Anchorage news

• Musher Travis Beals allowed to compete in 2018 Iditarod

  25-06-2017 23:49
  
  Travis Beals appeared in Palmer court – April 2016
  Domestic violence is a big problem in Alaska, and this year, the issue made headlines when it became a focus of the last great race.
  A musher had to sit out of the Iditarod due to domestic violence charges against him. But now, musher Travis Beals could be back on the trail next March.
  Beals has not yet registered for the race, though, the Iditarod Trail Committee restored him to competition Saturday morning.
  Organizers indefinitely suspen
  
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• Rescue teams search for missing Juneau woman

  25-06-2017 23:44 via ktoo.org
  
  (Courtesy Erika Heuscher)
  The Alaska State Troopers, Juneau Mountain Rescue and SEADOGS are searching for Teri Heuscher, a Juneau woman who has been missing since Saturday afternoon.
  Authorities said Heuscher is a white female, 5-foot 4-inches tall and has blond hair with brown highlights.
  She was last seen at the Under Thunder trailhead on Jennifer Street at 1 p.m. Saturday. She was wearing a blue Bartlett jacket and black pants.
  Bruce Bowler with SEADOGS said there are search do
  
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• Brown bear mauls cyclist on JBER

  25-06-2017 22:43
  
  The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says a group of cyclists encountered a bear on JBER Saturday morning.
  Authorities say the group came across a brown bear with cubs while cycling near Clunie Lake.
  The cyclists used bear spray to fend off the sow, but one cyclist was “knocked down and roughed up,” according to Fish and Game. The extent of the victim’s injuries is not clear, but the victim was taken to the hospital.
  No further details were immediately made available.
  KTVA&rs
  
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• Statue stands in honor of Iditarod founder

  25-06-2017 08:21
  
  He already has a school named after him, now, there’s another way to honor the man known as the “father of the Iditarod.”
  It took Palmer artist Pat Garley took roughly 18 months to complete the “Joe Redington, Senior on the Trail” statue that sits outside Redington Junior-Senior High School.
  The part of Redington weighs 900 pounds, each of the seven dogs, 200 pounds, while the sled comes in at 1,100 pounds. As beautiful as it is, it’s not the only story on cam
  
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• Rookie musher first to sign up for 2018 Iditarod

  25-06-2017 08:19
  
  Shaynee Traska has what she needs as she prepares for the biggest challenge of her athletic career. The Yukon Qyuest 300 veteran from Two Rivers wants to play with the big dogs. Traska is the first person to sign up for next year’s Iditarod.
  “Very surprised, being a big Iditarod sign up day, I thought there’d be a ton of people out here waiting,” Traska told KTVA Sports, as she will also hit the trail in her first Iditarod
  “This is almost been a 20 year of mine, whe
  
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• Coast Guard suspends search for missing Hydaburg man

  25-06-2017 06:51 via ktoo.org
  
  The Coast Guard suspended a more than 40-hour search for a young man who disappeared near Hydaburg on Saturday. According to a news release, a helicopter, two Coast Guard cutters and multiple search and rescue boats were deployed to search for Francis Charles of Hydaburg.
  Charles was last seen wearing tan chest waders and a blue float coat. He was reported missing after he didn’t return from a fish camp in Eek Point, 6 miles southeast of Hydaburg on Thursday afternoon.
  Hydaburg search and
  
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• Alaska mountain race suspended after fatal bear attacks

  25-06-2017 06:51 via ktoo.org
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A popular wilderness race in Alaska has been suspended for a year following two deadly attacks by black bears this week, including one at a mountain race.
  University of Alaska Anchorage officials say the move will allow them to add more communication resources and medical support to the 24-mile (39-kilometer) Crow Pass Crossing race. This year’s even was scheduled for July 22.
  In one of this week’s bear attacks, 16-year-old Patrick “Jack” Co
  
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• Alaska fatal bear mauling still under investigation

  25-06-2017 06:51 via ktoo.org
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska officials say they are still investigating a fatal mauling by a black bear near a gold mine to definitively determine if the attack was predatory in nature as initial reports indicate.
  State Fish and Game officials said Friday an analysis is pending after an autopsy was performed on the bear.
  Twenty-seven-year-old mine contract worker Erin Johnson of Anchorage died and her 38-year-old co-worker Ellen Trainor of Fairbanks sustained minor injuries in the attac
  
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• Alaska officials warn about bears at Copper River campground

  25-06-2017 06:50 via ktoo.org
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Fish and Game officials are reminding Copper River dipnetters to be aware that there are brown bears in the area around the O’Brien Creek Campground.
  Officials say a female bear and two yearling cubs have been seen around the campground recently.
  The warning issued Friday follows two fatal maulings by black bears elsewhere in the state this week.
  On Monday, Erin Johnson of Anchorage died and 38-year-old Ellen Trainor of Fairbanks sustained minor injuri
  
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• Study examines the ripple effect of fishing charter’s choices

  25-06-2017 06:46 via ktoo.org
  
  Fishing Boat in Kachemak Bay. (Photo by James Brooks)
  Homer is known as the “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World.” But, charter operators aren’t just targeting the prized bottom fish these days. An ongoing study published in the scientific journal Public Library of Science aims to find out how charter operators’ fishing habits have evolved and the ripple effect of their decisions.
  University of Fairbanks Ph.D. Candidate Maggie Chan wants to know how and why the fishing c
  
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• Last season’s difficulties for Bering Strait auklets may indicate changing climate

