Anchorage news

• Oil company fined $10 million for illegally transporting a drill rig to Alaska

  04-04-2017 23:37 via ktoo.org
  
  Tugs pull the Spartan 151 jack-up drilling platform up Cook Inlet in August 2011. The rig will be operated by Furie Operating Alaska, formerly Escopeta Oil. (Photo courtesy Peninsula Clarion)
  An oil company operating in Alaska will pay $10 million for violating federal law that prohibits foreign vessels from transporting merchandise within the United States.
  The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement on Tuesday with Furie Operating Alaska.The company primarily operates in Cook Inlet.
  
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• Alaska Railroad reports $4.4 million loss in 2016

  04-04-2017 23:33 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Railroad brings a load of tourists into Whittier in July 2008. (Creative Commons photo by Frank Kovalchek)
  The Alaska Railroad Corporation had a rough year in 2016, where it saw a dramatic drop in revenue.
  The company finished 2016 $4.4 million in the red.
  Overall, the railroad’s revenues for everything from passenger travel to freight transportation totaled $169.8 million in 2016 – more than a $15 million drop from the previous year.
  Tim Sullivan, the manager of external
  
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• Citing abortions in China, Trump cuts funds for U.N. family planning agency

  04-04-2017 23:10 via ktoo.org
  
  The Trump administration will withhold $32.5 million in funding that had been earmarked this current fiscal year for the United Nations’ lead agency on family planning and maternal health, known as the United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA.
  The administration says it’s doing so because it has determined that UNFPA helps to support a Chinese government family planning program that forces people to get abortions and sterilizations. The U.N. agency says that is not the case.
  Though th
  
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• Newscast- April 4, 2017

  04-04-2017 23:06 via ktoo.org
  
  
   http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/04/KXLL-NEWS-4417.mp3In this newscast:
  President Donald Trump signed legislation siding with Alaska’s request for predator control on federal wildlife refuges,
  Alaska marijuana regulators are expected to resume debate over onsite consumption,
  A company that sought to develop a major coal mine 45 miles (southwest of Anchorage has suspended applications for state permits, and
  Fairbanks police have opened a homicide investigation after discove
  
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• Teacher of the Week: Shane Todd

  04-04-2017 22:35
  
  From the time he was in elementary school, Shane Todd has enjoyed being in the classroom.
  “I was the kid who was always kind of sad when summer vacation came, explained Todd. “My family life was great, but I just really liked school. I loved learning and the curiosity it brings.”
  Now a teacher at Scenic Park Elementary School in Anchorage, KTVA’s Teacher of the Week has been an educator in Alaska for 15 years.
  “I’m very lucky and fortunate,” sa
  
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• Travel Tuesday: Planning summer road trips with RVs

  04-04-2017 22:05
  
  Alaskans gearing up for that summer road trip may want to consider a recreational vehicle (RV), or motorhome. AK on the GO’s Erin Kirkland said there’s plenty of reasons to get one for a vacation. Kirkland says it’s a dry, warm place to sleep with lots of space.
  There are some things to consider before renting an RV. Kirkland mentioned that families should think about safety, like seat belts or if one of those family members needs a car seat. Another is cost, ask what is i
  
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• Colorado-based conglomerate buys GCI

  04-04-2017 21:30 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, GCI, has been acquired by a larger conglomerate.
  Colorado-based Liberty Interactive Corp. reportedly bought GCI for $1.12 billion. The larger conglomerate has holdings in other telecommunications companies under the name Liberty Ventures, as well as home shopping cable channels HSN and QVC under the name QVC Group Inc.
  GCI said little will change for Alaskans who use its cable, phone and internet services.
  “We will continue to run the comp
  
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• Coal company suspends request for permits near Chuitna River

  04-04-2017 21:13
  
  A company that sought to develop a major coal mine 45 miles (72 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage has suspended applications for state permits.
  The Peninsula Clarion reports PacRim Coal has halted its permit process for a strip mine on the west side of Cook Inlet near the village of Tyonek.
  The Alaska Department of Natural Resources posted a notice of PacRim’s suspension on its website
  The mine proposal drew strong opposition in part because it called for temporarily removing 11 mile
  
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• APD: Pedestrian shot overnight in apparent ‘drug-related event’

  04-04-2017 21:04
  
  Anchorage police officers were called out to the area of 4400 Mountain View Dr. shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday morning following reports of a shooting.
  Police discovered a man at the scene lying on the ground. He had been shot in the torso, according to a release from the Anchorage Police Department.
  The victim told police he was walking and had been shot by a “Samoan male” who got out of a red 4-door sedan and attempted to rob him.
  The victim was taken to a nearby hospital and is expe
  
