Anchorage news

• Friday, June 18th: Tlingit father figures. Compassion in Action. Flycatchers, murrelets and warblers.  

  19-06-2021 08:01 via ktoo.org
  
  
  As we look towards Father’s Day this weekend, time out on this Friday’s Juneau Afternoon for a conversation about fatherhood and Alaska Native culture.
  Lyle and Kolene James say fathers played a powerful role in traditional Tlingit culture, in both the family and the community.
  Lyle and Kolene James share their favorite memories about their fathers – and what it has taught them about the importance of fatherhood.
   
  Also today:Catholic Community Service launches “Comp
  
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• No progress on avoiding Alaska state government shutdown; new special session next week

  19-06-2021 07:03 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska House Speaker Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, in front, presides over a nearly empty chamber on the last day of the special session. There was a brief technical floor session. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has called the Legislature into another special session starting on Wednesday. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
  The Alaska legislative special session ended on Friday without an agreement to avoid a state government shutdown on July 1. Gov. Mike Dunleavy called the Legislature ba
  
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• Newscast – Friday, June 18, 2021

  19-06-2021 03:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:A pandemic rule change could make it easier to get treatment for opioid addiction in Alaska
  The Alaska Native community and allies honor the children who died at a residential boarding school in Canada
  The state of Alaska has a new head forester
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210618-news-update.mp3
  
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• A pandemic rule change could make it easier to get treatment for opioid addiction in Alaska

  19-06-2021 02:05 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska doctors have temporary permission from the state to use telehealth to prescribe a controlled, but life-saving drug used to treat opioid addiction. State officials say they’d like to make the change permanent.
  Once a patient says they’re ready for treatment, physicians like Dr. Janice Sheufelt want to get them the medication that prevents withdrawal symptoms as soon as possible.
  “Honestly, even a few days makes a difference because of how many people are dying from opioid
  
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• Judge rules in Florida’s favor in CDC lawsuit, but Alaska’s cruise season is still ‘good to go’

  19-06-2021 01:14 via ktoo.org
  
  Before the pandemic, up to three cruise ships could be in port in Key West, Florida, at a time. (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Service)
  A federal judge’s ruling in a lawsuit brought by the state of Florida won’t affect cruise ship sailings to Alaska. But it does temporarily block the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s pandemic rules for cruises departing from Florida ports.
  The case has been closely watched as the CDC argued Florida’s challenge to feder
  
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• Fearing dismal salmon runs, Kwik’Pak fisheries pivots to gardening

  19-06-2021 01:10 via ktoo.org
  
  Kwik’Pak Fisheries in Emmonak, Alaska on July 15, 2019. The fish buyer is diversifying its business by building greenhouses. (Photo by Anna Rose MacArthur/KYUK)
  In recent years, the chum salmon runs on the Yukon River have been low. This year, it is too early to tell how the run will be. But with commercial fishing becoming a less reliable venture, one fishing enterprise is hoping to find stability by turning to veggies.
  The goal is to keep the business operating and workers employed, so K
  
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• ‘The bigger the meet, the better she does’: Locals react to Jacoby’s Olympic-qualifying swim

  18-06-2021 23:33 via ktoo.org
  
  Seward’s Lydia Jacoby at the TYR Pro Meet this April in Mission Viejo, Calif. Jacoby’s performance in the 100-meter breaststroke at that meet makes her the 14th fastest U.S. woman of all time. (Photo courtesy of Lydia Jacoby)
  Lydia Jacoby is about to become the second Alaskan to compete in the Summer Olympics.
  The 17-year-old Seward swimmer placed second in the 100-meter breaststroke Tuesday at the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. She broke the national age-group record and her personal
  
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• As Yukon’s COVID-19 outbreak intensifies, Skagway looks to avoid a similar fate

  18-06-2021 22:52 via ktoo.org
  
  The Yukon River at Whitehorse. (Creative Commons photo by Gareth Sloan)
  Canada’s Yukon Territory is in the middle of its largest COVID-19 outbreak to date with 54 active cases and one confirmed coronavirus-related death.
  As of Wednesday morning, case numbers had more than doubled in just two days. Skagway officials are preparing for nearly 100,000 cruise ship passengers to visit this summer, and are taking steps to make sure the same sort of outbreak doesn’t happen on their side of t
  
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• Vigil held in Juneau for children found at Kamloops boarding school

