Anchorage news

• Wind gusts forecast up to 80 mph into the weekend

  06-01-2017 23:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Cold weather and high winds cause white caps and water to mist into the air Friday along Gastineau Channel as seen from the U.S. Coast Guard Juneau station. (Photo by Tripp J Crouse/KTOO)
  The National Weather Service has Juneau under a high wind warning, with gusts expected up to 80 mph through Sunday afternoon.
  The peak winds are expected Friday night and Saturday.
  Sailings of the Alaska Marine Highway System’s Fairweather and Aurora ferries have been canceled today because
  
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• The behavior making work even more stressful

  06-01-2017 23:27
  
  Feel as if you’ve been snubbed or dissed by a boss or co-worker lately? It’s probably not your imagination.
  Workplace rudeness is rampant — and on the rise, according to Christine Porath, an associate professor of management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
  Over the past 18 years, Porath has polled tens of thousands of workers around the globe about how they’re treated at work. Nearly half of those she surveyed in 1998 reported that they were
  
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• Newscast – Friday, Jan. 6, 2017

  06-01-2017 23:09 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/01/2017-01-06-newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  The Taku winds with gusts up to 80 mph are here,
  dredging and reconstruction at Douglas Harbor are 85 percent complete, and
  a former Juneau gift shop owner who owes nearly $200,000 in unpaid sales taxes is headed to jail after failing to keep up on his restitution payments.
  
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• At hacking hearing, Sullivan steers clear of Russia

  06-01-2017 22:07 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has been a consistent voice warning about the Russian threat, particularly when it comes to Russia’s military buildup in the Arctic.
  At a hearing on cyber hacking Thursday, Sullivan focused on hacking by other countries and didn’t discuss Russia at all.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170105-01.mp3The subject of the hearing was “foreign cyber threats to the United States.”
  Senate Armed Services Committee Chai
  
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• Wasilla remembers 100 years, works to preserve history

  06-01-2017 22:00
  
  Wasilla turns 100 years old this year. The Southcentral community of more than 8,000 people has come a long way from its days of dirt roads and a single general store.
  Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle has deep roots in the city, which sits in the middle of the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys.
  “That’s where we used to shop when I was a kid. My dad used to haul freight for these guys,” Cottle said, as he pointed to an old picture the Teeland’s Country Store.
  That building is no
  
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• Is hydropower renewable energy? One village in SE Alaska needs it to be

  06-01-2017 21:33 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Hoonah’s hydro project, Gartina Falls, was completed in 2015. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  A multimillion dollar dam in Kake would make it easier to bring renewable energy to the village, which currently runs off diesel. But the definition of “renewable” isn’t the same in everyone’s book. Federal grants for hydro projects can be limited — compared with what’s available for wind and solar.
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/
  
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• A really big crack in an Antarctic ice shelf just got bigger

  06-01-2017 21:15 via ktoo.org
  
  Right now, a big chunk of Antarctic ice is hanging on by a frozen thread.
  British researchers monitoring the crack in the Larsen C ice shelf say that only about 12 miles now connect the chunk of ice to the rest of the continent.
  “After a few months of steady, incremental advance since the last event, the rift grew suddenly by a further 18 km (11 miles) during the second half of December 2016,” wrote Adrian Luckman in a statement Thursday by the MIDAS Project, which is monitoring chan
  
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• Alaska’s congressional leaders renew push to allow ANWR drilling

  06-01-2017 21:12 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska’s congressional delegation this week renewed their effort to allow development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)
  U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan introduced a bill Thursday to open up a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling.
  For decades Alaska politicians have pushed to allow development in the refuge’s coastal plain, but with Donald Trump taking the White House this month and a Republ
  
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• Multiple fatalities reported in airport shooting in Fort Lauderdale

  06-01-2017 20:16 via ktoo.org
  
  Shots fired at Ft Lauderdale Airport, suspect reportedly in custody pic.twitter.com/o0zVdI91Um
  — WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) January 6, 2017Multiple people are dead after a shooting Friday afternoon at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
  It’s not clear exactly how many people were dead or injured.
  The sheriff’s office tweeted that “one subject” was in custody. The mayor of Broward County, Barba
  
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• Reports: Multiple people shot at Florida airport

  06-01-2017 19:38
  
  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – News media outlets are reporting that multiple people have been shot at Fort Lauderdale international airport.
  Police at Fort Lauderdale airport after reported shooting; people evacuated. ( MGN Online )
  Shooting reported at Fort Lauderdale airport; people evacuated. ( MGN Online )
  On its official Twitter account, airport officials said there was an “ongoing incident” in the Terminal 2 baggage claim area. They did not elaborate.
  Miami area television
  
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• Latest: APD confirms Ft. Lauderdale shooter is Anchorage resident

