Alaska news

• Wildfires, Once Confined to a Season, Burn Earlier and Longer

  12-04-2016 21:43 via nytimes.com
  Increasingly, fire crews are making calculated decisions to let blazes consume the land, concentrating their efforts on safeguarding communities and watersheds.
  
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• Globalization in Your Wine Glass

  12-04-2016 21:29
  
  
  *Producer’s Note: This recording is incomplete. Due to technical difficulties this program is missing pieces of the presentation and it ends rather abruptly.* 
  Mike Veseth is professor emeritus of  International Political Economy at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.  He is an authority on globalization and the global wine market. Mike was named Washington Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
  
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• Alaska Senate struggles to rally lawmakers behind Permanent Fund legislation

  12-04-2016 06:13
  
  Alaska Senate struggles to rally lawmakers behind Permanent Fund legislation A co-chair of the Alaska Senate Finance Committee said Monday that there are still questions about whether 11 votes exist in her 20-member chamber to support restructuring the Permanent Fund — a move considered the linchpin of a financial plan to fix the state’s $4 billion budget deficit.April 11, 2016
  
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• Alaska workplace smoking ban advocates worry legislation is in limbo

  12-04-2016 05:56
  
  Alaska workplace smoking ban advocates worry legislation is in limbo Advocates of a statewide indoor smoking ban say their legislation is languishing in a committee chaired by Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, who has yet to set a hearing on it. LeDoux wouldn't disclose her plans for the bill Monday.   April 11, 2016
  
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• Judge hears arguments as GOP supporters try to loosen campaign donation limits

  12-04-2016 04:52
  
  Judge hears arguments as GOP supporters try to loosen campaign donation limitsThe first oral arguments in a case brought by GOP supporters to loosen campaign restriction limits were heard Monday. The trial begins April 25. April 11, 2016
  
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• Bill to allow concealed guns on University of Alaska campuses moves forward

  12-04-2016 04:35
  
  Bill to allow concealed guns on University of Alaska campuses moves forwardThe House Education Committee voted 4-3 Monday to advance legislation that would restrict the University of Alaska's ability to designate concealed-gun-free zones on its campuses. April 11, 2016
  
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• Alaska House postpones vote on oil tax bill – again

  12-04-2016 03:53
  
  
  Speaker of the House Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said he’s hearing dissent from all sides. Photo: Skip Gray/360NorthFor the second time in two days, House lawmakers have postponed a final vote on the governor’s controversial oil tax bill.
  The bill is a cornerstone of Gov. Bill Walker’s efforts to close the state’s $4 billion budget deficit. Walker’s proposal would have brought in more than half a billion dollars next year, and about $400 million dollars
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Apr. 11, 2016

  12-04-2016 03:33
  
  
  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
  Wrangell mourns victims of Friday’s plane crash
  Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska – Juneau
  Wrangell residents are mourning the loss of three members of their community in Friday’s plane crash on Admiralty Island.
  Power Cost Equalization Fund
  
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• FAA bill hits rough patch

  12-04-2016 03:21
  
  
  Congress is back in Washington this week. High on its to-do list is passing an FAA bill before legal authority for the aviation agency expires in mid-July. The House bill includes a controversial provision that would privatize air-traffic control, but that bill is in a holding pattern and hasn’t been approved by the full house. The Senate is trying to pass its own bill. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it’s good for passengers.
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  Mitch McConnell, S
  
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• Congress seeks to privatize air-traffic control

  12-04-2016 03:21
  
  
  Congress is back in Washington this week. High on its to-do list is passing an FAA bill before legal authority for the aviation agency expires in mid-July. The House bill includes a controversial provision that would privatize air-traffic control, but that bill is in a holding pattern and hasn’t been approved by the full house. The Senate is trying to pass its own bill. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it’s good for passengers.
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  Mitch McConnell, S
  
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• Senate’s capital budget buys Anchorage LIO but won’t build Kivalina school

  12-04-2016 03:19
  
  Senate’s capital budget buys Anchorage LIO but won’t build Kivalina school The Alaska Senate wants to pay for the Legislature’s proposed $32.5 million purchase of its Anchorage offices with this year’s capital budget, using money outside of the state’s unrestricted general fund account — the typical yardstick used to measure state spending.April 11, 2016
  
