Anchorage news

• Dakota Access Pipeline court challenge denied, oil could flow as soon as next week

  07-03-2017 23:41 via ktoo.org
  
  A federal judge has denied a request by the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River tribes to halt construction of the final piece of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
  In a decision on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the tribe’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the pipeline company. The tribes are arguing that the completion of the pipeline construction just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation endangers their drinking water source, part of the Missouri River
  
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• Is soy OK for breast cancer patients?

  07-03-2017 23:10
  
  Eating soy-based foods does not appear to be harmful and may even benefit some women with breast cancer, new research shows.
  The study may help clear up confusion over whether soy products such as tofu, soy milk, edamame, tempeh and miso – foods rich in estrogen-like chemicals – are OK to consume if you have breast cancer.
  Higher estrogen levels have been linked to the growth and spread of breast cancer in the most common form of the disease.
  Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiolog
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, March 7, 2017

  07-03-2017 23:08 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/03/20170307-newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  The Juneau Assembly exempts cruise ship sales in port from the city’s sales tax and tees up more money for fighting a cruise ship industry lawsuit,
  Alaska Fish & Game issues an emergency order blocking king salmon sport fishing in the area and cancelling Juneau’s Annual Spring King Salmon Derby, and
  Gov. Bill Walker introduces a bill aimed at curbing opioid abuse and overdoses.
  
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• Nikiski man dies in Seward Highway crash near Portage

  07-03-2017 23:02
  
  A 27-year-old Nikiski man died when his pickup crashed and flipped on the Seward Highway near Portage.
  Alaska State Troopers say Kevin Hammond died in the crash Monday night near Mile 81.
  Hammond was driving south with two passengers when he crossed the center line, went into the northbound ditch and hit a power pole. The truck flipped, trapping him inside.
  Troopers took a call on the crash just before 7 p.m. Emergency responders extracted Hammond and pronounced him dead at the scene.
  The two pa
  
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• 9 hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning lived in home with running generator

  07-03-2017 22:44
  
  The home on Corn Street where 9 people were sickened by carbon monoxideBonney Bowman/KTVA
  Carbon monoxide in a Houston home has led to the hospitalization of nine people, according to a local fire official.
  Houston Fire Department Chief Christian Hartley said the nine victims were living in a home on Corn Street with a generator running in the basement, which he said they thought was ventilated.
  According to Hartley, one of the men living in the home left and went to a friend&rsq
  
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• Alaska Weather Forecast – March 7, 2017

  07-03-2017 22:42
  
  The temperature dropped to negative 8 degrees at the Anchorage airport this morning, which is the coldest March temperature since March 10, 1999! That’s nowhere near the daily record of negative 24 degrees, but still pretty impressive.
  Temperatures throughout other parts of the bowl were even colder, with Merrill Field dipping to negative 13 degrees. Temperatures this afternoon will rebound into the teens thanks to sunny skies.
  Today we gain 5 hours and 44 minutes, making our day 11 hours
  
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• As mushers race to Nome, a Chicago educator will teach on the trail

  07-03-2017 22:34 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Annie Kelley is the Teacher on the Trail for the 2017 Iditarod (Photo by Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)
  The Iditarod trail won’t be full of just mushers: a teacher will be following along as part of a yearly program.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170306-06.mp3For two years, Annie Kelley, of St. Andrew’s School in Chicago has been preparing for a new type of lesson plan.
  “My job is to fly out on the trail in little planes and report back to classrooms across the country th
  
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• Teacher of the Week: Stefanie Stacey

  07-03-2017 22:32
  
  Second-grade teacher Stefanie Stacey believes in hands-on learning.
  “I try to do more projects because it seems to be more engaging for them,” said Frau (Mrs. in German) Stacey, who teaches at Rilke Shule German School in Anchorage. “It’s more fun for me, too.”
  Her classes are taught entirely in German, and her students don’t miss a beat, interacting with each other and Frau Stacey in her native language. Students receive lessons in German for half the da
  
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• Proper packing becomes more important as mushers kick off from Fairbanks

  07-03-2017 22:23 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Fairbanks volunteers prepare for race start on banks of Chena River (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
  Mushers are on the rivers heading out of Fairbanks right now, as the 45th Iditarod starts in earnest.
  This is the second time in three races that the restart has been in Fairbanks. And a lot of the mushers have vivid memories of the 2015 race, so this year, they’re trying to pack accordingly.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170306-05.mp3It was chilly in Fairbanks, with overnight lows dipping t
  