  06-01-2017 19:38
  
  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Latest on the shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport (all times local):
  Last updated at 4:10 p.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 6
  Authorities say five people were killed and eight were wounded after a lone suspect opened fire at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, international airport.
  A spokesperson with the Anchorage Police Department has confirmed the suspect arrested in connection with the shooting is an Anchorage resident.
  “APD is aware that the suspected shooter
  
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• Study documents tree species’ decline due to climate warming

  06-01-2017 19:10
  
  A study documenting mortality of yellow cedar trees in Alaska and British Columbia concludes the future is gloomy for the species valued for its commercial and cultural uses.
  The study recorded death due to root freeze on 7 percent of the tree’s range. Researchers say additional mortality is likely over the next 50 years as the climate warms.
  Climate models project a transition from snow to more rain where yellow cedar now thrives.
  The study says that without an insulating blanket of snow,
  
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• Residents warned after 2 home invasions in Fairbanks

  06-01-2017 18:55
  
  Alaska State Troopers are warning Fairbanks residents to lock their doors after two home invasions west of the city.
  Troopers shortly before 5 a.m. Thursday received a report of theft inside a home on York Avenue.
  The thief entered through an unlocked door while the residents were sleeping and stole cash. The suspect walked past a person sleeping in the home’s living room.
  About two hours later, troopers took a report of a theft at a home less than two blocks away on Bishop Circle.
  Like th
  
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• Judge revokes probation of former gift shop owner who pocketed CBJ sales taxes

  06-01-2017 08:15 via ktoo.org
  
  A former Juneau gift shop owner was ordered to spend almost two months in jail after pocketing nearly $200,000 in sales taxes and then falling behind on repaying the City and Borough of Juneau.
  Larry Lee Lynd, 61, testified by phone from the Anchorage area during his Dec. 16 hearing in Juneau District Court.
  “I’m just behind the eight ball right now,” Lynd said. “I’m trying to catch up. That’s all it is.”
  This is not the first time that Lind that has got
  
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• Bond proposal would pay for improvements at U-Med park

  06-01-2017 07:06
  
  People who live near a neighborhood park in the U-Med district are hoping the city can help make it a safer place. Folker Park, on East 42nd Street, was created in the mid-1990s, but resident Barbara Garner, who was instrumental in getting the park started, said things have changed a lot since then.
  “We didn’t have a homeless problem then, that was not the situation, ” said Garner.
  Garner said neighbors no longer use the park because they are afraid. In the summer months, she s
  
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• Arctic Valley tube park brings in revenue, slopes still closed to skiing

  06-01-2017 05:54
  
  There’s not enough snow for skiers to hit the slopes in Arctic Valley, but thanks to the help of some man-made snow the tube park opened Thursday.
  For the first time the park opened on a weekday, so kids could make the most of their winter break.
  “It’s really fun. First, I thought it wasn’t going to be that fast but since I was the first one to go down it was really fast and I was nervous,” said Asher Clayton, 9.
  He was there with his family celebrating his mom
  
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• Danger in Anchorage’s backyard: Forecasting avalanches in the Chugach State Park

  06-01-2017 05:27
  
  Sixteen people have died in avalanches at Chugach State Park since the 1970s. Three of those deaths happened on Alaska’s most climbed mountain, Flattop. Others have happened on well-used trails, like Powerline Pass and Little O’Malley Peak.
  Paul and Cindy Vanderweide were planning to climb Little O’Malley Thursday afternoon. They said they feel safe and are not concerned about avalanches.
  “For the most part, up here, we’re on established trails and if we can tell a
  
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• Another cautionary tale of Mendenhall Lake’s dangerously thin ice

  06-01-2017 04:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  James Brooks walks his dog, Cookie, and a malamute friend along Mendenhall Lake on Dec. 3 in Juneau. Shortly before New Year’s, Cookie fell into the lake after the ice beneath her gave way and she never resurfaced. (Photo courtesy Rashah McChesney)
  It’s the stuff of nightmares. Watching a loved one fall through the ice and being unable to save them.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/01/05ICERESCUE-PKG.mp3It happened recently to one Juneau man who lost his 4-year-old dog shor
  
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• Woman dies skiing out-of-bounds at Crystal Mountain

  06-01-2017 03:37
  
  CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, Wash. (AP) – The ski patrol at Crystal Mountain says it found a woman’s body after she was killed in an avalanche while back-country skiing outside the resort.
  Ski patrol director Kim Kircher says the woman was a 64-year-old Seattle resident who had been skiing at Crystal for 50 years. She parked in the resort’s lot Wednesday before ski-touring, alone, up a ridge, where she was caught in the avalanche.
  Kircher said the avalanche appeared to have occurred on We
  
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• EPA agrees to new deadline for Fairbanks air cleanup plan

  06-01-2017 03:23
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency and two environmental advocacy groups have agreed on new deadlines for addressing air pollution problems in Fairbanks.
  The EPA by the end of August will decide whether a state of Alaska plan to clean up fine particulate around Fairbanks is acceptable.
  An EPA decision on the state plan was due nearly a year ago. Region 10 director of the office of air and waste, Tim Hamlin, says meeting the deadline was complicated by a national l
  
