Anchorage news

• Alaskan appointed to help manage national fisheries

  20-06-2017 23:22 via ktoo.org
  
  An Alaskan has been appointed to help manage fisheries nationwide.Chris Oliver will oversee recreational and commercial fishing at the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is under the umbrella of NOAA.
  Chris Oliver was appointed assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries on June 19, 2017. (Photo courtesy of NOAA)
  He said one of his goals is to make long-term sustainability a priority for the billion dollar industry.
  Previously Oliver worked on shrimp fishery management in the Gulf of Mexico
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, June 20, 2017

  20-06-2017 22:38 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/06/20170620-newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski becomes the target of a TV ad urging her to vote against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act,
  a $3 million pioneer road on the west side of Douglas Island nears completion, and
  Wrangell Borough and municipal workers prepare for a strike over labor contract negotiations.
  
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• Bear safety: What you need to know

  20-06-2017 21:14
  
  After a week in which there have been numerous bear encounters– some fatal– KTVA sat down with a bear expert to learn how you can best protect yourself should you find yourself face to face with a bear.
  Watch the video for the story.
  The post Bear safety: What you need to know appeared first on KTVA 11.
  
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• Why dark matter matters in ‘Phantom of the Universe’

  20-06-2017 21:09
  
  Dark matter is a large part of the universe, but scientists still don’t know much about it. One of the reasons for that is dark matter does not produce light.
  According to a University of Alaska Anchorage astronomy professor, Erin Hicks, scientists discovered it through the gravitational pull it has on objects in space around it.
  To shine a little more light on the subject of dark matter, the Planetarium at UAA will premiere “Phantom of the Universe: The Hunt for Dark Matter.”
  
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• Nearly 200M Americans hit by massive voter data leak

  20-06-2017 21:00
  
  Personal information for more than 198 million American voters was left exposed this month after a data analytics firm hired by the Republican National Committee stored the files on an unsecured Amazon server.
  Deep Root Analytics, the conservative analytics firm, confirmed in a statement Monday the files had been accessed without their knowledge.
  “The data that was accessed was, to the best of our knowledge this proprietary information as well as voter data that is publicly available and r
  
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• Skagway port consultants recommend $14.5 million ore dock modification

  20-06-2017 20:59 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A Disney cruise ship tied up at Skagway’s ore dock. (Photo by Emily Files/KHNS)
  Skagway’s most profitable economic sector, cruise ship tourism, is at risk.
  That was the message port consultants delivered to borough leaders last week.
  The consultants were hired to make a recommendation about what Skagway can do to ready its port for larger cruise ships by 2019.
  They’re suggesting the municipality act as soon as possible on a $14.5 million modification to the ore dock.http://khns
  
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• Happy summer solstice, Alaska

  20-06-2017 20:44
  
  ANCHORAGE — Tuesday is the summer solstice and the peak of summer daylight in Alaska.
  Anchorage will gain a final 9 seconds of daylight Tuesday, topping out at 19 hours and 21 minutes. Juneau is not far behind at 18 hours and 16 minutes, while Fairbanks will experience 21 hours and 49 minutes of daylight. The sun has been up in Utqiagvik (Barrow) since early May and will stay above the horizon until the next sunset on August 2.
  The summer solstice is the longest day of the
  
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• Democrats tie up the Senate to protest GOP health care push

  20-06-2017 20:29 via ktoo.org
  
  The Republican effort to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has led to a standoff in the Senate.
  Senate Democrats on Monday night began using parliamentary maneuvers to slow Senate business as part of a coordinated protest against the GOP push to pass an Obamacare replacement bill. A small group of Republican senators has been working in private for weeks, shielding from public view the bill and the negotiations surrounding it.
  In a show of frustration with what they deem the GOP&rs
  
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• Former Kenai city manager dies after motorcycle crash

  20-06-2017 20:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A former Kenai city manager died Sunday of injuries he sustained when he wrecked his motorcycle earlier that day on the Dalton Highway.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170619-07.mp3Ricky Koch, 60, was pronounced dead by medics who’d flown to Livengood, Alaska State Troopers said.
  Koch was riding with several friends when he lost control and wrecked at mile 39, near the Hess Creek bridge about 15 miles south of the Yukon River, according to a trooper report posted Monday morning.
  
