Anchorage news

• Melissa McCarthy adds spice (and Spicer) as host of ‘SNL’

  14-05-2017 22:11
  
   
  NEW YORK (AP) – Melissa McCarthy once again brought comic spice plus Spicer to “Saturday Night Live.”
  After a spate of guest appearances mocking White House press secretary Sean Spicer in recent weeks, she was back on Saturday’s edition of the NBC satire show to preside as host.
  One sketch featured McCarthy as the hot-tempered Spicer commandeering his motorized podium through the streets of midtown Manhattan – a sequence spotted by the media on Friday while
  
  Read more

• Simple cabins to be built to house Alaska homeless

  14-05-2017 21:49
  
  FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Two Alaska nonprofits are coming together to build affordable housing for the homeless.
  The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Fairbanks Rescue Mission and the Greater Fairbanks Area Habitat for Humanity are building simple 20 feet by 24 feet (6 meters by 7 meters) cabins to house the homeless in the coming weeks. The groups describe the upcoming Joshua Community Projects as a healthy, sober and encouraging setting.
  (Fairbanks Rescue Mission)
  Their goal is
  
  Read more

• Third air ambulance services comes to southeastern Alaska

  14-05-2017 21:19
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A third air ambulance will be servicing a southeastern Alaska community.
  The Juneau Empire reports Juneau patients got a third option for their medical evacuation needs in early May. LifeMed Alaska joins Airlift Northwest and Guardian as an air ambulance service in the Juneau area. LifeMed Alaska has two Lear jets based in Juneau that can carry two patients each. Their medical team is experienced in pediatric, obstetric and neonatal care as well as adult care.
  Li
  
  Read more

• Native groups install totem pole at Gastineau Elementary, lost cemetery

  14-05-2017 10:07 via ktoo.org
  
  The T’aakù Kwàan of Douglas Island raised a totem pole in front of an elementary school Saturday to mark the site of a disturbed graveyard. The pole symbolizes the pain of historical trauma and a need to heal.
  A couple dozen volunteers prepared to bend their knees and backs to grab wooden beams underneath a 26-foot, solid wood, Raven totem pole laying on its back. Like pallbearers, they lifted the pole and slowly carried it toward a crane waiting to lift and place
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Alaska couple suspected in 2015 wildfire found not guilty

  14-05-2017 06:34 via ktoo.org
  
  PALMER, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska couple accused of starting a 2015 wildfire was found not guilty.
  KTVA-TV reports Greg Imig and his wife Amy Dewitt’s verdict was read at the Palmer Courthouse on Friday. The state had suspected the pair started the June 2015 Sockeye Fire which burned over 11 sq. miles (28.49 sq. kilometers) and destroyed 55 homes in southeastern Alaska.
  The couple had been facing 12 charges each for burning without a permit, property damage crimes and reckless endanger
  
  Read more

• 200 Alaska teachers facing layoffs amid state funding talks

  14-05-2017 06:34 via ktoo.org
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Hundreds of Alaska teachers, including some tenured teachers, may soon be laid off due to state funding uncertainties.
  Alaska Public Radio Network reported Friday that the Anchorage School District is looking to terminate 200 non-tenured teachers. Chief Human Resource Officer Todd Hess expects the laid off staff will mostly be first-year teachers. Some second-year instructors and five tenured teachers will also be considered.
  Alaska lawmakers have discussed cutting
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Alaska lawmaker predicts strong mine opposition

  14-05-2017 06:33 via ktoo.org
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The speaker of the Alaska House said he believes there will be a rising up of opposition if a mine proposed near the headwaters of a world-class Alaska salmon fishery advances.
  Rep. Bryce Edgmon represents the Bristol Bay region, where the Pebble Mine project is located.
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Pebble Limited Partnership disclosed a settlement Friday clearing a way for the company to seek permits.
  Edgmon says most residents in the region oppose the pr
  
  Read more

• Alaska counters lack of fresh veggies with greenhouse guide

  14-05-2017 06:33 via ktoo.org
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Greenhouses have long been an option for increasing the limited growing season in Alaska, but they’re too expensive to operate for many remote communities that rely on costly imported diesel fuel for their power source.
  Now the state has released a handbook that shows schools and community groups how to build greenhouses heated with a plentiful local resource: wood.
  The new 98-page guide notes successes in the fledgling movement by several schools.
  Officials
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Amtrak Engineer Charged In Deadly 2015 Philadelphia Train Crash

  14-05-2017 06:30 via ktoo.org
  
  Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia in 2015. The engineer has been charged with crimes including involuntary manslaughter.
  Patrick Semansky/AP
  Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has brought criminal charges against the engineer who was operating Amtrak 188 when it derailed, killing eight people and injuring over 200 two years ago.
  Brandon Bostian faces eight counts of involuntary manslaughter and other crimes including causing a catastrophe
  
