Anchorage news

• Assembly member challenges borough’s invocation policy

  15-03-2017 23:58
  
  A Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member is challenging a clause in a legal nonprofit’s contract in order to defend the borough in an ongoing lawsuit over the assembly’s invocation policy.
  The Peninsula Clarion reports that Assembly member Willy Dunne, of Homer, filed a civil complaint on Thursday asking for a temporary injunction that would allow him to publish an Op-Ed in local newspapers supporting an ordinance that would remove prayer from the beginning of assembly meetings.
  Dun
  
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• Warm air, sea-surface temperatures in February limited Arctic sea ice growth

  15-03-2017 23:53 via ktoo.org
  
  It’s been a relatively cool and snowy winter here in the Interior, compared with the past couple of winters.
  But climate experts say the Arctic has been warmer than average. They say that’s why it appears this year’s maximum Arctic sea ice cover, measured near the end of winter, is likely to set another record for the smallest maximum on record.
  Arctic sea ice extent for February 2017 averaged 5.51 million square miles (14.28 million square kilometers), the lowest February exte
  
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• Ask a Climatologist: The sun is back and so is winter melt

  15-03-2017 23:48 via ktoo.org
  The sun melts snowbanks into icicles in Anchorage on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. (Photo by Annie Feidt/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  March has brought sun to much of the state. But not a lot of warm temperatures. That weather combination prompted a listener to email to ask why some ice and snow is disappearing, even though it’s well below freezing outside.
  Climatologist Brian Brettschneider says it’s not the first time he’s fielded this question.
  “It’s all about the su
  
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• Bark helps parents monitor kids’ online activity but preserve some privacy

  15-03-2017 23:41
  
  A service called Bark is trying to help parents navigate the digital world, analyzing their children’s social media activity and text messages for signs of cyberbullying, sexting, depression and suicide.
  But the company works to maintain the children’s trust and privacy by walking a “balanced line.”
  Bark
  “Our goal is actually to give the child more privacy, and the way we do that is by not giving parents full, unfettered access to all of their children’s messa
  
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• ‘Harvesting Alaska’ series nominated for prestigious James Beard Award

  15-03-2017 23:40
  
  The James Beard Foundation announced Wednesday that the KTVA series “Harvesting Alaska” is a semifinalist in the television segment category, honoring KTVA for bringing Alaska food issues to viewers across the state.TV Segment: @ABC7Chicago’s The Hungry Hound, @CBSThisMorning’s Saturday, and @ktva’s Harvesting Alaska #jbfa
  — Beard Foundation (@beardfoundation) March 15, 2017Backyard homestead havens are more than just a hobby, they are part of a growing trend
  
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• Alaska study suggests prevention strategies can curb domestic and sexual violence rates

  15-03-2017 23:40
  
  Over a hundred people gathered in Anchorage recently to talk about ways to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault, according to a story published by KYUK Public Media.
  It was the fourth biennial Alaska Primary Prevention Summit, and everyone there was determined to knock Alaska out of its position as the state with the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual assault.
  “Prevention is the answer to community transformation, but we also have to recognize that th
  
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• Ekwok Natives Limited cuts ties with Nunamta Aulukestai

  15-03-2017 23:38 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Ekwok Natives Limited announced Friday that it is no longer intends to be a member of Nunamta Aulukestai, a non-profit association of 10 Bristol Bay village corporations.
  https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kdlg/audio/2017/03/ekwok_3.14_pkg.mp3Ekwok Natives passed the resolution at board of directors meeting by a 4-1 vote.
  Recently elected president of the board Jimmy Hurley Sr. said the decision to cease affiliation was made to protect shareholders from the potential cost of litigation related to the p
  
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• Sealaska Heritage Institute picks three young Native artists for project

  15-03-2017 22:50 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Haida artist Robert Davidson’s metal panel “Greatest Echo” adorns the front of the Walter Soboleff Building. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/KTOO)
  Three young Alaska Native artists, including one from Ketchikan and one from Hydaburg, have been chosen to carve cedar house posts that will be cast in bronze and displayed in front of the Walter Soboleff Building in Juneau.
  https://krbd-org.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/15Carvers.mp3Tlingit artist Stephen Jackson, Haida ar
  
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• Russian FSB officers, hackers charged in Yahoo breach

  15-03-2017 22:26
  
  The United States has announced charges against two Russian security services officers and two hackers, accusing them of a mega data breach at Yahoo that affected at least a half billion user accounts.
  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) named 29-year-old Alexsey Belan, 33-year-old Dmitry Dokuchaev, 43-year-old Igor Sushchin and 22-year-old Karim Baratov as the suspects in this case.
  “The defendants used unauthorized access to Yahoo’s systems to steal information from about at least
  