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• Watch live: Alaska Supreme Court hears Permanent Fund case

  20-06-2017 20:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in a case that could have a huge effect on the value of your Permanent Fund dividend, and the options our current and future elected state officials have to decide where Permanent Fund earnings go.
  Live coverage will be available streaming here, on 360 North television and on Alaska Public Radio Network stations, including KTOO.
  Sen. Bill Wielechowski and former lawmakers Clem Tillion and Rick Halford brought the
  
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• Alaska DNR searching for bear that killed Anchorage teen

  20-06-2017 19:43 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources still is searching for the black bear that killed Patrick Cooper, 16, on Sunday.
  Meanwhile, another bear attack has claimed the life of a worker and injured another in a gold mine near Delta.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170619-03.mp3Black bear. (Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
  In Anchorage, Cooper encountered a bear during the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb on the Bird Ridge trail inside Chugach State Park.
  After a search of the
  
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• Alleged masked gunman dead after officer-involved shooting in Fairbanks

  20-06-2017 19:34 via ktoo.org
  
  One person is dead after being shot by Fairbanks Police.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170619-06.mp3The shooting happened at about 4 a.m., police spokeswoman Yumi McCullough said, when officers received two calls about a masked man wielding a rifle.
  ”The man was located at an undisclosed location,” McCullough said. “There were four FPD officers that were involved and the gunman approached them and the officers fired and the gunman died on the scene.”
  McCullog
  
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• Alleged Fairbanks gunman was ‘prepared for armed confrontation,’ police say of officer-involved shooting

  20-06-2017 19:34 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Updated | 9:45 a.m. Wednesday
  Fairbanks Police Department has released details about an officer-involved shooting in the city Monday.
  Mathew Colton Stover, 21, of Northway was killed in a shootout with four Fairbanks police officers.
  Chief Eric Jewkes explained during a news conference Tuesday that officers responded to a snow dump next to Fairbanks Correctional Center about 4 a.m. Monday, after receiving reports of a masked man with a rifle.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/a
  
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• Stranded 2-week-old walrus calf finds new home in Seward

  20-06-2017 19:24
  
  There’s a new addition at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward: a 2-week-old Pacific Walrus calf.
  It was found stranded near Nome Wednesday.
  The Sealife Center says the 120-pound newborn was hauled onto a gold mining barge. The barge returned to Nome, but the crew noticed the walrus was still on board the next day.
  The Sealife Center got a call Friday and prepared for the animal. The calf looks to be in stable condition, but the Sealife Center says veterinarians are addressing some he
  
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• Russian jet comes within 5 feet of U.S. spy plane

  20-06-2017 18:36
  
  An armed Russian jet came within five feet of a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.
  A U.S. official said Tuesday that the Russian aircraft came within five feet of a wing tip for a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane.
  The Russian jet then passed under the U.S. aircraft and came up near the other wing tip.
  The U.S. Air Force considers the incident to be an unsafe intercept, Martin reports.
  The incident took place 25 miles nort
  
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• TAPS faces new challenges on its 40th anniversary

  20-06-2017 17:39
  
  To say that Alaska depends on oil is a gross understatement. Oil revenue makes up 90 percent of the state’s budget, which lately, has been billions short. That’s because oil production is declining rapidly.
  Tuesday is the 40th anniversary of the Trans-Alaska pipeline or TAPS.
  Eight-hundred miles of pipeline pump life into Alaska’s economy. Forty years ago, it put a rough and tumble state and its people on the map. Diane Benson was just 19 when she bid on a truck driving jo
  
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• Search resumes for man after canoe capsizes in Wasilla

  20-06-2017 17:27
  
  A canoe tipped over in Finger Lake in Wasilla and one boater remains unaccounted for. 
  Troopers were called out to scene around 5 Monday evening on reports of a tipped canoe carrying two people, 30-year-old Gary Curtis, an Anchorage Police officer, and 67-year-old Edgar Curtis, both of Wasilla.
  Edgar went below the surface of the water before a boater arrived on scene to assist. Gary was rescued and transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center where he underwent treatment for hyperthermia
  
