Anchorage news

• Wandering bison that ‘captured the hearts’ of Western Alaska poached near Quinhagak

  01-02-2017 23:55 via ktoo.org
  
  Wood Bison No. 124, seen here from the air, was illegally shot and killed January 27, 2017 near Quinhagak. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is calling the animal’s death a setback for the Alaska Wood Bison Restoration Project. (Photo by Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
  She was a wanderer. Instead of sticking with her herd, Wood Bison 124 headed out on her own, traveling hundreds of solitary miles from the Alaska Yukon, down the Kuskokwim, to the sea.
  A bullet ended her j
  
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• Celebrate 20 years of wellness at the Annual Gathering

  01-02-2017 23:42
  
  For the last two decades, the Southcentral Foundation (SCF) has been putting on an event known as the Annual Gathering. People can expect to find a wide array of Alaska Native art and family fun activities such as face painting and a scavenger hunt. There will also be live music, cultural dance performances, free tax preparations and a cooking demonstration by SCF.
  Denise Bingham, SCF’s event coordinator, said the goal of the event is to promote a healthy lifestyle, not just for Alask
  
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• Trump gets his man at the State Department

  01-02-2017 23:34 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump has gotten his man at the State Department.
  Rex Tillerson was approved by a 56-43 vote Wednesday in the Senate. Four senators who caucus with the Democrats crossed the aisle and joined all of the Republicans in voting for Tillerson. They were Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, as well as independent Angus King of Maine.
  Tillerson, the former head of Exxon Mobil — the world’s largest and most power
  
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• ‘Look at Me’: Providence’s new hand washing campaign

  01-02-2017 23:30
  
  Spreading the message and not the germs is the core of Providence Alaska Medical Center’s new hand washing campaign, accompanied by a catchy song and video. There’s an equally catchy way of remembering how to wash hands properly.
  According to Rebecca Hamel, who works as an infection preventionist at Providence, said the idea for the video was born after she realized the correct way to wash hands properly is a complicated answer. So she, Andre Williams and others simplified
  
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• Workforce Wednesday: Maritime careers through a new training program

  01-02-2017 23:05
  
  Including various islands, Alaska has nearly 34,000 miles of shoreline, according to Fly Alaska. That means there are a lot of opportunities for employment in the maritime sector.
  Now a joint program with Vigor Alaska, Maritime Works, and the Alaska Process Industry Careers Consortium (APICC) can help Alaskans start what could be a lifelong career in the maritime industry. The program is known as Advancing Alaska Workers and was launched last month.
  According to Doug Ward, with Vigor Alaska
  
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• Alaska authorities investigate fatal shootings of urban moose

  01-02-2017 22:32
  
  Last updated at 3:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1
  Alaska State Troopers are investigating two fatal shootings of moose in Anchorage.
  Wildlife troopers responded around 6 a.m. to Anchorage’s Mountain View neighborhood after the early Tuesday morning shooting of the female animal near Bragaw Street, according to an online dispatch. Troopers say the moose carcass was not salvaged by the shooter or shooters.
  “Evidence was recovered from the scene and investigation is continuing,” troo
  
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• Alaska authorities investigate fatal shooting of urban moose

  01-02-2017 22:32
  
  Alaska State Troopers are investigating the fatal shooting of a moose near a busy road in Anchorage.
  Wildlife troopers responded around 6 a.m. to Anchorage’s Mountain View neighborhood after the early Tuesday morning shooting of the female animal, according to an online dispatch. Troopers say the moose carcass was not salvaged by the shooter or shooters.
  Troopers said the moose was killed near Bragaw Street.
  “Evidence was recovered from the scene and investigation is continuing,&rdqu
  
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• Murkowski says she can’t support DeVos

  01-02-2017 21:23
  
  Last updated at 12:12 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1
  Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she cannot support secretary of education nominee Betsy Devos.
  On Tuesday, Murkowski voted to move President Donald Trump’s controversial secretary of education pick to be confirmed by the full Senate, one day after hundreds of people protested DeVos outside of Murkowski’s Anchorage office.
  “I voted to move Betsy DeVos out of the HELP Committee because I have long held the belief that a President
  