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• KTVA Weather Lab: Creekside Park Elementary

  07-03-2017 22:20
  
  In this week’s KTVA Weather Lab, I take you behind the scenes in the news studio! I visited Creekside Park Elementary School in Anchorage, where the third-graders are using songs to help them remember their weather lessons.
  These young scientists have a solid foundation in meteorology but were curious about the science of TV! While I was there, they asked me the Weather Lab Question of the Week: How do you know where to point on the green screen?
  Every Tuesday, Mel
  
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• Recipe Box: Salmon Chowder

  07-03-2017 22:06
  
  While the Lower 48 is gearing up for spring, Anchorage just recorded the coldest March morning since 1999.
  Needless to say, it’s still soup season in Alaska, notes Michelle Baxter. In this week’s Recipe Box, she whips up her version of salmon chowder, a hearty soup full of vegetables and protein.
  This isn’t the first time the local blogger has shared a soup recipe. In October, when the temperatures began to drop, she and her toddler, Cullen, made a bacon, kale and potato soup.
  
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• Alaska underwater pipeline leak may have started in December

  07-03-2017 21:49
  
  A federal pipeline safety office says natural gas leaking from an underwater pipeline in Alaska’s Cook Inlet may have started flowing in December.
  Gas from the pipeline was spotted bubbling to the surface Feb. 7.
  [Related: Hilcorp pipeline leaking natural gas into Alaska’s Cook Inlet]
  But the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration says a flow analysis indicates it started leaking in late December.
  The agency has issued a proposed safety order requiring the line to
  
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• Authorities identify Wasilla pilot killed in plane crash outside of Nome

  07-03-2017 21:43 via ktoo.org
  
  Thomas Grainger’s plane, a single-engine, single-passenger Cessna 172, could not land in Nome because of weather and went down after 10:30 p.m. Sunday. (Photo courtesy Alaska State Troopers)
  Authorities have identified a pilot killed after a single-passenger airplane crashed outside of Nome sometime after Sunday evening.
  Thomas Grainger, 28, of Wasilla was piloting a single-engine Cessna 172 from Wasilla to Nome, when it went down.
  Alaska State Troopers were inform
  
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• Today was the coldest March morning in Anchorage since 1999

  07-03-2017 21:13
  
  Notice an extra chill in the air this morning?
  Southcentral Alaska experienced one of the coldest March mornings in nearly two decades. The temperature at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport dipped to 8 degrees below zero just before 8 a.m. Although that’s nowhere near the daily record of 24 degrees below zero, set in 1971, it is the coldest March temperature observed at the airport since 1999, when the temperature also dipped to 8 degrees below zero. Other parts of the Anchor
  
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• Fishing crew rescued after vessel runs aground off Unalaska

  07-03-2017 21:11 via ktoo.org
  
  A fishing crew was rescued Monday morning after their boat ran aground off Unalaska Island.
  Fishing vessel St. Dominick began taking on water about 10 a.m., Coast Guard Petty Officer Lauren Steenson said.
  “All of the crew members of the St. Dominick were transported to Dutch Harbor by the good Samaritan vessel Kona Kai,” she said.
  It’s unclear how many people were aboard the 50-foot steel boat, which is registered to Zachary Nehus of Unalaska, Steenson said.
  The Coast Guard&rsq
  
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• Preparations underway for Arctic Council ministerial, related events

  07-03-2017 21:05 via ktoo.org
  
  Larry Hinzman, vice chancellor of research for University of Alaska Fairbanks, talks about the Week of the Arctic at the Feb. 28 Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce meeting. (Photo by Tim Ellis/KUAC)
  A U.S. State Department official said planning is well under way for the big, biennial meeting of top diplomats from the eight Arctic Council member nations to be held this spring in Fairbanks.
  “We have an advance team of 40 individuals who are up with us – to give you an idea of how m
  
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• Anchorage police: Local bagel shop burglarized early Tuesday morning

  07-03-2017 20:56
  
  Anchorage police are looking for the person(s) who they say broke into the Bagel Factory, located 142 W 34th Ave Tuesday morning.
  The call came in around 5 a.m. after an employee noticed the front door was shattered, according to Anchorage Police Department dispatch. It was reported that the suspect then stole money from the Bagel Factory’s back office.
  At this time, police have no suspect information or description. Anyone with information is asked to call APD at&
  
