Alaska news

• Alaskans win video contest, trip to Norway

  31-12-2015 23:26
  A lifelong Alaskan and a relative newcomer to the state combined forces recently to make a short film called Arctic Contrast, winning a video contest sponsored by the Norwegian Embassy in DC.
  Laureli Ivanoff is from Unalakleet and was the news firector at KNOM in Nome when Ben Matheson went to work for her as a reporter in 2010. Matheson said the embassy wanted to showcase the Arctic for those who haven’t seen it.
  He and Ivanoff wanted to capitalize on their very different perspectiv
  
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• Wage Increase Kicks In January 1

  31-12-2015 23:00
  
  In 2014 Alaskans voted for one-dollar increases to go into effect in 2015 and 2016. The first, raised it from $7.75 per hour, to $8.75. The second, to $9.75 an hour goes into effect January 1, 2016.
  Joe Dunham is statewide supervising investigator of wage and hour administration at the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Affected jobs include some in fish processing, fast food, and home health care, he said.
  According to Dunham, the change also affects workers paid by
  
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• Another Juneau restaurant empire growing

  31-12-2015 22:51
  Beau Schooler makes ricotta gnocchi in the kitchen of Panhandle Provisions. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  Another Juneau restaurant empire is taking form with the opening of an Italian restaurant next month in the space recently known as the Silverbow Bakery. In Bocca Al Lupo will be the newest restaurant venture by the people who run The Rookery Café, Panhandle Provisions and The Taqueria.
  In the kitchen of Panhandle Provisions on Seward Street, Beau Schooler cracks a few eggs in a big metal
  
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• AK Supreme Court Rejects Set Net Initiative

  31-12-2015 22:45
  
  The Alaska Supreme Court has rejected a proposed ballot initiative that sought to ban commercial shore gill nets and set nets in urban, non-subsistence areas.
  The decision reverses a 2014 lower court ruling that ordered that the initiative be certified by the lieutenant governor, who had previously declined to certify it. The measure had been slated to appear on the 2016 ballot.
  The high court, in a decision Thursday siding with the lieutenant governor’s office, said the proposed initiativ
  
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• Arctic air warming, but North Pole not turning to slush

  31-12-2015 22:12
  
  
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  The North Pole is melting according to many news outlets. But Walt Meier, a research scientist for NASA and a co-author of NOAA’s 2015 Arctic Report Card on Sea Ice, said that’s not quite accurate.
  “I’ve seen stories on that and they’re kind of misleading,” he said. “What they’re basically saying, there’s a really strong low pressure over Iceland and what that’s doing, that’s funneling warm air around the low and up
  
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• Alaska Supreme Court denies initiative to ban urban commercial setnets - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-12-2015 21:32
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska Supreme Court denies initiative to ban urban commercial setnets
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Mt. Redoubt looms in the background as Ken Coleman, left, picks red salmon from a setnet with sons Bailey and Brandon on Thursday afternoon, July 23, 2015, off Kalifornsky Beach Road in Kenai south of the mouth of the Kenai River. Coleman said he has ...
  Alaska Supreme Court rejects proposed set net ban initiativeKTUU.comall 15 news articles »
  

• Scott McMurren: There's good and bad news for Alaska travelers in 2016 - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-12-2015 21:07
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Scott McMurren: There's good and bad news for Alaska travelers in 2016
  Alaska Dispatch News
  The forecast for travel in 2016 is right out of a Clint Eastwood movie; there's the good, the bad and the ugly. By most counts, 2015 was a good year for travel to Alaska. The airlines and cruise ships all plan to return in force for the summer season ...and more »
  

• As winds calm, warm weather topples temperature records around Alaska - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-12-2015 20:34
  Alaska Dispatch News
  As winds calm, warm weather topples temperature records around Alaska
  Alaska Dispatch News
  A raven flies over a huge water puddle at Hilltop Ski Area in South Anchorage on Wednesday. Temperatures reached 45 degrees in both Anchorage and Fairbanks Wednesday, a Dec. 30 record for both cities -- and two of several high temperature records set ...and more »
  

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• Stebbins teenager arrested for stabbing teen from St. Michael

  31-12-2015 18:24
  An Alaska State Trooper cruiser parked on Nome’s Front Street in January 2015. (Photo by Matthew F. Smith/ KNOM)
  Alaska State Troopers are investigating the stabbing of a St. Michael teenager by another teen from Stebbins.
  Nome troopers were notified of the stabbing — which occurred in Stebbins — just before 2 a.m. on Tuesday. They arrested 18-year-old Rylan Snowball on the pending charge of first-degree assault.
  “It’s not a whodunit case,” said Megan Pet
  