  18-06-2021 20:40 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Drummers sing songs to honor the 215 children found buried at a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. People throughout Juneau donated shoes for the event, which are displayed to represent the 215 children. (Lyndsey Brollini/KTOO)
  Last Saturday, the Alaska Native community and allies gathered at Overstreet Park in Juneau for a candlelight vigil honoring the 215 children found in unmarked graves at a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/up
  
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• Alaska agency moves to spend $1.5 million on Arctic Refuge development, setting up clash with Biden administration

  18-06-2021 20:21 via ktoo.org
  
  Congress opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to oil and gas leasing in 2017, but the fate of the area is uncertain as the Biden administration has announced a new legal analysis of the Trump administration’s environmental reviews. (Nat Herz/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  The Biden administration has suspended oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and aims to thwart drilling there, but an Alaska agency is still pushing ahead with its plans for developme
  
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• Ravn Alaska to purchase fleet of electric aircrafts

  18-06-2021 18:52 via ktoo.org
  
  Airflow’s rendering of a Ravn electric aircraft. (Courtesy of Airflow)
  Ravn Alaska said it will buy 50 electric planes from the California-based company Airflow when they come onto the market. Airflow’s planes will use batteries instead of gas to power their engines.
  But the company first has to finalize its aircraft design. Airflow CEO Marc Ausman said he hopes to have Airflow’s planes ready for service by 2025.
  “My feeling is, if we can build an aircraft that’s su
  
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• Nice try, pollock: How Alaska’s most prolific fish almost won the state’s ranked choice mock election

  18-06-2021 18:28 via ktoo.org
  
  Crew members Brian Hagen, left, and Derrick Justice shovel pollock on the deck of the Commodore on Jan. 24, 2019. (Nathaniel Herz/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  For a few, glory-filled hours, the humble pollock was on top of the world. Or, more accurately, the fish was the frontrunner in an online mock election for favorite Alaska seafood.
  The state Division of Elections established the tool to give Alaskans a chance to practice ranked choice voting before it’s deployed in real elections next
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, June 17, 2021

  18-06-2021 03:16 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:Layoff notices went out to state workers today
  The Juneau Assembly changes its land acknowledgement language
  Juneau lowers property taxes in light of higher home values
  AIDEA still wants to look for oil in ANWR
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210617-News-Update.mp3
  
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• US Forest Service asks for input on Alaska maintenance needs

  18-06-2021 03:11 via ktoo.org
  
  Replacement of the Breiland Slough cabin in Duncan Canal near Petersburg is one potential project that could be funded in 2023 or beyond by the Great American Outdoors Act. (Photo by Joe Viechnicki/KFSK)
  The U.S. Forest Service is seeking feedback on a long list of deferred maintenance work for cabins, trails, roads, bridges and boat ramps on national forest land in Alaska. The agency is working to catch up on a backlog of repairs and replacements and has a relatively new source of federal fundi
  
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• Juneau Assembly drops property taxes to the lowest rate since 2013

  18-06-2021 03:03 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Juneau Assembly passed a new budget earlier this week, dropping property taxes to the lowest rate since 2013. (Photo illustration by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  The Juneau Assembly passed a new budget earlier this week, which will take effect in July. The plan includes money to expand child care services and funds the Capital Improvement Plan, among other things.
  In addition, Juneau homeowners will pay the lowest property taxes since 2013.https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Mill-Rate-We
  
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• State workers receive layoff notices as governor calls Legislature’s budget ‘defective’

  18-06-2021 02:40 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy at a press conference on June 17, 2021.  (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that layoff notices are being sent to state workers on Thursday. He said that’s because the budget the Legislature passed is “defective” because it won’t go into effect by July 1.
  “Unfortunately by law, layoff notices have to be sent out by 4 p.m. today. And they’ve been sent out notifying folks that the potential for a layoff is real
  
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• Juneau Assembly changes land acknowledgment wording after local Indigenous group disputes accuracy

  18-06-2021 00:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Pedestrians walk through Marine Park in downtown Juneau on June 1, 2021. The wayfinding signage, installed in 2020, incorporates Tlingit place names and voices through audio narratives. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  The Juneau Assembly started to include a land acknowledgment as part of its regular meetings in February and made it an official part of meetings in May.
  But then it got a letter from a group called the Áak’w Kwáan Coalition Council asking the city to stop acknowle
  
