Alaska news

• Egan worries about political paralysis, procrastination

  20-01-2016 18:28
  
  Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan talks about his expectations for this year’s legislative session in his office at the Alaska State Capitol. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan said he expects that the $3.5 billion budget deficit will dominate the agenda during this legislative session. But will anything be accomplished to fill that gap? That’s a different story.
  “I’m worried that it’s an election year, and all 40 members of the House are running,&r
  
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• Delta cuts two weekly flights to Juneau

  20-01-2016 18:26
  
  Delta Air Lines performs a test flight into Juneau. (Photo by Doug Wahto)
  Delta Airlines is temporarily cutting two weekly flights to Juneau.
  Anthony Black, a Delta spokesperson, says effective immediately Delta will no longer fly to Juneau on Tuesday or Saturday. There will be no southbound flights on Sundays or Wednesdays. Sometime in March, Sundays will be added back to the schedule. In May, Delta will revert back to offering seven flights per week in May.
  The company started flying year
  
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• Troopers: Warrant issued for woman who aided armed Pilot Station jailbreak

  20-01-2016 18:24
  
  Alaska State Troopers. Photo: Monica Gokey/ Alaska Public Media file photo.
  After further investigation, Alaska State Troopers discovered that 23-year-old Pilot Station resident Nicole Polty also assisted in the jailbreak earlier this month. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
  During the first week of January, 22-year-old Dale Fancyboy allegedly conducted an armed jailbreak to release two men, Dion Joseph, 22, and Thomas Heckman, 19. The men were in jail on charges of assault, burglar
  
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• Seaton files bills for new legislative session

  20-01-2016 18:16
  
  South Kenai Peninsula Representative Paul Seaton has prefiled two bills concerning healthcare issues. House Bill 227, if passed, will build on last year’s Medicaid Expansion bill. Seaton says it includes Medicaid reforms that could save the state millions, but the reforms required separate legislative action.
  “So $309 million would basically be the cost savings over the next five years by implementing this bill,” said Seaton.
  Seaton adds, after five years the reforms will save
  
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• Walker comfortable with Exxon statements on gas availability

  20-01-2016 17:50
  
  A tanker taking on a shipment at the Kenai LNG plant in October, 2015. (Rachel Waldholz/APRN)
  Gov. Bill Walker says he’s comfortable with statements made by Exxon Mobil Corp. that gas would be made available to a pipeline project the state is pursuing if the company was no longer involved in it.
  Exxon is a partner in the project, along with BP and ConocoPhillips.
  In December, BP and ConocoPhillips signed a gas availability agreement with the state and agreed to continue negotiating terms u
  
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• Groceries run low in Alaska after cargo ship problem

  20-01-2016 17:48
  
  Alaska grocery stores are running low on some foods after a cargo ship was delayed by a mechanical issue.
  A Tote Maritime Alaska ship named “The North Star” regularly runs between Tacoma and Anchorage, bringing groceries and other goods to the state. It was supposed to leave Tacoma on Jan. 14 and arrive Jan. 17, but a problem was discovered before its departure.
  Tote Maritime Vice President Grace Greene couldn’t say specifically what the mechanical issue was. She says the ship
  
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• Iditarod unlikely to start in Fairbanks, officials say

  20-01-2016 16:57
  
  2014 Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey celebrates his victory in Nome. (Photo by David Dodman, KNOM Radio Mission)
  Fairbanks officials say the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is unlikely to start in the borough this year.
  Borough Mayor Karl Kassel tells The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that unless the weather worsens in Southcentral Alaska, the 1,000-mile race will likely start in Willow as planned.
  The ceremonial start of the race is scheduled for March 5 in Anchorage. Typically the actual race begins
  
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• Supreme Court hears case challenging NPS authority

  20-01-2016 16:50
  
  The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments Wednesday morning in a case challenging the National Park Service’s authority to ban hovercraft in Alaska’s federal parks and preserves.
  The case began in 2007, when park rangers found Anchorage moose hunter John Sturgeon and his boat on a gravel bar in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
  They told him the Park Service doesn’t allow hovercraft travel.
  Sturgeon, backed by briefs from the state of Alaska and many Native corporat
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Tues., Jan. 19, 2016

  20-01-2016 03:41
  
  
  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
   
  Chenault: Balance budget with mix of cuts, revenue
  Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
  The Alaska Legislative session started today in Juneau. The Senate gaveled in at 11 a.m. and House speaker Mike Chenault started things off for the Hou
  
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• Red Dog Mine Sues Northwest Arctic Borough Over Tax Hike

  20-01-2016 03:33
  
  
  The Northwest Arctic Borough’s largest private employer and source of revenue is suing the borough over a recent hike in taxes. Teck Alaska, the operator of Red Dog Mine, filed the legal complaint last Friday, noting the tax increase could put jobs and economic activity in the region at risk.
  Download Audio
  The Delong Mountain Transportation System, financed by AIDEA, was opened in 1990 to serve the Red Dog Mine. It includes this 52-mile gravel industrial haul road from the mine to the por
  
