Alaska news

• Mysterious sea lion decline persists in western Alaska

  07-12-2016 23:30
  
  One month old Steller sea lion pups playing on Ulak Island. (Photo courtesy NOAA Fisheries)Alaska’s endangered Steller sea lion population continues its precipitous decline. The 2016 survey by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows an overall increase in the number of Steller sea lions across Alaska, but a mysterious drop in parts of the western stock.
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  The big takeaway from this year’s Steller sea lion survey is this: the farther west you go,
  
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• State moves to update its petroleum spill guidelines

  07-12-2016 23:29
  
  A crew works on a Gastineau Channel beach on Thursday to clean up heating oil spilled from a vandalized tank at the Prospector Hotel in 2014 in Juneau. (Photo by Matt Miller, KTOO – Juneau)Alaska’s petroleum-based economy means there are many opportunities for toxic petroleum-based spills.
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  At least 80 percent of the contaminated sites that the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation deals with have petroleum products in them.
  Now, the Department is making mo
  
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• Plugging in could become cheaper for Juneau’s electric vehicle owners

  07-12-2016 23:28
  
  
  Travis McCain plugs in his 2013 Nissan Leaf. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins, KTOO – Juneau)The price to plug in could become a little cheaper for electric vehicle owners in Juneau. That’s because the city’s privately-owned electric utility is trying to expand a program, aimed at shifting when those drivers juice their cars.
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  For electric utilities, the twilight hours are a relatively quiet time.
  “The biggest thing that happens is people go to sleep so they’re
  
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• Docs: Alaska teen was walked into woods, shot execution-style - CBS News

  07-12-2016 22:24
  
  CBS News
  Docs: Alaska teen was walked into woods, shot execution-style
  CBS News
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A missing teenager from Palmer, Alaska, was pistol-whipped by an acquaintance, driven to a remote location, walked 200 feet into the woods and fatally shot once in the head, a suspect told Alaska State Troopers in an account ...
  Missing Alaska Teen David Grunwald Killed for Allegedly Smoking His Friend's WeedUs Weekly
  Missing Teen Was Killed as He Pleaded for His Life Because He Smoked Frie
  
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• Steller sea lions in western Aleutians keep getting scarcer - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2016 06:54
  
  Steller sea lions in western Aleutians keep getting scarcer
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Steller sea lions, iconic Alaska marine mammals known for their loud roars and endangered status, continued their decadeslong downward spiral in Alaska's westernmost islands even as their relatives to the east are staging a comeback, said a federal ...and more »
  
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• For remote Alaska communities, responding to oil spills involves extra complications - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2016 06:48
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  For remote Alaska communities, responding to oil spills involves extra complications
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Oil spills are serious business and responses to spills can be hindered by long travel times or access issues when they happen in rural or remote communities. This week, a handful of federal and state agency representatives traveled to Kotzebue to ...
  
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• Needed now and next week: Toys and volunteers - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2016 05:39
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Needed now and next week: Toys and volunteers
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Next week at the Sullivan Arena, on Dec. 13 and 14, The Salvation Army will join the Food Bank of Alaska, U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots, Lutheran Social Services, United Way of Anchorage and many other social service organizations for Alaska's ...
  
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• Mystery surrounds alarm failure on sunken Alaska Juris - The Seattle Times

  07-12-2016 05:27
  
  The Seattle Times
  Mystery surrounds alarm failure on sunken Alaska Juris
  The Seattle Times
  Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak aircrews, along with good Samaritans, rescued 46 crew members from life rafts after they abandoned the fishing vessel Alaska Juris about 690 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, in July. The Coast Guard wants to know why a ...
  
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• Missing Fairbanks octogenarian found dead - Alaska Public Radio Network

  07-12-2016 03:57
  
  Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
  Missing Fairbanks octogenarian found dead
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  A missing Fairbanks man has been found dead. Alaska State Troopers say the body of 89 year old Robert “Andy” O'Grady was discovered in his truck off the Elliot Highway north of Fairbanks, on Monday night. Eric Jewkes to become new Fairbanks police ...
  Searchers find body of missing Ice Alaska co-founderFairbanks Daily News-Minerall 7 news articles »
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2016

  07-12-2016 03:52
  
  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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  Missing Fairbanks octogenarian found dead
  Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
  A missing Fairbanks man has been found dead. Alaska State Troopers say the body of 89 year old Robert “Andy” O’Grady was discovered in his truck off the Elliot Highway north of Fairbanks, on Monday night.
  Eric Jewkes t
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016

  07-12-2016 03:52
  
  
  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
  Missing Fairbanks octogenarian found dead
  Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
  A missing Fairbanks man has been found dead. Alaska State Troopers say the body of 89 year old Robert “Andy” O’Grady was discovered in his truck off the Elliot Highway north of Fairbanks, on Monday night.
  Eric Jewkes t
  
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• Mysterious beak deformities may be caused by virus

  07-12-2016 03:28
  
  Normally, beak deformities occur in less than 1 percent of wild birds. But in Alaska, researchers have found so-called “twisted beaks” in over 6 percent of black-capped chickadees and 17 percent of northwestern crows.
  (Photo courtesy of Colleen Handel)It’s been almost 20 years since large numbers of birds with unusually long beaks first appeared in Alaska.
  The birds, whose beaks grow at twice the normal rate, often die from starvation because they can’t feed themselves. R
  
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• Juneau under winter storm warning

  07-12-2016 03:16
  
  Juneau is under a winter storm warning and forecasters are expecting one of the city’s heaviest snowfalls in years.
  Bob Tschantz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says the storm warning is in effect until 9 p.m. Wednesday.
  “We’re expecting now a total of 10 – 15 inches of snow by Wednesday evening,” Tschantz said.
  Tschantz said the likelihood of that much snowfall is “fairly high.” He says the storm is a departure from Juneau’s mi
  