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• ACA replacement bill has skimpier tax credits for Alaskans

  07-03-2017 20:52 via ktoo.org
  
  
  (Photo by Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  Republicans in the U.S. House on Monday released their plan to replace former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
  The new plan would phase out the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid.
  The House proposal offers tax credits to help people buy insurance if they don’t get it through their jobs.
  But those tax credits are far less generous to Alaskans than the subsidies in existing law.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-2
  
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• WikiLeaks releases what it calls CIA trove of cyber-espionage documents

  07-03-2017 20:29 via ktoo.org
  
  WikiLeaks has released thousands of files that it identifies as CIA documents related to the agency’s cyber-espionage tools and programs.
  The documents published on Tuesday include instruction manuals, support documents, notes and conversations about, among other things, efforts to exploit vulnerabilities in smartphones and turn smart TVs into listening devices.
  A CIA spokesperson would not confirm whether the documents were genuine, telling NPR, “We do not comment on the authenticit
  
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• Juneau exempts cruise ships from sales tax, then tees up $100,000 in sales tax for cruise industry lawsuit

  07-03-2017 10:24 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Visitors stop by the new waterfront visitor center in Juneau in 2012. Roughly 1 million people visit Juneau by cruise ship each summer. (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)
  Cruise ships will now be exempt from Juneau’s sales tax while in port. An overwhelming majority of Assembly members said the exemption sends a business-friendly message to the industry. This comes as the City & Borough of Juneau is proposing to use sales tax revenue to defend itself in a lawsuit brought by the cruise ship
  
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• Royal Suite Lodge fire victims return home to check for salvageable belongings

  07-03-2017 09:07
  
  For nearly three weeks, the charred Royal Suite Lodge in Spenard has been off limits to the public, including residents. Following the Feb. 15 fire that claimed the lives of three residents and displaced dozens, the Anchorage Police Department declared the property a crime scene as they conducted an arson and homicide investigation.
  Saturday, Brieanna Brooks became the first person to get back into the building to see if any of her belongings were salvageable.
  “It was like getting gut punc
  
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• Iditarod fans ‘trailgate’ at the Nenana checkpoint

  07-03-2017 08:48
  
  Being a spectator along the Iditarod Trail was a little easier this year with the route starting in Fairbanks.
  The sub-zero temperatures didn’t stop high-spirited fans from filing onto the ice at the Nenana checkpoint. Joshua Hensel and his friends traveled from Denali to cheer on teams.
  “It’s really cool to see it all come together here at the race,” Hensel said.
  A year ago, he and his girlfriend left their “nine-to-five jobs” in Michigan and moved to Alaska
  
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• Joee Redington Jr. prepares to greet mushers in Manley Hot Springs

  07-03-2017 06:24
  
  Megan Edge/ KTVA Megan Edge / KTVA
  He was five years old the first time he got on the back of a sled, pulled by a team of dogs. With three dogs in harnesses, it would also be the first time Joee Redington Jr. lost dogs.
  “I kind of stepped off the sled, looked behind me, looked forward and my team was gone,” he explained with a grin. “Someone picked them up about a mile away.”
  Now in his early-80s, Redington is far from the young boy he described. He became an accomplishe
  
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• Joe Redington Jr. prepares to greet mushers in Manley Hot Springs

  07-03-2017 06:24
  
  Megan Edge/ KTVA Megan Edge / KTVA
  He was five years old the first time he got on the back of a sled, pulled by a team of dogs. With three dogs in harnesses, it would also be the first time Joe Redington Jr. lost dogs.
  “I kind of stepped off the sled, looked behind me, looked forward and my team was gone,” he explained with a grin. “Someone picked them up about a mile away.”
  Now in his early-80s, Redington is far from the young boy he described. He became an accomplished
  
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• Great moments in Iditarod history: Joe Redington’s 1,000-mile legacy

  07-03-2017 06:19
  
  The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is now a mainstay in American sports. It wasn’t always like that. The first race took off in 1973, thanks to the vision of Joe Redington.Photos from Iditarod: The First Ten Years – Dan Seavey collection  The post Great moments in Iditarod history: Joe Redington’s 1,000-mile legacy appeared first on KTVA 11.
  