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• Canoe tips over in Finger Lake, one passenger missing

  20-06-2017 17:27
  
  A canoe has tipped over in Finger Lake and a search is ongoing to find one missing person.
  Troopers were called out to scene around 5 Monday evening on reports of a tipped canoe carrying two people. One person was rescued and transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center; the extent of their injuries is not known.
  Search crews were still looking for a second person in that canoe as of 10:30 p.m. Monday night.
  A dive team was on scene for the rescue Monday evening; the search is expected to resum
  
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• Juneau’s West Douglas road extension nears completion

  20-06-2017 15:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Crews from Enco Alaska work on the West Douglas pioneer road on June 16. The road is slated to be completed by the end of summer. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
  Work is nearing completion of a gravel road extending toward the west side of Douglas Island. The City and Borough of Juneau is spending $3 million in grant funding to punch out a so-called pioneer road on city property for future development.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/06/170620W-DOUGLAS.mp3We’ve crossed the gate an
  
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• Why Juneau’s garbage bears and parking scofflaws may catch a break

  20-06-2017 15:58 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Community service officers are a subset of Juneau police. They don’t carry guns or make arrests. But they do enforce laws — like parking and garbage — and help with community outreach.
  And sometimes that means they have to deal with trash-rummaging bears.
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/06/19CSO.mp3A black bears claws its way into a trash can in the Mendenhall Valley on June 12. (Photo by Carter Barrett/KTOO)
  A black bear claws its way into a non-bear resistant tras
  
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• Focus On Community – William Seward

  20-06-2017 06:12 via ktoo.org
  
  On Monday, July 3, a statue of William Seward will be dedicated in front of the Capitol Building in downtown Juneau. Who was William Seward? Find out this Monday evening for a radio special, featuring a panel of guests who will talk about the former U. S. Secretary of State, Governor of New York, and key player in the purchase of Alaska from Russia.
  Tune in at 7, this Monday at 7, during Focus on Community on KTOO, 104.3 FM, and learn about William Seward.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2
  
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• Sales tax for Mat-Su?

  20-06-2017 05:06
  
  People living in the Mat-Su Borough will likely be hearing about a proposed sales tax to help fund education.
  The Mat-Su Borough School Board voted for the resolution in March and the proposal will be introduced at Tuesday evening’s Assembly meeting. Assembly Member Jim Sykes says there will be a public hearing scheduled for sometime in August. If approved, it will be placed on the October ballot.
  “A lot of people recognize we’re in uncharted territories,” Sykes said in a
  
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• Regular visitors surprised at new fee at Independence Mine

  20-06-2017 04:57
  
  Hatcher Pass visitors now have to shell out more money to visit the Independence Mine State Historical Park.
  Beginning this year, Alaska State Parks implemented a $3 fee to see the site.
  Mat-Su Parks Superintendent Wayne Biessel said preserving the past comes at a price. It takes thousands of dollars to keep up with the aging infrastructure.
  “A lot of folks don’t know we don’t have grid power to Independence Mine, so, we rely on diesel generators to keep that park open and viab
  
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• Family wanted in Ohio killings may be in Alaska

  20-06-2017 04:18
  
  George “Billy” Wagner, III, and Angela Wagner. (Credit: Ohio AG)
  A family wanted for questioning in connection with a mass murder in Ohio is believed to be living on the Kenai Peninsula.
  George “Billy” Wagner, III, 46, Angela Wagner, 46, George Wagner IV, 25, and Edward “Jake” Wagner, 24, are wanted for questioning related to the execution-style killings of eight members of the Rhoden family in Pike County, Ohio in late-April of 2016.
  According to Dayton Daily
  
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• No sightings of bear that killed teen runner

  20-06-2017 03:41
  
  Searchers failed to locate a black bear on Monday that killed a 16-year old Anchorage boy on Sunday.
  Patrick Cooper was a runner in the juniors division of the Bird Ridge Race. He was coming down the mountain when he left the trail, got lost and encountered the bear in thick brush.
  A Chugach State Park ranger was able to get a shot off at the bear before it took off on Sunday. Fish and Game biologist Dave Battle said they were hoping to locate its body Monday but they didn’t see it, dead o
  
