Alaska news

• Walruses return to Point Lay – but this year, they’re late

  08-10-2016 03:55
  
  
  About a thousand walruses are hauled out on a barrier island near the village of Point Lay, about 180 miles southwest of Barrow.
  Listen NowA young Pacific Walrus bull in coastal Alaska waters. (Photo by Joel Garlich-Miller/USFWS)The haulout is part of an unnerving trend. This year marks the eighth time in a decade that large numbers of walruses have crowded onto land in the area. The animals have been driven to shore as sea ice retreats, limiting access to their usual feeding grounds.
  But this y
  
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• Walrus return to Point Lay – but this year, they’re late

  08-10-2016 03:55
  
  
  About a thousand walrus are hauled out on a barrier island near the village of Point Lay, about 180 miles southwest of Barrow.
  Listen NowA young Pacific Walrus bull in coastal Alaska waters. (Photo by Joel Garlich-Miller/USFWS)The haul out is part of an unnerving trend. This year marks the eighth time in a decade that large numbers of walrus have crowded onto land in the area. The animals have been driven to shore as sea ice retreats, limiting access to their usual feeding grounds.
  But this year
  
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• Walker administration looks to sell billions in bonds to pay for pensions

  08-10-2016 03:53
  
  
  Standard & Poor’s announced Friday it expects to lower Alaska’s credit ratings if the state government sells bonds to pay for public-worker pensions.
  Listen NowRevenue Commissioner Randall Hoffbeck, Budget Director Pat Pitney and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker held a press conference on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 in Juneau, Alaska. Lawmakers approved a budget that draws heavily from state savings, Walkers administration is advocating for different sources of revenue. (Photo by Rashah McChe
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Friday, Oct. 7, 2016

  08-10-2016 03:53
  
  
  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 NowWalker administration looks to sell billions in bonds to pay for pensions
  Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
  Standard & Poor’s announced Friday it expects to lower Alaska’s credit ratings if the state government sells bonds to pay for public-worker pensions.
  Walker to return to S. Korea to pi
  
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• The race for U.S. Senate: Margaret Stock

  08-10-2016 03:00
  
  Margaret Stock is running as an Independent for U.S. Senate. The first time candidate says she will promote a strong national defense and support military veterans. She’s also pro-choice. She is the first in a series of candidates we’ll feature on TOA over the next few weeks.
  Margaret Stock is running for U.S. Senate as an independent.(Campaign file photo)HOST: Lori Townsend
  GUESTS:
  Margaret Stock – Independent candidate for U.S. Senate
  Statewide callers
  Par
  
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• Walker to return to S. Korea to pitch gasline plan

  08-10-2016 02:23
  
  Governor Bill Walker is going back to South Korea Saturday for the second time this month to pitch his gasline plan. It’s Walker’s third trip to Asia as governor.
  He was invited back to South Korea by the Future Consensus Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Seoul. The Future Consensus Institute is paying for the Governor’s portion of the trip.
  Alaska Gasline Development Corporation President Keith Meyer will join the governor.
  According to the Governor
  
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• Alaska ranks high nationally for nursing homes deficiencies, but why?

  08-10-2016 02:06
  
  
  So far this year, 10 nursing homes in Alaska have been cited more than 100 times for health or safety shortfalls, according to state and federal inspection reports.
  The state has some of the highest rates of nursing home deficiencies in the nation, according to ProPublica, an investigative reporting outlet. But Alaska inspectors say context is important.
  Listen NowAlaska nursing homes are inspected on the state and federal level annually to make sure they’re meeting regulations.
  Brenda Vin
  
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• Learn & Grow seeks to improve childcare evaluation and quality statewide

  08-10-2016 01:38
  
  Better educational outcomes for kids statewide, is the aim of a new program being offered by Thread, a childcare resource and referral network.
  Learn and Grow is the states QRIS (Quality Recognition and Improvement System) which improves and evaluates childcare quality. (Photo by Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)Thread is a non profit funded by the department of Health and Social Services and community donations. Their program Learn & Grow, Alaska’s Quality Recogniti
  
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• Amb. Balton: Focus grows on Arctic Council

  08-10-2016 01:13
  
  Amb. David Balton speaks at a science conference (2016 file photo Matt Miller/KTOO)Representatives of the Arctic Council member nations wrapped up a meeting in Portland, Maine this week. American Ambassador David Balton, chairman of the senior Arctic officials, says they heard updates on top Council priorities, including black carbon reduction and resilience for Arctic communities.
  The Arctic Council turned 20 last month. For the first decade of the Arctic Council’s existence, interes
  
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• 49 Voices: Jacqui Lambert of Kotzebue

  08-10-2016 01:05
  
  This week we’re hearing from Jacqui Lambert from Kotzebue. Lambert is a volunteer here at Alaska Public Media and a student at UAA.
  Jacqui Lambert of Kotzebue. Lambert is currently a student at UAA. (Photo by Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)LAMBERT: I guess the biggest I want to do is become a reporter and I really want to be a bilingual reporter for KOTZ in Kotzebue. They don’t have any reporters in Kotzebue right now.
  Well we have reporters based out of either A
  
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• Fun with Wheels

  08-10-2016 01:00
  
  Bike Polo. Photo: Flickr, Ben MillerWe’re going into new territory with the next show, with bike polo and skateboarding. A lot of newer sports have been invented in the last few decades. One of them is bike polo, which is played by lots of teams every week in Anchorage. It’s what it sounds like–riding a bike while hitting a ball with a stick, like hockey on a bike. Another relatively new sport  is boarding, on both wheels and snow. It’s both counterculture
  
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• British Columbia, Alaska sign transboundary mine agreement

  08-10-2016 00:43
  
  Eight transboundary watersheds feed Southeast Alaska rivers. A new agreement with British Columbia aims to protect them from mining pollution. Critics say it doesn’t do the job. (Map by Alaska Department of Natural Resources.)Alaska and British Columbia officials signed a statement of cooperation Thursday aimed at protecting rivers that flow through the province and the state.
  Transboundary mine critics say it’s not strong enough.
  The document is the result of about a year of talks f
  
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• White House honors Sitkan as champion of fisheries

  08-10-2016 00:42
  
  Behnken testifies before the Alaska State Board of Fisheries in 2015. (Photo by Rachel Waldholz,/KCAW)The White House today honored Sitkan Linda Behnken as a “Champion of Change” for her work to improve fishing sustainability.
  Behnken directs the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. She has been a commercial fisherman for more than 30 years. At a White House forum today, she said fishermen are great problem-solvers.
  “They have to be,” she said. “When
  
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