Anchorage news

• AEL&P announces how much electric rates could go up

  17-09-2016 20:25 via ktoo.org
  
  Keeping the lights on in Juneau could be more expensive this fall. Alaska Electric Light & Power – the privately owned electric utility that powers the city – wants to increase its rates. The company announced Friday that, overall, customers can expect to pay 8 percent more on their electric bill by the end of 2017.According to a press release, rates will increase gradually.
  In November, rates could go up by nearly 4 percent, pending approval from the Regulatory Commission of Ala
  
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• Native leaders call for federal involvement on transboundary mining

  17-09-2016 06:43 via ktoo.org
  
  The Tulsequah Chief Mine is on the banks of its namesake river, which flows into the Taku River , which enters an ocean inlet about 25 miles northeast of Juneau. (Photo by Joe Hitselberger/ADF&G)
  A group of Alaska Native leaders said the Alaska congressional delegation’s Sept. 8 letter to the U.S. State Department on transboundary mining is not enough.
  A union of 15 federally recognized Alaska tribes called the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Group said the International Joint
  
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• NOAA to examine dead humpback in Sitka Sound

  17-09-2016 06:03 via ktoo.org
  
  A dead whale carcass at the southern entrance to Olga Strait near Sitka on Sept. 15, 2016. (Photo courtesy Henry Larsen)
  A fisherman has spotted the dead humpback whale in the Sitka area that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association was interested in studying.
  Fisherman Henry Larsen spotted Thursday it at the southern entrance to Olga Strait on the western shore. Larsen said the carcass was beached, but looked likely to refloat on the rising tide. He expected it to eventually d
  
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• Third-Party Candidates Fall Short Of Presidential Debate Threshold

  17-09-2016 05:36 via ktoo.org
  
  Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks during a campaign rally earlier this month at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Morgan/AP)
  There will officially be no third-party candidate on the presidential debate stage.
  Libertarian Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party officially did not make the cut, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Friday.
  To qualify for the stage, a candidate needs to be polling at 15 percent or higher in an average
  
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• Gov. Walker criticizes Wielechowski on lawsuit to block PFD cut

  17-09-2016 05:31 via ktoo.org
  
  A lawsuit seeks to require the Permanent Fund Corp. to transfer the full amount for dividends. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  A lawsuit seeking to maintain full Permanent Fund dividends this year was filed Friday – and Gov. Bill Walker blasted the arguments in the lawsuit.
  Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski and two retired lawmakers, Clem Tillion and Rick Halford, filed the lawsuit. They want to reverse Walker’s veto of roughly $670 million in dividend funds. The v
  
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• Nageak files lawsuits against state officials over election

  17-09-2016 04:57 via ktoo.org
  
  Rep. Benjamin Nageak, D-Barrow speaks in favor of HB 216 in his native language of Iñupiaq. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  The losing incumbent in a northern Alaska state legislative race has filed two lawsuits against state elections officials, alleging illegal procedures were followed.KTVA-TV reports Democrat Benjamin Nageak filed the lawsuits Friday against Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott and Division of Elections Director Josie Bahnke over the House District 40 race.
  A recount confirmed c
  
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• Large-scale aircraft emergency exercise set for Saturday in Juneau

  17-09-2016 04:08 via ktoo.org
  An large-scale emergency disaster exercise is set for Saturday at Juneau International Airport.
  The exercise will simulate a full-scale aircraft emergency and test the city’s emergency action plans.
  Volunteers will role-play as injured passengers, family members and bystanders.
  Federal Aviation Administration requires airports the size of Juneau’s to conduct a live emergency drill once every three years. A similar airport emergency drill was run in 2013.
  In 2014, emergency
  
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• Corrections hikes fee for housing Anchorage prisoners

  17-09-2016 02:50 via ktoo.org
  
  Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in October 2015. (Photo by Mikko Wilson/KTOO)
  Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz says his city is paying the price for the state’s failure to resolve its fiscal crisis.Berkowitz reacted after the state Department of Corrections announced it would raise the fee it will charge Anchorage for housing prisoners.
  The department announced Thursday it will increase the fee from $2 million to more than $2.9 million. The dep
  
