Anchorage news

• Update: Alaska Legislature weighs governor’s cabinet and board picks

  16-05-2017 23:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Update | 3:25 p.m.
  The Alaska Legislature has confirmed the three marijuana regulators who were up for approval.
  Peter Mlynarik, Nicholas Miller and Mark Springer were confirmed Tuesday to the Marijuana Control Board. All three have been serving on the board but were subject to legislative approval to remain in their posts.
  The confirmation of Mlynarik, who serves as board’s chair, proved the most divisive. He was confirmed 45-14.
  Rep. Scott Kawasaki cited concerns that Mlynarik was involv
  
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• Gallery: ‘Unpredictable’ Bogoslof Volcano captured on camera

  16-05-2017 23:45
  
  Photo courtesy of Max Kaufman, UAFGI/AVO Photo courtesy of Max Kaufman, UAFGI/AVO Photo courtesy of Max Kaufman, UAFGI/AVO
  Bogoslof Volcano — the largest volcano in a cluster of small, low-lying volcanos off the coast of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands — “remains at a heightened state of unrest and in an unpredictable condition,” according to a Tuesday report from the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). But in the update, the organization said no volcano activity had
  
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• Legally blind sled-dog racer plans to run for congress in Oregon

  16-05-2017 23:34 via ktoo.org
  
  A legally blind woman who has competed in four Iditarod sled-dog races has announced she will be running for congress.KTVZ-TV reports 32-year-old Democrat Rachael Scdoris-Salerno filed paperwork Monday to run for Oregon’s Second Congressional District seat.
  Scdoris-Salerno plans to unseat incumbent Rep. Greg Walden. She says she is frustrated with politicians representing special interests.
  Scdoris-Salerno had been born with an uncorrectable visual disorder. She has competed in the Pa
  
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• East High’s Heather Roach is the BP Teacher of the year

  16-05-2017 23:01
  
  East High School’s Heather Roach teaches chemistry, anatomy and robotics and is also the 2017 BP Teacher of Year.
  Roach is one of 29 educators selected within the state of Alaska who won the BP Teacher of Excellence award. Each educator wins a $500 for themselves, and a matching grant for their school. As BP Teacher of the Year, Roach received an additional $1,500 to further her education.
  Roach has been teaching at East for the past 22 years. She said she enjoys teaching high school kids
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, May 16, 2017

  16-05-2017 22:53 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/05/2017-05-16-newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  The Alaska Legislature is poised to hold confirmation votes on Gov. Bill Walker’s appointees,
  the Juneau Assembly OKs rezoning the “Field of Fireweed” for industrial use,
  fundraising efforts to meet an insurance deductible to rebuild the Twin Lakes playground are fulfilled, and
  the weather and aurora forecasts align for a good chance of seeing northern lights.
  
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• Less sea ice means shorter hunting season for polar bears and scientists who study them

  16-05-2017 21:55 via ktoo.org
  
  Dr. Riley Wilson, veterinarian with the Alaska Zoo and the Pet Stop, examines a large polar bear. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
  Scientists travel into the Arctic every year to study polar bears. It helps them estimate the population. But this year, they had to cut that research short. Melting sea ice is making the task a lot more difficult.
  Michelle St. Martin flies as far as 100 miles off the coast of the Chukchi Sea, looking for polar bear tracks or blood splatters on the
  
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• Alaska Legislature weighs confirming Cabinet, board picks

  16-05-2017 21:34
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Latest on confirmations of gubernatorial appointees by the Alaska Legislature (all times local):
  4:15 p.m.
  A divided Alaska Legislature has confirmed Hollis French as a commissioner for a state agency that oversees oil and gas drilling, development and production.
  During Tuesday’s debate, French was praised as qualified to serve on the three-member Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. But questions were raised, too, about whether French would be too m
  
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• Alaska Legislature to weigh confirming Cabinet, board picks

  16-05-2017 21:34
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Legislature plans to meet in joint session Tuesday afternoon to consider Gov. Bill Walker’s nominees to boards, positions and key administration positions.
  Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan and Natural Resources Commissioner Andy Mack are the Walker Cabinet members facing confirmation.
  They have been serving in their roles, as have others appointed by Walker, but are subject to legislative approval to remain in
  
