Alaska news

• Village awarded federal grant for river turbine design

  01-03-2016 22:32
  
  The U.S. Department of Energy has picked a southwest Alaska village for funding to advance development of an underwater river turbine that could replace diesel power with clean energy.
  The department awarded Igiugig $393,500 grant for designing the next phase of river turbines.
  The turbine will be designed by Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Portland, Maine.
  The village worked with the company for a demonstration of a river turbine the last two summers.
  The company says a river turbine last summer d
  
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• BC officials introduce mine law changes in response to Mount Polley

  01-03-2016 22:30
  
  This aerial image shows the Aug. 5, 2014, Mount Polley Mine tailings dam break and some of the damage downstream. (Photo courtesy Cariboo Regional District Emergency Operations Centre)
  British Columbia officials introduced law changes last week that would strengthen their ability to enforce mining laws in response to the Mount Polley tailings dam disaster of 2014. But critics in Alaska are not convinced the B.C. government would use those penalties to protect watersheds in Southeast.
  U
  
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• A new generation walks for sobriety in Kwethluk

  01-03-2016 22:28
  
  Kwethluk students march for sobriety in their community. (Photo by Dean Swope / KYUK)
  Tired of seeing families and children harmed from alcohol and drug use, a group from Kwethluk organized a march for sobriety through the streets of their community on Wednesday. Leading with a sign saying, “Enough is Enough,” new voices spread their message through the village.
  A crowd is gathering in front of the Kwethluk Post Office. Students, parents, teachers, IRA members, State Troopers, VPSO&r
  
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• Rep. Foster fights proposed cuts to rural services, supports state income tax

  01-03-2016 22:21
  
  With Alaska’s budget deficit nearing $4 billion, Representative Neal Foster (D-Nome) says cuts are coming and they’ll have major repercussions for the Bering Strait Region.
  “It’s going to shape what rural Alaska looks like over the next 10 or 20 years,” said Foster.
  Foster said he’s fighting proposed cuts to low-income heating assistance, preschool education funding, and broadband internet support — all services near-and-dear to those off the road system
  
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• Borough pot tax on hold, for now

  01-03-2016 20:40
  
  An advisory committee on marijuana has failed to pass a resolution favoring a Matanuska Susitna Borough pot tax.
  A draft resolution before the Mat Su Borough’s Marijuana Advisory Committee created more questions than answers at the committee’s Monday night meeting. After quizzing the Borough’s attorney on the difference between an excise tax, which has to be enacted by the Borough Assembly, and a sales tax, which is decided by voters, the committee could not agree on language f
  
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• Senate panel to consider penalties for violations of sex education law

  01-03-2016 20:34
  Senate panel to consider penalties for violations of sex education law Following the Senate's passage of legislation to restrict schools from contracting with abortion providers for sex education classes, lawmakers plan to hear a companion bill laying out penalties for violations.March 1, 2016
  
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• Wasilla lawmaker: Fixed-income seniors should consider leaving Alaska - KTVA.com - Alaska News and Weather

  01-03-2016 18:19
  KTVA.com - Alaska News and Weather
  Wasilla lawmaker: Fixed-income seniors should consider leaving Alaska
  KTVA.com - Alaska News and Weather
  Following backlash from the public regarding recent comments about Alaska's low-income senior citizens, Rep. Lynn Gattis issued the following video response on Facebook Wednesday: Below: Rep. Lynn Gattis' full interview with KTVA reporter Liz Raines, ...
  

• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Feb. 29, 2016

  01-03-2016 03:50
  
  
  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
  Sullivan rips failure to disavow KKK plug as ‘idiotic’
  Liz Ruskin, APRN – Washington D.C.Alaska Republicans will go to the polls Tuesday to select their nominee for president. In Juneau this morning, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan wouldn&
  
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• Senate committee hears bill to allow concealed carry on University of Alaska campuses

  01-03-2016 03:41
  
  Senate committee hears bill to allow concealed carry on University of Alaska campuses The Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on a bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons on University of Alaska campuses.February 29, 2016
  
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• March 2016 TV Highlights: Barbara Lavallee, Grantchester and Running

