Anchorage news

• Snowfall in Southcentral creates hazardous driving conditions

  21-01-2017 23:32
  
  Vehicles crashed along the Glenn Highway SaturdayNick Swann/KTVA Vehicles crashed along the Glenn Highway SaturdayNick Swann/KTVA Vehicles crashed along the Glenn Highway SaturdayNick Swann/KTVA Vehicles crashed along the Glenn Highway SaturdayNick Swann/KTVA Vehicles crashed along the Glenn Highway SaturdayNick Swann/KTVA Vehicles crashed along the Glenn Highway SaturdayNick Swann/KTVA
  Last updated at 2:40 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21
  Several crashes were reported by Anchorage police during
  
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• All climate change references deleted from WhiteHouse.gov as new chapter begins

  21-01-2017 22:17
  
  All references to global warming and climate change have vanished from the official website of the White House, a stark reminder of the radical policy shift now underway with President Trump in office.
  The changes occurred around noon on Friday, the exact moment of transition between administrations as outlined by the Constitution.
  President Obama’s WhiteHouse.gov, which is now archived online, included a detailed “Climate Change” section, in which global warming was frame
  
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• Women’s March Floods Washington, Kindling Rallies Worldwide

  21-01-2017 22:01 via ktoo.org
  
  Updated at 12:20 p.m. ET
  The National Mall has flooded with pink, as demonstrators descend on the nation’s capital Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington. Just one day after President Trump’s inauguration, marchers from across the country have gathered in the city to protest his agenda and support for women’s rights.
  A three-hour rally is opening the event. The march proper is planned for the mid-afternoon, with a path that’s set to extend from a starting pos
  
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• Inside the Gates: Businesses off-limits to service members

  21-01-2017 21:43
  
  It may surprise you to learn, but there are some businesses in Anchorage where members of our military community are not allowed to go. The Armed Forces Disciplinary Review Board can make a business “off-limits,” making it a crime for a service member to go there.
  Col. Seth Deam, staff judge advocate for the 673rd Air Base Wing, said making a business off-limits is more about protecting service members than it is damaging businesses.
  “Oftentimes, what we’re IDing as the c
  
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• Juneau camping ban heads toward hearing, possible vote

  21-01-2017 21:15
  
  People camping in downtown Juneau are the target of a proposal that’s up for discussion on Monday.
  KTOO-FM reports Assembly members may vote after Monday’s public hearing.
  The Juneau Police Department said the proposal allows officers to arrest campers for disorderly conduct if they refuse to move.
  Tickets could also be issued.
  Juneau Police Officer Alexander Smith says currently it’s the responsibility of the business owner to call police and report possible trespassing o
  
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• Taxi industry pushes effort to repeal ordinance adding new permits

  21-01-2017 21:13
  
  There will soon be more taxicabs on Anchorage streets. That is, unless the taxicab industry gets its way.
  The president and treasurer of the Anchorage Taxicab Permit Owners Association (ATPOA) filed a petition with the municipality in the first step to get a referendum on the April ballot. The referendum would repeal a new ordinance that adds 116 new taxi permits over the next five years. After that point, the cap on new permits is eliminated.
  “With our state in the [economic] downtur
  
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• Non-union state workers’ pay would freeze for 2 years under governor’s bill

  21-01-2017 08:21 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Walker proposed freezing the pay of state workers who aren’t covered by union contracts for two years. (Creative Commons photo by daryl_mitchell)
  Gov. Bill Walker has proposed freezing state workers’ pay for two years in part because other Alaskans are being asked to make sacrifices, including cuts to Permanent Fund dividends.
  That’s according to state Commissioner of Administration Sheldon Fisher, whose department is responsible for negotiating union contracts and adminis
  
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• Juneau Assembly to weigh in on ‘the road’

