Alaska news

• Juneau Assembly approves new pot licensing rules

  03-05-2016 22:34
  
  (Creative Commons photo by Brett Levin)The Juneau Assembly approved new guidelines for a city pot license on Monday. Those seeking to cultivate commercial marijuana will have to apply for the $250 license, in addition to state’s.
  It’s part of the assembly’s attempt to streamline the conditional use permit process and establish new guidelines for marijuana businesses.
  Commercial pot grows are zoned for industrial areas and some low-density neighborhoods, like parts of Thane, Nor
  
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• Legislature OKs up to $12.5M for Wells Fargo building in Anchorage

  03-05-2016 22:31
  
  The Wells Fargo building in the Spenard neighborhood of Anchorage in July 2006. (Creative Commons photo by Dana)The Legislative Council approved spending up to $12.5 million to buy the Walls Fargo Bank building in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood on Monday. The building would be used for legislative offices and to provide a venue for public testimony.
  The council turned to the building after Gov. Bill Walker threatened to veto $32.5 million thecouncil planned to spend to buy the Anchorage
  
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• Alaska church combines 'special forces' with CP - BP News

  03-05-2016 21:54
  
  BP News
  Alaska church combines 'special forces' with CP
  BP News
  JUNEAU, Alaska (BP) -- Elite special operations forces such as the Seals, Rangers and Delta Force keep America strong and safe with advanced military skills, knowledge of regional languages and understanding of the local cultures they infiltrate.
  
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• Voices: In Alaska, climate change is a daily reality - USA TODAY

  03-05-2016 21:26
  
  USA TODAY
  Voices: In Alaska, climate change is a daily reality
  USA TODAY
  WALES, Alaska — Standing on the suddenly melted runway that was our link to the outside world, I'm getting a first-hand look at how climate change is affecting life on the edge of America. The gravel runway at Wales has been frozen hard all winter ...
  
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• Lansing native found dead at national park in Alaska - Lansing State Journal

  03-05-2016 20:34
  
  Lansing State Journal
  Lansing native found dead at national park in Alaska
  Lansing State Journal
  LANSING – A Lansing native was found dead in Alaska's Denali National Park on Sunday. Michael Purdy, 24, a 2010 graduate of Waverly High School, was found near the north end of the Savage River Loop Trail, according to a press release from the ...and more »
  
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• Virgin America Inc. Earnings Soar Ahead of Deal With Alaska Air Group - Motley Fool

  03-05-2016 19:07
  
  Forbes
  Virgin America Inc. Earnings Soar Ahead of Deal With Alaska Air Group
  Motley Fool
  Virgin America (NASDAQ:VA) reported first-quarter results on Thursday, delivering sharply higher profits ahead of its proposed merger with Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK). Virgin America results: The raw numbers ...
  Has Alaska Air Paid A Fair Price For Acquiring Virgin America?Forbesall 20 news articles »
  
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• Legislative council votes to release Gruenberg records to widow

  03-05-2016 12:58
  
  Legislative council votes to release Gruenberg records to widow Alaska legislators would be able to decide how their records are handled if they die or become incapacitated while in office under a policy approved by a council of House and Senate lawmakers.May 3, 2016
  
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• Alaska, Meralco dispute last Finals berth - Inquirer.net

  03-05-2016 11:35
  
  Inquirer.net
  Alaska, Meralco dispute last Finals berth
  Inquirer.net
  Alaska Milk and Meralco go through one final grind Wednesday, disputing in a do-or-die setto for the right to battle Rain or Shine in the Oppo PBA Commissioner's Cup best-of-seven Finals. The no-tomorrow match is set at 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta ...and more »
  
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• My Turn: General aviation connects Alaska - Juneau Empire (subscription)

  03-05-2016 10:11
  Alaska Dispatch News
  My Turn: General aviation connects Alaska
  Juneau Empire (subscription)
  For us, this has real meaning. There are literally hundreds of communities in Alaska that cannot be accessed by the limited road system and rely on general aviation. In my case, I use my plane for my photography business, flying to remote sites to ...
  A Q+A with Alaska's young votersAlaska Dispatch Newsall 2 news articles »
  
