Anchorage news

• Trump fires FBI director James Comey

  09-05-2017 23:49
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the firing of FBI Director James Comey (all times local):
  6:50 p.m.
  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says FBI Director James Comey was wrong to announce his conclusion that the investigation into whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information should be closed without criminal charges.
  Rosenstein says in a memo that Comey usurped the authority of then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch by announcing his findings. Comey was fired Tuesday.
  Ros
  
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• Stream temperature monitoring could provide insight into important fish populations

  09-05-2017 23:30 via ktoo.org
  
  
  About 20 attendees from Hoonah, Sitka, Skagway and Wrangell came to Klukwan to practice stream monitoring. (Photo courtesy Jessica Kayser Forster)
  The Chilkat River and its nearby waters are a major source of food for subsistence fishermen in Haines and Klukwan.
  That’s one reason decreased salmon runs are alarming in the Chilkat and other rivers in Southeast.
  Tribal leaders around the region are trying to get a handle on one factor that may contribute to declining returns.
  http://khns.org/
  
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• Travel Tuesday: 2017 Visit Anchorage Frontline Tradeshow

  09-05-2017 23:26
  
  During National Travel and Tourism Week, Visit Anchorage will be hosting its Frontline Tradeshow on Thursday, May 11.
  The show is designed to educate the people who work on the tourism industry’s frontlines, but is open to the general public. It will also show off what’s new at local restaurants, new products, hotel amenities, tour itineraries and more. According to Visit Anchorage’s CEO Julie Saupe, there will be door prizes and puppies, courtesy of a sled dog company.
  It will
  
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• Travel Tuesday: Flyer’s rights

  09-05-2017 23:16
  
  What can airline staff do — and can’t do — to passengers? The question comes in light of multiple viral videos with passengers being booted off airlines. Scott McMurren from Alaska Travelgram says it’s not so black and white.
  The United Airlines flight where Dr. David Dao was forcibly removed from his seat, damaged its brand and reputation. He explained United felt the discussion of whether that was right or wrong be settled out of court during private negotiations, at a
  
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• States sue over Trump decision to restart coal lease program

  09-05-2017 23:10
  
  HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Four states are suing over the Trump administration’s decision to restart the sale of coal leases on federal lands.
  The attorneys general of California, New Mexico, New York and Washington filed their lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Montana.
  They say that the U.S. Interior Department’s reversal of the Obama administration’s moratorium on the federal coal leasing program was done without a review on whether it would be good for the environmen
  
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• Igiugig School graduates class of one

  09-05-2017 23:05 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Igiugig School’s only senior, 17-year-old Dolly Zharoff, graduates this week. In the fall, she will attend the University of Alaska. (Photo by Avery Lill/KDLG)
  Dolly Zharoff will have the stage to herself as she graduates from Igiugig School.
  https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kdlg/audio/2017/05/graduation_5.5_pkg.mp3She will head to the University of Alaska Anchorage in August for a two-year culinary arts program.
  In recent years the village has taken trips to New Zealand and Arizona for cultural exc
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, May 9, 2017

  09-05-2017 22:49 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/05/newscast1.mp3In this newscast:
  Bartlett Regional Hospital’s CEO estimates the American Health Care Act as passed by the House would cost the hospital $69 million over 10 years,
  fallen Juneau Police officer Karl Reishus will have a street named after him in a the new Pederson Hill subdivision,
  Sam, the 17-foot pet python that had gone missing from a two weeks ago in Meadow Lakes, has returned, and
  a few bars of The Vega String Quartet playing
  
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• The idea was to keep kids safe after school. Now they’re chess champions

  09-05-2017 22:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Killip Elementary third-graders Alexa Cardenas, left, and Luis Gonzalez, right, are preparing for the chess SuperNationals.
  (Photo by Laurel Morales/Fronteras)
  When Ted Komada started teaching 14 years ago, he says he didn’t know how to manage a classroom and was struggling to connect with students.
  He noticed a couple of days after school that a group of kids would get together to play chess. “I said, ‘I know how to play chess. Let me go show these kids how to do it.'”
  S
  
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• Trump may be spoiling for a shutdown fight, but it could spell disaster in 2018

  09-05-2017 22:26 via ktoo.org
  
  The White House and Congress reached a deal last week to keep the government open — at least until this fall.
  But in reality, the compromise may well have just kicked the can down the road until September, when both sides may be spoiling for a fight amid the specter of a government shutdown.
  The spending bill didn’t give President Trump or congressional Republicans and Democrats everything they wanted. The GOP got more defense spending, while some agencies whose funding the White Hou
  
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• Alutiiq community seeks city-owned property for memorial park