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• Workforce Wednesday: Economic opportunities

  15-03-2017 21:58
  
  In the face of an economic downturn in Alaska, some may be wondering if there are jobs to be had.
  Wednesday, state labor economist Neal Fried said “fear not.” While the state is still losing jobs at a rate currently higher than the national average, turnover rate works to its advantage. Many who have lost their jobs in oil, construction or even retail leave Alaska. There are also fewer people coming in looking for employment. It potentially means more opportunities for job seekers.
  &
  
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• Rotary Youth Exchange program is helping teenagers learn more about the world around them

  15-03-2017 21:26
  
  Alaska is welcoming some young faces to town from all over the world. At the same time, some teenagers from Alaska are getting ready to head overseas in exchange. It’s all part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.
  Wednesday, Julie Erickson, the Anchorage-area coordinator with the Rotary District 5010, and a handful of students from the program joined Daybreak to talk about how the program works and the experiences that can be gained all over the world.
  Watch the video above to learn more
  
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• Alaska Weather Forecast – March 15, 2017

  15-03-2017 21:14
  
  We’ll see a mixture of clouds and sunshine today in Anchorage, with afternoon highs near 20 degrees.
  The breeze continues today at 10 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 30 mph. The wind will finally begin to weaken tomorrow, with more sunshine returning.
  Today we gain 5 hours and 44 minutes of daylight, making our day 11 hours and 47 minutes long.
  Follow KTVA 11’s Weather Team on Facebook and Twitter. Got a weather-related photo or story idea? Email the team at [email protected].
  The post Al
  
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• Hilcorp lowers pressure on pipeline currently leaking into Cook Inlet

  15-03-2017 20:07
  
  The owner of an underwater pipeline leaking processed natural gas into Alaska’s Cook Inlet has lowered pressure in the line to reduce flow.
  Hilcorp Alaska LLC now estimates that the pipe is leaking 193,000 to 215,000 cubic feet of gas per day in waters that contain endangered beluga whales.
  That’s down from company estimates of up to 310,000 cubic feet per day spewing before Monday.
  Hilcorp says repair equipment is staged, but ice in Cook Inlet continues to make it too risky to start
  
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• Prosecutors: death decision months away in Santiago case

  15-03-2017 20:03
  
  Federal prosecutors say a decision is months away on seeking the death penalty for the suspect in a Florida airport shooting rampage.
  Esteban Santiago, of Anchorage, Alaska, is accused in the Jan. 6 shooting that killed five and wounded six at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
  Prosecutors and defense attorneys for the 26-year-old Santiago said at a hearing Wednesday the death penalty decision process has just begun. A Santiago lawyer says it will take 12 months for the defense to
  
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• Spring breakers take advantage of deep snow at Campbell Creek Science Center

  15-03-2017 19:44
  
  Temperatures dropped to 10 degrees below zero early Tuesday morning, hardly spring-like, but that didn’t slow down the Trailside Discovery spring break campers at the Campbell Creek Science Center.
  The counselors took advantage of the deep powdery snow to teach the students about winter survival. Part of the lesson was building snow shelters.
  “So it’s like a couple day process. The first few days we build it up and make it pretty big and then the counselors come out after
  
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• Recipe Box: Biscuits and lamb gravy

  15-03-2017 17:37
  
  Amanda Cash says her customers have been asking for biscuits and gravy — a sign of the season.
  The Magpie food truck owner calls the breakfast combo the cure to the winter blues.
  In this week’s Recipe Box, Cash serves up Irish soda bread biscuits with gravy.
  “This isn’t my normal recipe. This is a springtime recipe that features lamb,” she notes. “Lamb is a traditional springtime food. A lot of people eat it at Easter time.”
  Making homemade gra
  
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• While Seavey speeds to Iditarod finish, lawmakers slog on with budget work

  15-03-2017 07:41
  
  While Tuesday marked a speedy finish for Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race musher Mitch Seavey with a record-breaking victory, the day slogged on for lawmakers in Juneau. 
  “I wish I could have been there to see Mitch Seavey’s record-shattering finish, but I know Nome made him and his dog team feel welcome,” Nome Rep. Neal Foster said Tuesday in a prepared statement. 
  Foster and his colleagues instead spent the day continuing work they started Monday on hundreds of amendmen
  
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• Future of law enforcement coverage on Seward Highway uncertain

  15-03-2017 07:21
  
  Budget cuts to Alaska State Troopers are creating a big question for Alaskans: Who will patrol the Seward Highway from McHugh Creek to mile 75 this summer?
  Col. Jim Cockrell, the director of Alaska State Troopers, says on May 1, they won’t be providing any regular patrols on the 36-mile stretch of one of Alaska’s deadliest roadways. The Municipality of Anchorage says the Anchorage Police Department won’t be doing it either, which raises even bigger questions: What hap
  
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• NTSB report on fatal Nome plane crash released

  15-03-2017 06:45
  
  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its report Tuesday on a fatal crash just outside of Nome on March 5.
  The crash claimed the life of the pilot, 28-year-old Thomas Grainger, who was from Wasilla. His Cessna 172K plane was located nose-down in the area of Hastings Creek, east of Nome, the morning after he was due to land at Nome City Field. The conditions of the flight, plane and pilot that may have led to the crash, according to a report from NTSB investigator Noreen Price.
  
