Anchorage news

• Engine repairs to delay return of Alaska ferry Kennicott

  04-03-2017 23:57
  
  A ferry that’s been out of operation since January for its annual overhaul will return to service later than expected because officials say it needs additional repair work.
  CoastAlaska News reported Friday that the Kennicott ferry will resume its coastal route from Washington state to Kodiak on March 30, two weeks later than planned.
  Alaska Marine Highway General Manager John Falvey says the delay comes after crews found more work needed to be done on the Kennicott’s engines.
  At 20 y
  
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• Former UAA player signs with Alaska Aces

  04-03-2017 22:36
  
  A former University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves hockey player has signed a contract with the Alaska Aces, the team announced Saturday.
  Chase Van Allen. Photo: University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves
  Rob Murray, the Aces’ head coach and president of hockey operations, announced the contract for 24-year-old defenseman Chase Van Allen. Van Allen will be wearing jersey 2 when he plays with the team in Utah Saturday night, according to a statement on the team’s website.
  The team has ne
  
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• 12 cases of E. coli lead to recall of peanut butter substitute

  04-03-2017 21:28
  
  A dozen reported cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) in five states has led to a voluntary recall of a peanut butter substitute, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
  The 12 cases — reported in Arizona, California, Maryland, New Jersey and Oregon — have been linked to the SoyNut Butter Company’s I.M. Healthy Original Creamy SoyNut Butter and I.M. Healthy granola coated with SoyNut Butter, according to a statement on the FDA website.
  Rec
  
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• Inside the Gates: New life in a new place

  04-03-2017 20:17
  
  Military families move a lot — every couple of years, they take everything they own to a new home in a new community. It can sometimes mean adjusting to a whole new way of life.
  Paul and Nichole Napoli recently moved from Germany to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. They landed in Alaska a couple weeks ago and since then, a hotel room has been home for the pair.
  They’re starting to settle in after a rough start. The Napolis arrived in Fairbanks with no home and no car. They lost contact
  
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• From eggs to eating: Students schooled on salmon life cycle

  04-03-2017 20:17
  
  It’s that time of year again: Hundreds of children visit the resident fish of Sport Lake and Johnson Lake, intent on catching them.
  Each year, students from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District gather for ice fishing excursions on the two lakes over the course of three days. Jenny Gates, a fisheries biologist with the Soldotna office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, organizes the trips and said this year’s ice fishing excursions saw participation from 18 schools. The
  
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• The musher in black and his ‘top secret’ carbon fiber dogsled

  04-03-2017 08:51
  
  No matter who you’re cheering for on the Iditarod trail, you’ve got to admit that Dallas Seavey is going to be tough to beat.
  In 2016, we saw him take his fourth Iditarod championship, and many are wondering if this year will make five?
  If you’re going to do something, do it well. That’s Dallas Seavey’s take on work and fun.
  For him, the Iditarod is both. He has the success to go with it. He won the race in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
  Now, as he mushes towa
  
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• Alaska begins 2017 with highest unemployment rate in the nation

  04-03-2017 06:37
  
  The number of unemployed Alaskans is on the rise, and state economists expect it to get worse.
  Alaska ended last year with a 6.7 percent unemployment rate, the highest in the nation according the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
  The national average is 4.7 percent, making Alaska among the more challenging places to find a job.
  Staff at the midtown job center say the center is full of job seekers every day.
  Doris Jackson says she’s there two or three times a week.
  
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• Palmer residents excited about new, larger Fred Meyer store

  04-03-2017 06:11
  
  A new Fred Meyer store that opened Friday in Palmer drew big crowds. People waited in line hours before the store opened for a chance to get a $500 gift card. By 12 p.m., there wasn’t an empty parking space in sight.
  The new store is 137,000 square feet, almost twice as big as the old store, which now sits empty across the street. Fred Meyer Community Affairs specialist Judi Swift said the company made the $35 million investment because they needed more space.
  “It became impossible t
  
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• Meet the woman behind the iconic yellow Iditarod wreaths

  04-03-2017 05:54
  
  At the end of the Iditarod, there’s always the iconic photo of the finisher on the podium with their lead dogs wrapped in yellow rose wreaths.
  That signature floral flair of the Last Great Race starts from humble beginnings in Tina Osmond’s dining room.
  She makes each one by hand, using copious amounts of hot glue and staples.
  “With the cold, the glue can snap off and there goes your roses. So I do both,” Osmond explained.
  Dallas Seavey with his dogs Reef and Tide in Nome
  
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• Heading Downtown for the Iditarod Ceremonial Start? Read this first.

  04-03-2017 04:27
  
  The Iditarod Ceremonial start kicks off in downtown Anchorage Saturday morning. The first dog team will leave the start line at Fourth Avenue and D Street at 10 a.m. Dog teams, mushers and their IditaRiders will head east down Fourth Avenue, then south down Cordova Street and onto the Chester Creek Trail as part of the 11-mile route that winds through city streets and parks. the course ends at Campbell Airstrip, and offers many opportunities for spectators to catch the dog teams along the way.
  