  09-05-2017 22:18 via ktoo.org
  
  Father Innocent Dresdow performs service on the remains in the room where they’re being kept, in a lower level of the Alutiiq Museum. (Photo by April Laktonen Counceller/Alutiiq Museum)
  The Alutiiq Museum is scoping out a site to bury ancestral remains that returned to the island in February.
  The internment would be the end of the ancestors’ long journey.
  Archaeologists in the 1960s removed the remains from a grave site on Chirikof Island and took them out of state. The majority of t
  
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• US fishing industry retracted a bit in 2015; $208B in sales

  09-05-2017 21:28
  
  PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – The federal government says America’s fishing industry declined slightly in 2015 as fishermen contended with environmental and market forces.
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released its “Fisheries Economics of the United States” report for 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
  The report says U.S. fisheries contributed a little less than $208 billion in sales, a decline from nearly $214 billio
  
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• Fights break out at Fort Lauderdale airport following cancelled flights

  09-05-2017 19:10
  
   
  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – The Latest on fights that broke out a Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after Spirit Airlines canceled nine flights (all times local):
  12:15 p.m.
  Less than a day after skirmishes broke out in Spirit Airlines’ Fort Lauderdale terminal because of canceled flights, a federal judge has sided with the carrier and ordered its unionized pilots to stop boycotting flights as part of a labor action.
  District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas issued
  
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• Teen’s plea for free Wendy’s nuggets sets retweet record

  09-05-2017 18:44
  
  RENO, Nev. (AP) – A Twitter plea from a Nevada teen for a year of free chicken nuggets from Wendy’s is now the most retweeted post of all time.
  Carter Wilkerson asked the fast food chain on Twitter last month how many retweets it would take for him to get free nuggets for a year. Wendy’s replied, “18 million.”
  Wilkerson’s screenshot of the exchange has moved past Ellen DeGeneres’ viral tweet from the 2014 Oscars on Tuesday with more than 3.4 million retw
  
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• Alaska Marine Highway System manager resigns

  09-05-2017 18:29
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Marine Highway System needs a new manager.
  CoastAlaska News reports Capt. Mike Neussl is leaving his post to care for an ill family member.
  Transportation Commissioner Marc Luiken says a replacement for Neussl won’t be selected right away.
  Neussl, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain with 30 years of service, has been a Department of Transportation deputy commissioner for a little more than two years. He also ran the ferry system in 2011 and 201
  
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• Alaska volunteer is driving force behind hospice fundraiser

  09-05-2017 18:28
  
  FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Fairbanks Memorial Hospital Hospice has a special person who grants patients’ wishes. Her name is Monte Landis.
  The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the 64-year-old former Iowa farmer’s work as the plant sale coordinator earned the hospice a record $25,275 last year.
  Landis says she hopes to outdo that mark during this year’s sale, which is scheduled for May 27.
  Having volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations,
  
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• Win 2 tickets to see Lil Wayne in Anchorage

  09-05-2017 08:47
  
  The post Win 2 tickets to see Lil Wayne in Anchorage appeared first on KTVA 11.
  
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• High school athletes make college commitments

  09-05-2017 08:01
  
  Across town, high school seniors are making plans. On Monday, they became official.
  At Bartlett and Dimond, student-athletes signed their letters of intent. Sixteen Golden Bears from Bartlett will play at the next level in various sports while Eric Jenkins of Dimond will be staying close home as he inked with the University of Alaska Anchorage to play basketball. He had offers to go out town but a chance to play Division II basketball at home in front of his family was too good to pass up.&ldquo
  
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• Oreo debuts new ‘Firework’ cookie

  09-05-2017 07:15
  
  You may think you know all about Oreos, but there’s a new cookie in town.
  The ‘Firework’ Oreo started lining the shelves  Monday.
  Yes, it has the familiar chocolate wagers on the outside– but the creme inside includes red and blue popping candies! That’s right, popping candy creme!
  It’s a nod to the Fourth of July that’s only available for a limited time.
  Now, Oreo is asking fans what its next creation should be. The grand prize winner gets a cool h
  
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• Ukraine bans Steven Seagal as national security threat

  09-05-2017 06:34
  
  MINSK, Belarus — Ukraine has banned action film actor Steven Seagal from entering the country for five years.
  Seagal, an American, was given Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin last year in a ceremony shown on state television. He has vocally defended the Russian leader’s policies and criticized the U.S. government.
  A statement from the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday said Seagal’s entry was banned “on the basis of Ukrainian national security.” It d
  
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• 5 brunch dishes that will wow your mom this Mother’s Day

  09-05-2017 06:31
  
  (Credit: Via Chowhound)
  Serving mom breakfast in bed this Mother’s Day? Or would you prefer to avoid the chaos of busy restaurants by hosting her for a meal? These brunch recipes from Chowhound will leave her super-impressed, and chances are, you’ll enjoy the dishes too.
  Challah French Toast with Strawberries
  Using challah bread adds flavor to this French toast so you don’t have to use heavy cream.
  Herb Omelets
  These omelets can be filled with almost anything so you can adapt t
  