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• Senate Finance Committee looks to offset high electricity costs in rural areas

  12-04-2016 02:52
  
  The Senate Finance Committee is looking to re-route money from a fund to offset the high cost of electricity in rural areas. Some Power Cost Equalization money would replace the Community Revenue Sharing program that the state government started when oil prices were higher.
  Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R- Wasilla, in the Alaska Senate, April 7, 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray,360 North).Senators may link two changes they’ve been considering this legislative session.
  Senate Bill 210, would reduce the amou
  
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• Power Cost Equalization Fund could pay for community assistance

  12-04-2016 02:52
  
  
  The Senate Finance Committee is looking to re-route money from a fund to offset the high cost of electricity in rural areas. Some Power Cost Equalization money would replace the Community Revenue Sharing program that the state government started when oil prices were higher.
  Download Audio
  Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R- Wasilla, in the Alaska Senate, April 7, 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray,360 North).Senators may link two changes they’ve been considering this legislative session.
  Senate Bill 210, would
  
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• Crews search for two missing on Bear Glacier

  12-04-2016 02:30
  A helicopter carrying a rescue crew has landed at the base of Bear Glacier in the Harding Ice Fields, near Seward. They’re looking for two hikers who were stranded over the weekend.
  Bear Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park.
  (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)36-year-old Jennifer Neyman, of Wrangell and 45-year-old Christopher Hanna of Soldotna were reported stranded on the Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park Saturday afternoon, according to an Alaska State Tr
  
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• Missing kayaker presumed dead

  12-04-2016 01:52
  
  Jesse Mills UPDATE – 5:00 PM 04-08-16
  A 41-year old Sitka man missing in a kayak since Thursday morning is presumed dead.
  The Coast Guard suspended the search for 41-year-old Jesse Mills of Sitka this afternoon (Friday 4-8-16). Mills was reported missing by his wife after he did not return from a solo kayaking trip on Wednesday night.
  During a first-light search Friday, a Coast Guard helicopter discovered an overturned kayak on Kasiana Island. A diver recovered the kayak, wedged
  
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• Tustumena ferry sailings cancelled in May due to repairs

  12-04-2016 01:21
  The Alaska Dept. of Transportation announced Monday that May sailings of the ferry Tustumena are canceled due to unexpected repair work.
  The MV Tustumena was scheduled to leave Dutch Harbor for Homer on May 21. Now that trip will happen at least two weeks later, says the AK DOT. ( Photo couretsy of Nancy Heise)The ferry’s first 2016 trip servicing the Aleutian chain will now depart about two weeks late.
  Tustumena sailings from May 15th through the 26th are cancelled; the fer
  
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• Alaska House again postpones vote on oil tax legislation

  12-04-2016 01:11
  
  Alaska House again postpones vote on oil tax legislation House lawmakers on Monday again postponed a vote Gov. Bill Walker’s bill to increase oil taxes and reform the state’s cash subsidy program for small oil producers.April 11, 2016
  
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• Wrangell mourns victims of Friday’s plane crash

  12-04-2016 01:00
  
  Wrangell residents are mourning the loss of three members of their community in Friday’s plane crash on Admiralty Island.
  The passengers were flying from Wrangell to Angoon when their plane crashed on Admiralty Island. (Photo courtesy of Google)Alaska State Troopers identified the victims as 60-year-old David Galla, 61-year-old Greg Scheff and 57-year-old Thomas Siekawitch.
  The fourth person on board was 21-year-old Morgan Enright. She was rescued and medevaced to Seattle.
  As of Sunda
  
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• “We Are AVCP” claims tribal representatives seeking transparency on recent controversies

  12-04-2016 00:22
  
  Tribal representatives from across the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta met in Bethel earlier this week to hold what they called a special convention of the Association of Village Council Presidents, or AVCP— the regional, tribal non-profit for 56 villages across the YK Delta. The goal of the meeting was two-fold: to discuss forming a regional tribal government and to get answers to recent controversies surrounding AVCP. But the group left with their questions unanswered.
  Ivan Ivan, addressing the tr
  
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