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• Bethel native sets American record in women’s powerlifting squat

  01-02-2017 20:46 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Bethel native Natalie Hanson has set a new American record in women’s powerlifting.
  Hanson squatted 578.7 pounds, more than three times her body weight, and more than 33 pounds over the former record Saturday, Jan. 28, in Milwaukee.
  The 26-year-old set the new all-time-high at the USA Powerlifting Wisconsin State Open Championship.http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170131-09.mp3Natalie Hanson set a new American record in women’s powerlifting on January 28, 2017, in Milwaukee,
  
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• Murkowski votes to advance DeVos, angering Alaska school advocates

  01-02-2017 19:55 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos (Screenshot of U.S. Senate video)
  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski had an opportunity Tuesday morning to block President Donald Trump’s pick for Education secretary.
  Thousands of Alaskans have raised objections to Betsy DeVos, but Murkowski voted in the Education Committee to send the nomination to the full Senate for a vote, and Alaska education activists are angry.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170131-01.mp3DeVos is p
  
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• Murkowski says she’ll vote ‘no’ on DeVos

  01-02-2017 19:55 via ktoo.org
  
  
  President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos (Screenshot of U.S. Senate video)
  Updated | 1:16 p.m.
  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced on the Senate floor today that she will vote against President Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary. Murkowski said she’s heard from thousands of Alaskans who are concerned that Betsy DeVos lacks public school experience, and Murkowski said she shares that concern.
  U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also announce
  
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• Alaska board mulls pot use in retail stores

  01-02-2017 19:22
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Thousands of cruise ship passengers could soon be getting a different taste of Alaska this summer.
  The state’s marijuana regulators will meet Thursday to consider letting pot retail stores allow onsite consumption.
  Critics fear either an Amsterdam-like scene or marijuana use spilling into alleys, parks and trails since visitors can’t take the drug back onto the cruise ships. They hope the state pot board puts in place restrictions to keep it from happening
  
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• Senate Republicans defy Democrats’ boycott to advance Trump nominees

  01-02-2017 19:12 via ktoo.org
  
  Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., center, nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, is seen with Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, before his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 24.
  (Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc.)
  A day after Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted votes to advance the nominations for President Trump’s nominees to lead the departments of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, the panel’s Republicans met in a surprise meeting Wedne
  
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• Alaska Aerospace looking for new launch site

  01-02-2017 18:49
  
  KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Aerospace Corp. is weighing options for a second launch facility outside the state, but CEO Craig Campbell says Alaskans will still benefit from the additional revenue.
  The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday that the state-owned corporation’s board of directors recently authorized spending up to $250,000 for a survey, appraisal, site design and other preliminary efforts for the launch site.
  Alaska Aerospace operates the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska.
  
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• Senate panel approves Mnuchin as Treasury secretary

  01-02-2017 18:07
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) – A Senate panel is approving President Donald Trump’s choice of financier Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary.
  The approval by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday came over objections from Democrats who boycotted the committee vote. They have criticized Mnuchin for how he handled thousands of mortgage foreclosures at failed subprime mortgage lender IndyBank, which Mnuchin took over and renamed OneWest.
  Democrats, who are demanding Mnuchin supply the committee
  
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• Anchorage police: 2 injured in Fairview vehicle shootout

  01-02-2017 15:20
  
  Police say two people were injured in an overnight shooting in Fairview.
  The Anchorage Police Department responded to the 900 block of Nelchina Street just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
  “We’ve got two vehicles involved. Looks like they traded some shots,” said Sgt. Ken Bushue at the scene. “We have two victims, both went to the hospital.”
  One of the victims was “critically injured,” Bushue says.
  Bushue says APD believes this was an isolated incident an
  
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• 1 killed in Fairview shooting, no arrests

  01-02-2017 15:20
  
  Last updated at 12:28 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1
  A 29-year-old man was killed in a Fairview shootout early Wednesday, according to Anchorage police.
  In a release from the Anchorage Police Department, the agency said they responded to Nelchina Street and Eighth Avenue at 1:28 a.m.
  “Initial indications are that several individuals from two different vehicles got into some type of altercation.  During the incident several shots were fired and one adult from each vehicle suffered guns
  