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• Paramo selected as new Anchorage Schools superintendent

  03-05-2016 07:00
  
  Deena Paramo talks about her new position as the superintendent of Anchorage School District during a press conference with School Board President Kameron Perez-Verdia. (Hillman/KSKA)The Anchorage School Board has chosen the district’s new superintendent – Dr. Deena Paramo.
  Paramo is currently the superintendent of the Mat-Su Borough School District but will take over the helm of the Anchorage School District on July 1.
  School Board President Kameron Perez-Verdia says the board delib
  
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• Fresh group graduates from rural Alaska college program that teaches as it heals - Alaska Dispatch News

  03-05-2016 06:18
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Fresh group graduates from rural Alaska college program that teaches as it heals
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Diane McEachern is the UAF Kuskokwim campus assistant professor over both the Rural Human Services certificate program and an associate degree program that follows. At the Kuskokwim campus graduation on Monday, May 2, 2016, many of the students ...and more »
  
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• ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ author encourages education innovation

  03-05-2016 04:46
  
  
  Ted Dintersmith. (Photo courtesy of Most Likely to Succeed)Download Audio
  An advocate for a revolution in education has been touring the nation and recently spent eight days visiting Alaska schools. Ted Dintersmith is a former venture capitalist turned education innovation enthusiast.
  Dintersmith authored the book Most Likely to Succeed, preparing our kids for the innovation era. He also funded a film by the same name.
  He says our education system hasn’t changed in more than a century fro
  
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• Moda Health leaving Alaska individual health market in 2017 - KTUU.com

  03-05-2016 04:39
  
  KTUU.com
  Moda Health leaving Alaska individual health market in 2017
  KTUU.com
  ANCHORAGE (KTUU) Moda Health Insurance announced Monday morning that it will not be providing healthcare insurance for Alaska's individual market in 2017. Currently, the company says it has 14,000 Alaska members enrolled in this program, which ...
  Moda Health to leave Alaska's individual insurance market in 2017Alaska Dispatch Newsall 7 news articles »
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, May 2, 2016 - Alaska Public Radio Network

  03-05-2016 04:16
  KTOO
  Alaska News Nightly: Monday, May 2, 2016
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  One of two companies offering individual health insurance policies for Alaskans on the federally facilitated health insurance marketplace has announced it will be withdrawing from the market next year. Legislature makes slow progress on criminal ...
  Alaska GOP names Babcock party chairKTOOall 6 news articles »
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Monday, May 2, 2016

  03-05-2016 04:11
  
  
  Download Audio
  Moda Health leaving Alaska individual health market in 2017
  The Associated PressOne of two companies offering individual health insurance policies for Alaskans on the federally facilitated health insurance marketplace has announced it will be withdrawing from the market next year.
  Legislature makes slow progress on criminal sentencing overhaul
  Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO/APRN-JuneauLawmakers found they had less room and not enough desks or phones to go around on Monday. That&rsqu
  
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• GOP supports mandatory drug-testing for welfare applicants

  03-05-2016 03:32
  
  Photo illustration via PixabayThe Alaska Republican Party wants to require drug testing for welfare recipients. That’s one of the new planks it added to the party platform at its convention in Fairbanks over the weekend.
  The party wants drug screening for applicants, as well as random testing for recipients. The statement passed with overwhelming support.
  Jeff Landfield, a state Senate candidate from south Anchorage, was a lonely voice against the drug screening plank, and even he says he
  
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• Bashes for Alaska birders thoughout May, June - Alaska Dispatch News

  03-05-2016 03:30
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Bashes for Alaska birders thoughout May, June
  Alaska Dispatch News
  May and early June are like Christmas for Southcentral birders. There's one festival or another every week at some of Alaska's most productive viewing locales as millions of migrants make their way back to Alaska to chow down and expand their families.and more »
  
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• Unusually big pink salmon may be related to smaller coho and kings