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• Winter storm update: Snow, sleet blast mid-Atlantic, Northeast

  15-03-2017 05:39
  
  A blustery late-season storm clobbered the Northeast with sleet and heavy snow Tuesday, crippling much of the Washington-to-Boston corridor after a stretch of unusually mild winter weather that had people thinking spring was already here.
  The National Weather Service downgraded its blizzard warning Tuesday morning for the New York City area, where schools and businesses had been closed.
  he powerful nor’easter unloaded 1 to 2 feet of snow in places, grounded more than 6,000 flights, knocked
  
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• ‘It took everybody by surprise’: Party attendee describes shooting

  15-03-2017 05:06
  
  A fight at a massive high school party led to one person being sent to the hospital with a gunshot wound early Tuesday.
  The Anchorage Police Department said it happened around 2:30 a.m. on the 1600 block of Tammy Avenue in south Anchorage. Jacob Noblett, who attended the party, said there were at least 100 people there, and many of them are students at South Anchorage High School, which, like other Anchorage schools, is currently on spring break.
  Noblett took cover by locking himself in a bathro
  
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• Woman makes blankets of love for youngest Royal Suite Lodge fire victims

  15-03-2017 04:51
  
  A blanket may not seem like a big deal, but one Anchorage woman says it can be a good thing to hold on to when someone experiences a trauma. Denise Skonieczki is making several dozen personalized fleece blankets for the children who were left homeless by last month’s Royal Suite Lodge apartment fire.
  “It’s to give them some warmth, and some love back from the community,” Skonieczki said. “Show them we care.”
  Skonieczki is a mother and grandmother of eight
  
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• Alaska Airlines co-workers recover after kidney transplant

  15-03-2017 04:43
  
  An Alaska Airlines pilot who donated her kidney to a co-worker was resting peacefully Tuesday in a Seattle hospital a day after successful transplant surgery.
  Jodi Harskamp is the pilot who volunteered to give a kidney to Jenny Stansel, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant who has end-stage kidney disease.
  In a telephone interview from Swedish Medical Center, Harskamp said the surgery went off without a hitch. She said it took two teams of surgeons to pull it off, one to remove her kidney an
  
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• Marines’ denigration of women has been a problem for years, critics say

  15-03-2017 04:40
  
  Marine Commandant Robert Neller vowed “we’ll take action to correct this stain on our Marine Corps,” at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, promising to overhaul the culture which gave rise to websites which shared nude photos of female Marines.
  Neller’s statement did not impress New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
  “Why should we believe it’s going to be different this time than it’s been in the past?” Shaheen asked.
  “Is it going
  
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• Iditarod 45 Race Blog: Seavey takes 2nd, Petit takes 3rd place

  15-03-2017 03:35
  
  View the 2017 Iditarod Trail Map
   The post Iditarod 45 Race Blog: Seavey takes 2nd, Petit takes 3rd place appeared first on KTVA 11.
  
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• Fairbanks police arrest nightclub shooting suspects with assistance from APD, troopers

  15-03-2017 02:54
  
  A multi-agency effort led to the arrest of three people accused of being involved in a fatal shooting at a Fairbanks club.
  The shooting occurred around 2:37 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2016 at the Bojangles nightclub, and claimed the life of 27-year-old Michael Jeremy Hodges. Two others, 22-year-old Breannah Mitchell and 25-year-old Jesse Anderson, were wounded in the shooting.
  According to a statement from Fairbanks police, gunfire was reported both inside and outside the club at the time of th
  
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• Anchorage police identify 2 additional persons of interest in Spenard death

  15-03-2017 02:00
  
  Craig Berumen's body was found in a vehicle in the McDonald's parking lot near the Executive Suite Hotel The Executive Suite Hotel
  The Anchorage Police Department is asking two persons of interest in a recent homicide case to contact officers about the incident.
  Police spokeswoman Renee Oistad issued a statement Tuesday regarding the death of Craig Berumen II, who she confirmed was killed at the Executive Suites on Spenard Road on March 8. His body was found nearby in a vehicle, located in
  