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• Municipality settles with 3 more companies in Port of Anchorage lawsuits

  01-02-2017 08:55
  
  A municipal attorney says Anchorage has taken a major step forward, settling with the last three of the seven companies involved in the failed Port of Anchorage expansion project.
  Robert Owens says what happens to the port happens to Alaskans, because 85 percent of the goods sold in southcentral and western Alaska come through the Port of Anchorage. But the port is in bad shape. An assessment’s findings — filling three large binders — details the roughly $329 million in da
  
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• Law expert explores challenges facing Trump’s SCOTUS nominee

  01-02-2017 08:47
  
  On Tuesday, President Donald Trump named Judge Neil Gorsuch as his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. If his appointment is confirmed by Congress, he will take up the seat left vacant by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February of last year.
  Gorsuch isn’t the first nominee for the position, according to Jason Brandeis, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Justice Center. He sat down with Emily Carlson to discuss what the nomination
  
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• Police: Man critically shot in Spenard walked to Brown Jug for help

  01-02-2017 08:19
  
  Last updated at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1
  The Anchorage Police Department is investigating a Spenard-area shooting that left one person injured Tuesday night.
  According to a release from police, a Spenard Brown Jug employee called 911 to report an adult man had walked into the store, with a gunshot wound to his chest. APD said they believe the shooting victim got into an altercation with at least one other man on Greenland Drive, west of Brown Jug. According to police, the shooter fired one s
  
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• Police: 1 injured in Spenard shooting

  01-02-2017 08:19
  
  The Anchorage Police Department is investigating a Spenard-area shooting that left one person injured Tuesday night.
  In a Nixle alert issued just after 10 p.m., police stated the male victim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
  The shooting occurred on the 3700 block of Spenard Road, police wrote. A police dispatcher said the shooting was reported at 9:14 p.m.
  “No suspect or suspects are in custody at this time,” police said in a second statement.No fur
  
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• UA ‘remains committed to the open exchange’ of international students, scholars following refugee ban

  01-02-2017 08:05
  
  The University of Alaska has joined the conversation about President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigrants and refugees from seven countries. But at least one federal judge has issued an injunction putting a stop to the detainment of refugees and visa holders in the U.S.
  In a letter to students and faculty on Monday, shared below in its entirety, President Jim Johnsen reaffirmed the university’s support for its students, regardless of their country of bir
  
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• Sheriff: 474 arrested in California human trafficking stings

  01-02-2017 08:02
  
  Authorities say 474 people have been arrested in a multi-day sting operation focused on human trafficking in California.
  Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Tuesday the arrests came after a three-day operation conducted by 30 law enforcement agencies across the state last week.
  Investigators say as part of the sting, undercover officers posed as prostitutes on street corners and also posted advertisements online.
  Officials say three dozen people were arrested on suspicion of being pimp
  
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• Juneau Human Rights Commission ‘deeply concerned’ over Trump’s executive orders on immigration

  01-02-2017 07:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Juneau’s Human Rights Commission convened a special meeting to respond to President Donald Trump’s executive orders that suspended the nation’s refugee program and effectively caused more than 700 visa holders from seven predominately Muslim countries to be denied entry or detained at airports upon arrival.
  Three commissioners with input from several community members at the Tuesday meeting drafted the statement.
  “The President’s Order on Immigration violates the Un
  
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• For Rosie Mancari, there’s no business like snow business

  01-02-2017 06:39
  
  Rosie Mancari is living out her dream, and some dreams pay.
  The Anchorage native began snowboarding when she was 3 years old. She’s now 23 and attempting to do this for a living. 
  “I’ve always had a need for speed,” she said on a recent trip home.  
  But she’s doing it the hard way. She’s a part of the U.S. development squad. The title may carry some prestige, but it doesn’t pay the bills. Mancari does that all
  
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• Legal loophole lets undercover officers have sex with prostitutes, group alleges

  01-02-2017 06:04
  
  A group of current and former workers in the Alaska sex trade are asking lawmakers for more protection — protection from police.
  The group says right now, current laws allow police officers to engage in sex with prostitutes while building a case against them.
  State statutes ban police officers from having sex with anyone in their custody, but there’s nothing that prohibits them from doing so as part of an undercover operation. It’s a matter left to individual police departments
  