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• Juneau Assembly changes land acknowledgement wording after local Indigenous group disputes accuracy

  18-06-2021 00:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Pedestrians walk through Marine Park in downtown Juneau on June 1, 2021. The wayfinding signage, installed in 2020, incorporates Tlingit place names and voices through audio narratives. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  The Juneau Assembly started to include a land acknowledgment as part of its regular meetings in February and made it an official part of meetings in May.
  But then it got a letter from a group called the Áak’w Kwáan Coalition Council asking the city to stop acknowle
  
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• Wasilla doctor pleads guilty to drug charge after illegal opioid prescriptions contributed to deaths

  17-06-2021 21:08 via ktoo.org
  
  Opioids (Creative Commons photo by K-State Research and Extension)
  A Wasilla doctor has admitted to illegally prescribing thousands of opioid pills to patients, which federal prosecutors say contributed to five deaths.
  David Chisholm, 64, pleaded guilty in federal court June 3 to one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.
  Chisholm admitted to prescribing patients various narcotic painkillers and opioids — including oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl — without a legit
  
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• Military surveillance site in Clear gets a new operator: the U.S. Space Force

  17-06-2021 19:22 via ktoo.org
  
  Workers pull down old radar structures that were part of the now-defunct Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at Clear Air Force Station in 2017. (U.S. Air Force Space Command)
  Clear Air Force Station has a new name. In a ceremony Tuesday, the installation near Healy was officially renamed Clear Space Force Station.
  Installation officials say the name change won’t affect Clear’s main mission, which is to scan the horizon for incoming enemy missiles and to alert the U.S. missil
  
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• Pebble: Appeals court revives case challenging EPA’s removal of watershed protection

  17-06-2021 19:08 via ktoo.org
  
  Aerial view of braided wetlands and tundra that is typical of the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska, July 26, 2010. (Photo: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
  A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a lawsuit aimed at blocking construction of the Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska.
  The lawsuit, filed by environmental groups, tribes and other mine opponents, challenged a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2019 to remove protection for the Bristol Bay watershed.
  U.S.
  
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• Alaska’s brewing industry continues to grow, despite pandemic

  17-06-2021 18:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Tasting room dog Chai inspects a beer at Onsite Brewing in Midtown Anchorage. (Abbey Collins/Alaska Public Media)
  On a warm Anchorage day, the garage doors are open at the Midnight Sun Brewing Company. Inside, cans of a Belgian-style tripel make their way down a conveyor belt.
  The brewing industry is growing, despite being hit with enormous challenges during the pandemic. New breweries have been popping up in Alaska for years, and, despite earlier predictions that growth would plateau, it hasn&r
  
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• Missing Palmer woman walks to safety after reported bear attack, night in woods

  17-06-2021 18:46 via ktoo.org
  
  The Pioneer Ridge Trail (Abbey Collins/Alaska Public Media)
  A hiker who went missing early Tuesday morning on a trail near Palmer has been found alive, according to a report from Alaska State Troopers.
  Troopers say a volunteer from the search and rescue team was leaving the area around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, when 55-year-old Palmer resident Fina Kiefer walked out of the woods about a mile from the Pioneer Ridge trailhead on Knik River Road.
  AST had been notified around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday that a hik
  
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• Missing Palmer woman walks to safety after reported bear attack and night in woods

  17-06-2021 18:46 via ktoo.org
  
  The Pioneer Ridge Trail (Abbey Collins/Alaska Public Media)
  A hiker who went missing early Tuesday morning on a trail near Palmer has been found alive, according to a report from Alaska State Troopers.
  Troopers say a volunteer from the search and rescue team was leaving the area around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, when 55-year-old Palmer resident Fina Kiefer walked out of the woods about a mile from the Pioneer Ridge trailhead on Knik River Road.
  AST had been notified around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday that a hik
  
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• Thursday, June 17th: Growing up Black in Juneau

  17-06-2021 11:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Growing up Black in Juneau. That’s a tough conversation to have. But an important one.
  On  this Thursday’s weekly program from the Black Awareness Association of Juneau, Christina Michelle sifts through some painful memories with a group of friends.
  Janelle Billingsby, Ernest Monts  and Rob Ridgeway reflect on the racism they experienced at a young age, racism that mostly went unnoticed by the community, yet left some deep, emotional scars.
  The Black Awareness Association&r
  
