Alaska news

• Berkowitz announces $14 million Anchorage surplus for 2015

  24-03-2016 23:41
  
  Berkowitz announces $14 million Anchorage surplus for 2015 Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said the city projects about $14 million in savings from 2015, which he said was largely a result of spending cuts and higher-than-expected city revenues. March 24, 2016
  
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• Walker to lawmakers: Putting off sustainable budget is ‘wholly unacceptable’

  24-03-2016 23:29
  
   
  Gov. Bill Walker addresses a conference in October. (Photo by Mikko Wilson/KTOO)Governor Bill Walker says the Legislature must agree to a complete and sustainable solution to the state’s fiscal problem this year. In a letter to legislators Walker sent yesterday (Wednesday), he says continuing to draw on reserves without a solid plan to stop doing so is unacceptable.
  His own budget plan would draw on reserves over the next two budget years before reaching balance in 2019.The let
  
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• Judge tosses Legislature's Anchorage lease, declares it violated the law

  24-03-2016 22:21
  
  Judge tosses Legislature's Anchorage lease, declares it violated the law A Superior Court judge Thursday declared the Alaska Legislature’s lease for its downtown Anchorage office building illegal and invalid, siding with attorney Jim Gottstein in his public interest lawsuit against the Legislature and the building’s landlords.March 24, 2016
  
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• A judge has tossed the Legislature's Anchorage office lease. What's next?

  24-03-2016 22:21
  
  A judge has tossed the Legislature's Anchorage office lease. What's next? A Superior Court judge Thursday declared the Alaska Legislature’s lease for its downtown Anchorage office building illegal and invalid, siding with attorney Jim Gottstein in his public interest lawsuit against the Legislature and the building’s landlords.March 24, 2016
  
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• Alaska lawmakers consider more and higher fees for hunting and fishing

  24-03-2016 22:08
  Alaska lawmakers consider more and higher fees for hunting and fishingFishermen have told state lawmakers they want a new fee imposed on personal use and sport fishermen who catch sockeye on two heavily used rivers in the stateMarch 24, 2016
  
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• Group criticizes Alaska Gov. Walker on fisheries policy

  24-03-2016 20:22
  Group criticizes Alaska Gov. Walker on fisheries policyFishermen, Alaska Native tribal members and clean water advocates on Wednesday criticized Gov. Bill Walker's administration over its handling of fisheries and water issues.March 24, 2016
  
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• Jane Sanders will campaign for her husband in Anchorage, Dillingham

  24-03-2016 05:25
  
  Jane Sanders will campaign for her husband in Anchorage, Dillingham The Brooklyn-raised, motorcycle-loving wife of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will make a campaign swing in Alaska this week, just in time for Saturday’s Democratic caucuses.March 23, 2016
  
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• ‘The Grand Bargain’ seeks to improve Sitka communities

  24-03-2016 03:45
  
  
  In Sitka, a Citizen’s Task Force has been meeting for several months to come up with a strategy for keeping the community’s basic services, while adjusting the tax structure. The Task Force is ready to reveal their plan called “The Grand Bargain.”
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• Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, Mar. 23, 2016

  24-03-2016 03:44
  
  
  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
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  Savings on tax credits for oil and gas not as high as proposed
  Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
  A bill to revise oil and gas tax credits from the House Resources Committee includes only a fraction of the savings Governor Bill Walker proposed.
  
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• Several groups criticize Walker’s handling of fisheries

  24-03-2016 03:33
  
  
  Fishermen, Alaska Native tribal members and clean water advocates are criticizing Gov. Bill Walker’s administration over its handling of fisheries and water issues.
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  Chief among their criticisms is a bill Walker proposed to give the state Legislature deciding power over which waters in the state could be classified as outstanding natural resource waters and offered special protections.
  Yakutat Tlingit Tribal Council member Raymond Sensemeier says funneling applications throug
  
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• Retreating sea ice: Good for walruses, bad for indigenous communities