  03-05-2016 03:28
  
  University of Alaska Southeast intern Joshua Russell holds up a squirming adult red or sockeye salmon before pitching it back into the water so that it can continue up Auke Creek to spawn. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)Fisheries researchers are investigating why pink salmon, a staple of Southeast Alaska’s commercial fisheries, seem to be growing bigger every year while other, longer-lived salmon species are getting smaller in size.
  “These pink salmon that we got in early this year are s
  
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• New GOP chairman calls for unity, but party faultlines still show

  03-05-2016 03:10
  
  Tuckerman Babcock was elected chairman of the Alaska Republican Party (Photo: Josh Walton)The Alaska Republican Party has a new chairman: Tuckerman Babcock, of Soldotna. While Republicans nationally are divided for and against Donald Trump, the faultlines at the state convention in Fairbanks this weekend had a more local flavor.
  When he pitched himself to the state convention on Saturday, Babcock recalled his days at Steller Alternative School, in the 1970s, not a place known to produce conserva
  
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• New GOP chairman calls for unity, but party fault lines still show

  03-05-2016 03:10
  
  Tuckerman Babcock was elected chairman of the Alaska Republican Party (Photo: Josh Walton)The Alaska Republican Party has a new chairman: Tuckerman Babcock, of Soldotna. While Republicans nationally are divided for and against Donald Trump, the fault lines at the state convention in Fairbanks this weekend had a more local flavor.
  When he pitched himself to the state convention on Saturday, Babcock recalled his days at Steller Alternative School, in the 1970s, not a place known to produce conserv
  
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• Medical benefits amendment could torpedo needed Alaska criminal justice reforms - Alaska Dispatch News

  03-05-2016 02:51
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Medical benefits amendment could torpedo needed Alaska criminal justice reforms
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska Dispatch News columnist Dermot Cole recently encouraged the Legislature to approve a provision that would provide health insurance coverage to the families of troopers killed in the line of duty. While this is no doubt a worthy cause, it should ...and more »
  
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• Quintillion continues work on major cable project

  03-05-2016 02:50
  Anchorage-based Quintillion Networks has resumed work on a major fiber-optic cable project that will improve broadband internet service in five communities in northern Alaska. Quintillion hopes to link the Alaska cable to a larger system that eventually will run from Japan to Europe.
  
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• Legislature makes slow progress on criminal sentencing overhaul

  03-05-2016 02:35
  Lawmakers found they had less room and not enough desks or phones to go around on Monday. That’s because they’re sharing space in Juneau’s Bill Ray Center while the Capitol is being renovated.
  They gathered for their floor sessions in a former school gym in another building – the Terry Miller Legislative Office. The House made slow progress on a bill that would overhaul criminal sentencing and prisoner re-entry laws.
  The body added four amendments to the bill Monday 
  
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• Jury selection starts in Kangas murder trial

  03-05-2016 02:28
  Jury selection began Monday in Fairbanks for the trial of a Tanana man charged with killing two Alaska State Troopers. Nathaniel Kangas, 22, is charged with the May 1, 2014 murders of Sergeant Scott Johnson and Trooper Gabe Rich. Kangas is accused of shooting the troopers while they attempted to arrest his father at the Kangas’s home in Tanana. The case is being presided over by Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle.
  
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• Moda Health withdrawing from feds’ health insurance marketplace

  03-05-2016 01:56
  One of the two companies offering individual health insurance policies for Alaskans on the federally facilitated health insurance marketplace has announced that it will be withdrawing from that market next year.
  Monday’s announcement by Moda Health would leave Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield as the only company providing individual health insurance policies in the state.
  High claim costs and a relatively small market have been ongoing concerns in Alaska.
  Lori Wing-Heier, the director of Ala
  
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• Moda Health leaving Alaska individual health market in 2017

  03-05-2016 01:56
  
  
  Download Audio
  One of the two companies offering individual health insurance policies for Alaskans on the federally facilitated health insurance marketplace has announced that it will be withdrawing from that market next year.
  Monday’s announcement by Moda Health would leave Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield as the only company providing individual health insurance policies in the state.
  High claim costs and a relatively small market have been ongoing concerns in Alaska.
  Lori Wing-Heier, the
  
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