  21-01-2017 08:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The view of Berners Bay from Cascade Point. The Juneau Access Lynn Canal Highway would be built through this area. (Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities)
  The Juneau Assembly will vote Monday on a resolution supporting the Juneau Access Project. The initiative comes from Mayor Ken Koelsch, a strong proponent of better linking Juneau to the road system.
  Citing the state’s fiscal crisis, Gov. Bill Walker decided late last year to withdraw state suppo
  
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• Palmer’s abandoned Matanuska Maid building to become large-scale brewery

  21-01-2017 07:33
  
  Right in the heart of Downtown Palmer, the former Matanuska Maid blow mold building has sat empty for the last decade.
  Where some see the abandoned remnants of a once thriving diary operation, Matthew Tomter sees opportunity.
  “I remember drinking Mat Maid milk,” Tomter said. “I remember this place being functional back in the 90s.”
  Tomter is the owner of the Palmer City Ale House and the Eagle River Ale House, and says he and his partners are about to take on their b
  
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• New passing lanes, bridges part of Seward Highway improvement project

  21-01-2017 06:35
  
  The Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) is working to make major safety improvements to a busy section of the Seward Highway prone to crashes.
  The Milepost 75-90 Rehabilitation Project will upgrade the road from Girdwood to beyond the Portage curve toward Turnagain Pass.
  DOT spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said the project will cost up to $250 million. That price tag includes eight new bridges as well as five additional miles of passing lanes.
  (Alaska Depart of Transportation)
  “It
  
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• What’s at stake for Alaska if Trump repeals ACA Medicaid expansion?

  21-01-2017 05:50
  
  One of President Donald Trump’s first actions in office was an executive order regarding health care reform, the first step in seeking to promptly repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
  The order “allows the Health and Human Services Department and other federal agencies to delay implementing any piece of the law that might impose a ‘fiscal burden’ on states, health care providers, families or individuals,” the Associated Press reports.
  Trump has made it clear t
  
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• Nearly 20 Alaska communities plan to hold women’s marches Saturday

  21-01-2017 05:24
  
  Organizers of Anchorage’s version of the Women’s March on Washington say more than 1,000 people are expected to attend the event on Saturday at the Delaney Park Strip downtown.
  Alaska’s largest city is one of at least 18 communities around the state holding its own version of the national march, according to local organizer Celeste Godfrey.
  One of the towns holding a sister march is Gustavus, a small Southeast Alaska community of 400 residents. Event organizer Ki
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 1/20-17

  21-01-2017 02:32 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Friday on A Juneau Afternoon,We’ll get a rundown of the Telluride Mountain Film Festival with Collette Costa;
  We’ll get a preview of the Friday Fireside Lecture featuring Pete Schneider talking about Spying on Wildlife;
  Sarah Schafer will be here to highlight Saturday’s Seafood Festival.
  Live at 3 on KTOO, repeated at 4 on KRNN, on demand via ktoo.org
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/01/Juneau-PM-1-20-17.mp3
  
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• Audit of $90M state crime lab highlights empty promises, need for improvement

  21-01-2017 02:20
  
  Empty promises and revelations about evidence procedures — a newly released audit of the $90 million crime lab the state built in 2012 isn’t a shining report card.
  The 86-page audit references public testimony from Department of Public Safety management in 2010.
  “[At the new crime lab] there would be an immediate increase in efficiency of twenty percent, directly related to adequate use of space and equipment for all types of work processes and analysis in the lab,&rd
  
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• Aleutians volcano sends up ash cloud Friday; aircraft warned

  21-01-2017 02:10
  
  An Alaska volcano that has been erupting periodically since mid-December has sent up another ash cloud.
  The Alaska Volcano Observatory says Bogoslof Volcano in the Aleutian lslands erupted at 1:17 p.m. Friday.
  Pilots report an ash cloud reached 36,000 feet. Ash clouds higher than 20,000 feet are a threat to intercontinental jet aircraft because ash can damage engines.
  The aviation color code remains at red, the highest threat warning.
  The observatory says prevailing winds pushed the cloud southe
  