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• Alaska State Capitol reopens to the public as lawmakers scale back pandemic policies

  17-06-2021 04:18 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol doors have required key cards to unlock throughout the 2021 legislative session. But membres of the public who approached the doors during business hours were granted entry beginning on Wednesday afternoon. The Legislative Council voted to reopen the building to the public. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
  The Alaska State Capitol is open to the public for the first time in 15 months.
  The Legislative Council voted on Wednesday to revise its pande
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, June 16, 2021

  17-06-2021 03:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:The Alaska Senate passed the state budget today, but motion for $1,100 PFD fails
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski got tough with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland
  After a late and virtual celebration last year, Juneau Pride is back
  A COVID-19 outbreak in Yukon Territory is impacting residents in Skagway
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210616-News-Update.mp3
  
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• Senate passes budget, motion funding $1,100 PFD fails

  17-06-2021 02:11 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Senate during a floor session on June 16, 2021. (Screen capture Gavel Alaska)
  The Alaska Senate passed a state budget by a margin of one vote on Wednesday, the day after the House passed it. 
  This year’s permanent fund dividend would be $525 if the Legislature doesn’t add more funding later. 
  A motion that would have funded the dividend at $1,100 failed to receive support of three-quarters of the members of each chamber, which was required for it to pass. 
  A
  
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• Commercial aviation is essential to life here. It’s also home to a growing share of the country’s deadly crashes.

  16-06-2021 21:46 via ktoo.org
  
  ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.On a clear day in May 2019, the tourist season was just starting up in Ketchikan, Alaska, a southeastern city of 8,000 that had become a cruise ship hot spot. For Randy Sullivan, that meant another day — his fifth in a row — of flying sightseeing tours and charters. Sullivan and his wife, Julie, owned Mountain Air Service, a single-plane f
  
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• Wrangell’s new wildlife trooper knows what it’s like to make a mistake

  16-06-2021 20:45 via ktoo.org
  
  Wrangell’s state wildlife trooper, Chadd Yoder. (Sage Smiley/KSTK)
  Alaska’s hunting and fishing rules are strict. They’re primarily enforced by the state’s Wildlife Troopers whose sworn duty, according to their motto, is to be “Protectors of People and Resources.”
  But wildlife troopers can make mistakes and find themselves on the other side of the law.
  Wrangell’s state wildlife trooper has been here on the job for about two months. Trooper Chadd Yoder ca
  
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• Hiker missing after being charged by bears near Palmer

  16-06-2021 19:41 via ktoo.org
  
  The Pioneer Ridge Trail (Abbey Collins/Alaska Public Media)
  A search is ongoing for a hiker near Palmer who was reportedly charged by bears on a local trail.
  According to Alaska State Troopers, the department was notified at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday that a hiker needed help on the Pioneer Ridge Trail.
  AST said the woman contacted her husband, telling him she had been charged by multiple bears and had used bear spray. Shortly after that, she stopped responding to phone calls and messages.
  Trooper
  
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• Voting rights bill seems doomed in Senate without Murkowski on board

  16-06-2021 19:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Voters sign for their ballots at the Auke Bay precinct on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Juneau, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/KTOO)
  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday the Senate will vote before the end of June on a bill to expand access to voting, though its chances of becoming law are slim.
  Among Senate Republicans, Lisa Murkowski is the most likely to be on board. She’s not.
  Murkowski said the House bill, called the For the People Act, goes too far.
  She said she didn’t
  
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• ‘Coming out of quarantine’: Pride Month kicks off in Juneau

  16-06-2021 18:57 via ktoo.org
  
  People gather around a shelter at Sandy Beach for a Pride picnic on May 11. The picnic is an annual event that Juneau’s LGBTQ+ alliance group SEAGLA sponsors. (Lyndsey Brollini/KTOO)
  People are coming out of quarantine and into Pride Month in Juneau. After a delayed — and mostly virtual — Pride celebration last year, Juneau Pride is back and in-person.
  The Coming Out of Quarantine picnic was one of the kickoff events of Pride Month. The picnic, held last Friday, was hosted by S
  
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• House passes budget, leaving dividends at $525 for now

  16-06-2021 18:19 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska House members talk during a break in the debate on whether to draw from the Constitutional Budget Reserve in the Capitol in Juneau on Tuesday. Kodiak Republican House Speaker Louise Stutes is seated in the center below the state seal. (Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
  The Alaska House of Representatives voted to pass the state budget on Tuesday. But most of the Republican minority caucus voted against a provision that would have provided an $1,100 permanent fund dividend. S
  
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• Wednesday, June 16th: Juneau Maritime Festival. Healthy Juneau Initiative. Summer Solstice garden party. Juneau Library update.

