Alaska news

• How Anchorage is trying to kickstart construction on empty land downtown - Alaska Dispatch News

  29-04-2017 23:32
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  How Anchorage is trying to kickstart construction on empty land downtown
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Through the window of his office on the eighth floor of Anchorage City Hall, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said, he sees a dispiriting expanse of street-level parking lots. But in the empty space, Berkowitz said he also sees "blank canvas." "What I really see ...
  
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• Revisiting a walk along Alaska's pipeline, 20 years later - Alaska Dispatch News

  29-04-2017 21:46
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Revisiting a walk along Alaska's pipeline, 20 years later
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Twenty years ago, I was 34 when I walked away from a chain-link fence near Port Valdez and headed east. Those were the first steps on a summer-long trip across Alaska. In a few days, I will begin to retrace those steps. This summer, I will try to again ...and more »
  
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• Bering Sea tribal groups slam Alaska delegation for 'standing by' as Trump struck order giving them voice - Alaska Dispatch News

  29-04-2017 16:22
  
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Bering Sea tribal groups slam Alaska delegation for 'standing by' as Trump struck order giving them voice
  Alaska Dispatch News
  Alaska Native elders from Bering Sea coastal communities on Friday blasted Alaska's congressional delegation for not doing more to prevent President Donald Trump from striking an Obama-era executive order that gave them a voice on federal management ...
  
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• Oil prices shrink budget gap, but lawmakers remain far apart

  29-04-2017 04:07
  
  Alaska Sen. Anna MacKinnon, co-chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday that adding an income tax now would be short-sighted. (File photo by Skip Gray/360 North)The state’s budget problem is shrinking, but it may not be enough to resolve differences between the Senate and House.
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  Higher oil prices have cut the projected gap between what the state government spends and what it raises.
  Senate Finance Committee co-chairwoman Anna MacKinnon said the state has time
  
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• Alaska News Nightly: Friday, April 28, 2017

  29-04-2017 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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  Trump lifts ban on Arctic offshore drilling
  Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.
  The president has signed an order lifting a ban Obama imposed on drilling off Alaska’s Arctic shores. Environmental groups say the ban is permanent. Expect a lawsuit.
  Secretary Tillerson to attend Arctic Co
  
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• Century old mystery unlocked from Antarctic glacier

  29-04-2017 03:32
  
  Blood Falls in Antarctica
  )Erin Pettit / UAF)Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and Colorado College have unraveled the mystery of a red waterfall in Antarctica. The research unveils mechanisms potentially at work in other polar glaciers.
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  University of Alaska Fairbanks glaciologist Erin Pettit led a team that traveled to the bottom of the world to study Blood Falls.
  ”This features so prominent as the place that everybody knows about. It’s kind of an iconic
  
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• Trump lifts ban on Arctic offshore drilling

  29-04-2017 03:01
  
  Sen. Murkowski shows the pen the president used to sign the order. (Photo by Liz Ruskin)Today, President Trump  signed an order lifting a ban his predecessor imposed on drilling off Alaska’s Arctic shores. Environmental groups claim the ban is permanent and they intend to file a legal challenge.
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  The order is entitled “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy.” The signing ceremony was in the White House Roosevelt
  
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• Southeast Alaska tribal government moves into defense contracts

  29-04-2017 02:51
  
  Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Peterson, right, poses with delegates during this month’s Tribal Assembly in Juneau. (Photo courtesy Tlingit-Haida Central Council)Southeast Alaska’s regional tribal government is developing its business side.
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  Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Peterson said funding cuts threaten its programs. He said about nine-tenths of the council’s money come
  
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• Mat-Su Borough Assembly asked for more school funding

  29-04-2017 02:18
  
  Mat-Su Borough Assembly and staff in Willow on Thursday. (Photo: Phillip Manning – KTNA)On Thursday night, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly held it’s third and final public hearing on its annual budget at a special meeting in Willow.
  Nearly 70 people came out for the final public hearing on the Mat-Su Borough’s budget at the Willow Community Center. The majority of those who spoke focused on one line item, schools.
  Overall, the borough budget has shrunk by several million dolla
  
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• Northwest Arctic Borough to receive almost $200 million over 10 years from Red Dog Mine

  29-04-2017 01:51
  
  The Red Dog Mine in 2010. (Alaska Public Media file photo)After a Borough meeting Tuesday night, a new payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) agreement has been struck between the Northwest Arctic Borough (NAB) and Teck Alaska, the operator of Red Dog Mine.
  For the next ten years, the borough will receive annual payments from Teck Alaska based on a fixed asset value of Red Dog mine. The payments are estimated to be between $14 and $18 million per year. Previous payments were $11.6 million annually. Way
  
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• Secretary Tillerson to attend Arctic Council meeting in Fairbanks

  29-04-2017 01:39
  
  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, shown here at a 2012 meeting with Russian president Vladmir Putin. At the time Tillerson was the CEO of ExxonMobil. (Photo courtesy Government of the Russian Federation)United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be in Fairbanks next month during the Week of the Arctic. Fairbanks Borough Mayor Special Assistant Jeff Stepp broke the news at a Borough Assembly meeting Thursday night.
  “Today at a conference in Virginia the Ambassador, David Balton, an
  
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• AK: From tree to cream; how birch syrup makes its way to dessert bowls

  29-04-2017 01:30
  
  An option for Wild Scoops ice cream is to have birch syrup glazed over it (Photo by Daysha Eaton)The chartreuse leaves of the birch tree are one of the first signs of spring in Southcentral Alaska. But for a few weeks before the leaves unfurl the trees offer a sweet treat –a watery liquid that when tapped and boiled down turns into a rich, nutty syrup. Birch syrup is becoming a favorite flavor in the state’s budding local food scene.
  At Wild Scoops test kitchen, near downtown Anchora
  
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• Revisiting beach and creek cleanup

  29-04-2017 01:00
  
  Photo courtesy Gulf of Alaska Keeper (www.goak.org)A few years ago Charles got interested in a group that was cleaning up marine debris from beaches in Prince William Sound. He volunteered, and was blown away by what a rewarding experience it was to pick up trash. Many of us have spent plenty of time in the wilderness, but this was unique, because it felt like we could improve the place, the kind of place that normally is way too good to ever be improved by human hands.
  
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• 49 Voices: Taylor Holman of Unalaska

  29-04-2017 00:55
  
  Taylor Holman of Unalaska (Photo by Laura Kraegel, KUCB – Unalaska)This week we’re hearing from Taylor Holman in Unalaska. Holman is a high school senior and placed first place in Alaska’s Russian Language competition this year.
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  HOLMAN: So I first started taking Russian in freshmen year actually because I had cross-country after school and I didn’t want  to do P.E. and cross-country. So I switched into Russian and that’s kinda where it all started, I
  
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