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• Details Sparing on Alaska Plane Crash as Probe Continues - ABC News

  31-12-2015 05:45
  ABC News
  Details Sparing on Alaska Plane Crash as Probe Continues
  ABC News
  Workers load the remains of a small plane that crashed into two office building in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, Dec 29, 2015. The pilot was not authorized to fly the aircraft used in volunteer search-and-rescue missions, authorities said.
  Alaska Pilot Killed as Small Plane Crashes into Building Where His Wife WorkedPeople Magazineall 249 news articles »
  

• Dozens of starving seabirds grounded inland in Southcentral Alaska - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-12-2015 04:44
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Dozens of starving seabirds grounded inland in Southcentral Alaska
  Alaska Dispatch News
  A Common Murre rests on the side of Crystal Lake Road in Willow on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015. Dozens of the sea birds have been spotted resting on the snow in the Susitna Valley all the way to Talkeetna after the recent windstorm. They are exhausted ...and more »
  

• Alaska Rep. Mike Hawker drops re-election bid - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-12-2015 04:16
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska Rep. Mike Hawker drops re-election bid
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Rep. Mike Hawker, who has long represented the Anchorage Hillside as a Republican in the Alaska Legislature, is withdrawing his bid to seek another term. Hawker has had cancer for several years. He has also faced criticism over the leading role he ...and more »
  

• Time.com Writer Cites Temperature at North Pole, Alaska As From THE North Pole - NewsBusters (blog)

  31-12-2015 04:05
  Time.com Writer Cites Temperature at North Pole, Alaska As From THE North Pole
  NewsBusters (blog)
  The temperature in the Fairbanks, Alaska suburb of North Pole earlier today was apparently in the low-40s Fahrenheit. It was then that Alexandra Sifferlin at Time.com reported the Alaska town's temperature as if it came from the North Pole. The only ...
  

• Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015

  31-12-2015 03:46
  
  
  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
   
  Rep. Hawker won’t seek re-election
  Associated Press
  In a statement, Hawker said he wants to make the most of his “miraculous” response to cancer treatment and “the renewed life God” has given him.
  Russian icebreaker
  
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• Alaska Zoo loses power, zookeepers don headlamps to feed animals - KTUU.com

  31-12-2015 02:53
  KTUU.com
  Alaska Zoo loses power, zookeepers don headlamps to feed animals
  KTUU.com
  Like many households, the Alaska Zoo found itself without power Wednesday morning as high winds knocked out electricity across Southcentral. What's a zookeeper to do? Don a headlamp and keep feeding Nakai the snow leopard. Photojournalist Shawn ...
  

• Rep. Hawker won’t seek re-election

  31-12-2015 02:37
  
  
  Anchorage Republican Rep. Mike Hawker has withdrawn his re-election bid.
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  Mike Hawker (R). (Photo by Josh Edge, APRN – Anchorage)
  In a statement, Hawker said he wants to make the most of his “miraculous” response to cancer treatment and “the renewed life God” has given him.
  He said he wants to devote more time to studying for ordination as a Roman Catholic deacon and to work on health care reform.
  Hawker was first elected to the state House in 2002. Ai
  
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• Russian icebreaker makes record-setting Arctic voyage

  31-12-2015 02:36
  
  
  According to the Russian media outlet Port News, a Russian icebreaker has just completed the fastest transit of the Northern Sea Route. Along with setting the speed record, the icebreaker also completed the trip over a month after the shipping season usually ends in the Arctic. But it’s still a long ways off from becoming the next great trade route.
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  Image courtesy of the University of Washington.
  The Northern Sea Route runs along Russia’s Arcti
  
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• Fairbanks marijuana club treads carefully forward

  31-12-2015 02:35
  
  
  (Creative Commons photo by Brett Levin)
  Fairbanks first marijuana business has been open for just over a month. “The Higher Calling” – or THC – is one of several so called “clubs” in the state that have arisen since voter’s passage of a marijuana legalization initiative in 2014.
  Download Audio
  Clubs like Fairbanks’ “The Higher Calling” do not sell marijuana. The Higher Calling’s co-owner Megan Mooers describes her downtown ar
  
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• About 7,700 Alaskans have enrolled in expanded Medicaid

  31-12-2015 02:34
  
  
  A state health department official says that since the state expanded Medicaid to cover more lower-income Alaskans on Sept. 1, about 7,700 people have enrolled.
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  Chris Ashenbrenner is the Medicaid program coordinator for the state health department.
  The department had estimated that nearly 20,100 newly eligible Alaskans would enroll during the first year of expansion, and Ashenbrenner believes that enrollment is on track for that.
  She says enrollment in the first half of the year m
  
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• Behavioral health focus of Mat-Su Health Foundation grants