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• Fairbanks police investigate death as homicide

  04-04-2017 20:41
  
  The Fairbanks Police Department is investigating the death of an unknown male as a homicide.
  According to a release issued Tuesday, at 12:24 a.m. police were notified of a person down at Third Avenue and Hall Street. When they arrived, they found the male dead in the street.
  Fairbanks police didn’t immediately provide any other information, only that they hadn’t received any missing persons reports recently.
  This is a developing story; please check back for updates. 
  The post Fa
  
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• Fairbanks police identify homicide victim

  04-04-2017 20:41
  
  Last updated at 1:27 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4
  The Fairbanks Police Department is investigating the death of a 44-year-old man found dead in the Interior city Friday.According to the department, police were notified of a disturbance and person down at Third Avenue and Hall Street at 12:24 a.m. When they arrived, they found Fairbanks man Jose Alfonso Sifuentes-Morales dead in the in the road.
  Fairbanks police said they’re not immediately releasing the specifics of how the male
  
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• Could the Alaska Sea Grant program go away this year?

  04-04-2017 20:33 via ktoo.org
  
  The bearded seal was released back into the wild at Nome’s west beach. (Photo by Gay Sheffield/University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska Sea Grant)
  Sea Grant knew the Trump administration wanted to eliminate its budget for next fiscal year. But those cuts could come much sooner. The organization says the White House is asking Congress to slash this year’s funding, too. That could mean the end for dozens of Alaska programs, focusing on fisheries and climate change.
  Paula Cullenberg, the d
  
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• Unalaska terminates new fire chief charged with sexual assault in Illinois

  04-04-2017 20:29 via ktoo.org
  
  The man hired to serve as Unalaska’s new fire chief has been fired after he was charged with sexual assault in Illinois.
  David “D.J.” Dunn was scheduled to arrive Monday in Anchorage before starting work on the island next week.
  Instead, he was arraigned on felony charges for drugging and sexually assaulting a man who attended his going-away party.
  The City of Unalaska terminated Dunn’s employment as a result of the charges.
  The news came as surprise, City Manager Da
  
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• St. Petersburg bombing suspect identified; Death toll is at 14

  04-04-2017 20:11 via ktoo.org
  
  Updated at 9:15 a.m. ET
  Russian investigators believe a man suspected of carrying out Monday’s explosion on a St. Petersburg subway train died in the attack. The death toll has risen to 14 people, but officials say it could have been far worse, as a second, unexploded device was found at a different metro stop.
  The device that detonated on the train was set off by a man “whose remains were found in the third car,” says the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, whic
  
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• Listen to Playboy Spaceman’s George Kuhar cover Juneau filmmaker Lisle Hebert

  04-04-2017 20:06 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Juneau songwriter George Kuhar performs at 8:00 Tuesday night at the Alaska Folk Festival. (Photo by Jack Sanders/KTOO)
  Juneau songwriter George Kuhar plays in the band Playboy Spaceman, but Tuesday he’s playing alone on the Alaska Folk Festival stage. Among the originals and cuts from his band, Kuhar also is performing a song written by friend and late Alaskan filmmaker Lisle Hebert.
  Hear an excerpt below, recorded in Peabody’s Monster rehearsal space:
  http://s3-
  
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• GCI to be acquired by Colorado-based Liberty Interactive

  04-04-2017 19:05
  
  Last updated at 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4
  Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, General Communication, Inc. (GCI), signed a complex deal Tuesday morning to be acquired by Colorado-based Liberty Interactive Corp.
  The deal, announced in a lengthy press release Tuesday, will combine GCI’s business holdings with reorganized assets and liabilities belonging to Liberty Ventures Group. The deal will give Liberty Ventures controlling interest in GCI and create a new company &
  
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• GCI signs complex deal to be acquired by Colorado-based Liberty Interactive

  04-04-2017 19:05
  
  Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, General Communication, Inc. (GCI), signed a complex deal Tuesday morning to be acquired by Colorado-based Liberty Interactive Corp.
  The deal, announced in a lengthy press release Tuesday, will combine GCI’s business holdings with reorganized assets and liabilities belonging to Liberty Ventures Group. The deal will give Liberty Ventures controlling interest in GCI and create a new company — GCI Liberty.
  The release says that GCI
  
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• NOAA’s biggest ship comes home after longest voyage

  04-04-2017 18:02
  
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s largest oceanographic research vessel has returned to its homeport after the longest deployment of any ship in the agency’s history.
  NOAA Ship Robert H. Brown spent almost 800 days at sea during the 3½-year deployment. NOAA says the ship traveled almost 130,000 miles conducting scientific research and servicing buoys that collect environmental data.
  The agency says the ship’s tasks included a rapid response mission to
  
