Anchorage news

• Gene Wilder, star of ‘Willy Wonka’ and ‘Young Frankenstein,’ dies

  29-08-2016 23:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Actor Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory in 1971. Wilder died Monday at 83. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
  Actor and writer Gene Wilder, who brought his signature manic energy to films such as The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and the role that forever ensconced him in the collective memory of a generation of children, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, has died. He was 83.
  Wilder died early Monday at
  
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• Crystal Serenity cruises on amid environmental concerns

  29-08-2016 23:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The luxury cruise liner Crystal Serenity arrived off the coast of Nome on Sunday. (Photo by Lauren Frost/KNOM)
  The Crystal Serenity cruise ship is making a 32-day voyage from Anchorage to New York City.
  The ship is the largest vessel ever to travel the Northwest Passage with about 1,000 passengers aboard.
  Meanwhile, the potential environmental impact of a journey of that scope has some worried.
  Austin Ahmasuk, a marine advocate at the Kawerak regional non-profit corporation, is nervous
  
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• Grid referee could ensure cheaper electricity for Alaska’s Railbelt

  29-08-2016 22:15 via ktoo.org
  
  Power poles in Anchorage. (Photo by Antti T. Nissinen via Flickr)
  When Chris Rose makes tea in his downtown Anchorage apartment, he uses an electric stove to boil the water — pretty simple stuff. But Rose, who is the Executive Director of the Renewable Energy Alaska Project, knows how the electricity got to his stove is anything but simple.
  “There is a backstory to this whole miracle that we call electricity that we use all the time in our lives but often just take for granted, becau
  
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• Pepper-spraying bicyclist sought in assaults

  29-08-2016 22:00 via ktoo.org
  ANCHORAGE — Police in Alaska’s largest city are looking for a man on a bicycle who is accused of pepper-spraying at least four people.
  Anchorage police say they began getting calls about the assaults shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.One of the victims was taken to a hospital, police say.
  According to police, Town Square Park downtown was the site of the first reports. Police say later reports came from the area around Sullivan Arena.
  The bicyclist is described as a white man who was wear
  
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• New Sandy Hook Elementary prepares to open its doors 4 years after tragedy

  29-08-2016 22:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The new Sandy Hook Elementary School hosted a media open house in July in Newtown, Conn. (Photo by Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)
  Sandy Hook Elementary geared up for the first day of school Monday, Aug. 29, nearly four years after a gunman killed 20 students and six teachers.
  Students will be entering a brand-new school for the first time, located at the same site as the scene of the tragedy.
  The original building in Newtown, Conn. was demolished in 2013 after Adam Lanza went on a sho
  
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• In largest ad buy yet, Trump campaign paints Clinton as job-killing

  29-08-2016 22:00 via ktoo.org
  
  In a new ad, Donald Trump’s campaign paints Hillary Clinton’s America as bad for the economy. (Screen capture by Youtube/Trump Campaign)
  Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is going into five more states with a new $10 million television ad buy. It’s the largest for the Trump campaign so far, which has been relatively slowto invest in TV ads, relying instead on free media coverage and the Republican nominee’s large social media following.The campaign is now targeti
  
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• Fairbanks citizens gather more than 500 signatures to ban commercial marijuana sales

  29-08-2016 21:00 via ktoo.org
  
  (Wikimedia Commons Photo)
  Sponsors of a voter initiative to ban commercial marijuana businesses in the City of Fairbanks submitted more than 500 signatures Friday in an effort to get the measure on the fall 2017 ballot.
  Petition sponsor Vivian Stiver, with the group “Drug Free Fairbanks,” said petitioners have gathered well above the 519 required, but the signatures must be of registered voters who live in the city, and are subject to review.
  “Say they look at th
  
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• Anchorage police investigate deaths of 2 men found in park

  29-08-2016 21:00 via ktoo.org
  ANCHORAGE — Anchorage police are investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were found near each other in a local park.
  Police say they were called to the Valley of the Moon Park shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday by someone who found one of the bodies on a bike path.
  According to police, officers found the other man’s body in the park nearby as they were searching the area.
  The men’s identities were not immediately released.
  Police say they are treating the deaths as homicides
  
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• Petersburg schools open with an increase in enrollment

  29-08-2016 20:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Combined enrollment at the three Petersburg schools is an estimated 473 students to start off the year, up from 431 just two years ago. (Photo by KFSK)
  Students headed back to class Monday, August 29, in Petersburg as the new school year gets underway.
  Enrollment numbers have increased in two of the three schools and the district welcomes several newcomers to its faculty.
  Combined enrollment at the three schools is an estimated 473 students to start off the year, up from 431 just two years ago.
  