  Read more

• Sessions tells prosecutors to seek ‘most serious’ charges, stricter sentences

  14-05-2017 06:28 via ktoo.org
  
  Then-senator Jeff Sessions at a Trump campaign event last year. (Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr/Creative Commons)
  Updated at 12:10 p.m. ET
  In a memo to staff, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal prosecutors to “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” — a move that marks a significant reversal of Obama-era policies on low-level drug crimes.
  The two-page memo, which was publicly released Friday, lays out a policy of strict enforcement that rolls ba
  
  Read more

• Pope Francis announces two new saints on 100-year anniversary of their vision

  14-05-2017 06:28 via ktoo.org
  
  Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Fatima, Portugal Saturday, where Pope Francis canonized two new saints. Jacinta and Francisco Marto were children 100 years ago when their visions of the Virgin Mary marked this place as an important Catholic shrine.
  Paulo Novais/AP
  Pope Francis canonized two new saints Saturday at the beginning of a mass in Fátima, Portugal.
  Francisco and Jacinta Marto were small children in Fátima on May 13, 1917, when they said they saw a vision of t
  
  Read more

• Life expectancy with HIV nears normal with treatment

  14-05-2017 02:14
  
  Young adults with HIV who get treatment are living longer in North America and Europe, a new study finds.
  In fact, a 20-year-old with HIV who began antiretroviral treatment in 2008 or later and had a low viral load after a year of treatment has a life expectancy that’s close to that of the general population — around 78 years old, the study found.
  But life expectancy for people with HIV mostly remains lower than that of the general population, according to the study published in 
  
  Read more

• Anchorage police kill ‘agressive’ bear

  14-05-2017 01:56
  
  Saturday afternoon the Anchorage Police Department notified the public that they put down a bear that was getting into trash in east Anchorage.
  The agency provided few other details immediately, only that the bear was showing aggressive behavior near the 5200 block of Chena Avenue. APD said no one was injured by the bear.
  No other details were immediately available.
  This is a developing story; check back for updates. 
   
   
  The post Anchorage police kill ‘agressive’ bear
  
  Read more

• Anchorage police kill ‘aggressive’ bear

  14-05-2017 01:56
  
  Saturday afternoon the Anchorage Police Department notified the public that they put down a bear that was getting into trash in east Anchorage.
  The agency provided few other details immediately, only that the bear was showing aggressive behavior near the 5200 block of Chena Avenue. APD said no one was injured by the bear.
  Shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday, Fish and Game spokesperson Ken Marsh said state biologists had just been notified. Marsh added that the biologists hadn’t received any rec
  
  Read more

• Report: Despite Alaska recession, housing market steady

  14-05-2017 01:39
  
  Alaska might be in a recession, but things are still looking good overall in the housing market. In the latest issue of the Alaska Economic Trends report, state economists say the housing market has slowed down, but there has been no sign of a decline.
  The report also noted that sale prices and rent are “stable” and foreclosures are actually down. There are fewer new housing units being built and sale volume is lower, but the report said that might actually help Alaska’s h
  
  Read more

• Nations grapple with massive cyberattack as more threats loom

  14-05-2017 00:50
  
  LONDON — Teams of technicians worked around the clock Saturday to restore Britain’s crippled hospital network and secure the computers that run factories, banks, government agencies and transport systems in other nations after a global cyberattack.
  The worldwide cyberextortion attack is so unprecedented that Microsoft quickly changed its policy, announcing security fixes available for free for the older Windows systems still used by millions of individuals and smaller businesses.
  Aft
  
  Read more

• Intoxicated man crashes into Valley home then hides under trailer, police say

  14-05-2017 00:43 via ktoo.org
  
  A man who was allegedly intoxicated Friday night drove off a roadway in Mendenhall Valley and struck a house, causing “significant damage,” a Juneau Police Department news release said Saturday morning.
  Police arrested Lance Cesar, 50, on charges of driving while intoxicated and failure to provide notice of the crash, both class A misdemeanors. A breath test put his blood-alcohol level at nearly three times the legal limit to drive.
  There was no immediate report of injuries to a
  
  Read more

• Mexican Consulate on Wheels program stays busy in south Anchorage

  14-05-2017 00:37
  
  The Mexican Consulate closed its doors in Anchorage more than a year ago. For Mexican citizens, that means the closest consulate they’d have to go to is in Seattle, for services that were once offered here. But over the weekend, the consulate came back to Alaska’s biggest city to provide necessary services.
  On Saturday, folks packed into the south Anchorage strip mall office, where the Consulate on Wheels program set up shop. Mexican citizens took care of various documents,
  
  Read more

Follow @AnchorageNewsUS on Twitter!