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• Bogoslof volcano erupts 28 times within 6 weeks

  01-02-2017 05:46
  
  The Bogoslof Island volcano in the Aleutians sat quietly for nearly 25 years — at least until about six weeks ago.
  Monday night, it erupted for the 28th time since mid-December, according to researchers at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). Geophysicist Matthew Haney said he is running on coffee and adrenaline.
  “It started at about 8:20 p.m. Alaska time and I was up until about 5 a.m.,” Haney said.
  Bogoslof’s latest eruption was unlike any Haney said he’s ev
  
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• Travel ban presents new challenge to Anchorage school counselor

  01-02-2017 04:14
  
  President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning all refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States has drawn mixed reactions from Alaskans. For some immigrants living in Anchorage, the order is disconcerting.
  Marti Guzman is the family school services coordinator at Russian Jack Elementary in East Anchorage. The school is diverse, even by Anchorage School District standards. It is also a Title I school, meaning the principal student po
  
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• Suspect in stabbing of Juneau woman ID’d; victim listed in fair condition

  01-02-2017 03:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Updated | 12:03 p.m. Wednesday
  Police have charged and identified Brent M. Sanders as the suspect in the assault of Rochelle Stevens and another woman early Tuesday morning.
  According to a Juneau police news release, Sanders, 26, was arrested on a felony parole violation warrant related to two previous counts of third-degree assault.
  Now police are seeking charges of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault in Tuesday’s incident.
  Sanders is
  
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• Juneau woman stabbed in the back and head listed in fair condition

  01-02-2017 03:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Updated | 12:03 p.m. Wednesday
  Police have charged and identified Brent M. Sanders as the suspect in the assault of Rochelle Stevens and another woman early Tuesday morning.
  According to a Juneau police news release, Sanders, 26, was arrested on a felony parole violation warrant related two previous counts of third-degree assault.
  Now police are seeking charges of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault in Tuesday’s incident.
  Sanders i
  
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• Juneau woman stabbed in the back and head in surgery in Anchorage; male suspect in custody

  01-02-2017 03:48 via ktoo.org
  
  A 37-year-old woman was medevaced to Anchorage after she was found with a knife in her head, and multiple stab wounds in her back in a Mendenhall Valley apartment.
  Juneau police responded to a call about 1:35 a.m. Tuesday to a residence in the 1900 block of Cinema Drive, according to a news release. Police said the woman was attacked by a 26-year-old Juneau man.
  Juneau police spokesman Lt. David Campbell said a second woman tried to intervene and the man punched her in the fa
  
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• Neil Gorsuch is President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee

  01-02-2017 03:34
  
  Donald Trump has selected Judge Neil Gorsuch to be the next Supreme Court justice, filling the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia almost a year ago, he announced at the White House Tuesday night.
  “I am a man of my word, I will do as I say, something that the American people have been asking for from Washington for a very, very long time,” Mr. Trump said at the East Room announcement. “Today I am keeping another promise to the American people by nominating Judg
  
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• Who wants the state ferry Taku?

  01-02-2017 03:27 via ktoo.org
  
  The ferry Taku loads up at the Prince Rupert, B.C., ferry terminal July 24, 2014. The Alaska Marine Highway could give it to another government agency. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
  The Alaska Marine Highway wants to know whether any other government agencies want the ferry Taku.
  It’s another step toward selling or scrapping the 350-foot-long ship, which has been tied up for about a year and a half.
  Spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said the new owner would have to keep carrying passen
  
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• Walker criticizes Trump’s handling of refugee issue

  01-02-2017 03:24 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Bill Walker delivers his State of the State Address to the Alaska Legislature on Jan. 17. On Tuesday, he criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of an order restricting refugees and some immigrants.  (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  Gov. Bill Walker criticized President Donald Trump’s order that halted immigration from seven heavily Muslim countries, indefinitely banned Syrian refugees and temporarily banned all other refugees.
  During Tuesday’s Talk of Alaska,
  
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• President Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court