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• Unalaska cleans up fish oil spill

  17-09-2016 02:18 via ktoo.org
  
  Fish oil pours out of the punctured shipping container. (David Tonon/U.S. Coast Guard)
  A forklift punctured a connex filled with fish oil in Unalaska Thursday, spilling it across a shipyard. Fish oil is considered an environmental hazard, but far less damaging than crude oil. Some of the bright orange oil flowed into a storm drain and into the ocean. Resolve Marine stopped it from spreading more by plugging the drain with gravel and dirt.
  A couple hundred gallons of the 5,700 gallon bl
  
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• A hydro license brings district heating one step closer in Juneau

  17-09-2016 02:01 via ktoo.org
  
  
  After years of waiting, Juneau Hydropower Inc. was recently awarded a federal license for Sweetheart Lake Dam. It gives the company the go-ahead to start serious planning for a new multimillion dollar hydro facility. It could power a gold mine and supply heat to the downtown core of the capital city with an innovative system.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2016/09/16FERC.mp3Duff Mitchell calls getting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC license a milestone. He’s the man
  
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• Juneau Afternoon 9-19-16

  17-09-2016 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Monday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon, Scott Burton Hosts.
  We’ll get a preview of this week’s Municipal Candidates Forum;
  We’ll get the details about this Saturday’s Festive Cream Tea at McPhetres Hall;
  Police Chief Bryce Johnson will be here with a look at September’s activities;
  And Sioux Douglas and Sarah Schafer will be here to highlight the KTOO Legacy Foundation.
  That, Writers Almanac, Bird Note, music and more, live at 3 on KTOO-NEWS, repeated at 4 on KRNN, and a
  
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• A Stark Choice For Filipino Drug Addicts: Surrender Or Risk Being Killed

  17-09-2016 01:43 via ktoo.org
  
  Lilibeth Diego, 53, a laundry woman who is married with three children, started using methamphetamine, or shabu, when she was 17. She recently turned herself in to authorities because she feared she could be killed under President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. She says she has been clean for the past several weeks. (Photo by Alecs Ongcal for NPR)
  Lilibeth Diego lives in Malate, in one of Manila’s seemingly endless slums. People are packed so tightly here, they often wash and bathe
  
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• Without Apology, Trump Now Says: ‘Obama Was Born In’ The U.S.

  17-09-2016 01:41 via ktoo.org
  
  Donald Trump in 2011 speaking to reporters in New Hampshire after President Obama released his long-form birth certificate. Trump said he was “very proud” to have forced the White House’s decision. (Photo by Jim Cole/AP)
  After years of peddling a false conspiracy theory that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, Donald Trump — just 53 days before Election Day — now says he believes the president was born in the U.S.
  “President Obama was born
  
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• Candidates Decry High Drug Prices, But They Have Few Options For Voters

  17-09-2016 01:28 via ktoo.org
  
  Lead pharmacist Adam Nelson tends the pharmacy at Juneau Drug Company in 2015.  (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/KTOO)
  In this year’s presidential campaign, health care has taken a back seat. But one issue appears to be breaking through: the rising cost of prescription drugs.
  The blockbuster drugs to treat hepatitis C as well as dramatic price increases on older drugs, most recently the EpiPen allergy treatment, have combined to put the issue back on the front burner.
  Democrat Hillary Clin
  
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• From election sidelines, Mayor Koelsch campaigns against assembly member Troll

  17-09-2016 01:05 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Mayor-elect Ken Koelsch addresses his supporters on election night at Juneau City Hall, March 15, 2015. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  Candidates for the Juneau Assembly raise thousands of dollars for a chance to win or maintain a seat in office.
  While Mayor Ken Koelsch isn’t up for reelection this year, he is actively working to unseat incumbent assemblymember Kate Troll.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2016/09/16LOCALMONEY.mp3Koelsch has shared more than 80 photos from assembly incum
  
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