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• Sen. Sullivan discusses Comey, Obamacare and DeVos at town hall

  16-05-2017 20:27 via ktoo.org
  
  Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in his Washington, D.C. office. (Photo by Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  Last week, U.S. Sen Dan Sullivan said he’s looking forward to being briefed on the firing of FBI Chief James Comey this week. Sullivan said the assistant attorney general will talk with the entire Senate. Sullivan’s remarks were made at his first town hall meeting in interior in Alaska.
  Before Friday’s town hall meeting in North Pole began, organizers urged respectful dia
  
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• Digital restoration of ‘The Drums Of Winter’ deepens colors, brings light to shadows

  16-05-2017 19:17
  
  One of the most significant films about Yup’ik culture has been digitally restored. “The Drums of Winter” is an award-winning documentary shot in Emmonak 40 years ago that tells the story of Yup’ik dancing and potlatching between Emmonak and Alakanuk. After three years of restoration work, it’s now being shown around the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, according to a report from KYUK.
  Four decades after it was made, “The Drums of Winter” is considered a
  
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• King salmon fishing crews fall short of winter season limit

  16-05-2017 19:07
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – King salmon fishing crews in Southeast Alaska have fallen short of catching their limit for the winter season.
  KFSK-FM reported (http://bit.ly/2pGpmbR ) Monday that this year’s commercial harvest total is down from the previous two winters. Crews have caught about 43,000 king salmon this season after catching more than 45,000 in each of the past two years.
  Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s troll management biologist Grant Hagerman says the winter had be
  
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• Complaint: Elderly man charged with murder couldn’t explain why he shot his wife

  16-05-2017 19:02
  
  APD on location at a Midtown home where an elderly woman was found dead Sunday.Ninety-one-year-old Duane Marvin was charged with killing his 91-year-old wife for reasons he couldn’t explain to detectives, a criminal complaint filed Monday said.
  On Sunday, Duane Marvin told his neighbor his wife was dead. When the Anchorage Police Department responded, officers found Charlotte Marvin deceased in second-story bedroom of the home on East 28th Avenue. The couple had owned the propert
  
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• Eagle River blaze displaces 3, injures 1 firefighter

  16-05-2017 17:49
  
  Last updated at 7:54 a.m. on Tuesday, May 16
  Three Eagle River residents were displaced and a firefighter was injured when a duplex burned in an early-Tuesday morning fire.
  The Anchorage Fire Department received several emergency calls reporting the back deck of the duplex, located at the 11000 block of Dawn Street, was on fire at 3:33 a.m. The witnesses also told emergency responders the building’s residents were evacuating the building, according to AFD.
  “The first arriving fire ap
  
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• 100 years after China Joe’s death, Juneau historian remembers immigrant pioneers protected

  16-05-2017 15:15 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Mark Whitman tells Kathy Buell about the life of China Joe, a Chinese immigrant who settled in Juneau and was the only Chinese person in the city after a mob ran all the others out of town. (Photo by Tripp J Crouse/KTOO)
  Mark Whitman has an annual tradition on May 18, the day a prominent Juneau man died. He goes down to Evergreen Cemetery, finds a specific grave marker, and smokes a cigar. He’ s remembering how the generosity of a 
  
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• Mat-Su baseball teams set to play on new turf

  16-05-2017 08:20
  
   
  The Wasilla Warriors’ baseball program has a new place to play, a turf field on campus.
  “I’m a huge, huge guy for a grass field.” said Head Coach Ken Ottinger. “I love a grass field for baseball, but it’s so hard to take care of and maintain here in Alaska.”
  It’s those realities which necessitated the new spot to play ball. Conditions are difficult enough in a state where the season is short and could be shortened even more if the winter wea
  
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• Anchorage residents asked to continue reporting homeless camps

