Anchorage news

• Tripod falls in Nenana Ice Classic

  01-05-2017 23:38
  
  The Nenana Ice Classic came to end Monday when the tripod fell at 12 p.m. This year’s jackpot is $267,444, the organization said.
  This is a developing story; check back for updates.
   
  The post Tripod falls in Nenana Ice Classic appeared first on KTVA 11.
  
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• Newscast – Monday, May 1, 2017

  01-05-2017 23:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/05/newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  Seismologists warn they’ve recorded 100 aftershocks since two major earthquakes rocked Southeast Alaska and Canada Monday morning.
  The Supreme Court refused to hear Alaska and oil and gas industry groups’ appeal protesting a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to set 187,000 square miles in Alaska aside as critical habitat for threatened polar bears.
  
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• 67 pounds of marijuana found in casket at Arizona checkpoint

  01-05-2017 22:01
  
  TOMBSTONE, Ariz. (AP) – Border Patrol agents working an immigration checkpoint in southern Arizona say they have found 67 pounds of marijuana that was being smuggled inside of a casket.
  Agency officials say a hearse carrying the casket was stopped Saturday evening on State Route 80 near Tombstone.
  They say a canine unit was brought in after the hearse driver gave inconsistencies in his story.
  The drug-smelling dogs alerted agents despite several bags of manure that had been placed inside t
  
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• Teacher of the Week: Tamela Kile

  01-05-2017 21:56
  
  Tamela Kile has nearly 40 years experience teaching elementary education.
  “I love children. I think they’re our tomorrow. I celebrate them,” said Kile.
  For the last three years she has taught third grade at Academy Charter School in Palmer.
  Before that she was a Montessori teacher in Texas for 35 years. She said she still incorporates the educational method to keep her current students engaged.
  “I bring a lot of that knowledge in when I’m teaching children,” e
  
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• Skagway Assembly member resigns, cites health issues

  01-05-2017 21:45 via ktoo.org
  
  Skagway Assembly Chambers. (Photo by Greta Mart)
  The Skagway Borough Assembly will soon have an empty seat.
  Assembly member Angela Grieser handed in a letter of resignation on Friday. In the letter, Greiser cites health issues as the reason behind her departure. Working a full-time job, serving on the assembly and dealing with a medical recovery has been too much, she said.
  Grieser was elected to the Assembly in 2014. Her term was set to expire this October. She has been the only woman on t
  
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• Cops searching for suspect in Dallas paramedic shooting

  01-05-2017 21:41
  
  DALLAS (AP) – The Latest on the Dallas shooting that left a paramedic critically injured (all times local):
  2:55 p.m.
  Authorities are scouring a Dallas neighborhood for a suspect after a paramedic and a civilian were shot.
  The city released a statement saying emergency responders were treating a civilian who’d been shot late Monday morning when another person approached, opened fired and critically injured the paramedic.
  Dozens of police vehicles have swarmed the largely residential
  
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• 1 dead, several hurt in U. of Texas stabbings

  01-05-2017 21:34
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Emergency responders say one person is dead and three others have been taken to a hospital with “potentially serious injuries” after a stabbing attack on the University of Texas campus.
  Austin police say one person is in custody Monday afternoon.
  Travis County Emergency Medical Services has tweeted that one person is dead at the scene near the campus’ Gregory gym and three others have been transported. The agency notes there also are reports of additi
  
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• Central Council working to put Juneau parcels into trust

  01-05-2017 21:24 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Andrew Hope Building in downtown Juneau is among the parcels that the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is proposing to put in trust. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
  Southeast Alaska’s largest tribal organization has applied to the federal government to put seven parcels in downtown Juneau into a federal trust.
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/05/170501TRIBE-PKG.mp3For decades the federal government had prevented Alaska Native tribes from
  
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• Wind, rain, and high seas forecast for southeast Alaska Tuesday

  01-05-2017 21:02
  
  A strong area of low pressure is forecast to move into the eastern Gulf of Alaska on Tuesday bringing wind, rain, and high seas to southeast Alaska — especially over the northern and central panhandle.The storm is forecast to bring southeasterly winds of 40 to 50 knots over marine areas of the eastern gulf, which will allow seas to build as high as 20 feet. Coastal land locations in southeast Alaska can expect windy conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday, with gusts of up to 40 to 5
  
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• Harvesting Alaska: Backyard beekeeping all the buzz in Southcentral

  01-05-2017 20:32
  
  As people work toward self-sustainability, backyard livestock, like chicken coops, and backyard honey bees are becoming more popular. That’s the buzz at Windy Willow Farm in Palmer.
  Dena Tanguay started keeping bees 6 years ago when she first heard local honey could help with her allergies.
  “I’m allergic to just about everything,” Tanguay said.
  Now, she can’t seem to kick the habit.
  “I literally love these girls. I love them,” Tanguay said while ten
  