  31-12-2015 02:32
  
  
  As state lawmakers prepare to grapple with a tight state budget, one non-profit is gearing up to deal with health needs in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The Mat-Su Health Foundation is stepping in to provide funding for behavioral health services in the face of expected cuts. One program benefiting from grant money is aiming to curb the earliest sources of drug and alcohol abuse with a focus on Adverse Childhood Experiences awareness.
  Download AudioRecent reports of legislators eyeing further c
  
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• Investing in Alaska: The Good, Bad & Ugly - KTVA.com - Alaska News and Weather

  31-12-2015 02:31
  KTVA.com - Alaska News and Weather
  Investing in Alaska: The Good, Bad & Ugly
  KTVA.com - Alaska News and Weather
  Kevin Anselm says there's a rush to give money away before the new year begins – Christmas presents, charitable donations, expenses on leisure activities. After the new year is when people begin to think about themselves and where to put their money, ...
  

• Holy Bible translated into modern Yup’ik

  31-12-2015 02:31
  
  
  The Holy Bible is now available in the modern Yup’ik orthography after nearly half a century of work put in by fluent Yup’ik speakers in the Bethel area and the American Bible Society. A number of elders were involved with the project.
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  The new Yup’ik Bible, ‘Tanqilriit Igat,’ as it’s displayed at the Bethel Moravian Bookstore. Photo by Charles Enoch/KYUK
  “Psalms 119:115- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Qanery
  
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• Former Juneau mayor Jamie Parsons dies at 74

  31-12-2015 02:30
  
  
  Former Juneau mayor Jamie Parsons died Saturday in Washington state after more than a decade battling cancer. He was 74.
  Friends and former colleagues remember his sense of humor, his love of sports and his unfailing commitment to the capital city.
  Download Audio
  Jamie Parsons was named Juneau Citizen of the Year in 1994, around the time this photo was taken. (Photo courtesy Win Gruening)
  Jamie Parsons moved to Juneau in 1972 to become the city’s first Parks and Recreation director. He ser
  
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• Few details on Alaska plane crash released as FBI, other agencies investigate - Minneapolis Star Tribune

  31-12-2015 02:18
  Minneapolis Star Tribune
  Few details on Alaska plane crash released as FBI, other agencies investigate
  Minneapolis Star Tribune
  Video (00:39) : The pilot of a small plane that smashed into a building in downtown Anchorage on Tuesday was not authorized to fly the aircraft used in volunteer search-and-rescue missions, authorities said. 42-year-old Doug Demarest died in the crash.
  Alaska Man Crashes Plane Into Wife's WorkplaceNewser
  Pilot killed in Alaska crash wasn't authorized to fly planeWRAL.c
  

• FAA investigates Alaska jet landing on taxiway at Sea-Tac - The Seattle Times

  31-12-2015 02:18
  The Seattle Times
  FAA investigates Alaska jet landing on taxiway at Sea-Tac
  The Seattle Times
  The FAA is investigating after Alaska Airlines flight 27 from Chicago landed on a taxiway instead of a runway on Dec 19. Port of Seattle officials say it was not an emergency situation. And the FAA says no vehicles or aircraft were on the taxiway at ...
  Reports: Alaska Airlines jet lands on taxiway, not runway at Sea-Tacseattlepi.com
  Alaska Airlines Plane Misses Runway, FAA InvestigatingABC News
  Alaska
  

• Inert grenades in Amazon box prompt brief evacuation at Alaska Air Cargo - KTUU.com

  31-12-2015 00:56
  Inert grenades in Amazon box prompt brief evacuation at Alaska Air Cargo
  KTUU.com
  Police briefly evacuated an Alaska Air Cargo building at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport today when an employee found a suspicious Amazon shipping package. The box turned out to contain inert grenades.and more »
  

• Alaska works to boost National Guard presence in villages - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

  31-12-2015 00:55
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  Alaska works to boost National Guard presence in villages
  Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
  BETHEL, Alaska — A statewide effort is under way to restore the presence of the National Guard in rural Alaska communities. Former Bethel resident command Sgt. Maj. Richard Hildreth is leading the Rural Guard Initiative, which seeks to promote guard ...
  National Guard works to revive rural Alaska presenceAlaska Public Radio Networkall 14 news articles »
  

• Either oil hits $110, or Alaska gets a tax hike - CNBC

  31-12-2015 00:38
  CNBC
  Either oil hits $110, or Alaska gets a tax hike
  CNBC
  With a $3.5 billion deficit on the books, Alaska's governor is suggesting a drastic measure: more taxes. Unless oil reaches $110 a barrel, the state's current budget just isn't sustainable, the governor told CNBC in an exclusive interview Wednesday ...and more »
  

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