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• AFD investigates weekend vehicle arson

  04-04-2017 09:13
  
  The Anchorage Fire Department is looking for the people who set fire to a truck in a church parking lot over the weekend.
  A witnesses captured video of the burning truck in the parking lot of St. Patrick’s Parish Catholic church on Muldoon Road.
  He told police he watched two vehicles, including a Toyota Tundra pickup truck, pull into the church parking lot a little after 1 a.m. on Saturday. The witness said the suspects lit the Toyota on fire, then took off in another vehicle.
  Ar
  
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• Senate proposal eliminates Alaska Performance Scholarship, puts money toward K-12

  04-04-2017 09:07
  
  Leadership in the Alaska Senate introduced a series of bills on education Monday, one of which would eliminate the Alaska Performance Scholarship. Instead of paying for college for top performers in the state, the money would go to K-12 education. Senate bill 103 rewards districts for finding innovative ways to lower the cost of education.
  Sen. Shelley Hughes, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said the move would help offset a 5-percent reduction to the base student allocation unveiled by
  
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• Juneau approves another $100,000 for cruise ship lawsuit

  04-04-2017 08:30 via ktoo.org
  
  A scale model of the humpback whale sculpture at the University of Alaska Southeast campus, Aug. 14, 2015. A life-size version is installed in a soon-to-be-built waterfront park in downtown Juneau that’s at the center of a lawsuit brought by the cruise ship industry. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  The Juneau Assembly has ponied up another $100,000 to defend itself against litigation brought by the Cruise Lines International Association. That adds to the $283,368 it’s already spent to d
  
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• Senate committee seeks to cut per-student school funding

  04-04-2017 08:16 via ktoo.org
  
  Senate Finance Committee Co-Chairman Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, during budget deliberations, April 3. The Finance Committee budget bill would cut per-student school funding by $69 million, or roughly $300 per student. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  Alaska schools would see a $69 million cut in the amount of money the state provides based on the number of students each school district serves, called the base student allocation, under the budget proposed by the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. Th
  
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• Fulfilling campaign promise, Trump writes check to National Park Service

  04-04-2017 07:51
  
  #ICYMI: @POTUS @realDonaldTrump donated his Q1 pay of $78,333.32 to the @NatlParkService today. @PressSec Briefing: https://t.co/MSIlwEkxwS pic.twitter.com/pgRBRf0zrC
  — Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) April 3, 2017Following up on  a campaign promise, President Donald Trump wrote a check to the National Park Service that represents his first-quarter earnings.
  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Tyrone Brandyburg, superintendent of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, accepted t
  
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• Education funding in crosshairs as House, Senate tussle over fiscal plan

  04-04-2017 07:12
  
  There are just 13 days to go in Juneau, and the Legislature hasn’t passed any pieces of a budget plan.
  Lawmakers have said filling the state fiscal gap is their top priority this year, but chances of getting that done on time just got slimmer — especially with education funding emerging as one of the flash points. On Monday, the Alaska Senate majority unveiled a 5-percent cut to classroom funding, known as the base student allocation – a move that has widened the divi
  
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• Redemption: Tar Heels take NCAA title, 71-65, over Gonzaga

  04-04-2017 06:21
  
  Justin Jackson delivered the go-ahead three-point play and North Carolina scored the last eight points for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga and a title that heartbreakingly eluded the Tar Heels last year.
  It was an ugly affair, filled with 44 fouls and 52 free throws but, ultimately, the contest with the result the Tar Heels (33-7) simply had to have.#Oneshiningmoment pic.twitter.com/cla01uNjnI
  — Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) April 4, 2017This was their redemption season, and they closed t
  
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• Breakup evidenced on Anchorage roads

  04-04-2017 06:17
  
  Anchorage drivers can confirm that breakup is here in Alaska. Standing water and potholes are considered a sure sign of spring.
  City Maintenance and Operations director Alan Czajkowski said the city has received more than 200 calls about drainage issues since Friday. He said crews were working as fast as they can to thaw frozen drains.
  Potholes are also starting to surface. Czajkowski said the advice for encountering either is the same: slow down.
  “Try to stay in your lane by all means, bu
  
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• Trump revokes Alaska refuge rule; change may be symbolic

  04-04-2017 05:26
  
  President Donald Trump signed legislation siding with Alaska’s request for predator control on federal wildlife refuges. But the bill may be largely symbolic.
  State wildlife officials have pushed to extend predator control – the killing of wolves or bears to increase the population of moose or caribou – to federal wildlife refuges.
  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has routinely rejected state requests and last year approved a rule rejecting most predator control at all Alaska
  