  25-06-2017 06:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Crested Auklets (Photo by Josh Keaton/NOAA)
  Following changes in climate variability, one University of Alaska Fairbanks assistant professor has discovered surprising changes in the Little Diomede auklet population.
  Working at Bethel’s Kuskokwim campus, Hector Douglas has been studying the crested auklet’s fluorescent pigment for more than a decade.
  His most recent study on the pigment started in the summer of 2015. Douglas describes the seabirds that year as normal, saying, &ld
  
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• Dozens of people killed in a bloody day of attacks across Pakistan

  25-06-2017 06:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Pakistan was hit with a spate of violence in several cities Friday, leaving the country to cope with the deaths of dozens of people and scores more injured. In twin bombings at a market in Parachinar, a car bombing in Quetta and a shooting in Karachi, more than 80 people were killed in the bloodshed.
  “Enemy trying to mar festive mood of nation through such cowardly acts,” Pakistan’s chief of army staff, Qamar Javed Bajwa, said in a statement quoted by a military spokesman. &ldq
  
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• Yemen now faces ‘the worst cholera outbreak in the world,’ U.N. says

  25-06-2017 05:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Seized by violence and teetering on the edge of famine, Yemen is grappling with another danger that threatens to outpace them both: cholera.
  “We are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world,” international health authorities said in a statement Saturday.
  Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF, and Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, say that “more than 1,300 people have died — one quarter of them children — and the death t
  
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• Third former Vanderbilt football player found guilty in rape of unconscious student

  25-06-2017 05:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Brandon E. Banks and his attorney Katie Hagan listen during his trial June 19 in Nashville. The jury on Friday convicted Banks of rape and sexual battery. Lacy Atkins/AP
  A jury in Nashville has convicted former Vanderbilt football player Brandon Banks for his involvement in the 2013 gang rape of an unconscious female student. Two of his former teammates have also been convicted, and another is awaiting trial.
  Banks was found guilty on one count of aggravated rape and one count of aggravated sexu
  
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• Pride Fest celebrates 40 years in Anchorage

  25-06-2017 04:04
  
  Hundreds of people turned out in downtown Anchorage for the 40th annual Pride Fest.
  Mo Haddock and Callene Monasmith set their lawn chairs up early to get a front for the parade.
  “It’s a lot of fun. We like to people watch anyway but today is very fulfilling. Very heartwarming to see so many people out here,” Haddock said.
  The two have been together eight years, married for four of them. They went to Seattle to tie the knot before gay marriage was legal in Alaska. Monasmith sai
  
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• Here’s what is pushing up U.S. home prices

  25-06-2017 00:53
  
  When it comes to buying a home in the U.S., the tide is turning in favor of sellers.
  The typical residential property that’s up for sale currently stays on the market for 77 days, according to Zillow — that’s the shortest listing time since the real estate service started tracking the data. While demand for homes is robust, the inventory of available properties has shrunk 9 percent on a year-over-year basis, the biggest drop since 2013. Around the U.S., the hardest markets in w
  
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• Mom left 2 children who died in hot car as punishment, police say

  25-06-2017 00:35
  
  A Texas woman told investigators that she left her 2-year-old daughter and 16-month-old son in a hot car last month to teach the girl a lesson, police said. The children died after spending several hours in the car.
  Cynthia Marie Randolph, 24, was being held Saturday on two counts of causing serious bodily injury to a child. It wasn’t clear if she had an attorney — online jail records didn’t list one for her — and she doesn’t have a listed phone number.
  Randolph ini
  
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• Six inmates who saved guard’s life rewarded with shorter sentences

  25-06-2017 00:32
  
  Officer down.
  It’s one of the scariest calls a sheriff can receive. But when Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats got that call on June 12, it didn’t turn into the nightmare scenario he might have expected. On the contrary, that hair-raising call was the start of something heartwarming.
  Its unexpected source? A group of selfless inmates.
  On that Monday, an especially humid day in Georgia, six inmates were out doing maintenance work on the grounds of a local cemetery when the deputy sheri
  
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• How would the Senate health care bill actually affect Medicaid?

  25-06-2017 00:26
  
  Democrats and left-leaning think tanks say Senate Republicans’ health care bill would be disastrous for individuals and families on Medicaid, the federal program that provides health coverage to low-income Americans.
  But White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Friday said President Trump is “committed to making sure that no one who currently is in the Medicaid program is affected in any way, which is reflected in the Senate bill, and he’s pleased with that.”
  So, who is
  
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• How the U.S. Army counters North Korea threats

  25-06-2017 00:23
  
  SEOUL, South Korea — While “CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O’Donnell and her team were in South Korea, the U.S. Army took CBS News on an aerial tour to give us a first-hand look at what they are doing to counter threats from North Korea.
  We hitched a ride from Yongsan Army Garrison on a pair of Black Hawk helicopters for a bird’s-eye view of Seoul, one of the densest cities in the world that’s less than 40 miles from the North Korean border.
  “When you t
  
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• Inside the Gates: JRTC brings new challenges

  25-06-2017 00:07
  
  Alaska’s 4-25 Airborne Brigade Combat Team has been at the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Fort Polk, Louisiana, for the last month. It’s a very different place than the Last Frontier and has been presenting the soldiers with new challenges.
  The mission at JRTC is to liberate a fictional country called Atropia. It prepares the soldiers for a similar real-world mission in Afghanistan, where the 4-25 is readying to deploy.
  Temperatures at Ft. Polk have been in the 90s with 10
  
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