Alaska news

• Enhanced IDs help some tribal members cross borders

  31-08-2016 21:49
  
  Enrolled members of Alaska’s largest tribal government are getting enhanced photo IDs.
  They can be used for border crossings and some other situations where official identification is necessary.
  But many other tribes can’t afford them.
  The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska counts more than 30,000 members in and outside the state.
  The Pascua Yaqui Tribe was among the first to issue enhanced tribal ID cards. The Tlingit-Haida Central Council is now issuing su
  
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• Heroin laced with fentanyl in Dillingham too, says Bristol Bay law enforcement

  31-08-2016 21:41
  This month in Quinahagak four people overdosed and one young woman died after using heroin that contained a large amount of fentanyl. Authorities say the heroin supply in other parts of Western Alaska is likely laced with the powerful, often deadly, added drug, and they’re putting the word out that things could soon get worse in the region.Brick of fentanyl.
  (Photo couretsy of the Drug Enforcement Agency“Oh absolutely. I have no doubts at this point,” Sgt. Luis Nieves said Mond
  
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• Bethel family clinic breaks ground for new facility

  31-08-2016 21:26
  
  The Bethel Family Clinic recently held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the construction of their new building. Board and staff members said that replacing the aging red building has been a long time in coming.
  Bethel Family Clinic board members break ground at the construction site in Bethel.
  (Photo courtesy of Jehona Kadriu)The Bethel Family Clinic board members gathered at the clinic on Tuesday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new building. Executive Director LaTesia Guinn
  
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• Want to learn Tlingit? There’s a new app for that.

  31-08-2016 21:08
  
  There are only a few hundred Tlingit speakers in the world, according to linguists and researchers.
  Sealaska Heritage’s Katrina Hotch, left, and Kathy Dye both worked on the recently-released Tlingit language app. (Photo by Lakeidra Chavis, KTOO – Juneau)In a world where English is considered the dominant language, Tlingit is endangered, linguistically speaking.
  The Sealaska Heritage Institute hopes to combat that.
  The organization announced the release of two free apps Monday,
  
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• Ask Alaska: Which unique eats would you try at the Alaska State Fair? - KTVA.com - Anchorage, Alaska

  31-08-2016 20:43
  
  Ask Alaska: Which unique eats would you try at the Alaska State Fair?
  KTVA.com - Anchorage, Alaska
  This year at the Alaska State Fair, there are more reasons than ever for fairgoers to bring their appetite. From the donut burger to chocolate-dipped bacon, vendors at the fair are serving up some pretty unique eats. [Related: The Hungry Chum: An eater ...
  
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• For first time in a generation, Skagway School has single-grade classrooms

  31-08-2016 19:29
  
  For more than 20 years, Skagway School was small enough that all students were taught in multi-age classrooms.
  Denise Caposey teaches first graders at Skagway School. This school year is the first in 20 years in which enrollment is big enough to warrant single-grade elementary classrooms. (Photo by Emily Files, KHNS – Haines)But an increase in student enrollment prompted the school to transition to single-grade elementary classrooms this year.
  It’s the second week of classes at Skagw
  
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• Check out the 1469-pound pumpkin that just broke the Alaska State Fair record - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-08-2016 04:28
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Check out the 1469-pound pumpkin that just broke the Alaska State Fair record
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Pumpkin fairies dance around a giant pumpkin to bless it before it is weighed at the Alaska State Fair. The pumpkin went on to set a new state record of 1469 lb. for Dale Marshall of Anchorage. (Erik Hill / Alaska Dispatch News). After five years of ...
  1469-pound pumpkin breaks Alaska State Fair recordKTUU.comall 4 news articles »
  
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• Check out the 1,469-pound pumpkin that just broke the Alaska State ... - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-08-2016 04:28
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Check out the 1,469-pound pumpkin that just broke the Alaska State ...
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Pumpkin fairies dance around a giant pumpkin to bless it before it is weighed at the Alaska State Fair. The pumpkin went on to set a new state record of 1469 lb.
  1469-pound pumpkin breaks Alaska State Fair recordKTUU.comall 4 news articles »
  
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• Forest service gives go ahead for Kuiu Island timber sale

  31-08-2016 04:10
  
  
  Kuiu Island in 2014. At the time, the U.S. Forest Service was repairing streams on the island damaged by logging from the 1970s. Now, 23 million board feet could be harvested on the north part of the island. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins, KTOO – Juneau)An old growth timber sale recently announced in a Ketchikan newspaper has one conservation group scratching its head.
  That’s because this type of harvest — near valuable salmon streams — won’t be allowed in the future.
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016

  31-08-2016 03:57
  
  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
  Listen now
  Westlake leads Nageak as DOE works to resolve District 40 election
  Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
  The Alaska Division of Elections is still working to certify the results of the House race for the district that includes North Slope and Northwest Arc
  
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• AT&T donates $750K to help Anchorage high school graduates

  31-08-2016 03:02
  
  AT&T is donating $750 thousand dollars to an Anchorage program aimed at helping at-risk and homeless youth graduate high school. “Back on Track” is a collaboration between United Way, the Anchorage School District, and Covenant House Alaska.
  Carlette Mack with the Covenant House said the money will be used to expand three programs that help older youth recover high school credits and graduate. They will begin offering night classes at Covenant House through ASD’s AVAIL High
  
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• Westlake leads Nageak as DOE works to resolve District 40 election

  31-08-2016 02:52
  
  The Alaska Division of Elections is still working to certify the results of the House race for the district that includes North Slope and Northwest Arctic boroughs.
  Dean Westlake is challenging Barrow Rep. Bennie Nageak in the Democratic primary; in 2014, Westlake lost the race by 131 votes. (Photo by Rachel Waldholz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage)Division Director Josie Bahnke said the division’s office in Juneau is waiting for the ballots to be mailed in from four precinct
  
