photo by Quinton Chandler/KBBI)
  A Homer business owner wants to use a drone to take pictures and shoot video of properties in Homer. But, restrictions on drone piloting hurt his chances of making the business work.
  Ash Churchill owns a quadcopter. It’s an unmanned aerial vehicle or a drone. He flies it as a hobby regularly and that is perfectly legal.
  “It is probably about a square foot, has four blades, [a] single battery lasts about 20 minutes. It carries a sta
  
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• New coastal change committee to meet in January

  29-12-2015 23:31
  Clark’s Point set-netter Alannah Hurley talks to Board of Fisheries chair Tom Kluberton about her proposal, which would have allowed setnetters to extend their nets to recoup some fishing time that has been lost as the mudflats fill in there. The board formed a committee to help develop guidelines for addressing coastal change, rather than taking action on that proposal or another that discussed set-net site boundaries. (Photo by Molly Dischner/KDLG)
  The Board of Fisheries’ new coast
  
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• National Guard works to revive rural Alaska presence - Alaska Public Radio Network

  29-12-2015 23:30
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  National Guard works to revive rural Alaska presence
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  Command Sgt. Maj. Hildreth meets with guardsman at the Bethel National Guard building. (Photo by Sgt. Marisa Lindsay/Alaska NG). Most villages in the region have old National Guard armories. There was a time when they were all manned by guardsman ...and more »
  

• National Guard works to revive rural Alaska presence

  29-12-2015 23:29
  Command Sgt. Maj. Hildreth meets with guardsman at the Bethel National Guard building. (Photo by Sgt. Marisa Lindsay/Alaska NG)
  Most villages in the region have old National Guard armories. There was a time when they were all manned by guardsman from the community but now they are mostly vacant. A statewide effort is underway to strengthen the dwindling guard presence in rural Alaska villages.
  The decline of the National Guard is an issue that caught the attention of the Association of Village C
  
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• Alaska IDs good for air travel through at least October 2016

  29-12-2015 23:18
  
  (Image via the Department of Homeland Security)
  The state of Alaska has been granted an extension until October 2016 to meet the requirements of the federal Real ID Act.
  The Real ID Act requires that state IDs and drivers licenses come into compliance with federal standards in order to do things like fly or enter federal buildings.
  Leslie Ridle is deputy commissioner for the state Department of Administration.
  “It’s status quo for now,” she said. “People are fine with wha
  
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• Child dies after injuries in Bethel trooper housing

  29-12-2015 20:04
  
  An Alaska State Trooper cruiser parked on Nome’s Front Street in January 2015. (Photo by Matthew F. Smith/ KNOM)
  Yesterday evening a four-year-old died in the State Trooper Housing in Bethel. Despite emergency officials’ efforts, the child didn’t survive. Officials did not comment on the cause of the injury.
  Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters says a request has been made to send the child’s body to the State Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy.
  Pe
  
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• 4-year-old fatally shoots himself in Bethel trooper housing

  29-12-2015 20:04
  
  An Alaska State Trooper cruiser parked on Nome’s Front Street in January 2015. (Photo by Matthew F. Smith/ KNOM)
  A 4-year-old died in an Alaska State Trooper housing unit in Bethel on Monday evening, despite the efforts of emergency responders.
  After an investigation earlier today, officials believe the child was playing by himself in the living room when he got hold of a handgun and fatally shot himself. The gun was privately owned, according to the trooper dispatch.
  A
  
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• Small Plane Crashes Into Alaska Building, Killing at Least 1 - ABC News

  29-12-2015 19:30
  ABC News
  Small Plane Crashes Into Alaska Building, Killing at Least 1
  ABC News
  Firefighters stand near a piece of wreckage after a small plane slammed into a commercial building in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, early Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. Authorities say at least one person aboard died. Assistant Fire Chief Alex Boyd said there ...
  The Latest: Alaska governor visits plane crash siteMiami Herald
  1 person dead after plane crashes into building in Downtown Anchorage, AlaskaNew York Daily News
  

• The Latest: Small plane crashes into Alaska building - WFMJ

  29-12-2015 17:29
  The Latest: Small plane crashes into Alaska building
  WFMJ
  Authorities say a small plane crashed into a commercial building in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, setting it ablaze. Don Tallman of the Anchorage Fire Department says the crash was first reported around 6:19 a.m. and the fire was under control by 7 a.m..
  