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• Eric Jewkes to become new Fairbanks police chief

  07-12-2016 03:16
  
  Fairbanks will get a new police chief next week. Last night the Fairbanks City Council unanimously endorsed Mayor Jim Matherly’s recommendation for Deputy Chief Eric Jewkes to become the city’s top cop. But, the council also vote down any immediate resolution to an ongoing police contract dispute.
  Mayor Jim Matherly underscored the difficulty in deciding between Deputy Police Chief Eric Jewkes and acting police Chief Brad Johnson for the top post. But he advanced Jewkes name to
  
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• Alaska Mental Heath Trust looks to Icy Cape sands for resources - Alaska Public Radio Network

  07-12-2016 03:14
  
  Alaska Mental Heath Trust looks to Icy Cape sands for resources
  Alaska Public Radio Network
  The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is advancing plans to mine Gulf of Alaska beach sands about 75 miles northwest of Yakutat. Listen Now. The trust's board allocated $2 million last month to create a new entity to begin developing the project on ...
  
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• Alaska Mental Heath Trust looks to Icy Cape sands for resources

  07-12-2016 03:10
  
  The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority is advancing plans to mine Gulf of Alaska beach sands about 75 miles northwest of Yakutat.
  The trust’s board allocated $2 million last month to create a new entity to begin developing the project on land it owns at Icy Cape.
  Preliminary exploration and analysis found promising concentrations of gold, as well as garnet and other heavy minerals.
  Trust Land Office Executive Director John Morrison told trustees about the project’s value at a Novem
  
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• Trump transition team adds Alaskan as tribal liaison

  07-12-2016 03:01
  
  Jerry Ward, left, on election night 2016. Photo by Rachel Waldholz.An Alaskan has officially joined President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team. The Trump team has selected former state senator Jerry Ward as its liaison to the 500-plus federally recognized tribes.
  Ward says his selection was a surprise to him. He’s in Washington now to help with the inauguration plans, focusing on Western state participation.
  “Along with that I am also working on Native American affairs, in
  
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• Walker: Holiday open house a long-standing Alaska tradition - Washington Times

  07-12-2016 03:00
  Walker: Holiday open house a long-standing Alaska tradition
  Washington Times
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Gov. Bill Walker says the holiday open house at the governor's mansion in Juneau is a long-standing, special tradition that he feels is appropriate to continue as Alaska grapples with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Since ...and more »
  
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• Sitka bears still awake looking for trash

  07-12-2016 02:59
  
  All of the bears at the Fortress of the Bear were orphaned as cubs, and would otherwise have been euthanized. (Photo by Rachel Waldholz, KCAW – Sitka)Bears continue to wander through neighborhoods and knock over trash cans near downtown Sitka. That’s despite fresh snow, temperatures dropping below freezing, and now the use of rubber bullets. Multiple calls to the police came in Sunday evening reporting a bear in the Indian River neighborhood.
  One call came at 10:45 pm from Andrew P H
  
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• Missing Fairbanks octogenarian found dead

  07-12-2016 02:59
  
  A missing Fairbanks man has been found dead. Alaska State Troopers say the body of 89 year old Robert “Andy” O’Grady was discovered in his truck off the Elliot Highway north of Fairbanks, on Monday night. Troopers say a family friend searching for O’Grady located the truck, which had overturned after going down a steep embankment, near milepost 24 of the Highway.
  Troopers conducted a scene investigation and have sent O’Grady’s body to the State Medical Examine
  
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• Walker: Holiday open house a long-standing Alaska tradition - Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog)

  07-12-2016 02:42
  
  Walker: Holiday open house a long-standing Alaska tradition
  Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog)
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Bill Walker says the holiday open house at the governor's mansion in Juneau is a long-standing, special tradition that he feels is appropriate to continue as Alaska grapples with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. Since ...and more »
  
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• Serial killer victim may have been from Alaska - KTUU.com

  07-12-2016 02:37
  
  KTUU.com
  Serial killer victim may have been from Alaska
  KTUU.com
  ANCHORAGE (KTUU) Her name is a mystery, but she was the victim of a serial killer and there's new evidence she may have been from Alaska. The Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released a composite sketch of a "Jane Doe" victim of Gary ...and more »
  
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• After a Facebook post by an elected official, an Alaska Muslim finds himself having to explain his faith - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2016 01:59
  
  After a Facebook post by an elected official, an Alaska Muslim finds himself having to explain his faith
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Eight years ago, Gregory Jones and his wife settled in a corner of Alaska where there are very few, if any, other African-American Muslim families: The fringes of Big Lake, deep in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. There, Jones said, they found acceptance ...
  
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• After a Facebook post by an elected official, an Alaska Muslim finds ... - Alaska Dispatch News

  07-12-2016 01:59
  
  KTUU.com
  After a Facebook post by an elected official, an Alaska Muslim finds ...
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Eight years ago, Gregory Jones and his wife settled in a corner of Alaska where there are very few, if any, other African-American Muslim families: The fringes of ...
  Alaska Muslim family 'afraid' as city leader spreads unsubstantiated ...KTUU.comall 5 news articles »
  
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• Alaska's teacher of the year comes from Soldotna - KTUU.com

  07-12-2016 01:19
  
  KTUU.com
  Alaska's teacher of the year comes from Soldotna
  KTUU.com
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) Top honors for a Soldotna teacher as he earns the coveted title of Teacher of the Year. Alaska Education Commissioner Dr. Michael Johnson announced James Harris as the Alaska Teacher of the Year at a ceremony in ...
  
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