  16-06-2021 08:45 via ktoo.org
  
  Whether you ride the waves or watch them roll in, life in Juneau is defined by the waters that hug its shores.On Wednesday’s Juneau Afternoon, what it means to be a maritime community – and plans to celebrate this way of life at the Juneau Maritime Festival this Saturday.
  Also:The Healthy Juneau Initiative. How the City and Borough of Juneau and the Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to increase the rate of COVID vaccinations.
  Summer activities at the Juneau Public Library.
  And a sum
  
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• Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby likely headed to Olympics

  16-06-2021 08:28 via ktoo.org
  
  Seward’s Lydia Jacoby at the TYR Pro Meet in April 2021 in Mission Viejo, Calif.  (Photo Courtesy of Lydia Jacoby)
  Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby is likely headed to the Tokyo Olympics after finishing second Tuesday evening in the 100 meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
  17-year-old Jacoby set a national age-group record Monday to reach the finals. In the finals, she bettered her record by almost half a second, finishing in a time of 1:05.28.
  Olympic gold med
  
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• Juneau Assembly turns down $2 million donation from Norwegian Cruise Line

  16-06-2021 03:20 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau’s cruise ship docks were empty in 2020 after sailings were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. In May 2021, the Norwegian Cruise Line company announced it would donate a total of $10 million to Alaska port communities. (Jennifer Pemberton / KTOO)
  The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly turned down a $2 million donation from the Norwegian Cruise Line company during its regular meeting Monday night. 
  Some assembly members were concerned about what the public would think of
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, June 15, 2021

  16-06-2021 03:11 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:Juneau turns down $2 million from Norwegian Cruise Line
  The legislature still hasn’t passed a budget
  Credit rating agencies see improvement in Alaska’s outlook
  Two kayakers paddled to safety after being mauled by a bearhttps://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210615-news-update.mp3
  
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• Votes on Alaska state budget await resolution of legislative talks

  16-06-2021 02:45 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol in Juneau hosts legislative negotiations on a rainy day on Tuesday. Neither legislative chamber held a session on Monday. While the Senate held a three-minute technical session on Tuesday morning, the House delayed its session through the afternoon. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
  The legislative special session is scheduled to end on Friday, and lawmakers have not passed a budget. 
  Budget negotiators agreed to a compromise on Sunday. But n
  
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• Davidson named president of Alaska’s largest tribal health organization

  16-06-2021 02:29 via ktoo.org
  
  Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson is the new president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)
  Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson is the new president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the organization announced Tuesday.
  Davidson was named interim president of ANTHC in mid-March, but Tuesday’s announcement makes her position permanent.
  Davidson was the first Alaska Native woman to serve as lieutenant governor. She was the com
  
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• LISTEN: Alaska adventurer pens ‘Packraft Handbook’ to share joy and life-saving tips

  16-06-2021 01:06 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Packrafting Resurrection Creek in Alaska (Paxson Woelber photo via Creative Commons)
  Packrafting is a mode of transportation that, as the name suggests, involves carrying an inflatable boat in a backpack and then deploying it to travel on water.
  That can be a short trip to cross part of a lake … or it can mean floating hundreds of river miles and even running rapids.
  As more people have gotten into the sport, Alaska adventurer Luc Mehl saw a need to compile safety tips and techn
  
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• COVID-19 outbreak in Yukon Territory linked to high school students, unvaccinated adults

  15-06-2021 23:38 via ktoo.org
  
  The Yukon River at Whitehorse. (Creative Commons photo by Gareth Sloan)
  The Yukon Territory’s COVID-19 outbreak climbed from 18 to 21 active cases on Monday. That’s despite nearly three-quarters of the territory’s adult population being fully vaccinated. And even though life in Skagway seems to be getting back to normal for most, the rising case count is upending daily life on the other side of the border.
  Whitehorse, Yukon’s largest city, sits about 110 miles north of Sk
  
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• Haines and Skagway welcome first cruise ship since 2019

