Alaska news

• UAA women prepare for national title game against Lubbock Christian

  30-03-2016 23:19
  
  
  (Photo courtesy: Sam Wasson/UAA Athletics)The University of Alaska Anchorage’s women’s basketball team is playing in the program’s first-ever NCAA Division II national championship game on Monday, where the Seawolves will face off against Lubbock Christian in Indianapolis.
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  Coach Ryan McCarthy took the reigns of the UAA women’s basketball program in 2012, and the team has seen consistent improvement every season since.
  But, McCarthy says this is the fir
  
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• State officials propose program to address rising health insurance rates

  30-03-2016 22:53
  
  State officials in Alaska are proposing a program to address high-cost health insurance claims in hopes of stabilizing rising rates on the individual policy market.
  Just two companies serve the individual market in Alaska and have filed for double-digit rate increases each of the last two years. State officials say that’s not sustainable. They hope that reviving a high-risk pool to handle claims for the costliest conditions will bring some relief. The idea is to spread the cost of those cl
  
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• Bill introduced allowing individuals to refuse performing same sex marriages

  30-03-2016 22:50
  
  A House Judiciary committee will hear testimony Wednesday afternoon on a bill that protects religious officials and others who refuse to perform same sex marriages.
  Rep. Dave Talerico, R- Healy, at a House Majority press availability, Feb. 4, 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)The bill is sponsored by Fairbanks Republican Rep. Dave Talerico and mirrors one making its way through the Senate. It exempts people who perform marriage ceremonies from civil or criminal liability for refusing to perfor
  
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• Traveling Music 4-3-16

  30-03-2016 22:46
  Traveling Music
  Shonti Elder
  4-3-16
   
  Format:
  Song TitleArtist / Composer
  CD Title
  Label
  Duration
   
  Without My Walking Stick
  Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands / Irving Berlin
  Live
  www.laurielewis.com
  6:19
   
  Green Pastures
  Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt / Brian Ahern
  Live on KSWM
  Laser Media
  3:20
   
  Did You Hear John Hurt?
  Dave Von Ronk / Tom Paxton
  Greenwich Village Folk Festival 1989-1990
  Gadfly Records
  2:30
   
  Motherless Child
  Blind Boys of Alabama / William E. Bar
  
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• ANCHORAGE ASSEMBLY | Seat J, South Anchorage

  30-03-2016 22:18
  
  Mark Schimscheimer, Treg Taylor and John Weddleton compete for Seat J of the Anchorage Assembly, serving South Anchorage.
  
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• ANCHORAGE ASSEMBLY | Seat H, East Anchorage

  30-03-2016 22:13
  
  Forrest Dunbar and Terre Gales run for Seat H in the Anchorage Assembly, serving East Anchorage.
  
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• ANCHORAGE ASSEMBLY | Seat F, Midtown Anchorage

  30-03-2016 22:06
  
  Ronald Alleva and incumbent Assemblyman, Dick Traini run for Seat F in the Anchorage Assembly.
  
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• ANCHORAGE ASSEMBLY | Seat D, West Anchorage

  30-03-2016 22:03
  
  Eric Croft, Dustin Darden, Ira Perman and Adam Trombley run for Seat D in the Anchorage Assembly.
  
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• The challenges of crab leg lunch

  30-03-2016 22:02
  
  The Norton Sound Commercial Crab Fishery closed last week, recording more than 41 thousand pounds of red king crab. That pales in comparison to last year’s record-breaking catch. But it was enough for Nome’s Pingo Bakery Seafood House to host its annual crab leg lunch during Iditarod.
  A crab leg meal (Photo by Laura Kraegel, KNOM – Nome)Sitting by a window illuminated by a gorgeous day, Stacy Flagg of Eagle River is prying open a bundle of crab legs. It is the week of the
  
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• ANCHORAGE ASSEMBLY | Seat A, Eagle River / Chugiak

  30-03-2016 22:01
  
  Nicholas Begich III and Amy Demboski run for Seat A of the Anchorage Assembly.
  
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• SCHOOL BOARD | Seat B

  30-03-2016 21:30
  
  Starr Marsett, David Nees and Kay Ellen Schuster compete for Seat B in the Anchorage School Board.
  