• small plane crashes into downtown Anchorage building - Alaska Dispatch News

  29-12-2015 17:24
  Alaska Dispatch News
  small plane crashes into downtown Anchorage building
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Emergency crews respond to the scene of a small plane crash in downtown Anchorage early Tuesday morning. Loren Holmes / ADN. Photos: Plane crashes in downtown Anchorage. A part of a small plane rests on the street in front of the Brady building ...
  

• 1 dead after small plane crashes in downtown Anchorage

  29-12-2015 17:18
  A piece of the wreckage of a plane crash in downtown Anchorage. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes, KSKA – Anchorage)
  One person is confirmed dead after a small plane struck an office building in downtown Anchorage at 6:18 this morning.
  An official with the National Transportation Safety Board, briefing reporters  near the crash site, said  a Cessna aircraft had flown over Cook Inlet and then struck a building in the northwest corner of downtown.
  The six-story Br
  
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• Changing weather pattern to bring more high winds across Alaska - KTUU.com

  29-12-2015 06:09
  KTUU.com
  Changing weather pattern to bring more high winds across Alaska
  KTUU.com
  A change in the weather pattern is bringing a series of warm, wet, and windy systems through Southwest and Southcentral Alaska, with the effects being felt along the West Coast and into the Interior as well. High winds are expected to return to ...
  High winds buffet Southcentral Alaska, move into InteriorAlaska Dispatch News
  Hurricane force winds reported along Richardson, Parks highways in the Alaska ...Fairbanks
  

• Savings absorb some shock of Alaska oil crash, but Legislature could still sink us - Alaska Dispatch News

  29-12-2015 05:22
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Savings absorb some shock of Alaska oil crash, but Legislature could still sink us
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Last summer when my brother came home to visit Alaska, he thought it was weird that everyone felt so sure the economy was about to tank. Now it's time to wonder why that expectation hasn't happened yet. Oil prices started crashing in the fall of 2014 ...
  Alaska Gov. Walker reflects on first full year in office, looks aheadFairbanks Daily News-Minerall 16 news articles&nbs
  

• Wilson Condon, former Alaska attorney general and revenue chief, dies at 76 - Alaska Dispatch News

  29-12-2015 04:50
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Wilson Condon, former Alaska attorney general and revenue chief, dies at 76
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Then-Revenue Commissioner Wilson Condon announcing the amount of the 2000 Permanent Fund dividend at a Fairbanks news conference. Photo by John Hagen. Wilson Condon, a former Alaska attorney general and state revenue commissioner, died ...
  

• Bacterial infection to blame in Kachemak otter die-off - Alaska Public Radio Network

  29-12-2015 04:28
  Bacterial infection to blame in Kachemak otter die-off
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  Tests results are back on dead sea otters from Kachemak Bay. About 82 percent of them had streptococcus syndrome, which is caused by a bacterial infection, according to biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. With gov's support, Bethel to ...and more »
  

• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Dec. 28, 2015

  29-12-2015 04:18
  
  
  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
   
  Bacterial infection to blame in Kachemak otter die-off
  Daysha Eaton, KBBI – Homer
  Tests results are back on dead sea otters from Kachemak Bay. About 82 percent of them had streptococcus syndrome, which is caused by a bacterial infection, a
  
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• With gov’s support, Bethel to be seat of new scout battalion

  29-12-2015 02:40
  
  
  With National Guard recruit numbers at a low in Alaska and concerns for Arctic security at a high, Gov. Walker wants to start a new line of defense across the state. He’s included $2.3 million in his proposed budget for the project, and he wants this new force to begin in Bethel.
  Download Audio
  Gov. Walker wants to create a military model of the first of its kind in the nation. It’d be a rural branch of the state militia called a scout battalion. Its pur
  
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• Colorado guide charged with game waste violations

  29-12-2015 02:38
  
  
  Following more than a yearlong investigation, state wildlife troopers have charged a Colorado man with eight counts of “unlawful acts while acting as a big game guide” in Alaska, specifically in GMU 19. That hunting area stretches from Kalskag, past McGrath, to the border of Denali National Park and Preserve.
  Download Audio
  Thomas Shankster, 60, of Aurora, Colorado runs a guiding business called Alaska Trophy Hunts, which bases hunts primarily from near the mouth of the Dillinger Riv
  
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• Anchorage Chamber announces 2016 legislative priorities