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• Short on volunteers, Salvation Army’s ‘warming center’ winds down

  15-03-2017 01:23 via ktoo.org
  
  (Photo courtesy of Salvation Army)
  A shortage of volunteers means Tuesday is likely the last night the Salvation Army operates its downtown warming station.
  The emergency center opened Friday inside the Salvation Army’s downtown church following the city’s condemnation of the historic Bergmann Hotel.
  Scores of tenants were displaced in freezing temperatures with 24 hours’ notice after the city ordered the evacuation of the residential hotel over numerous health and safety code
  
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• Alaska state senators scour budget in hopes of $300M in cuts

  15-03-2017 01:20 via ktoo.org
  
  State Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, shown here at a Senate Majority press availability on Feb. 24, says cuts to the Department of Health and Social Services were difficult. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  The state Senate is looking to make up to $300 million in cuts to the state budget. But the Senate subcommittees looking to trim state agencies’ budgets are finding much smaller cuts.
  The subcommittees planned to finish their work Tuesday.
  The biggest recommended cuts were to the D
  
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• Immigration enforcement changes hit home in Alaska

  15-03-2017 01:12 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A sign held by Juneau resident Karri Willoughby at a rally at the Alaska state Capitol on Jan. 30, 2017. Protesters rallied against President Donald Trump’s executive order denying immigrants from seven Muslim countries the right of entry into the United States. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  The Trump administration released new instructions late last month on how Homeland Security is supposed to implement immigration policies.
  Under the Obama administration, immigration officers focused
  
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• Mitch Seavey wins the 2017 Iditarod in record time

  15-03-2017 01:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Mitch Seavey blasted through Nulato without stopping to rest as the trail heads toward Kaltag. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
  For the sixth year in a row, a member of the Seavey mushing family has claimed the top spot in the Last Great Race. This year it was Mitch Seavey who finished the Iditarod at 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, March 14.
  According to the Associated Press, Seavey is the oldest musher to winner the race at the age of 57. The new record for the Iditarod is eight days, three
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 3-15-17

  15-03-2017 01:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Wednesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon,Beth Loudon, from Big Brothers/Big Sisters, will be here to highlight this year’s Bowl for Kids Sake event;
  Claire Geldof will be here to talk about heroin overdoses and Narcan;
  We’ll learn about this Friday’s Poetry Slam;
  And we’ll get an update on Eaglecrest with Jeffra Clough and Brian Davies;
  That, Writer’s Almanac, Bird Note, music and more, today on A Juneau Afternoon, live at 3 on KTOO-News, repeated at 4 on KRNN, and avai
  
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• Mitch Seavey wins Iditarod 45 in record-setting time

  15-03-2017 00:37
  
  Mitch Seavey heats water at Kaltag. (David Poyzer / KTVA) Mitch Seavey pulls through Nulato. Mitch Seavey arrives in NulatoMegan Edge/KTVA
  Mitch Seavey glided into Nome with ease Tuesday, pulled by 11 of the 16 dogs he started the race with. This is the third Iditarod championship for the 57-year-old from Seward.
  His official time was 8 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes and 13 seconds. He received a check for $75,000 and a new Dodge Ram pickup truck.
  Mitch Seavey on the winner’s podium i
  
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• Why your credit score could soon get bumped up

  15-03-2017 00:30
  
  Credit scores can help determine how much you pay for a house or car, or even whether you need to put a deposit down on utilities.
  So it comes as good news for millions of Americans that they may find their credit-score getting a boost later this year. That’s because the three major credit-reporting agencies are changing their standards for two pieces of negative information: tax liens and civil judgments. Either event has led to a lower credit score in the past, so the change is projected
  
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• Harvard class assignment: solve rural Alaska’s fossil fuel woes

  15-03-2017 00:20 via ktoo.org
  
  Three members of the team of Harvard graduate students looking for practical solutions to reduce the use of fossil fuels in rural Alaska. (Annie Feidt/Alaska Public)
  Rural Alaska runs on diesel. Although many communities are open to alternative energy ideas, they don’t have the funding to even explore them. But help could come in the form of graduate students from Harvard University, who have been tasked with the assignment of solving some of Alaska’s fossil fuel energy woes.
  Harvard
  
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• Fish and Game: Long winter leaves Alaska moose ‘tired and cranky,’ don’t feed them

  15-03-2017 00:12
  
  Alaskans have reported numerous aggressive moose encounters in recent weeks. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the trend is not unusual, as now is the time “moose grow tired and cranky from the rigors of a long winter.”
  Feeding them increases the chances of an attack, the department said in a release. It’s also illegal.
  “Moose are just barely making it through winter right now,” said wildlife biologist Dave Battle. “They’re nutri
  
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