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• State to tackle highway flood damage

  30-03-2016 21:17
  
  The State Department of Transportation opened bids Friday for a project that will help protect the Glenn Highway from Matanuska River flooding.
  Matanuska river flooding its banks in 2015 (Photo by Ellen Lockyer)DOT plans to shore up the shoulder of the highway at mile 64 to protect it from erosion due to the river’s action.
  Last summer, the Matanuska, fed by glacial melt, ate away at the North bank in the Sutton area, taking away some private property and threatening the Glenn Highway
  
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• School Board | Seat A

  30-03-2016 20:56
  
  Bettye Davis and Brent Hughes compete for Seat A in the Anchorage School Board.
  
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• Animal traps in Southeast and Tok no longer need identification

  30-03-2016 20:42
  
  Alaska’s Board of Game voted to remove a requirement that animal traps have some kind of identification in Southeast Alaska and the Tok region. The Board met on statewide proposals to change hunting and trapping regulations last week in Fairbanks.
  The Alaska Trappers Association submitted Proposal 78 seeking to remove the trapping ID requirement statewide. Markers with the trappers name or some other identifying information are required in Southeast. It’s also required around Tok if
  
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• Alaska school districts work to recover from testing disruption originating in Kansas - Alaska Dispatch News

  30-03-2016 19:37
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska school districts work to recover from testing disruption originating in Kansas
  Alaska Dispatch News
  A standardized test for students across Alaska was delayed this week when a Kansas construction accident disrupted Internet service to the firm handling the testing results. Elizabeth Davis, administrator for standards and assessments at the Alaska ...and more »
  

• Dorsey Pictures' Crews Wrestle With Dangerous Beast: Alaska - Variety

  30-03-2016 19:00
  Variety
  Dorsey Pictures' Crews Wrestle With Dangerous Beast: Alaska
  Variety
  Alaska is the sort of place that routinely crushes adventurers. The stabbing cold, the not-so-friendly wildlife and more test any outdoorsman's raw survival skills. This story first appeared in the March 29, 2016 issue of Variety. Subscribe today.See more.
  

• Former Alaska lawmakers join ex-governors in urgent call for fiscal solution - Alaska Dispatch News

  30-03-2016 05:59
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Former Alaska lawmakers join ex-governors in urgent call for fiscal solution
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Former Alaska State legislators gathered for a Plan4Alaska conference in the Rasmuson Foundation Board Room on Tuesday, Mar. 29, 2016, to discuss Alaska's fiscal future. Bill Roth / ADN. Photos: Ex-lawmakers discuss Alaska's fiscal woes. Former Senate ...and more »
  

• Former Alaska lawmakers join ex-governors in urgent call for fiscal solution

  30-03-2016 05:57
  
  Former Alaska lawmakers join ex-governors in urgent call for fiscal solution About 40 former Alaska lawmakers of diverse political stripes and backgrounds convened in Anchorage on Tuesday for a meeting of the minds on how to solve Alaska’s $4 billion budget deficit. March 29, 2016
  
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• Thursday vote may determine future of Legislature's Anchorage offices

  30-03-2016 04:59
  
  Thursday vote may determine future of Legislature's Anchorage offices The Legislature’s occupancy of its Anchorage offices remains in limbo this week, with lawmakers set to meet Thursday to decide whether to move out of their building on Fourth Avenue, buy it or pursue some other option.March 29, 2016
  
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• ‘Gateways for Growth’: New plan to make Municipality more inclusive

  30-03-2016 04:40
  
  
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  The Municipality of Anchorage is launching a new initiative to make the community and the economy more inclusive. The city received a grant to participate in the Gateways for Growth Challenge. The goal is to develop a strategic plan for incorporating new arrivals from rural Alaska and other parts of the world into the city’s economy. Mara Kimmel, the mayor’s wife and a co-founder of the Alaska Institute for Justice, is spearheading the project. She says it’s abou
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Mar. 29, 2016

  30-03-2016 04:01
  
  
  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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  Four bills aimed at cutting state costs raise local concerns
  Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
  Senators introduced four new bills Monday that would require local governments and schools to pay more for pensions, end two college schol
  
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• Peninsula ‘Food Hubs’ set to launch in May