  29-12-2015 02:35
  
  
  The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce this week released its legislative priorities for the upcoming session.
  Download Audio
  Bruce Bustamante is the president of the Anchorage chamber. He says the list of priorities are drawn from responses to a brief survey sent to the 900-plus Anchorage-area businesses the chamber represents.
  “Really it was loud and clear, what the desire is of the business community is that we need to get our fiscal house in order first,” Bustamante said. “I mea
  
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• Extreme winds force Whittier tunnel shutdown

  29-12-2015 02:34
  
  
  High winds in the Portage area and along Turnagain Arm on Monday morning closed the Anton Anderson Tunnel to vehicular traffic. The tunnel links Whittier to the Seward Highway.
  Download Audio
  The state Department of Transportation made the announcement this morning. It was in effect until about 4 p.m. DOT spokeswoman Jill Reese:
  “This is probably a first. We are trying to break the record up there with wind conditions. It has had sustained winds up there of over 90 miles per hour.”
  R
  
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• Extremely high winds imperil travel on Parks, Richardson Hwys

  29-12-2015 02:32
  
  
  Strong winds are blowing over the Alaska Range. National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Fisher reported gusts to 70 miles an hour along the Richardson Highway and in the 60 mile an hour range along the Parks Highway on Monday morning. Fisher says the winds were the result of the first of 2 Chinook events, emphasizing that the second, forecast to begin late Tuesday could yield even higher gusts.
  Download Audio
  “This is what we call a mountain wave event. And what happens in the
  
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• Strong El Nino, ‘Blob effect’ may mean more winter precipitation

  29-12-2015 02:31
  
  
  The Chinook pattern is one characteristic of El Nino winters. National Weather Service climatologist Rick Thoman describes the warm Pacific Ocean waters of El Nino as raging across the equatorial region.
  Download Audio
  “This is one of the strongest El Ninos in the last 65 years, when we have good records,” Thoman says.
  Despite its strength, Thoman says El Nino impacts on North American have so far been minimal.
  “It turns out that the strongest links are actually later
  
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• Alaska to phase out combination aircraft - Air Cargo World (registration)

  29-12-2015 02:00
  Air Cargo World (registration)
  Alaska to phase out combination aircraft
  Air Cargo World (registration)
  Alaska Airlines Combi Since 2007 five combination 737-400s have been moving passengers and cargo for Alaska Airlines. These combination aircraft have space for 72 passengers in the back half of the aircraft, while carrying 6,000 pounds of cargo, often ...
  Cargo-passenger “combi” jets out from Alaska Airlines lineup in 2017Alaska Public Radio Networkall 2 news articles &ra
  

• Bacterial infection to blame in Kachemak otter die-off

  29-12-2015 01:37
  Tests results are back on dead sea otters from Kachemak Bay. About 82 percent of them had streptococcus syndrome, according to biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Leslie Slater is a USFWS wildlife biologist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in Homer.
  A dead sea otter on the beach at the Homer Spit on December 22, 2015.
  Photo: Daysha Eaton/KBBI-Homer.
  “So also in this stretch of beach, which has been under 200 yards or so that we&r
  
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• After 15 years of closure, Interior village school seeks teacher

  29-12-2015 01:23
  The village of Rampart is looking for a teacher. The school re-opened earlier this year after 15 years of being shuttered. The first Chief and Administrator says temporary teachers sent by the district don’t have the skills village kids need.
  Interior village of Rampart. Google Map screen grab.
  Floyd Green became first Chief and Administrator of the Rampart Village Council in 2013. He says the small village on the Yukon River renovated and re-opened the school for students a
  
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• Conoco withdraws from Russian Arctic

  29-12-2015 01:10
  American oil titan ConocoPhillips has sold its 50 percent stake in the Polar Lights drilling project in the Russian Arctic, according to Russian news media. The sale marks Conoco’s complete exit from Russia.
  The Polar Lights project is located on tundra adjacent to the Barents Sea in Northwest Russia. When the project first came on line in 1992, production was around 14 million barrels a year. But similar to Alaska’s North Slope, production has declined substantially since then.
  Acco
  
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• Extreme winds force tunnel shutdown

  29-12-2015 00:51
  
  High winds in the Portage area and along Turnagain Arm Monday  morning closed the Anton Anderson Tunnel to vehicular traffic. The tunnel links Whittier to the Seward Highway.
  The state Department of Transportation made the announcement this morning, effective until further notice. DOT spokeswoman Jill Reese
  “This is probably a first. We are trying to break the record up there with wind conditions. It has had sustained winds up there of over 90 miles per hour.”　
  Reese
  
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