  24-03-2016 03:31
  
  
  As Arctic sea ice has retreated north during the last decade, walruses have adapted by changing their haul-outs to take advantage of better resources and food. That’s good for the walruses… but it’s a problem for some Russian indigenous communities on the Chokotkan coast.
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• Indigenous communities in Russia say retreating sea ice pushes walruses away

  24-03-2016 03:31
  
  
  As Arctic sea ice has retreated north during the last decade, walruses have adapted by changing their haul-outs to take advantage of better resources and food. That’s good for the walruses… but it’s a problem for some Russian indigenous communities on the Chokotkan coast.
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• Rare Aluutiq quiver now part of Kodiak Museum

  24-03-2016 03:24
  
  
  Kodiak’s Alutiiq Museum recently acquired a quiver that is a rare example of Alutiiq craftsmanship. Sven Haakanson is Curator of Native American Anthropology at the Burke Museum and recently passed the quiver – and the arrow that comes with it – along to the Alutiiq Museum. Haakanson is from Old Harbor and served as the Alutiiq Museum executive director before moving to Seattle to work at the Burke Museum and teach at the University of Washington. Haakanson said the King family
  
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• Sitka basketball team rescues six-plex occupants from fire

  24-03-2016 03:15
  
  
  Quick thinking by the Sitka boys basketball team averted tragedy Wednesday morning, when a six-plex in the Anchorage neighborhood where they were staying caught fire. The boys and their coach woke and rescued 11 occupants before firefighters arrived.
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  Sitka basketball players helped 11 occupants of this Anchorage six-plex escape the blaze. (Photo courtesy of Anyd Lee)The Wolves were on their way to breakfast in their team van at 11 AM when coach Andy Lee said the boys noticed flame
  
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• Bill banning sex ed from abortion providers moves forward in House

  24-03-2016 03:13
  
  
  A bill to bar abortion service providers from teaching sex education in public schools narrowly cleared a hurdle in the Alaska House today.
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• Canadian company seeks to ship oil sands crude through trans-Alaska pipeline

  24-03-2016 03:09
  
  
  A Canadian company is looking into the feasibility of building a railroad to Alaska to link with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The rail line would ferry Canadian oil sands to markets in Asia. The company has been pursuing the project for years.
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  Trans-Alaska Pipeline (Photo courtesy of the Department of Natural Resources)Matt Vickers admits he’s touted the idea of shipping oil sands from Alberta to Alaska by rail for a long time.
  Vickers is CEO of G Seven Generations, Ltd.,
  
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• Canadian company seeks building railroad linking with Trans-Alaska Pipeline

  24-03-2016 03:09
  
  
  A Canadian company is looking into the feasibility of building a railroad to Alaska to link with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The rail line would ferry Canadian oil sands to markets in the Far East. The company has been pursuing the project for years.
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  Trans-Alaska Pipeline (Photo courtesy of the Department of Natural Resources)Matt Vickers admits he’s touted the idea of shipping oil sands from Alberta to Alaska by rail for a long time. Vickers is CEO of G Seven Generations, Lt
  
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• Savings on tax credits for oil and gas not as high as proposed

  24-03-2016 03:03
  
  
  A bill to revise oil and gas tax credits from the House Resources Committee includes only a fraction of the savings Governor Bill Walker proposed.
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  The Department of Revenue estimates the bill would save the state roughly 160 million dollars over the next three years. That compares with more than a billion dollars in savings under Walker’s proposal.
  The committee rejected a series of amendments Tuesday that would have raised costs for oil and gas companies.
  For example, Homer
  
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• Gov. Walker to lawmakers: We need a new tax this year

  24-03-2016 02:33
  
  Gov. Walker to lawmakers: We need a new tax this year Gov. Bill Walker issued a blunt demand to state lawmakers Wednesday, telling them they need to use a “broad-based tax” to help close Alaska’s $4 billion budget deficit -- in addition to budget cuts and spending earnings from the Permanent Fund.March 23, 2016
  
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