Anchorage news

• Tongass Forest Plan amendment prompt objections

  03-08-2016 23:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The Tongass National Forest makes up most of Southeast Alaska (Courtesy U.S. Forest Service)
  The U.S. Forest Service announced its plan for a 16-year transition toward young-growth Tongass timber harvests in late June. In the midst of the 60-day comment period, industry and environmental groups are starting to submit their objections.
  Both the industry and environmental groups on either side of the Tongass Land Management Plan amendment can agree on one thing: the Forest Service needs to complet
  
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• ‘Get that baby out of here’ at Tuesday rally, Trump says

  03-08-2016 23:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Donald Trump makes a campaign stop in Scranton, Pa., on Wednesday. He faced a day of harsh criticism from across the political spectrum for appearing to urge Russia to hack his Democratic rival’s email.
  John Moore/Getty Images
  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has a history of barring people from his campaign events. He’s banned reporters from the Washington Post and anti-Trump protesters are routinely escorted out.
  And now a baby joins their ranks outside the perimeters.
  
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• Seldovia hires retired National Guard lieutenant colonel as new city manager

  03-08-2016 22:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Retired Lt. Col. Tod Larson is Seldovia’s new city manager. Larson spent 25 years in the Army National Guard and has a master’s degree in public administration. (Daysha Eaton, KBBI)
  The tiny town of Seldovia bills itself as a place where everybody knows everybody. But this summer has brought a new face to town. Tod Larson is a retired lieutenant colonel who spent 25 years in the Army National Guard before getting his master’s in public administration. Now he’s Seldov
  
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• Military’s $4B moving program keeps climbing — and no one knows why

  03-08-2016 22:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Lt. Col. Alan Brown and his wife, Kristy Brown, get ready to leave their home in Eagle River after three years, the longest they’ve been in any location since they married. (Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media, Eagle River)
  Last year, the Department of Defense spent $4.3 billion moving service-members and their families all over the globe.
  The annual cost to taxpayers keep trending upwards, even as the overall number of moves shrinks amid a restructuring of the nation’s armed force
  
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• Governor visits Homer to address Alaska’s fiscal crisis

  03-08-2016 21:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Dozens turned out to hear the message of Gov. Bill Walker who visited Homer on Tuesday to talk with residents about the state’s looming budget crisis.
  As he described the enormity of the $4 billion state deficit, Walker didn’t mince words. He began by quoting David Teal, Alaska’s Legislative Fiscal Analyst.
  “He said, ‘Alaska is in the midst of the greatest fiscal crisis in state history’. And he was right.” Walker said.
  Walker emphasized that
  
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• 75% of Americans say they eat healthy — despite evidence to the contrary

  03-08-2016 21:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Are we choosing foods that could be healthy in moderation, but eating too much of them? (Diane Labombarbe, Getty Images)
  We’re living at a time when more than 80 percent of Americans fail to eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables. At the same time, many Americans overeat refined grains and sugar.
  This may help explain why the obesity rate seems stuck. The most recent estimate is that 36 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese.
  But, as a nation, we seem to have our blinders on
  
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• Researchers capture bear-salmon interactions on camera

  03-08-2016 19:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Researchers with the Alaska Salmon Program have found a way to study bears when they come to fish in Happy Creek or any other salmon stream in Bristol Bay: with cameras activated by movement, and barbed wires to snag bear hair.
  For the past several years, University of Washington’s Fisheries Research Institute researchers have been studying what happens upstream from a slightly different perspective as part of a multi-decade study of Bristol Bay salmon: the bears’.
  The goal is to fi
  
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• New York bans registered sex offenders from Pokémon Go

  03-08-2016 18:00 via ktoo.org
  
  People play Pokémon Go in New York City on July 25. The New York governor’s ban on playing the game will apply to nearly 3,000 sex offenders currently on parole. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
  At least 22 percent of Pokémon Go’s millions of users are minors, according to a Survey Monkey study obtained by Forbes. With that many kids and teens playing the game — which is rated for users 9 years old and up — they become potential targets for child sex offenders.
  T
  
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• As November approaches, courts deal series of blows to voter ID laws