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• NANA intervenes in Red Dog in tax dispute

  20-01-2016 03:33
  
  
  The Northwest Arctic Borough’s largest private employer and source of revenue is suing the borough over a recent hike in taxes. Teck Alaska, the operator of Red Dog Mine, filed the legal complaint last Friday, noting the tax increase could put jobs and economic activity in the region at risk.
  Download Audio
  The Delong Mountain Transportation System, financed by AIDEA, was opened in 1990 to serve the Red Dog Mine. It includes this 52-mile gravel industrial haul road from the mine to the por
  
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• Federal Subsistence Board votes to mend Alaska relations

  20-01-2016 03:30
  
  
  The Federal Subsistence Board voted Tuesday to work to re-establish better relations with the state of Alaska.
  A federal-state memorandum of understanding, or MOU, on subsistence expired last year over differences on data sharing, day-to-day operations, and other issues.
  Download Audio
  The agencies that make up the Federal Subsistence Board agreed last year to disagree with the state of Alaska on subsistence management. Federal laws dictate protection of wildlife and preservation of natural cond
  
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• Alaska, Inc: The roots of the Permanent Fund dividend

  20-01-2016 03:21
  
  Gov. Jay Hammond speaking with KUAC in 1980. ” You’ve got to remove the money,” he said in the interview. “Put it behind a rope, where you cannot utilize it for flamboyant expenditures.” (Image courtesy the Alaska State Library Historical Collections)
  Faced with a $3.5 billion budget deficit, many lawmakers are considering proposals that would tap the earnings of Alaska’s massive Permanent Fund — and reduce the Permanent Fund dividend
  
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• Vets concerned about Wasilla monument

  20-01-2016 02:49
  
  A planned senior care project near Wasilla has hit a wall.. literally.  It seems the design for the specialized nursing complex intrudes on space now occupied by the Veterans Wall of Honor Memorial, and some local veterans say they are not backing down in their stand against moving the wall.
  It’s a complicated Matanuska Susitna Borough land use issue.  At last week’s [Jan.12] Borough Assembly meeting, Doug Clegg, representing Idaho based Spring Creek Investments, updated th
  
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• Chenault: Balance budget with mix of cuts, new revenue

  20-01-2016 02:45
  
  The Alaska Legislative session started today in Juneau. The Senate gaveled in at 11 a.m. and House speaker Mike Chenault started things off for the House at 1 p.m. Lawmakers have a lot of work ahead of them as they attempt to address the state’s massive budget deficit. We’re talking with legislative leaders this week about what they want they want to accomplish this session.
  Rep. Mike Chenault. (Photo by Skip Gray/Gavel Alaska)
  Chenault says he’s focused on
  
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• Market experts: Oil could go lower but prices will rebound

  20-01-2016 02:05
  
  Crude prices may continue their slide, but a top government energy economist predicts the price of Brent oil will rise to $40 a barrel by the end of this year, and to $50 a barrel by the end of next year.
  “Can we have $30 a barrel oil continuing indefinitely into the future?” Adam Sieminski, head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, asked at a hearing of the Senate Energy Committee in Washington on Wednesday. “And I think the answer to that is no.”
  Sie
  
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• NANA intervenes on behalf of Red Dog in tax dispute

  20-01-2016 02:04
  
  The Northwest Arctic Borough’s largest private employer and source of revenue is suing the borough over a recent hike in taxes. Teck Alaska, the operator of Red Dog Mine, filed the legal complaint last Friday, noting the tax increase could put jobs and economic activity in the region at risk.
  The Delong Mountain Transportation System, financed by AIDEA, was opened in 1990 to serve the Red Dog Mine. It includes this 52-mile gravel industrial haul road from the mine to the port facility. (Ph
  
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• Sitka raptor center bids farewell to iconic eagle HALi

  20-01-2016 00:55
  
  The Alaska Raptor Center lost one of its famed and feathered ambassadors last month. HALi, a bald eagle, died in early December, due to health reasons. She was around 6 years old.
  HALi was best known for her crossed beak. (Courtesy photo)
  HALi, one of the center’s birds used for education, was best known for her crossed beak. Here’s Jennifer smith, the center’s avian education supervisor:
  “It gave her a very quizzical expression all the time. She always looked like she wa
  
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• Grounded boat spills fuel into Neva Strait

  20-01-2016 00:38
  
  A 38-foot fishing vessel, the F/V Yankee, ran aground in the Northside of Neva Strait, last Tuesday night, Jan. 12, spilling 150 gallons of diesel fuel into the water.
  The troller’s three passengers donned survival suits and made it ashore safely. They were then picked up by a Good Samaritan vessel, the Western Mariner.
  The Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Detachment is mitigating – and investigating — the incident, supervisor Mike Wortman says.
  The Coast Guard surrounded
  
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