  16-05-2017 07:56
  
  The push is on to clean up homeless camps in Anchorage. City Homeless Coordinator Nancy Burke said people should report camps on the municipal website, muni.org. She said many of the problems that plagued the reporting system last year have been fixed.“We’ve been able to improve the functioning of the portal system where you provide information,” Burke said. “(Now) community members get an email back through several steps of the process including at the end when the camp
  
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• Glenn Highway rut construction project highlights importance of infrastructure maintenance

  16-05-2017 07:16
  
  Drivers on the Glenn Highway face the battle of the straddle on their commutes, as ruts have taken over the roadway.
  Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said the ruts aren’t just a problem for drivers, they can cause some serious problems long term if too much water builds up.
  “If you have rutting or cracking, that water gets into the pavement, then it can damage the sub-base and that’s an expensive repair,” McCarthy said.
  That’s why pr
  
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• New memorial unveiled for slain Palmer teen, David Grunwald

  16-05-2017 07:12
  
  It’s been six months since David Grunwald was allegedly beaten, kidnapped and shot to death.
  Now the 16-year-old’s life is being remembered with a new memorial at Academy Charter School in Palmer, where he attended 7th and 8th grade.
  “David was an awesome, amazing person and it’s a real loss,” David Grunwald’s mother, Edie Grunwald, said at the event Monday.
  The impacts of David’s death were felt on a nationwide level.
  Edie says she commissioned a piece
  
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• Juneau’s ‘Field of Fireweed’ rezoned industrial

  16-05-2017 06:47 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Fireweed blooms near Juneau International Airport on July 17, 2016. Many locals call this area “the Field of Fireweed.” (Photo courtesy Skip Gray)
  The Juneau Assembly voted 7-2 to rezone land around Honsinger Pond also known as a “Field of Fireweed” near the airport for industrial use. Public outcry over blooming fireweed and bird habitat had helped scuttled previous efforts to rezone the land.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/05/170516FIREWEED-PKG.mp3After hear
  
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• Fundraising for Twin Lakes playground exceeds $100,000 target

  16-05-2017 06:42 via ktoo.org
  
  The remains of the Twin Lakes playground on April 25, 2017, the day after a fire burned it down. (Photo by Kelli Burkinshaw/KTOO)
  Fundraising efforts to cover a $100,000 insurance deductible toward rebuilding the Twin Lakes playground destroyed in last month’s arson fire have succeeded.
  The Juneau Community Foundation said Monday that a mix of private and corporate donations have raised just over $110,000. Alaska Airlines, BP Alaska and, most recently, $25,000 from the Cruise Lines Interna
  
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• Wasilla apartment building heavily damaged by fire; 34 people displaced

  16-05-2017 06:40
  
  (KTVA viewer photo) (KTVA viewer photo) (KTVA viewer photo)
  Last updated at 8:50 p.m. on Monday, May 15
  Thirty four people have been displaced after a Wasilla apartment building was heavily damaged by fire Monday evening.
  All of the occupants were able to escape unharmed, according to Ken Barkley, Fire Deputy Director for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
  He said the fire looks to have started in an attached garage, then spread to one of the connected apartments located at 5701 Beav
  
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• Wasilla apartment building heavily damaged by fire; 30 people displaced

  16-05-2017 06:40
  
  (KTVA viewer photo) (KTVA viewer photo) (KTVA viewer photo) (Daniella Rivera / KTVA) The apartment fire was visible from Hatcher Pass. (Courtesy of Kent Knapp)
  Last updated at 10:25 p.m. on Monday, May 15
  Thirty people have been displaced after a Wasilla apartment building was heavily damaged by fire Monday evening.
  All of the occupants were able to escape unharmed, according to Ken Barkley, Fire Deputy Director for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
  He said the fire looks to have sta
  
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• Assembly approves $87 million budget for schools; state money uncertain

  16-05-2017 06:36 via ktoo.org
  
  (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)
  After a unanimous vote by the Juneau Assembly, Juneau School District could get more than $87 million to spend on students and staff this coming school year. The assembly approved the district’s budget without discussion at its Monday night meeting.
  The total budget is $1.7 million more than the current school year’s budget. It includes almost $27 million from the Assembly.
  It’s not guaranteed the district will get the full amount approved. The bu
  