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• Seward Highway chase causes vehicle crashes, 1 charged

  01-05-2017 20:13
  
  On Sunday afternoon Alaska State Troopers attempted to pull over a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria for a moving violation near mile 55 of the Seward Highway. In a dispatch, the agency wrote that the car sped up, ultimately causing a vehicle pursuit.
  Troopers said they chased the car for almost 20 miles before putting spike strips on the pavement.
  “The orange Ford swerved to avoid the spike strips, smashing into a guardrail, before losing control and striking a stationary vehicle in a line of cars
  
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• Early morning Earthquake shakes up Southeast Alaska, Yukon

  01-05-2017 19:50 via ktoo.org
  
  A major earthquake rocked Southeast Alaska and an area of the Yukon on Monday morning.
  The magnitude 6.2 shaker hit at 4:30 a.m. and was centered near the Haines Highway about 55 miles northwest of Skagway, said state seismologist Michael West at the Alaska Earthquake Center in Fairbanks.
  “South of Haines Junction on what we believe at this point was the Denali Fault,” he said. “It’s had a vigorous set of aftershocks, several dozen aftershocks as of right n
  
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• Federal budget deal would spare arts agencies

  01-05-2017 18:02
  
  NEW YORK (AP) – The new federal spending bill would spare – and even slightly increase – funding for three arts-related agencies that President Donald Trump had proposed eliminating: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.
  The agreement announced Monday calls for the CPB’s budget to remain the same for fiscal 2017, at $445 million. Spending would go up for the NEA and NEH, each from $148 to $1
  
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• Agriculture to roll back some standards on school meals

  01-05-2017 17:40
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is preparing to roll back some nutrition standards for federally subsidized school meals, a key part of former first lady Michelle Obama’s legacy.
  As his first major action in office, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is planning an announcement Monday afternoon at an elementary school in the Washington suburb of Leesburg, Virginia. The Agriculture Department said ahead of the announcement that a new rule would provide “regulatory fle
  
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• Police: 7 shot during San Diego pool party; suspect dead

  01-05-2017 17:28
  
  SAN DIEGO (AP) – Police say officers shot and killed a 49-year-old man suspected of shooting seven people Sunday at an apartment complex near the University of California, San Diego.
  The San Diego police chief said at a news conference Sunday night that police received reports of a man shooting people by the swimming pool.
  Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman says a department helicopter arrived first and saw the suspect still in the pool area and said he appeared to be reloading.
  Three officers
  
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• Tobacco, fishing taxes could be coming to Alaska island

  01-05-2017 17:16
  
  KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – New tobacco and chartered sport fishing taxes could be coming to an island in Alaska.
  The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported (http://bit.ly/2ql0S7v ) Friday that the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly is considering the taxes to make up for this upcoming fiscal year’s budget gap, which is believed to be between $1.3 million and $1.9 million.
  The tobacco tax is the larger of the two. It is a proposed $1-per-pack cigarette excise tax that would be in addition to state and f
  
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• Magnitude-6.3 aftershock shakes Canada, Alaska

  01-05-2017 16:55
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) –
  The Latest on a series of earthquakes on the boundary of Canada and Alaska (all times local):
  7:45 a.m.
  The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.3 aftershock has shaken the corner of British Columbia, near the boundary with Alaska, nearly two hours after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit the same area.
  Geophysicist Amy Vaughan says it’s not completely uncommon for an aftershock to be larger than the triggering quake, though normally the following quakes are
  
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• Justices won’t hear challenge over Alaska polar bear habitat

  01-05-2017 16:38
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from Alaska and oil and gas industry groups protesting the government’s designation of more than 187,000 square miles in the state as critical habitat for threatened polar bears.
  The justice on Monday left in place an appeals court ruling that said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed the law when it authorized the massive habitat in a coastal area larger than the state of California.
  Alaska officials, the American
  
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• Juneau Juvenile Justice staff workload up since Ketchikan closure

  01-05-2017 10:14 via ktoo.org
  
  (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)
  Ten kids have come to Johnson Youth Center from Ketchikan since the fall of last year. Ketchikan kids detained by the Division of Juvenile Justice used to be housed in the Ketchikan Regional Youth Facility, but the division closed the facility in September.
  Juvenile Justice Director Rob Wood has said the facility was underutilized and state budget cuts made it too expensive to operate. So now, Ketchikan kids go to Juneau.
  Juneau Juvenile Justice workers say they&rs
  
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• Bethel sales tax plan rejected by city council