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• Alaska Native elder and leader dies at age 77

  31-08-2016 02:43
  John Schaeffer Jr., an Inupiat Eskimo elder and tribal leader in northwest Alaska, has died. He was 77.
  Schaeffer was the first president and CEO of the NANA Regional Corp.
  NANA Chief Operating Officer Lori Henry says Schaeffer died Aug. 25 in Kotzebue, his hometown. He will be buried in Kotzebue tomorrow (on Wednesday) following a memorial service at the high school gym.
  A cause of death was not disclosed.
  Schaeffer joined the Alaska Army National Guard’s Eskimo Scout battalion in 1957, s
  
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• Anchorage police ID 2nd man found dead in park

  31-08-2016 02:42
  Anchorage police have released the name of a second man who was found dead in a local park over the weekend.
  Police say 34-year-old Kevin Turner of Anchorage was one of two homicide victims found early Sunday morning at Valley of the Moon Park. Police have identified the other man as 25-year-old Bryant Dehusson of Anchorage.
  Police spokeswoman Renee Oistad says no one has been arrested. Police are declining to say how the men died.
  Police say they were called to the scene shortly before 2 a.m. S
  
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• Search for missing Chena hiker ends in success

  31-08-2016 02:16
  
  A search that tapped air and ground resources ended successfully Monday night when an overdue hiker was rescued in the wilderness near Chena Hot Springs Resort, east of Fairbanks. Alaska State Troopers report that 19-year-old Anatoliy Balko was spotted from the air and picked up with a helicopter. Balko works at Chena Hot Springs, and left the resort for a 30 mile hike early Friday.
  A search was initiated when he did not show up for work Sunday morning. Balko, who recently moved to Alaska from W
  
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• Leaf-mining bug infestation leaving birch leaves brown across the state

  31-08-2016 02:02
  
  Many birch leaves in Fairbanks and Anchorage are going from green to brown as the result of an insect infestation. U.S. Forest Service entomologist Stephen Burr in Fairbanks says a leaf mining bug believed to have come to the state on imported ornamental trees, is to blame.
  Ambermarked birch leafminer larva. (Photo courtesy of the Canadian Ministry of Forests and Range)“The amber-marked birch leaf-miner,” Burr explained. “It’s an invasive sawfly, which is a primitive spec
  
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• Ice-Age salmon harvests

  31-08-2016 01:44
  
  (Courtesy of Dr. Ben Potter, UAF)New research reveals salmon played an important role in the diets of ice-age Alaskans. The information comes from an archaeological dig on the Tanana. Two University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists applied new techniques to uncover clues about the lives of Alaska Natives almost 12,000 years ago.
  This isn’t the first time new insights into the lives of ice-age Alaskans have come from the Upward Sun River site. Besides cremated human remains, the archaeol
  
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• Should Alaskans fear diseases frozen in the permafrost?

  31-08-2016 01:29
  
  Coastal erosion reveals the extent of ice-rich permafrost underlying active layer on the Arctic Coastal Plain in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska. (Photo by Brandt Meixell, USGS)Russian officials say warming permafrost could be linked to a deadly anthrax outbreak in Siberia this month. Permafrost can be found almost everywhere in Alaska — from the Arctic coast to Anchorage. But at least one expert isn’t alarmed about the potential
  
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• State says Ketchikan transfers won’t overburden Johnson Youth Center

  31-08-2016 01:10
  
  A handful of kids in Ketchikan could be transferred to Juneau’s Johnson Youth Center next month before a youth facility in Ketchikan closes. Rob Wood, director of the Division of Juvenile Justice said the incoming kids from Ketchikan shouldn’t overburden the Juneau facility.
  Johnson Youth Center May 2014. (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)“It’ll certainly increase the workload but (the) Johnson (Youth) Center, over the past three years, has averaged about 50 percent occupancy
  
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• Southeastern elementary school evaluated for landslide risk

  31-08-2016 01:01
  
  The building that houses Keet Goshi Heen Elementary School, formerly Verstovia Elementary School, is located at the base of Gavan Hill. The school may be at moderate landslide risk. (KCAW photo)A Southeastern Alaska elementary school may be at moderate risk in the event of  a landslide.
  The city of Sitka announced Monday, Aug. 29, that the Gavan Hill area, including Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School, may be at risk.
  Shannon & Wilson, a Seattle-based geotechnical firm, identified t
  
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• Gale-force gusts in Mat-Su knock out power, close Alaska State Fair rides - Alaska Dispatch News

  31-08-2016 00:40
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Gale-force gusts in Mat-Su knock out power, close Alaska State Fair rides
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Golden Wheel Amusements safety manager Chase Eckert explains how a ride at the Alaska State Fair is engineered for stability even in the gusty winds plaguing the fair Monday and Tuesday, August 30, 2016. Gusts over 40 mph temporarily closed several ...and more »
  
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• Crystal Serenity brought tourists, but little profit for Nome businesses

  31-08-2016 00:25
  
  Last week, the cruise ship Crystal Serenity sailed into Nome and 850 of the cruise ship’s passengers were ferried in from the offshore vessel and took the day to tour the city.
  The luxury cruise liner Crystal Serenity arrived off the coast of Nome on Sunday. (Photo by Lauren Frost, KNOM – Nome)Those passengers accounted for a roughly 25 percent increase in Nome’s population, and for local businesses that meant a hypothetical increase in profits.
  Some business owners are sa
  
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