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• Longer life expectancy? It depends on where you live

  09-05-2017 06:25
  
  While life expectancy in the United States has grown overall in the last few decades, not all Americans are benefitting equally. New research finds significant disparities, with people in certain parts of the country living more than 20 years longer than those in less fortunate communities.
  Researchers the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) examined county-level death registration data to explore the extent of these geographic differences in the U
  
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• Governor Walker hits the road with budget message

  09-05-2017 05:47
  
  It’s a message that Alaskans have heard before but Governor Bill Walker is taking it on the road. Walker was in Anchorage on Monday talking about the need to balance the budget with additional revenues.
  He started the day on morning radio and continued at noon reaching out to Anchorage Chamber of Commerce members during their weekly luncheon.
  During his speech, the Governor praised members of the State House for passing an unpopular statewide income tax and said he could appreciate th
  
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• New legislation aims to enshrine PFDs in constitution

  09-05-2017 05:38 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation sign at headquarters in March 2016. House majority members want to enshrine Permanent Fund dividends in the state constitution. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  Members of the House majority have introduced legislation to enshrine Permanent Fund dividends into the Alaska Constitution. Dividends would be at least $1,250 each year.
  The Alaska Permanent Fund became a part of the constitution in 1976. Permanent Fund dividends were started through state law five y
  
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• Bartlett CEO: A decade under House GOP health care bill could cost hospital $69 million

  09-05-2017 04:41 via ktoo.org
  
  Bartlett Regional Hospital CEO Chuck Bill. (Photo by Lisa Phu/KTOO)
  Juneau’s public hospital could still stand to lose tens of millions of dollars under the bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. That’s according to numbers from the American Hospital Association.
  “It actually cuts the reimbursement to Bartlett Regional Hospital by $69 million over the next 10 years if it stays in the format that it&rsquo
  
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• Only 3 gallons spilled from Hilcorp platform in April…and it wasn’t crude

  09-05-2017 04:11 via ktoo.org
  
  Hilcorp’s Anna Platform in Upper Cook Inlet, where workers felt an impact before observing oil sheens on April 1. (Photo courtesy Cook Inletkeeper)
  The state has concluded that just three gallons of liquid escaped from one of Hilcorp’s platforms into Cook Inlet in early April.
  The spill was reported on April 1, when workers on one of Hilcorp’s oil platforms felt an impact and then spotted a sheen on the water. At first, the state thought it was a crude oil leak from one of the
  
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• Sockeye Fire defendant takes the stand

  09-05-2017 04:10
  
  On Monday, the jury in the Sockeye Fire trial heard from one of the defendants herself. Amy DeWitt and her husband Greg Imig face a dozen charges each related to staring the 2015 blaze.
  When we took the stand, DeWitt not only had a message for the jury but also people in the audience who lost homes and property to the fire.
  “It was scary as hell,” DeWitt testified. “Everyone, all of us, we went through the same thing.”
  She admitted that she, Greg Imig, and her o
  
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• Walker puts final kibosh on KABATA project

  09-05-2017 04:04
  
  Governor Bill Walker is closing out the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) project, after more than a decade of work and millions of dollars in state money.
  The Department of Transportation is wrapping up one last piece at the federal level, dealing with right-of-way matters, according to an email from the department’s legislative liaison Mike Lesmann.
  “Once these matters are resolved, Central Region will begin closing the project out with the FHWA [U.S. Federal Highway Admi
  
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• Runaway melt: Alaska permafrost is thawing even in winter

  09-05-2017 03:56 via ktoo.org
  
  Much of the North Slope of Alaska is characterized by low, sweeping tundra hills, and a complete absence of trees. (Creative Commons photo by Paxson Woelber)
  When you think of carbon emissions, you probably think of the exhaust that comes from your car. But it comes from the ground, too. As the temperature continues to rise in the Arctic, Alaska’s melting permafrost is releasing  carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere. A new report published Monday says CO2 is  escaping
  
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• Rep. Eastman stands by controversial abortion statements, attacks media

  09-05-2017 03:54 via ktoo.org
  Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, speaks during a House Minority press availability on April 6, 2017. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  Last week, Rep. David Eastman made national news by claiming that there are women in Alaska villages who are “glad” to become pregnant in order to travel to Seattle or Anchorage for an abortion – paid for by Medicaid. Now, Eastman is blaming the press for the furor over the comments.
  The Mat-Su Valley Republican received significant criticism, includ
  
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• Obama calls on Congress to have ‘courage’ on health care