  03-08-2016 16:00 via ktoo.org
  
  North Carolina State University students vote in the primaries at Pullen Community Center on March 15 in Raleigh, N.C. (Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)
  All summer long, the clock has been ticking on voting rights cases. Judges don’t like to change voting rules too near an election, and November is creeping ever closer.
  And the last two weeks, in particular, have been eventful: Five courts in five states ruled against voter ID and proof-of-citizenship laws.
  There’s still time for appeals
  
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• Walker sacks industry advocate from Marijuana Control Board

  03-08-2016 05:44 via ktoo.org
  
  Bruce Schulte at a press conference held by the Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation in February 2015. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
  One of the state’s key regulators on commercial cannabis has been unexpectedly ousted by the governor.
  Bruce Schulte was active in the 2014 ballot initiative legalizing commercial marijuana in Alaska. He then served as chair of the Marijuana Control Board, a position with tremendous influence in crafting regulations for the ne
  
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• Audio: Alaska’s Energy Desk

  03-08-2016 05:05 via ktoo.org
  
  Now playing:29SOVIETWALRUS
  28GEOCHEM
  
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• Palin’s PAC ends latest quarter with about $170K on hand

  03-08-2016 03:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. (Creative Commons photo byGage Skidmore)
  JUNEAU, Alaska — Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised just under $150,000 during the last fundraising quarter, far less than it brought in during the same period in the last three election years.
  As of June 30, Sarah PAC reported having about $170,000 available.
  Disclosures show a sizable chunk of money went to
  
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• Police investigate lewd phone calls to Bartlett Regional Hospital

  03-08-2016 03:01 via ktoo.org
  
  Bartlett Regional Hospital’s emergency entrance. (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)
  Bartlett Regional Hospital staff told police that an unknown man made dozens of lewd calls to the hospital’s registration desk and emergency room Friday night. Juneau Police Department Lt. David Campbell said the staff counted between 55 and 80 calls. The final call included a threat.
  “The gentleman was primarily dealing with stuff of a sexual nature,” Campbell said. “At one point in tim
  
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• Marijuana Control Board Chair under fire for initiative to ban commercial pot

  03-08-2016 03:01 via ktoo.org
  
  Marijuana. (Creative Commons photo by Katheirne Hitt)
  The chair of the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Board is gathering signatures to have Kenai Peninsula Borough vote on outlawing commercial cannabis operations in areas of the borough outside cities.
  That isn’t sitting well with members of cannabis industry on the peninsula.
  Soldotna police chief Peter Mlynarik who’s community instituted a two-year ban on commercial cannabis activity, chairs the state Alcohol a
  
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• Hospital temporarily locks down after threat

  03-08-2016 03:01 via ktoo.org
  
  A TEMSCO helicopter leaves Bartlett Regional Hospital after dropping off a patient on Thursday, May 5, 2016. (Photo by Mikko Wilson/KTOO)
  Bartlett Regional Hospital staff told police that an unknown man made dozens of lewd calls to the hospital’s registration desk and emergency room Friday night. Juneau Police Department Lieutenant David Campbell said the staff counted between 55 and 80 calls. The final call included a threat.
  “The gentleman was primarily dealing with stuff of a sexu
  
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• Sitka gets $1.3 million in state funds to extend sea walk

  03-08-2016 03:00 via ktoo.org
  SITKA, Alaska — The city of Sitka has announced that construction will start on the second phase of an oceanside sidewalk project thanks to more than $1.3 million in state funding.
  The Sitka Sentinel reports that the money awarded through the Alaska Transportation Alternatives Program will help cover the cost of extending the walkway. The Sitka Sea Walk project is one of 12 projects funded statewide in the program under the state’s transportation department.
  City Engineer Dan Tadic s
  
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• Caribou season opens with more Nushagak Peninsula hunting opportunity

  03-08-2016 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Thousands of caribou like this one traditionally cross the Kobuk River near Onion Portage in the fall. People have been harvesting caribou near this spot for about 9000 years. (Public Domain photo by the National Park Service)
  The Nushagak Peninsula herd caribou hunt opened Aug. 1 for both state and federal hunts, and there’s a little more hunting opportunity this year than in the past.
  The federal hunt, which is only on federal lands, is open through the end of March and has a bag limit o
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 8-3-16