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• Alaska homebuilders push for action in Juneau for housing market success

  04-04-2017 05:19
  
  Alaskans in the homebuilding industry are looking to state lawmakers to ensure their industry’s future is successful. Andre Spinelli, the design and redevelopment manager at Spinell Homes, said he is cautiously optimistic about the housing market.
  “We were so under built for the last six years that we still have some demand,” Spinelli said.
  He said while 2016 was a difficult year for new home sales, 2017 looks more promising.
  “We’re planning for a busy year,”
  
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• Cook Inlet leaks draw more scrutiny for Hilcorp and its aging infrastructure

  04-04-2017 04:45 via ktoo.org
  
  An oil leak from a pipeline connected to Hilcorp’s Anna Platform, pictured here, is unrelated to a gas leak from a different Hilcorp-owned pipeline that was first detected in February. (Photo courtesy Lighthawk Volunteer Pilot Kirk Johnson)
  State regulators on Monday announced an oil leak from an underwater pipeline owned by Hilcorp in Cook Inlet was halted successfully.
  But at this point, the state doesn’t have its own estimate for how much oil was released into the Inlet or knowled
  
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• Anchorage Municipal Election: What you need to know

  04-04-2017 03:23
  
  On Tuesday, voters in the Municipality of Anchorage will head to the polls to decide the future of some Assembly and school board seats, as well as a handful of propositions and a bond package from the Anchorage School District.
  Dozens of polling locations are available throughout the Anchorage area, including in Chugiak, Eagle River, Indian and Girdwood and will be open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Voters must go to a polling place in their district in order to receive their district’s ballo
  
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• Police: Anchorage woman stabbed while sleeping, dropped off at hospital by wanted boyfriend

  04-04-2017 03:19
  
  Ronald Lambert Jr.Anchorage Police Department
  A woman underwent surgery Monday after she was stabbed while sleeping in an Anchorage home, police say.
  At 8:50 a.m., a hospital employee called police to alert them of the stabbing after the woman was dropped of with “a serious wound to the abdomen,” police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said in a statement. The victim’s prognosis was not immediately available.
  Police learned the stabbing took place in a Penland Parkway trailer home bel
  
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• Unalaska’s new fire chief arrested for sexual assault in Illinois

  04-04-2017 02:48
  
  An Illinois man set to become Unalaska’s next fire chief has been arraigned on sexual assault charges.The case stems from an incident that allegedly took place at a going away party for Savoy, IL resident David Dunn, who was due in Anchorage to Monday to continue the onboarding process with the City of Unalaska, according to city manager Dave Martinson.Instead, Dunn spent Monday in custody and was arraigned on two felony sexual assault charges, according to Champaign County State Attorney
  
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• Elders study their history at Smithsonian collection

  04-04-2017 02:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Virginia Oliver, Ruth Demmert, Gabriel George, Violet George, Gabby George, Linda Wynne, Florence Sheakley and Shgen George pose in regalia in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Photo courtesy of Virginia Oliver)
  Tlingit people from around Southeast Alaska have returned from a trip to the Smithsonian Institution. Elders examined hundreds of Tlingit artifacts in the Smithsonian’s collection, providing context for their own research and for museum staff.
  A bentwood box from Wrangell is shown t
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 4-4-17

  04-04-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Tuesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon, Scott Burton hosts.We’ll get an update on library activities;We’ll find out about the Hospice and Home Care Fun Run;We’ll get details on First Friday at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum;We’ll learn about the Amalga Distillery and talk with guitar-maker George Gress;And Cynthia McFeeters will update us on what’s happening with the Juneau Community Charter School.That, Writer’s Almanac, Bird Note, music & more, Tuesday at 3
  
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• Ketchikan’s first pot shop set to open

  04-04-2017 01:05 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Stoney Moose owners Mark Woodward and Eric Reimer stand in what will be the new pot shop’s retail sale area. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD-Ketchikan)
  Ketchikan’s first marijuana retail store could open as early as Friday, if a Thursday inspection goes well. That’s according to owners of the Stoney Moose on the waterfront’s Stedman Street.https://www.krbd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/03Stoney.mp3“Watch your step because it’s still an active construction site, b
  
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• March was colder and snowier than normal in Anchorage

  04-04-2017 00:55
  
  The National Weather Service has released its monthly climate summary for March, calling it one of the coldest and snowiest in years for the Anchorage area. Temperatures in the first half of the month started out well below normal, with morning lows during the first week in the single digits or colder.
  The chilliest temperature of the month was 8 degrees below zero, recorded on March 7. High temperatures during the first week were in the teens and low 20s, helping make the average March high tem
  
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