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• House Republicans unveil plan for health care overhaul

  07-03-2017 06:12
  
  House Republicans have released their long-awaited bill dismantling much of former President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The measure would roll back the government’s health care role and is expected to result in fewer people having insurance coverage.
  House committees planned votes on the legislation Wednesday. That will launch perhaps the year’s defining battle in Congress, and GOP success is by no means assured because of internal divisions.
  The plan would repeal the
  
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• Tree sweater art installation destroyed for second time in one month

  07-03-2017 05:30
  
  A public art exhibit designed to brighten Westchester Lagoon was destroyed almost immediately after it was installed. A group called Anchorage Guerrilla Knitters wrapped 50 handmade sweaters around trees near the lagoon Friday evening. By noon Saturday, they were all gone.
  Linda Phillips, one of the people who created the sweaters, said someone appeared to have taken scissors to the sweaters and discarded them in nearby trashcans and a portable toilet.
  “I was disheartened that there&r
  
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• Downtown DMV to close: Director cites new efficiencies

  07-03-2017 04:51
  
  The downtown Anchorage office of the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will be closing its doors for good at the end of March.
  DMV director Marla Thompson said it’s not a matter of budget cuts as much as cost efficiencies. She said the office wasn’t serving enough customers to justify keeping it open.
  “They take about 60,000 people a year,” Thompson said. “We can handle that at our Benson location. We can add to our current staff and just be a lot more efficient and
  
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• High winds lead to vehicle, roof damage in Valdez

  07-03-2017 04:47
  
  Chilly temperatures, high winds and blowing snow — just another day in Valdez, but it’s caused some damage.
  The winds started picking up early Thursday morning and haven’t really let up since. People in Valdez are enduring wind gusts between 50 and 80 mph and a peak wind gust on the scale of a category two hurricane at 98 mph.In a video shared by Roy Corral, wind can be seen blowing the snow sideways over Mineral Creek Bridge, reducing the visibility and creating a dangero
  
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• Anchorage School District announces change in cheerleading programs

  07-03-2017 04:35
  
  Last updated at 7:48 p.m. on Monday, March 6
  The Anchorage School District says this spring season will see a new extracurricular sports for high school students, but that it will come at no extra cost to the district, which is facing major budget cuts.
  In a statement released Monday, ASD spokeswoman Heidi Embley said stunt cheer will begin its inaugural season on March 20. She explained stunt cheer is “a USA Cheer-sanctioned head-to-head sport with teams competing to win the gra
  
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• Alaska Sea Grant program “hopeful but not confident” funding won’t be cut

  07-03-2017 03:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Melissa Good with UAF Alaska Sea Grant collects a sample from a Steller’s sea lion carcass by Unalaska’s Summer Bay. (Photo by John Ryan/KUCB)
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received a surprise on Friday: The Trump administration is proposing deep cuts to the organization, which focuses on fisheries and climate science. As reported in the Washington Post, NOAA’s could lose 26 percent of its overall budget. The Sea Grant program, with more than a doze
  
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• Walker bill aims to curb opioid epidemic

  07-03-2017 03:56 via ktoo.org
  
  State officials discuss legislation aimed at curbing opioid abuse with reporters in the state Capitol on Monday. From left to right: Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, Health Commissioner Valeria “Nurr’araaluk” Davidson, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, and Gov. Bill Walker. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
  A new bill is aimed at curbing opioid addiction and overdose deaths. The bill lets patients tell health care providers and hospitals to not give them o
  
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• Teachable moments from Saturday’s avalanche near Eaglecrest

  07-03-2017 02:56 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/03/06AVALANCHE-NPR1.mp3An experienced backcountry snowboarder had a very close call with an avalanche he triggered near Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area on Saturday. It slid, rolled and bounced him hundreds of feet through a gully, though he was able to walk away from it.
  The slope is known as Showboat.
  “Front and center, right in front of the parking lot but it’s well outside our ski boundary,” said Brian Davies, who directs
  
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• Haines manager applicants include man fired from position three months ago