  30-03-2016 03:47
  
  
  Farmer’s markets are going virtual. Soon Kenai Peninsula residents will be able to buy locally grown food online. The new marketplaces are called ‘Food Hubs’.
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  Emily Garrity peeks out from the door of her greenhouse at Twitter Creek Gardens on Ohlson Mountain outside Homer.( Photo by Daysha Eaton, KBBI – Homer)There’s still snow outside, but Emily Garrity is prepping for the growing season inside her passive solar greenhouse on her small farm at the to
  
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• Russian and American officials sign wildlife management agreement

  30-03-2016 03:33
  
  
  Cooperation across the Bering Strait was recently strengthened when the U.S. and Russia signed a joint wildlife agreement.
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  Polar Bear (Photo via Flickr Creative Commons courtesy of Christopher Michel)Officials from the two Arctic nations met in San Diego from March 22-24 to discuss polar bear and snow goose monitoring efforts in Alaska and Chukotka.
  Steven Kohl heads the Eurasian efforts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and was at the meeting.
  “So many of these animals
  
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• Ketchikan responders train for terrorism

  30-03-2016 03:30
  
  
  About 33 law enforcement officers and first responders from 10 different federal, state and local agencies in Ketchikan recently came together for a two-day anti-terrorism training event. They learned how to be more aware of potential terrorist plots and, just as important, built inter-agency relationships.
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  A cruise ship is docked at Ketchikan’s downtown Berth 2. Such ships brought about 1 million passengers to Southeast in 2015. (Photo by Leila Kheiry)KRBD’s Leila Khe
  
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• Severed cable in Kansas hampers test grading in Sitka

  30-03-2016 03:26
  
  
  Alaska’s star-crossed educational testing system suffered another setback Tuesday when a fiber-optic cable near the University of Kansas was severed at about 1:30 Central Daylight Time.
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  The University of Kansas is home to AAI — the Achievement and Assessment Institute —  which provides online standardized testing to school districts across Alaska.
  The incident left students high-and-dry in grades 3, 7, and 8 in Sitka as they began the first day of the A
  
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• Murkowski holds hearings to discuss public lands handling

  30-03-2016 03:17
  
  
  U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski is in Alaska holding field hearings as the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Monday, she invited leaders from the state’s energy, mining and labor sectors to offer their perspectives on how the federal government is doing its job managing public lands. Most of the testimony expressed frustration with federal regulations and how they are implemented.
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  Sen. Lisa Murkowski talks with reporters during a press availability (Fil
  
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• ‘Huge anomaly’: warm winter limits sea-ice formation, experts say

  30-03-2016 03:03
  
  
  Scientists say warm winter weather around the circumpolar north has led to another record-setting year of decreasing sea-ice coverage of the Arctic Ocean. The extent of sea ice formed over this past winter fell short of the previous record-low extent set last year.
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  The National Snow and Ice Data Center says Arctic sea ice extent as of March 24 averaged 5.6 million square miles, about 5,000 miles less than last year’s record-low maximum extent. (Photo courtesy of NSIDC, NASA
  
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• Four bills aimed at cutting state costs raise local concerns

  30-03-2016 02:29
  
  
  Senators introduced four new bills Monday that would require local governments and schools to pay more for pensions, end two college scholarship programs, and cut the amount that municipalities receive in state funding.
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  Sen. Pete Kelly speaks on the floor of the Alaska Senate, (Stock photo by Skip Gray/Gavel Alaska)Towns and schools are concerned about the effect on taxes and services.
  The first measure, Senate Bill 207, would shift much of the costs of teacher pensions from the s
  
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• Why an Alaska Airlines Bid for Virgin America Makes Sense - Motley Fool

  30-03-2016 01:05
  Motley Fool
  Why an Alaska Airlines Bid for Virgin America Makes Sense
  Motley Fool
  Alaska Airlines Group is one of two carriers said to be submitting bids to acquire Virgin America. Here's why the Seattle-based airline would benefit from acquiring the Virgin brand. Asit Sharma. (TMFfinosus). Mar 29, 2016 at 7:05PM. Rsz. Image source ...
  A JetBlue-Virgin merger, combined with new Spirit flights, could threaten AlaskaPuget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
  JetBlue and Alaska Airlines reportedly eye
  

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