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• Juneau Afternoon 1-23-17

  21-01-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Monday at 3 on a Juneau Afternoon,
  Learn about the upcoming Platypus Game event;
  Steve Kocsis, from the Marie Drake Planetarium, will be here to highlight his presentation at the Valley Library;
  Merry Ellefson and Shona Osterhaut will be here with details about a play on Alaska’s homeless population;
  And we’ll about Perserverance Theatre’s new production, They Don’t Talk Back, with playwright Frank Katasse, Director Randy Reinholz, and actor Diane Benson.
  That, Writer&rsq
  
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• Hawaii mother’s airplane child assault conviction overturned

  21-01-2017 01:48
  
  A federal judge is overturning the conviction of a Hawaii mother found guilty of assaulting her 15-month-old daughter on a flight from Alaska.
  U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi’s ruling Friday orders a new trial for Samantha Watanabe.
  A jury convicted her of assault in 2015.
  Prosecutors said she cursed at her daughter, smacked her in the head, hit her in the face with a stuffed doll and yanked out tufts of her hair.
  Defense attorneys argued the allegations were fabricated by judgm
  
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• Gov. Walker proposes pay freeze for non-union state employees

  21-01-2017 01:28
  
  Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has proposed freezing his own salary, along with the salaries of the lieutenant governor, legislators and state department heads.
  It’s part of a broader bill that would freeze non-union state-worker pay for two years, beginning in July. The bill also would allow the governor to waive any portion of the governor’s salary during that time.
  Walker’s term ends in 2018. He has said he’ll probably seek re-election.
  In a release, Walker says he has propos
  
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• 17-year-old boy killed when ATV flips on Iliamna Lake

  21-01-2017 01:11
  
  A 17-year-old boy riding double on an all-terrain vehicle died in a crash on Iliamna Lake 12 miles north of the village of Kokhanok.
  The boy’s name has not been released.
  Alaska State Troopers say the teen and another juvenile Thursday night were traveling at about 40 mph and didn’t see a snowbank on the ice.
  The ATV hit the snowbank and flipped.
  Neither rider wore a helmet. The ATV’s handlebar struck the 17-year-old boy as the vehicle flipped, causing severe head injuries.
  Kok
  
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• No lichen, no problem: St. Paul’s reindeer thrive without essential food

  21-01-2017 00:46 via ktoo.org
  
  With no lichen left on St. Paul Island, reindeer are grazing on grass and digging up roots. (Courtesy Paul Melovidov)
  For a long time, scientists thought reindeer would be big losers in climate change, but the reindeer on St. Paul Island are challenging that theory.
  As their main winter food source has disappeared, the St. Paul herd has changed its diet so they can survive on the remote island. This adaptation could have global implications for reindeer facing a warming climate.
  If there’s
  
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• Gastineau Apartments lawsuit headed to trial

  21-01-2017 00:15 via ktoo.org
  
  The former Gastineau Apartments on July 21, 2015. The City and Borough of Juneau spent about $1.4 million to have it torn down in February 2016. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  It’s been nearly a year since the City and Borough of Juneau demolished the Gastineau Apartments. Now the city is taking the owners to court to recoup some of the $1.4 million spent tearing it down. The apartment building caught fire in 2012, was neglected for years then caught fire again in 2015. T
  
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• Kokhanok teenager killed in ATV crash Thursday

  21-01-2017 00:09 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Alex Nielsen of Kokhanok was killed Thursday in an ATV accident. (Photo by
  Hammer Odomin)
  The Kokhanok community is grieving the loss of 17-year-old Alex Nielsen, who was killed Thursday in an ATV accident north of the village.
  In a tragic coincidence, Nielsen’s father, Niel, was killed in an ATV accident 11 years ago on the same day, according to Anchorage Daily News reports. The elder Nielsen and James Hester, 13, encountered severe weather and died of drowning or exposure
  
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