  09-05-2017 03:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Former President Barack Obama urged Republicans to be guided by a personal standard of ethics and integrity, not political avarice, as they forge ahead with plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act — his signature legislation.
  Obama had refrained from weighing in on the bitter health care battle, but he broke his silence while accepting the Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston on Sunday night.
  “I hope that current members of Cong
  
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• Video: Vega String Quartet plays lunchtime concert

  09-05-2017 03:36 via ktoo.org
  
  The Atlanta-based Vega String Quartet played at today’s Juneau Jazz and Classics free lunchtime concert.The musicians played for about an hour in the State Office Building’s 8th floor atrium with everything from Beethoven to Haydn to Brahms and even some folk and fiddle tunes.
  The string quartet will be joined by cellist Zuill Bailey this evening from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for another free concert at the Alaskan Brewing Company’s Depot downtown.
  The Vega String Quartet is conductin
  
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• Stand down, Mat-Su: 17-foot python returns home

  09-05-2017 03:26
  
  Mat-Su Animal Care Officer Darla Erskine shown wincing some at Sam's approach. Sam is a 17-foot, 100-pound python that can squeeze you to death or sink in teeth if you are considered prey. Back in the living room again, Sam, the albino Burmese python, reappears after many people hunted for him. There he is with his 17-foot pet, Sam. In the bathroom with 100-pound Sam, the albino Burmese python, who went missing.
  Monday evening, Sam, the 17-foot python who’s been on the loose in the Mat-Su
  
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• Alaska Zoo welcomes new snow leopard

  09-05-2017 03:18
  
  (Credit: John Gomes) (Credit: John Gomes) (Credit: John Gomes)The Alaska Zoo welcomed a new member to their family over the weekend: 2-year-old Malala, a female snow leopard.
  The blue-eyed cat came all the way from the Wildlife Conversation Society’s Central Park Zoo in New York City.
  She’ll be a companion for the zoo’s resident male snow leopard, Nakai in a habitat specifically designed for the Arctic species. Malala, a member of an extremely rare and endangered species,
  
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• Magnitude 6.4 earthquake shakes near Adak

  09-05-2017 02:42 via ktoo.org
  
  A series of earthquakes, including a strong 6.4-magnitude quake near Adak, shook the Aleutian Islands the morning of Monday, May 8, 2017. (Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey/Alaska Earthquake Center)
  A series of earthquakes shook the Aleutian Islands Monday morning, including a strong 6.4 magnitude quake near Adak.
  According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, the big event struck at 9 a.m. about 80 miles west of the community, where about 350 people live.
  “I would suspect that it was clos
  
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• 4 earthquakes hit Alaska in less than 48 hours

  09-05-2017 02:34
  
  PLEASANT VALLEY, Alaska — The Alaska Earthquake Information Center says a magnitude 3.8 earthquake hit the central part of the state on Sunday — the fourth to hit Alaska over the weekend.
  The center says the earthquake had an epicenter 27 miles north of Pleasant Valley, a town of about 700 residents at 9:09 p.m. local time. The earthquake had a depth of 6.8 miles.
  There were no reports of injuries or damage.
  Earlier Sunday, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake hit the Cook Inlet region at 11:5
  
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• Decades of trawl surveys help Bering Sea climate change research

  09-05-2017 02:11 via ktoo.org
  
  Maps show changes in where Bering Sea Pollock are from year-to-year. (Graphic courtesy NOAA/Alaska Fisheries Science Center)
  There’s a new tool to help scientists and others interested in monitoring how Bering Sea fisheries respond to a changing climate.
  Biologist Steve Barbeaux of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center has created hundreds of graphics mapping where 22 species of fish spend their time during different life stages.
  The data comes from annual trawl surveys dating back to 1984,
  
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• Trump travel ban returns to court, with his own words at the center

  09-05-2017 00:45 via ktoo.org
  
  One of President Trump’s top priorities will get a test in court Monday when a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, hears arguments about the legality of his revised travel ban.
  (Public domain photo courtesy The White House)
  His first executive order restricting visitors from a handful of majority-Muslim countries provoked chaos at airports across the country in January. Federal judges stepped in to block the order, partly because it included legal permanent residents, who have rig
  
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• Photos: DIPAC unveils 2 new totem poles at hatchery

  09-05-2017 00:30 via ktoo.org
  
  One of two new totem poles is unveiled at the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery on May 6, 2017. (Creative Commons photo courtesy Alaska Governor Bill Walker)
  A Juneau salmon hatchery is honoring its founder’s wishes by adding two totem poles.
  The Juneau Empire reports that Douglas Island Pink and Chum held the Saturday ceremony. The poles honor the Raven and Eagle moieties of the Tlingit. Gov. Bill Walker and clan elders gave speeches at the event.
  DIPAC Executive Director Eric Prestegard says
  
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