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• Alaska vows to address Obama land plan with Trump

  06-01-2017 03:18
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Bill Walker is vowing to work with the President-elect Donald Trump to address what Walker sees as an adverse land management plan for the eastern portion of interior Alaska approved in the waning days of the Obama administration.
  The Bureau of Land Management on Thursday announced the plan to manage 6.5 million areas of bureau land in a remote part of Alaska, north and east of Fairbanks.
  The bureau says the plan increases recreational access for the pu
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 1-6-17

  06-01-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Friday on A Juneau Afternoon, Andy Kline hosts.
  We’ll talk with artist Christine Carpenter about her First Friday show at the Alaska Robotics Gallery;
  Iris Neary will offer a preview of her Fireside Lecture at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center about Summitting Denali;
  We’ll talk to Kirk Duncan about gathering public input on CBJ Parks & Rec issues;
  George Kuhar will be here to highlight his annual Musical Birthday Party Sunday at the Rookery;
  And Damon Stuebner, from the SLAM
  
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• Girl Scouts of America releasing new cookie, celebrate milestone

  06-01-2017 01:57
  
  It’s hard to believe that America has been buying Girl Scout Cookies for the past century.
  It started as one mother’s idea to raise money to fund troop activities and became a national phenomenon and a financial literacy program for young girls, according to the Girl Scouts Cookie history web page. The first branded cookie was the Trefoil that started to sell in 1938. Since then, numerous flavors have been released, including the ever-popular Thin Mints and Samoas.
  Thi
  
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• Ketchikan Electric turns on diesel generators due to cold, dry weather

  06-01-2017 01:52 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The City of Ketchikan’s holiday light display came down early this year because of low lake levels and lack of hydroelectric power. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  Ketchikan residents are going to be paying for this cold, dry winter.
  Ketchikan Public Utilities Electric Division started supplementing the community’s hydroelectric power with more expensive diesel about a week ago. With no rain or warmer temperatures expected anytime soon, KPU officials expect to continue running those gen
  
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• Ketchika Electric turns on diesel generators due to cold, dry weather

  06-01-2017 01:52 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The City of Ketchikan’s holiday light display came down early this year because of low lake levels and lack of hydroelectric power. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  Ketchikan residents are going to be paying for this cold, dry winter.
  Ketchikan Public Utilities Electric Division started supplementing the community’s hydroelectric power with more expensive diesel about a week ago. With no rain or warmer temperatures expected anytime soon, KPU officials expect to continue running those gen
  
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• House, Senate leadership spar over oil tax credits prior to session

  06-01-2017 01:52
  
  The first round of new bills from lawmakers hasn’t been released yet, but tension over oil taxes is already rising.
  Speaking in front of the Resource Development Council Thursday morning, incoming House Majority Leader Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, and Senate President Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, painted very different portraits of what they expect from the upcoming legislative session — starting with their own cooperation on issues like the state’s multibillion-dollar budget gap.
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• Crash on Palmer-Wasilla Highway critically injures driver

  06-01-2017 01:16 via ktoo.org
  
  WASILLA — A driver was critically injured in a crash on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.
  Alaska State Troopers just before 7 a.m. Wednesday took a report of a two-car crash in front of a business, Diversified Tire.
  Both vehicles were on fire.
  The critically injured driver was transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. The driver’s name, age and gender were not immediately released.
  The second driver reported no injuries.
  
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• Kenai Borough Assembly upholds invocation policy

  06-01-2017 00:59 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is standing behind their controversial invocation policy.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170104-02.mp3At their Jan. 3 meeting, Assembly President Kelly Cooper introduced an amendment to the policy that would have allowed individuals who share a common “interest or belief” to be able to give the invocation.
  That amendment failed in a 6-3 vote.
  The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska filed a lawsuit against the Kenai Peninsula Borough on Dec.
  
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• While GOP runs from House ethics flap, Young argues watchdog needs tighter rules

  06-01-2017 00:47 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In the U.S. House, Republicans started the new year with an awkward lurch.
  First they proposed to weaken their ethics watchdog. Then, after a flood of angry phone calls and a tweet from Donald Trump questioning their priorities, they abandoned the plan. But not everyone agrees the House majority should have backed down.
  U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is among those who want the ethics office reined in.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170104-07.mp3U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska (Photo by Wes
  
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• Counterfeit prescription drug found in Alaska contained fentanyl

  06-01-2017 00:26 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The counterfeit oxycodone tablet actually contained fentanyl. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.)
  Late last month the state’s crime lab confirmed that a counterfeit prescription opioid tablet was found in Alaska.
  The small blue pill looked like a generic oxycodone tablet but was actually made of the much stronger drug fentanyl.
  This is the first such pill found in the state, but they’ve been circulating in the Lower 48 for more than a year.
  http:
  
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