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• Huma Abedin to separate from Anthony Weiner after new sexting allegations

  29-08-2016 20:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Anthony Weiner (left) and Huma Abedin at a news conference in 2013 during Weiner’s mayoral campaign. (Photo by Kathy Willens/Associated Press)
  Top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is separating from her husband, former New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, according to a statement released Monday.
  Abedin wrote: “After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband. Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, wh
  
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• 4 carved Tlingit shields stolen from elementary school

  29-08-2016 20:00 via ktoo.org
  JUNEAU — Juneau police are investigating a theft of four carved Tlingit shields that hung in the entryway of an elementary school.
  Harborview Elementary School Principal Tom McKenna told the Juneau Empire that the area was a gathering place for families and a place where students were photographed in honor of their achievements.
  The shields were taken last week between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.
  Anyone with information is asked to contact authorities.
  It’s been eig
  
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• Anchorage police cleared in hatchet-wielding suspect’s death

  29-08-2016 19:00 via ktoo.org
  ANCHORAGE — A state review has determined that two Anchorage police officers were legally justified in fatally shooting a man after responding to a robbery report at a Home Depot.
  KTUU-TV reports that an investigation by the Office of Special Prosecutions cleared the officers of wrongdoing in the July 12 death of Benjamin Zeckovic, 24.
  Police had responded that night to reports from store employees of a man stealing several hatchets and axes.
  The state report says Zeckovic threw a hatchet
  
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• Flight instructor dies in biplane crash at Oregon air show

  29-08-2016 01:05 via ktoo.org
  A longtime pilot and flight instructor from Alaska has died after his biplane crashed during an air show in central Oregon.
  Sixty-one-year-old Marcus Bruce Paine appeared to be attempting a very low-altitude loop when his Boeing Stearman plane went down at about 3 p.m. Saturday.
  Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins says officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were attending the Airshow of the Cascades at Madras Airport when the crash occurred. He says the agency is investigating, along
  
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• Science and cooking collide to fight botulism

  29-08-2016 00:53 via ktoo.org
  
  A bearded seal, or ugruk, on sea ice. (Courtesy of Kawerak Subsistence Program)
  Food scientists with the help of a botulism expert are trying to combine science and traditional Alaska Native methods to make one prohibited food safe to eat.
  Regulated programs under the State of Alaska Food Safety and Sanitation Program are not allowed to accept or distribute seal oil due to the danger of botulism, a potentially fatal disease which is caused by bacteria in contaminated food.
  But how or when the ne
  
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• Earthquake simulator will shake up Juneau

  29-08-2016 00:53 via ktoo.org
  
  (Photo courtesy Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management)
  Juneau will get some emergency preparedness practice at an event that promises to shake, rattle and roll.
  Alaska’s earthquake simulator, which replicates the intensity of large earthquakes, is visiting downtown Juneau from Wednesday to Thursday.
  What: Earthquake simulator, booths, presentations and refreshments
  When:  11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, and Thursday, Sept. 1
  Where: Outside 
  
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• Coast Guard wraps up Arctic exercises

  29-08-2016 00:53 via ktoo.org
  
  The Coast Guard finished up its training exercise in the Arctic on Thursday that simulated a mass maritime rescue operation.
  The series of simulated drills was known as the Arctic Chinook exercise and wrapped Thursday morning in Kotzebue, according to a Coast Guard press release.
  The activities involved the U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska National Guard, state agencies, Alaska Native organizations and Canada’s armed forces.
  The training is part of an International Maritime Search and Rescue
  
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• Max Ritvo, Poet Who Chronicled His Battle With Cancer, Dies At 25

  29-08-2016 00:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Poet Max Ritvo who chronicled his long battle with cancer has died. He was 25.
  Judith Eigen Sarna/AP
  Max Ritvo, a poet who chronicled his long battle with cancer in works that were both humorous and searing, has died. He was 25.
  Ritvo died Tuesday morning at his home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, his mother, Ariella Ritvo-Slifka, said Friday.
  Ritvo was diagnosed at 16 with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects bones and soft tissue in children and young adults.
  Treatment brou
  
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• Italy In Mourning: Funerals Underway For Earthquake Victims

  29-08-2016 00:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Relatives mourn over a coffin of one of the earthquake victims prior to the start of the funeral service on Saturday in Ascoli Piceno, Italy.
  Gregorio Borgia/AP
  Italy has started to bury its dead following a devastating earthquake on Wednesday that killed at least 290 people and left whole towns in ruins. The country has declared Saturday a national day of mourning for the quake’s victims.
  Reporting from a state funeral in the town of Ascoli Piceno, NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley described
  
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• A Hero For The Arts And Sciences: Upcoming Marvel Covers Promote STEAM Fields

  29-08-2016 00:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Invincible Iron Man — featuring the debut of a new hero, Riri Williams — is one five books Marvel is using to promote science, math, and arts disciplines through a series of covers.
  Courtesy of Marvel
  Typically superheroes spend their summertime helming big-budget franchises for movie studios. This year, with blockbuster season winding down and schools opening their doors, Marvel’s following up its summer at the multiplex by giving its superheroes a new assignment.
  Last week, t
  
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