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• Alaska Supreme Court hears arguments in PFD lawsuit

  20-06-2017 03:35
  
  With empty halls and locked doors in the Capitol building, the most notable political action this week might be found in an Anchorage courtroom– the Alaska Supreme Court, that is.
  State Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) is behind a lawsuit challenging Gov. Bill Walker’s partial veto of last year’s Permanent Fund dividends. Even lawmakers who remain in Juneau say they’ll be tuning in for oral arguments in the historic case.
  “I believe that most of this building
  
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• Sharp comments reflect bad feelings as Legislature starts 2nd special session

  20-06-2017 03:15 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska Capitol Building in Juneau on June 6, 2017. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  On July 1, Alaska’s state government will shut down unless lawmakers can reach an agreement on a budget.
  Two groups that may be difficult to bring together are the majority and minority caucuses in the House.
  House minority Republicans say they were blindsided by the majority’s late push to pass a combined operating and capital budget ahead of the end of the first special session last week.
  And it led
  
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• Downtown Juneau apartment complex evacuated due to smoke, cause unknown

  20-06-2017 03:10 via ktoo.org
  
  Firefighters respond to reports of smoke at the Mendenhall Tower Apartments in downtown Juneau on Monday. Officials had evacuated the building as a precaution, but couldn’t find what caused the smoke. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  Where there’s smoke, there’s not always fire.
  While Juneau police cordoned off a two-block radius around the Mendenhall Tower Apartments on Monday morning, Capital City Fire/Rescue evacuated the downtown
  
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• Different year, same story: Juneau schools wait for a budget

  20-06-2017 03:10 via ktoo.org
  
  Juneau Superintendent Mark Miller is sitting at his computer and he’s about to watch the House Majority Coalition explain why representatives pushed a hurried budget through the House right before the end of the first special session.
  The bill would’ve given K-12 schools the same $5,930 per student that they got last year before Gov. Bill Walker’s summer vetoes.
  “We’ve been planning all the time that we were going to get full funding or flat funding of educatio
  
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• Crews rescue 2 injured hikers Sunday

  20-06-2017 02:54
  
  Crews rescued a man who broke his ankle while hiking Sunday.
  Just after 7  Sunday evening, Alaska State Troopers received a report of 31-year-old Nike Stokes, of Texas, suffered a broken ankle while hiking between Flattop and Ptarmigan Peaks. Stokes and Stokes’ companion were estimated to be at approximately 3500′ elevation in steep terrain.
  Life Med attempted a rescue but was unable to locate a landing zone due to the terrain.
  The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center was cont
  
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• Snow derails international bike race, but not unicyclists

  20-06-2017 02:42 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Ben Richardson, Ned Rozbicki, Nathan Hoover and Jim Sowers completed the nearly 150-mile race course, taking turns riding. (Photo by Abbey Collins/KHNS)
  Cyclists were supposed to mark the 25 anniversary of the Kluane-Chilkat International Bike Relay last weekend.
  But, for the first time ever, the nearly 150-mile race from the Yukon to Haines was canceled when snow and slush compromised the safety of the course.
  Four of the about 1,300 people registered braved the highly unusual summer snows
  
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• Video: Life as a postal worker in Deadhorse, Alaska

  20-06-2017 02:41 via ktoo.org
  
  Deadhorse isn’t your average Alaskan town. The community at the start of the pipeline exists solely as a service hub for North Slope oil workers. There are no permanent residents, no public amenities, not even a school or church. There is a post office, and Les Dunbar is the clerk responsible for making sure all the companies in Prudhoe Bay receive their mail. Also, if you plan on biking along the haul road, you might just end up mailing your gear up to Les.
  