  01-02-2017 03:22 via ktoo.org
  
  President Trump has nominated conservative favorite Judge Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
  NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has more on Gorsuch, who currently sits on the federal appeals court in Denver:Gorsuch has a sterling legal pedigree. He clerked for two Supreme Court justices, Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. He also served as a clerk on the second most important appeals court in the country, in Washington D.C., for conservative Judge D
  
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• Sweeping criminal justice overhaul under fire — and revision

  01-02-2017 03:21 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, is working on revisions to the criminal justice overhaul he helped write. This photo is from January 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  Legislators are considering changes to a seven-month-old law that overhauled the criminal justice system. The commission that helped shape the law has recommended 14 changes to it.
  The law allowed some low-risk offenders to avoid jail time. And it made other changes in sentencing, bail and probation that are aimed at
  
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• Alaska lawmaker seeks more scrutiny for Pebble Mine project

  01-02-2017 02:15
  
  An Alaska legislator is proposing a new level of scrutiny for the Pebble Mine project: requiring that three state commissioners find beyond a reasonable doubt that the mine would not be a danger to the region’s world-premier fishery.
  Voters in 2014 decided that, besides permits, large-scale metallic mines in the Bristol Bay region also will need legislative approval.
  Democratic Rep. Andy Josephson wants to build off that by requiring that the commissioners of Natural Resources, Environment
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 2-1-17

  01-02-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Wednesday, February 1, 2017
  8:00Crosscurrents with John Gaguine
  10:00 Soundings Blues with RhondaNOONRoots of Smooth – Jazz
  1:00 Performance Today – Classical music
  3:00 From the Top – Classical music performed by youth
  4:00 A Juneau Afternoon (recorded at 3 p.m. on KTOO-NEWS)
  5:00Tidelines with Pat Bingham
  7:00 Friends & Neighbors with Anne & Mike
  9:00 Stormy Weather with Carolyn MinorWednesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon,We’ll talk with artist Carmel Anderson abo
  
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• Phony money circulating in Juneau, police warn

  01-02-2017 01:31 via ktoo.org
  
  The front of a fake $50 bill found in one of nine incidents of fake or counterfeit currency in circulation. (Photo courtesy Juneau Police Department)
  Nine incidents of using fake or counterfeit money have been reported by local businesses in the last month, according to a Juneau Police Department news release.
  The fake and counterfeit notes include $50 and $100 bills with the words “Motion Picture Use Only.” And at least one bill was described as having Chinese writing
  
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• Fake $50, $100 bills circulating in Southeast

  01-02-2017 01:28
  
  A fake $100 bill with the words "Motion Picture Use Only"Courtesy Sitka Police Department A fake $50 bill with the words "Motion Picture Use Only"Courtesy Juneau Police Department
  Fake $50 and $100 bills have been used at businesses in at least two southeast Alaska communities, police confirm.
  On Tuesday, the Juneau Police Department issued an alert warning local businesses to double check large bills used in transactions, as at least nine incidents involving the bills had been reported over th
  
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• Seeing the value of the forest in the trees: Chugach enters California’s carbon market

  01-02-2017 00:51 via ktoo.org
  
  
  An aerial view of the eastern edge of Alaska’s Copper River Delta. The area is the focus of an innovative deal that safeguards old-growth forests and major coal reserves. (Photo courtesy David Little/Eyak Preservation Council)http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/01/30Chugach.mp3“Anyone who’s been to Prince William Sound can tell you it’s an area of tremendous beauty,” said Josie Hickel, Senior Vice President of Chugach Alaska Corporation. “Glaciers, for
  
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• Volcanic ash falls on Unalaska in Bogoslof’s longest eruption yet

  01-02-2017 00:21 via ktoo.org
  
  A fine layer of volcanic ash covers a car in Unalaska. Scientists say the minimal ash fall is not a health risk for island residents. (Photo by Zoe Sobel/KUCB)
  After more than two dozen explosions, Bogoslof Volcano has finally dropped ash on Unalaska.
  In its longest eruption since activity began six weeks ago, the volcano dusted the island with less than a millimeter of ash Monday night and produced a strong sulfurous smell.
  The eruption lasted eight hours, starting at 8:20 p.m. with a series of
  
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