  07-03-2017 02:29 via ktoo.org
  
  Borough Manager Bill Seward and Mayor Jan Hill. In December, Haines Borough Assembly fired Seward in a 4-2 vote during his six-month evaluation by the Assembly. (Photo Emily Files/KHNS)
  The person who was fired from the Haines borough manager position about three months ago has applied for the job again.
  The Assembly fired Bill Seward for cause in a 4-2 vote in December.
  Assembly members raised concerns about Seward’s competence and behavior during his six months as manager.
  Seward had a l
  
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• Claman renews effort to give Alaska women 12-month prescriptions for birth control

  07-03-2017 02:19 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska state Rep. Matt Claman is picking up where he left off last year with legislation that would require public and private insurers to cover 12-month prescriptions for birth control.
  The Anchorage Democrat said it’s good for Alaska women, but he’s pitching it as a way for the state to save money. Lizzie Kubitz, his chief of staff, explained in a hearing on Feb. 28.
  “When women have greater access and availability to contraceptives, unintended pregnancies are reduced,&r
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 3-7-17

  07-03-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Tuesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon,We’ll get an update on library activities;Julie Diane will be here to highlight the Juneau’s Got Talent Show;We’ll learn about the Montessori Borealis School.
  
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• GOP bill would repeal Obamacare taxes and penalties, keep some subsidies

  07-03-2017 01:37 via ktoo.org
  
  After years of waiting, it’s finally here.
  The Republican plan to reshape the Affordable Care Act — what they call “repeal and replace” — kills the requirement that everyone buy health insurance by eliminating the tax penalty for those who don’t have coverage. It also makes significant changes in the financial assistance people can receive to buy a health plan.
  “Our legislation transfers power from Washington back to the states,” said House Ways an
  
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• Trump’s new travel ban executive order removes Iraq from list of banned countries

  07-03-2017 01:33
  
  President Donald Trump signs a new executive order regarding refugees and visasCourtesy President Donald Trump/Facebook
  President Trump signed a new executive order Monday that will impose a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas to people from six predominantly Muslim nations and will suspend the U.S. refugee program for all countries for 120 days, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said Monday.
  Unlike the original executive order from Jan. 27 that now sits in legal limbo, Iraq
  
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• Walker introduces new measure to curb Alaska’s opioid epidemic

  07-03-2017 01:28
  
  Gov. Bill Walker and the Alaska Legislature have said that addressing the state’s opioid epidemic is a top priority this legislative session, after the budget. Last month, Walker declared the epidemic a disaster.
  On Monday, he introduced prevention-based legislation aimed at limiting access to opioids and increasing education about the drugs among prescribers and patients.
  The measure, House Bill 159, accomplishes six main goals, according to Walker:   
  It creates a Voluntary Non
  
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• Senate approves bill to recognize black soldiers’ efforts in building Alaska Highway

  07-03-2017 01:15 via ktoo.org
  
  Historian Lael Morgan said the 10,000 U.S. soldiers who built the Alaska Highway included about 3,500 African-American troops, who mainly worked from Alaska southward into Canada. (Photo by U.S. Army/University of Alaska archives)
  The state Senate today unanimously approved a bill that would make October 25 African American Soldiers’ Contribution to Building the Alaska Highway Day.
  The bill now moves to the Alaska House of Representatives.
  The bill, introduced by Wasilla Republican David W
  
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• Islands of the Four Mountains’ artifacts exhibited for the first time

  07-03-2017 01:00 via ktoo.org
  
  An aerial view of the Islands of the Four Mountains in the central Aleutians. (Photo by NASA Earth Observatory)
  Not many people make it to the Islands of the Four Mountains.
  But with a new exhibit at the Museum of the Aleutians, Unalaskans can now explore one of the chain’s most isolated areas.
  “It’s a group of islands to the west of us,” said museum Director Virginia Hatfield. “Between the Andreanof Islands, which include Adak, and the Fox Islands, which inclu
  
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• Pilot killed in plane crash outside of Nome identified

  07-03-2017 00:49
  
  The scene of the plane crash near NomeCourtesy Alaska State Troopers
  Last updated at 4:03 p.m. on Monday, March 6
  Alaska Sate Troopers say a pilot was killed when his plane went down near Nome.
  The pilot, identified as 28-year-old Wasilla resident Thomas Grainger, was flying from Wasilla to Nome, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters wrote. The Cessna 172 was unable to land in Nome due to weather, and was later reported overdue on Monday morning around 5:40 a.m.
  Grainger’s last communicat
  
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