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• Lawmakers seek health care price transparency

  04-03-2017 04:07 via ktoo.org
  
  (Creative Commons photo by tOrange.biz)
  When Alaskans buy candy bars, they know how much they’re going to pay before they make the purchase. The same isn’t true for health care. Lawmakers are looking to change that.
  Alaskans pay more for health care than anyone in the country. Anchorage Democratic Rep. Ivy Spohnholz wants them to know more about what they’re going to pay before they decide on a procedure.
  That’s why she’s introduced House Bill 123, which would requi
  
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• State reduces Hilcorp fine for 2015 worker safety incident

  04-03-2017 03:08 via ktoo.org
  
  The state is fining oil and gas company Hilcorp $200,000 dollars for a 2015 incident that nearly killed three workers on the North Slope.
  In September 2015 three men nearly died at Hilcorp’s Milne Point Unit on the North Slope, after the trailer they were working in filled with nitrogen. (Image courtesy of AOGCC)
  The final order amount, which was released Mar. 3rd, is a significant reduction from the $720,000 penalty the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) proposed last year
  
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• Is the Antiquities Act antiquated? Murkowski wants Alaskans approval for future national monuments

  04-03-2017 02:44 via ktoo.org
  
  Misty Fiords National Monument is known for its dramatic granite cliffs. Pictured is a view from Rudyerd Bay. (File photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  Alaska has five national monuments — public lands that are given special protections, and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski doesn’t want anymore of the state added to that list. She re-introduced a congressional bill in January to limit the Antiquities Act, which gives the president the sweeping authority to make those designations.
  In Barack Ob
  
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• Fairbanks Four may receive dividends for 18 years of wrongful imprisonment

  04-03-2017 02:08 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A Fairbanks Four banner at the 2015 Alaska Federation of Natives Conference. Two measures moving through the Alaska House would compensate the four men for the 18 years spent in prison. (Photo by Mikko Wilson/KTOO)
  It took the work of journalists, lawyers, tribal leaders and citizens to release the Fairbanks Four after they wrongfully convicted on a murder charge and other serious crimes in 1997.
  Now, an effort is underway to compensate the men for the 18 years they spent in prison in the f
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 3-6-17

  04-03-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Monday at 3 on a Juneau Afternoon,
  We’ll learn about Tuesday night’s Poetry Out Loud competition
  We’ll talk to Kayla Roys about the upcoming international Fly Fishing Film Festival;
  Katrina Woolford will be here to highlight this year’s Writers Symposium;
  
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• Ferry Kennicott’s late return cuts port calls

  04-03-2017 01:32 via ktoo.org
  
  The state ferry Kennicott will return to service March 30, two weeks later than planned.
  Fishermen in a skiff pass the ferry Kennicott in Whittier’s harbor in 2011. The ship will return from repairs two weeks late. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
  It stopped sailing in early January for its annual overhaul at the Ketchikan Shipyard.
  Alaska Marine Highway General Manager John Falvey said crews found more wear than expected when they took apart the engines. He said tw
  
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• 2 rescued after emergency landing near Southeast Alaska island

  04-03-2017 01:23
  
  Two people were rescued Friday after their small plane made an emergency landing near an Alaska island.
  The Coast Guard credits local authorities and others from the nearby community of Metlakatla for quickly responding to the scene in Smuggler Cove off Annette Island. The Coast Guard also helped in the response.
  Petty Officer Lauren Steenson says the people rescued were taken to the Metlakatla clinic for treatment of minor injuries.
  Officials say that because of icing on the BE18 Beechcraft pla
  
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• Southeast tribal safety expert defends sections of SB 91

  04-03-2017 00:55 via ktoo.org
  
  Legislative aide Jordan Shilling, left, listens as Jason Wilson, public safety manager for Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, discusses criminal justice reform during a Native Issues Forum Thursday at Juneau’s Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Photo courtesy CCTHITA)
  Some of last year’s changes to Alaska’s criminal code have drawn fire from law enforcement officials, politicians and crime victims.
  A partial rewrite is underway.
  But a Southeast tribal
  
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• How has the consolidation of Juneau and Douglas affected the two communities?

  04-03-2017 00:52 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Douglas Fourth of July parade in 2015. Douglas still holds separate Independence Day festivities from Juneau; residents have a lot of pride in their identity, but that all came into question during a 1970 controversial vote, in which Juneau voted to consolidate its smaller neighbor. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/KTOO)
  For 70 years, Juneau and Douglas were separate cities.
  That came to end in 1970 following a controversial vote in which Juneau overwhelmingly voted to consolidate with
  
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• Americans conflicted over GOP plans to dump Obamacare

  04-03-2017 00:44 via ktoo.org
  
  Last year, when presidential candidate Donald Trump hammered the Affordable Care Act as “a fraud,” “a total disaster” and “very bad health insurance,” many Americans seemed to agree with him.
  Now that President Trump and fellow Republicans are attempting to keep their promise to get rid of the law, voters increasingly seem to be having second thoughts.
  Multiple polls show rising support for the ACA, including one from the Pew Research Center and one from the W
  
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• Plane goes down near Metlakatla, minor injuries reported

  04-03-2017 00:13 via ktoo.org
  
  One of two people aboard a Twin Beech 18 turboprop plane suffered minor injuries, but otherwise both survived, after a Twin Beech turboprop plane en route from Klawock went down Friday morning in the water about 15 miles south of Ketchikan.
  The plane was attempting to land at Ketchikan International Airport shortly before 9 a.m. Friday, when it missed its approach, said Jerry Kiffer of the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad.Flight service heard a scratchy communication from the pilot saying he los
  
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