  03-08-2016 02:29 via ktoo.org
  Wednesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon, Laury Scandling hosts.
  We’ll get a preview of Perseverance Theatre’s newest production, Peter & the Starcatcher;
  Karen Fortwengler will be here to highlight Saturday’s fundraising dinner for Helping Hands;
  UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield will be here with hints for getting ready for college;
  Fumi Matsumoto and M K MacNaughton will be here with details on their upcoming First Friday Chicken Art Show.
  That, Writer’s Almanac, Bird Note
  
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• Propane leak suspected in home explosion that injures 5

  03-08-2016 02:00 via ktoo.org
  FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A weekend explosion at a Fairbanks home left five people injured.
  Alaska State Troopers just after 3:30 p.m. Sunday received a call of the explosion at a home on Rosie Creek Road west of the city.
  No fire broke out afterward.
  Emergency medical responders moved five people to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
  Two were seriously injured.
  Troopers say a propane leak appears to be the cause of the explosion.
  The state fire marshal is investigating.
  
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• Obama calls trump ‘unfit’ to be president, questions why Republicans still endorsing

  03-08-2016 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  President Obama slammed Republican nominee Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to be president during a news conference with Singapore’s prime minister at the White House on Tuesday.(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
  President Barack Obama reiterated that he believes Donald Trump is “unfit” to be president, issuing a sharp rebuke of the Republican nominee from the White House East Room on Tuesday.
  “Yes, I think the Republican nominee is un
  
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• Haze and smoke over Upper Lynn Canal is no cause for alarm, experts say

  03-08-2016 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Haze was hanging around Upper Lynn Canal communities on Tuesday. The exact cause of the smoke could not be pinpointed. (Jillian Rogers/KHNS)
  The haze that’s been lingering over the Upper Lynn Canal for a day or so is likely from fires far away, according meteorologists. While it’s not known for sure which fires are the cause of smoky fog, officials agree that there is no immediate danger.
  Residents in Haines and Skagway started noticing a haze Tuesday morning hanging around both comm
  
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• Hop growers cheer craft brewers for saving an ailing industry

  03-08-2016 01:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The spike in demand for small-batch beers has infused new life into small, family owned hop farms that were teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. (Tim Newman/Getty Images)
  Hop growers are raising a glass to craft brewers. The demand for small-batch brews has helped growers boost their revenues, expand their operations, and, in some cases, save their farms.
  “Without the advent of craft brewing, a few large, corporate growers would be supplying all of the hops and local, family-owned farms li
  
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• Skagway official sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison

  03-08-2016 00:02 via ktoo.org
  
  Dan Henry (Photo courtesy The Skagway News)
  A Skagway Borough Assembly member and businessman convicted of failing to file his income taxes is being ordered to spend just over a year in prison.
  Dan Henry, operator of the Skagway Fish Co., will spend a year on supervised release after he gets out. He must repay $600,064 to the federal government for unpaid income taxes. Henry, 61, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Juneau on Monday on four misdemeanor charges of willful failure to file
  
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• N.Y. attorney general: Nation’s flood insurance program defrauding taxpayers

  03-08-2016 00:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Some homes have fallen into disrepair in the Midland Beach neighborhood in Staten Island, N.Y. Almost four years since the destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy, many are still dealing with the storm’s consequences. (Bryan Thomas/NPR)
  A new report by the New York Attorney General’s office finds that a lack of accountability in the nation’s flood insurance program is costing taxpayers millions. The office also announced 50 felony charges against an engineering firm for allegedl
  
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• Fairbanks offers bonuses to attract new police officers

  03-08-2016 00:00 via ktoo.org
  FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The city of Fairbanks is offering a $5,000 signing bonus to police officers from other communities who make a lateral move to join the Fairbanks Police Department for three years.
  Fairbanks Police Chief Randall Aragon told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner the department is in “crisis mode” in attracting new officers.
  He says the department has lost its edge in recruiting and retaining officers because other Alaska police departments offer better salaries
  
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