Alaska news

• Lawmakers pass bill strengthening Alaska Code of Military Justice

  19-04-2016 23:13
  
  Air Guard Chopper ready for rescue mission (Photo courtesy of Guy Hayes)House Bill 126 – updating the Alaska Code of Military Justice – has passed the Legislature and is on its way to Governor Bill Walker’s desk.
  The legislation aims to strengthen the Alaska National Guard’s ability to punish soldiers for offenses ranging from minor infractions to larger crimes.
  Retired Colonel and Deputy commissioner of the state of Alaska Department of Military and Veteran’s Affai
  
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• Professor mauled by bear in Alaska while on class trip - Washington Post

  19-04-2016 18:44
  
  Washington Post
  Professor mauled by bear in Alaska while on class trip
  Washington Post
  A bear mauled a professor who was leading a mountaineering class in Alaska on Monday, and the man was airlifted to the hospital after one of his students hurried down the mountain to find cell reception to call for help. Forest Wagner, 35, an assistant ...
  University of Alaska Professor Mauled by a Brown Bear While TeachingU.S. News & World Report
  Bear mauls Alaska outdoor teacherThe Guardian
  Alaska
  
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• One injured in Haines bear mauling

  19-04-2016 17:30
  
  A Fairbanks man and University of Alaska assistant professor was airlifted to an Anchorage hospital from Haines on Monday afternoon after being mauled by a bear nine miles west of town.
  Alaska State Troopers said 35-year-old Forest Wagner was with a group of about a dozen students from the University of Alaska Southeast on Mount Emmerich taking part in a mountaineering course.
  Troopers got the call just before noon on Monday from the local police department.
  Wagner’s condition was unknown
  
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• Bill seeks to rein in state employees’ wages until oil prices rise

  19-04-2016 17:16
  
  State workers wouldn’t see pay hikes based on experience until oil prices rise sharply, under a bill introduced Monday in the House.
  House Bill 379 says that the Legislature plans to approve contracts with public employee unions that suspend step increases until after oil prices average $90 per barrel for a year.
  Legislative leaders have been looking for ways to reduce the state budget as they weigh cuts to Permanent Fund dividends and oil and gas tax credits.
  It was the only bill introduc
  
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• Changing what it means to be a foster parent

  19-04-2016 16:00
  
  
  Laura Ingham poses with portraits of her kids. (Hillman/KSKA)Slade Martin was in foster care for 14 years. He said it wasn’t easy because people make a lot of negative assumptions about foster kids.
  “They’re gonna steal, they’re gonna be a bad influence on the younger kids, they’re gonna get pregnant or get someone pregnant. They’re gonna be on drugs. They’re not gonna go to school.”
  Sometimes he and other kids misbehaved because they felt like the
  
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• How Dwindling Fish Stocks Got a Reprieve

  19-04-2016 10:30 via opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
  Giving fishermen a business incentive to fish sustainably can “unleash their creative capacity” to help solve the problem, says one expert.
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Apr. 18, 2016

  19-04-2016 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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  Legislators go past the 90 day session to bring budget together
  Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
  Lawmakers blew through their 90 day session end last night and are back at work today, trying to bring a budget together that all sides can agree to.
  
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• Togiak herring fishery opens on earliest date on record

  19-04-2016 03:50
  
  
  The Togiak herring fishery opened Sunday, the earliest date on record.
  Coastline in Togiak, March 2015. (Photo courtesy of City of Togiak)The herring showed up unexpectedly last week and have already begun to spawn all over Bristol Bay’s northern coast.
  As KDLG’s Dave Bendinger reports,Fish and Game, processors, and the fleet got caught flatfooted and are hustling out to try and make a season.
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• Moose population increases in the Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve

  19-04-2016 03:47
  
  
  Natural factors are credited with growing the moose population in the Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve. Preserve wildlife biologist Mat Sorum said the latest data from moose population surveys conducted every 3 years, show more moose in a 3,000 square-mile corridor along the Yukon and Charley Rivers.
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  By Hagerty Ryan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; via WikiMedia“There was a 13% increase since the last survey, and on average 38% more moose over the long-term averag
  
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• Man mauled by a grizzly bear near Denali Highway

  19-04-2016 02:50
  
  A man was attacked by a bear near the Denali Highway over the weekend. Alaska State Trooper spokesman Tim DeSpain says 77-year-old Glenn Bohn of Wasilla was bear hunting Friday afternoon near mile 68, when he was mauled by a grizzly.
  Grizzly (Photo courtesy of Gary Lackie)It was reported to Troopers that the injuries were fairly significant.
  DeSpain says the attacking bear was shot dead by another hunter.
  “Bohn was then driven to the Denali Highway by snowmachine where he was flown by
  
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• Search for remains of Tuluksak resident halted as Kuskokwim ice continues to shift

  19-04-2016 02:40
  
  As the Kuskokwim river ice continues to shift and rot, Search and Rescue volunteers have suspended recovery efforts for the remains of 26-year-old Tuluksak resident Dillon Lamont.
  River clear in Kwethluk River. (Photo courtesy of Earl Samuelson)Bethel Search and Rescue Chief Mike Riley says recovery efforts for Lamont just below Tuluksak have been suspended sue to deteriorating river conditions at the search site.
  “They have kinda suspended their search for Mr. Lamont maybe a week or so un
  
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• Body of deceased fisherman recovered in Carl E. Moses harbor

  19-04-2016 02:36
  
  Divers recovered the dead body of a fisherman Tuesday evening, less than 12 hours after his captain realized the crewman was missing.
  The body of fisherman Matt Warn was found in the Carl E. Moses boat harbor, shown here from a Pyramid Mountain trail. (Photo courtesy of Vic Fisher)The deceased man has been identified as 35-year-old Matthew J. Warn.
  After his employer reported Warn missing midday Tuesday, police starting looking in the Carl E. Moses boat harbor, where the boat Warn was worki
  
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• Legislators go past the 90 day session to bring budget together

  19-04-2016 02:33
  
  Lawmakers blew through their 90 day session end last night and are back at work today, trying to bring a budget together that all sides can agree to. APRN’s Juneau correspondent Andrew Kitchenman joined APRN’s Lori Townsend to talk about about the big stumbling blocks are.
  Rep. Mike Chenault. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)TOWNSEND: So, what’s the most contentious issue right now?
  The big holdup is the bill that would change taxes and tax credits for the oil and gas in
  
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• Budget cuts could leave communities without health care

  19-04-2016 02:27
  As lawmakers finish off their spending plan for state operations, a wide variety of programs are considering the impacts of budget cuts. One is the state public health center system, where reductions could leave communities without some types of care.
  The Southeast Alaska community of Wrangell has been without a full-time public health nurse since the previous staffer left in March.
  Fill-ins from other centers are spending a few days there every other week. One is Susan Bergmann, a nurse manager
  
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