  15-06-2021 22:35 via ktoo.org
  
  The American Constellation docked in Haines on Saturday June 12, coming from Skagway the day before. It’s the first of 12 port calls this summer. (Corinne Smith/KHNS)
  Upper Lynn Canal communities welcomed the first cruise ship since 2019. The 80 passengers aboard the relatively small American Constellation spent Friday in Skagway, then Saturday touring Haines.
  The American Constellation cruise ship arrived in Haines this past weekend, the first since a global pandemic upended cruise touris
  
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• ‘It is our story as well’: After Kamloops, a Fairbanks vigil to mourn and raise awareness of boarding school trauma

  15-06-2021 20:04 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Two hundred and fifteen bandanas, one for each of the Native children whose bodies were found buried on the grounds of a former residential school in British Columbia, are hung from the Chena River footbridge in Fairbanks. (Dan Bross/KUAC)
  A gathering was held in Fairbanks on June 13 to mourn and raise awareness about historic abuse, neglect and forced assimilation of Native children at government- and church-run residential schools in the United States and Canada. The Fairbanks event, and other
  
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• Injured campers paddle 6 miles to safety after bear mauling near Skilak Lake

  15-06-2021 19:18 via ktoo.org
  
  Skilak Lake in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Sabine Poux/KDLL)Two kayakers paddled six miles to safety across Skilak Lake after they were mauled by a bear early Saturday morning.
  Jamie Nelson, of Kenai, was at the Upper Skilak Lake Campground when the kayakers pulled up around 2 a.m..
  “Six miles for two hours after being mauled by bears. That’s the part of the story I just can’t wrap my head around,” he said.
  Officials aren’t releasing the names of the victim
  
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• Fire crews respond with force to fire in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

  15-06-2021 19:08 via ktoo.org
  
  The Loon Lake fire after retardants were dropped on it on June 13. (Jason Jordet/Division of Forestry)
  Fire crews are working to contain a lightning-caused wildfire that started a half-mile from Swan Lake near Sterling this weekend.
  The Division of Forestry said it intends to fully suppress the fire and is attacking it with water drops and fire retardant. As of Monday afternoon, it had built 15% of a containment line around the fire’s perimeter.
  Officials got reports of the fire Saturday n
  
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• Ammo shortage leaves Alaska businesses shooting blanks

  15-06-2021 18:42 via ktoo.org
  
  KOMU News via Creative Commons
  There’s no doubt about it — Alaskans like their guns.
  But there’s only so much you can do with a gun without bullets. And this past year, those have been harder than ever to come by.
  Alaska and the rest of the U.S. are deep in an ammunition shortage, likely due to a confluence of current events and production setbacks.
  It’s impacted businesses like Brenda Trefren’s. She runs the firearms training company Majority Arms in Sterling.
  &ldq
  
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• Credit rating agencies see improved outlook for Alaska, but note risks from budget uncertainty

  15-06-2021 03:48 via ktoo.org
  
  State debt manager Deven Mitchell gives an overview of the state’s credit ratings and debt to the Senate Finance Committee in 2019. On Friday, Mitchell said the state’s improved credit outlook led to lower costs for municipalities. (Photo by Skip Gray/KTOO 360TV)
  As Alaska lawmakers decide what to do about the budget, one group that’s keeping an eye on the outcome are the agencies that rate the state’s ability to pay off its debts. As the budget situation worsened in rece
  
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• Newscast – Monday, June 14, 2021

  15-06-2021 03:11 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:Former Juneau-area chiropractor accused of sexually abusing patients
  Legislative compromise sets the PFD at $1,100
  Supplemental unemployment insurance ends this week
  A vigil in Fairbanks to mourn and raise awareness about historic abuse and neglect of Native children at residential schools
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210614-News-update.mp3
  
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• Wrangell summer camp teaches kids about science and culture

  14-06-2021 22:40 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Culture Camp attendees hold up devices to catch plankton in Wrangell’s Reliance Harbor.
  (Sage Smiley / KSTK)
  School’s out for the summer, but that doesn’t mean kids aren’t learning. KSTK attended an afternoon of a science and arts camp put on by Wrangell’s local tribe and Sealaska Heritage Institute.https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/11steam.mp3
  The mood is buzzy as we make the walk from the local Tlingit tribe’s cultural center to Wrangell&rsqu
  
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