  01-03-2016 03:34
  
  Barbara Lavallee talks of her passion for painting in the Last Frontier in Faces of Alaska.
  FACES of ALASKA featuring artist Barbara Lavallee,  a second season of GRANTCHESTER, a final season of MR. SELFRIDGE, and RUNNING programs – featuring candidates for Anchorage School Board and Anchorage Assembly – highlight March’s television schedule.
  Reverend Sidney Chambers and Inspector Geordie Keating return for another round of mysteries in GRANTCHESTER. Togethe
  
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• Alaska Republicans go to the polls on Super Tuesday

  01-03-2016 03:11
  
  Voters in Sitka during the August 2014 state primary election. Photo: Rachel Waldholz/KCAW
  March 1 is Super Tuesday, and Americans in 12 states (and American Samoa) will go to the polls to choose their party’s presidential nominees — including in Alaska, where Republicans are holding their Presidential Preference Poll.
  Democrats won’t hold their caucus until later this month, on March 26.
  Alaska will send 28 delegates to the Republican Convention — the same numb
  
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• Sullivan: ‘Idiotic’ for candidate to accept KKK plug

  01-03-2016 03:04
  
  
  U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan talks to reporters after his annual address to the Alaska Legislature. (Skip Gray/360 North)
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  Alaska Republicans will go to the polls tomorrow, Super Tuesday, to select their nominee for president.
  In Juneau this morning, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan wouldn’t tell reporters who he’s voting for, but he did weigh in on a racism controversy enveloping front-runner Donald Trump. Sullivan was in the Capitol for his annual speech to Alaska lawmakers, in
  
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• Budget coalition hires third lobbyist, while Joule will lobby for Lottsfeldt

  01-03-2016 01:52
  
  Budget coalition hires third lobbyist, while Joule will lobby for Lottsfeldt Reggie Joule, a former state legislator and Northwest Arctic Borough mayor, has newly registered as a lobbyist, while Alaska’s Future, the budget-reform coalition spearheaded by GCI President Ron Duncan, has boosted its Juneau presence by hiring a third lobbyist, Mary Sattler.February 29, 2016
  
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• Energy lobbyist denounces Walker’s oil and gas tax changes

  01-03-2016 01:50
  
  
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  The top energy industry lobbyist in Alaska denounced Governor Bill Walker’s proposed oil and gas tax changes on Monday.
  Alaska Oil and Gas Association President Kara Moriarty told the House Resources Committee that companies can’t afford higher costs when oil prices are low.
  “If you want the policy of Alaska to be to raise taxes on an industry that has negative tax flow, then that’s your prerogative,” said Moriarty. “But what we’re sa
  
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• Habitat for threatened polar bears found to be legal in federal court

  01-03-2016 01:45
  
  
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  A federal appeals court says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed the law when it designated more than 187,000 square miles as critical habitat for threatened polar bears.
  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday reversed a 2013 lower court decision that the designation of the coastal area larger than California was too extensive and not specific.
  A three-judge panel of appeals court said the Fish and Wildlife Service followed the law and the lower court’s call for
  
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• New bill on sex education passes in Alaska Senate

  01-03-2016 01:40
  
  
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  A bill to give parents more authority over sex education in Alaska schools passed the Alaska Senate Friday.
  
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• Alaska Airlines flight struck by lightning, none harmed

  01-03-2016 01:12
  
  
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  An Alaska Airlines flight on its way to Ketchikan and Juneau was struck by lightning Sunday night. No one was hurt, but it shook people up.
  Passenger George Reifenstein says Flight 69 was about 10 minutes out of Seattle when the strike occurred. He described it as a loud bang and a brilliant flash that shook the plane.
  The pilot told passengers what had happened and returned the flight to Seattle. A replacement jet took over the route and completed the flight.
  
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• Kwethluk community members march for sobriety

  01-03-2016 00:31
  
  Tired of seeing families and children harmed from alcohol and drug use, a group from Kwethluk organized a march for sobriety through the streets of their community on Wednesday. Leading with a sign saying, “Enough is Enough,” new voices spread their message through the village.
  Advocates in Kwethluk in front of the Post Office (Photo by Dean Swope, KYUK – Bethel)
  “No more drugs, no more alcohol,” chanted the crowd gathered in front of the Kwethluk Post Office.
  
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