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• Time pressure makes special session likely

  16-05-2017 06:23 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Capitol. (Photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)
  The Alaska Legislature is scheduled to end its session Wednesday, under a deadline set by the Alaska Constitution. But that doesn’t mean its work is over.
  It’s not at all likely that the Legislature will finish its work by when it’s supposed to, for a few reasons.
  Work has just started on the operating budget conference committee – it named Homer Republican Rep. Paul Seaton as its chairman and Bethel Democratic
  
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• Bicyclist critically injured in collision on Abbott Road

  16-05-2017 05:09
  
  (Daniella Rivera / KTVA)
  A bicyclist was taken to an Anchorage hospital with critical head injuries following a collision with a vehicle near the intersection of Abbott Rd. and Sandlewood Drive Monday afternoon.
  Westbound Abbott Rd. remains closed as Anchorage police investigate the scene.
  Police were called to the area around 4:15 p.m.
  Both the cyclist, described only as a male in his 40s, and the driver were reportedly headed westbound on Abbott Rd. when the collision happened, according to p
  
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• Senate sends oil tax credit overhaul back to the House

  16-05-2017 03:25 via ktoo.org
  
  Senate President Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, talks to reporters at a Senate Majority press availability, April 13, 2017. Sens. Peter Micciche, R- Soldotna and Anna Mackinnon, R-Anchorage, seated next to him also participated. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  With the end of session looming, Alaska’s Senate passed its version of an oil tax credit reform bill on Monday. 
  But the Senate’s version of House Bill 111 doesn’t have much in common with the bill the House passed a month
  
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• Update: Anchorage man arrested for killing his 92-year-old wife

  16-05-2017 03:15
  
  APD on location at a Midtown home where an elderly woman was found dead Sunday.Last updated at 5:15 p.m. on Monday, May 15
  The Anchorage Police Department has arrested 91-year-old Duane Marvin and charged him with killing his wife, 92-year-old Charlotte Marvin.
  Police allege that after shooting his wife, Marvin hid the gun in a cabinet inside the home before telling a neighbor that his wife was dead.
  Duane Marvin turned himself in to police Monday around 5 p.m. He was arrested and
  
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• Report: Alaska saw record number of visitors in 2016

  16-05-2017 02:45
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A new report says Alaska had a record number of visitors to the state last year.
  The report says more than 1.8 million people visited the state between May 2016 and September 2016. It says that figure represents a 4 percent increase over 2015 numbers.
  The report was released Monday by the Alaska Tourism Industry Association and the state Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.
  The report says much of the growth is due to a 6 percent increase in
  
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• Valley woman celebrates bittersweet Mother’s Day on anniversary of lifesaving transplant

  16-05-2017 02:14
  
  This Mother’s Day was the first one in a few years that Kelly Marre has been well enough to celebrate with her family.
  Sunday, five generations of Marre’s family packed into her grandfather’s home in Palmer, along with the dogs, fresh flowers and pizza.
  “I’m really excited that I’m alive,” she said.
  In October of 2014, Marre was diagnosed with leukemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant, but there wasn’t a match for her on the donor list.
  Le
  
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• Report: Number of Alaska children living with a grandparent on the rise

  16-05-2017 01:39
  
  In Alaska, and across the U.S., the number of children living with a grandparent has been on the rise for decades. In the latest Economic Trends report, a state economist writes that the number of children who called a grandparent’s residence home was more than triple the figure of kids in that type of living situation in the 1970s.
  “A major factor is that more Americans are grandparents than ever before because of the large baby boomer generation, or those born between 194
  
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• Alaska House, Senate agree to comply with Real ID Act, but pass different bills

  16-05-2017 01:17
  
  The Alaska House and Senate have both agreed to comply with the federal Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, but the two legislative bodies passed different bills to do so.
  On Monday, the Senate approved provisions from Gov. Walker’s Real ID legislation with a vote of 14 to 5. But its fate was tied to House Bill 16 by Rep. Steve Thompson (R-Fairbanks).
  His measure requires law enforcement to undergo training to recognize people with disabilities and allows the Division of Motor Vehicle
  
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