  01-05-2017 07:37 via ktoo.org
  
  BETHEL, Alaska (AP) — The mayor of Bethel has failed at getting city council members to agree with his plan to lower the southwest Alaska city’s sales tax.
  KYUK-AM reports Mayor Rick Robb had proposed lowering the sales tax from 6 percent to 5.75 percent in response to the council’s 2014 decision to increase water and sewage rates.
  Robb says water and sewage rates have since risen by between 30 and 50 percent per Bethel household. He says he wanted to lower sales taxes for resi
  
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• Alaska approves $3.5M for legislature office building

  01-05-2017 07:37 via ktoo.org
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska lawmakers have approved $3.5 million in renovations to be spent on renovations for their new office building in Anchorage.
  KTUU-TV reports the Legislative Council approved the funding proposal on Thursday.
  The committee chairman, Democratic Representative Sam Kito III, says the money will be used to update the facility and bring the building’s features up to code.
  The renovations will include heating upgrades, ventilation, electrical and plumbing proje
  
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• Kake hatchery to re-open with new owner

  01-05-2017 07:33 via ktoo.org
  
  A satellite image of Kake, Alaska in the area of the gasoline release. (Courtesy ADEC)
  A regional fish hatchery private non-profit based in Sitka has purchased a hatchery in Kake that closed in 2014 under a mountain of debt. The Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association, or NSRAA, plans to produce chum and Chinook salmon at Gunnuk Creek.
  The Gunnuk Creek hatchery closed in 2014 owing around 22 million dollars to the state of Alaska. The state foreclosed on that debt and put t
  
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• Dock lawsuit argues Sitka’s mayor, administrator personally liable

  01-05-2017 07:33 via ktoo.org
  
  Turnagain’s Brightwater barge and crane at work on the Petro Marine fuel dock last winter. The same equipment will be used to build the dock at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park — unless the court rules the contract illegal. (Photo by Robert Woolsey/KCAW)
  Marko Dapcevich has amended his lawsuit over the Gary Paxton Industrial Park dock contract.The former Sitka mayor now wants to hold both current mayor Matt Hunter and municipal administrator Mark Gorman personally liable for violating
  
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• Congress reaches deal to fund government through September

  01-05-2017 07:02 via ktoo.org
  
  With just a few days left until this Friday’s deadline, Congressional negotiators have reached a new agreement on a bill to keep the government open through September 30th, NPR’s Susan Davis confirms.
  On Sunday night, details of the deal were not yet public.
  Last Friday, Congress bought a week’s time to finalize the bipartisan agreement when lawmakers in the House and Senate approved a short-term spending bill that averted a shutdown on Saturday — President Trump’s
  
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• Trump holds rally in Pennsylvania as journalists gather at annual D.C. dinner

  01-05-2017 07:01 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up to the audience behind him as he finishes speaking in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday. Carolyn Kaster/AP
  Updated 10:30 p.m. ET
  President Donald Trump passed Saturday on one of the biggest events on Washington’s annual social calendar and, instead, opted to spend his 100th day in office focused on trade and holding a campaign-style rally in Harrisburg, Pa.
  Breaking with tradition, Trump was a no-show at the annual White House Correspondents’ Assoc
  
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• Alaska DOC says new pretrial division will increase public safety while saving state money

  01-05-2017 03:29
  
  The Alaska Department of Corrections will soon undergo a big change. As a requirement of section 117 of the criminal justice reform law known as Senate Bill 91, the department must create a new Pretrial Division. It will enable the department to act as a form of third-party custodian to people who have been accused of a crime, but not convicted. The program is not for parolees.
  Beginning in January 2018, alleged offenders will be able to be released from jail and be monitored by a pretrial offic
  
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• John Legend named 1st recipient of new social justice award

  01-05-2017 03:01
  
  SALEM, Mass. (AP) – John Legend is expected on a Massachusetts college campus this week to receive a social justice award.
  The singer-songwriter becomes the first recipient of the Salem Advocate for Social Justice award when he accepts the honor Tuesday at Salem State University.
  Legend is to perform and also discuss his work on criminal justice, education and other issues.
  The Salem Award Foundation for Human Rights and Social Justice bestows the award to recognize those who champion soci
  
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• Small earthquake hits Alaska peninsula; no damage reported

  01-05-2017 02:00
  
  TYONEK, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Earthquake Center says a magniture-3.3 earthquake hit a peninsula in the southern part of the state.
  The center says the earthquake struck the Kenai Peninsula region at 1:32 p.m. Sunday. Its epicenter was 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Tyonek, a coastal village of about 200 people.
  The center says the earthquake, which had a depth of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) was also felt in Soldotna, Anchorage and Homer.
  There are no reports of damage.
  (Copyright 20
  
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