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• Second fatal bear-mauling in 2 days

  20-06-2017 02:29
  
  Another person has died in a bear mauling in Alaska, marking the second fatal encounter in just two days.
  Monday morning, a contract employee hired by Pogo Mine to collect geological samples was attacked and killed by a bear. A second contract employee also sustained injuries in the attack.
  Officials say the pair were working at an exploration site several miles away from the main camp when the attack occurred.
  A mayday was called, officials say, and a helicopter with a paramedic and physician&r
  
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• Midnight Oil: Alaska, the oil state that almost wasn’t | Episode 1

  20-06-2017 02:26 via ktoo.org
  
  Oil started flowing down the trans-Alaska pipeline forty years ago, transforming Alaska into a wealthy oil state. But if it weren’t for a few determined individuals, the giant oil field that started it all might still be hidden under the tundra today.
  On this episode: It’s hard to imagine now, but Alaska nearly lost out on the discovery of the century— and the billions of dollars that came with it.
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 6-20-17

  20-06-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Tuesday on A Juneau Afternoon,
  Tuesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon, we’ll find out about the upcoming Cabaret concert;Alison Holtcamp will be here to highlight this weekend’s Club Baby Seal comedy show;
  We’ll get a preview of this weekend’s Summer Poetry Showcase;
  We’ll talk with Tori Weaver, new owner of Rainy Retreat Books
  That, Writers Almanac, Bird Note, music & more, Tuesday live at 3 on on KTOO-FM, repeated at 4 on KRNN, and available on demand via ktoo.org
  
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• Interior Secretary reassigns top climate policy adviser

  20-06-2017 01:54 via ktoo.org
  
  Flanked by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks to reporters after signing an order to promote more drilling on Alaska’s North Slope. Photo taken May, 31 2017. (photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is reshuffling several senior government positions, and it could affect Arctic policies in Alaska. The Washington Post reports that dozens of career officials received reassignment let
  
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• Using technology to grow rural Alaska

  20-06-2017 01:50
  
  You love to download apps on your phone, but did you know there’s one that connects you with gardeners across the state? Oftentimes, as Alaskans, we feel like we’re disconnected from the things that happen outside our community. A staff member at University of Fairbanks is working to bring Alaskans back together.
  “Gardens were really common in rural Alaska before you had airplanes coming in,” said Heidi Rader.
  Rader runs the Cooperative Extension Service at UAF. For the p
  
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• Harvesting Alaska: Using technology to grow rural Alaska

  20-06-2017 01:50
  
  You love to download apps on your phone, but did you know there’s one that connects you with gardeners across the state? Oftentimes, as Alaskans, we feel like we’re disconnected from the things that happen outside our community. A staff member at University of Fairbanks is working to bring Alaskans back together.
  “Gardens were really common in rural Alaska before you had airplanes coming in,” said Heidi Rader.
  Rader runs the Cooperative Extension Service at UAF. For the p
  
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• Survivors swim ashore after float plane crashes

  20-06-2017 01:36
  Seven people swam ashore after their plane crashed in Big Goat Lake.
  The incident happened around 2:30 Sunday afternoon about 25 miles east-northeast of Ketchikan in the Misty Fjords National Monument.
  Alaska State Troopers say the pilot, 30-year-old Matthew Perron, of Ketchikan, crashed his DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver into the lake during takeoff.
  Perron and his six passengers, from Germany and California, respectively, were all able to exit the aircraft and swim safely ashore. The passengers rang
  
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• Story Time w/ Aunt Phil: Civil War in the Bering Sea

  20-06-2017 01:10
  
  Two years before the United States purchased Alaska, and almost two months after the Confederate Army stopped fighting on land, the last gun of the Civil War was fired in the Bering Sea.
  In late spring 1865, a Confederate ship named The Shenandoah had slipped into Alaska waters in search of whalers. The commerce raider’s mission was to cripple the whale oil industry, which was essential for modern life in the nation’s growing cities. America ran on whale oil back in the day, so it wo
  
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• New equipment helps scientists keep tabs on Bogoslof now and study it later

  20-06-2017 00:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Bogoslof island has changed dramatically since the volcano started erupting in late 2016. (Max Kaufman/Alaska Volcano Observatory/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute)
  Scientists have had a hard time monitoring Bogoslof volcano since it started erupting in December. The island is so small, there is no equipment on the volcano, making it difficult to predict eruptions.
  No one lives on Bogoslof – the closest human neighbors are 60 miles away in Unalaska. Scientists moni
  
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