Anchorage news

• Indictments handed up on transit center death, visitor center burglary cases

  14-07-2017 23:54 via ktoo.org
  
  A Juneau man arrested for the deadly assault of another man at the Capital City’s Downtown Transit Center has been indicted on felony charges of manslaughter and criminal negligent homicide.
  A Juneau grand jury handed up the indictment Wednesday against David Evenson, 51.
  The grand jury did not indict Evenson on the more serious charge of second-degree murder, which means causing someone’s death while knowingly engaging in conduct with an extreme indifference to human life.
  Authoriti
  
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• NTSB releases preliminary details in residential float plane crash

  14-07-2017 23:12
  
  Courtesy: Nicole Hay Courtesy: Nicole Hay Courtesy: Nicole Hay Courtesy: Nicole Hay
  The National Transportation Safety Board has released their preliminary report related to a float plane that crashed in a West Anchorage neighborhood last weekend.
  According to the report, the airline transport pilot took off from the Lake Hood Seaplane Base at 12:10 on Sunday without a flight plan and was destined to return within the hour.
  The pilot told on-scene investigators that after takeoff from the north
  
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• Newscast – Friday, July 14, 2017

  14-07-2017 22:47 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:
  Alaska marijuana regulators reconsider onsite consumption at pot shops
  Grand Jury indicts Juneau man for June 30 fatal attack at the downtown bus terminal
  Mod Carousel, a burlesque dance troupe brings its cabaret show to Juneau’s Rockwell Ballroom
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/170714newscast.mp3
  
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• Daybreak Adopt-A-Pet: July 14, 2017

  14-07-2017 22:00
  
   
  From Anchorage Animal Care and Control:
   
  Vito, representing felines:Due to an influx on the market, there’s been a drop in cat adoption prices at Anchorage Animal Care and Control. All adult cats are now just $62 or less. There are over 30 cats waiting for new homes, we’re sure you’ll find your new feline companion.Caption contest winner:
  This week’s caption contest winner goes to Renee Pacheco, whose caption had Dominic saying “Ahh, this is the life.&
  
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• Mic Check in the Morning: Wendlo

  14-07-2017 21:25
  
  Wendlo is a duo with two main members who have been playing for more than a decade, but started playing together in 2012. They’ve released an EP, “Engagement Party,” that released this year.
  To celebrate, they will have a CD release show Friday, July 14 at Heart of the City in the Sunshine Plaza in Downtown Anchorage. The show starts at 7 p.m.
  Wendlo’s new EP, “Engagement Party,” is available on iTunes, Google Play and Spotify. For more on the band, check out
  
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• Check out a game of beep baseball this summer

  14-07-2017 21:24
  
  The game of beep baseball is an adapted version of America’s favorite past time, modified for people who are visually impaired. The sport is becoming popular and Alaska just got its first official team, the Aurora Knights.
  Sarah Walker, the team’s manager, says the rules are simple, besides having a ball that beeps and the bases emitting a tone for the players to locate them. Walker says there are four strikes and six innings. Like the regular sport, there are three outs per inning,
  
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• Avoiding scams in Alaska for the month of July

  14-07-2017 21:23
  
  There are two scams making the rounds in Alaska for the month of July according to the Better Business Bureau.Michelle Tabler with the organization says Alaskans who live in the Mat-Su Valley need to be wary of “asphalt contractors,” or people knocking on doors saying they have left-over material from another job and will give the homeowner a good deal on a job for them. Tabler said most of those contractors are doing a poor job or having the victim signing a blank contract. In most
  
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• NOAA halts whale disentanglement efforts after rescuer dies

  14-07-2017 21:20 via ktoo.org
  
  After a noted emergency responder died in rescuing an endangered right whale, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s suspending efforts to free whales that are similarly trapped by fishing lines and gear.
  News of the suspension comes as the whale rescue community mourns Joe Howlett, a Canadian who died during a rescue operation on Monday. Howlett, a former fisherman and boat captain, had founded a whale rescue team and was based in Campobello Island, just across the
  
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• U.S. Senate Republican health care bill has ‘caribou kickback’ for Alaska

  14-07-2017 20:36 via ktoo.org
  
  
  U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, at the center of one media scrum outside the Senate chamber. (Photo by Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  The latest version of the health care bill in the U.S. Senate has a special carve-out to help Alaska’s individual insurance market.
  The bill, revealed Thursday, would send more than $100 million a year to any state with extra-high premiums. As it’s defined now, that’s only Alaska.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170713-01.mp3The provisi
  
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• APD officer t-boned responding to call

  14-07-2017 20:23
  
  An Anchorage Police officer responding to a call was t-boned in an intersection Friday morning.
  APD says the officer was traveling down Benson with lights and sirens engaged when he was t-boned in the intersection at Seward by a Chevy Avalanche driven by a woman. The accident was reported around 8:45.
  Both the officer and the female driver were taken to the hospital with injuries police say were not life threatening.
  Police say the officer was responding to a report of a woman jumping in and out
  
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• Wrangell Borough, union reach amended contract agreement

  14-07-2017 20:13 via ktoo.org
  
  Wrangell municipal employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers pose on the picket line June 22, 2017. They’ve since reached a new contract agreement with the borough, which now goes before the Assembly. (Photo courtesy IBEW)
  The Wrangell Borough Assembly approved an amended contract with union employees during a special meeting Thursday, ending what have been contentious negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
  Union members we
  
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• Newly found fungus could threaten Southeast Alaska trees

  14-07-2017 19:59
  
  Deranged growth caused by Gemmamyces piceae on white spruce near Anchorage, AK.(Credit: Forest Service) Fruiting bodies of Gemmamyces piceae on white spruce near Anchorage, AK. (Credit: Forest Service) Black, swollen, and misshapen buds with fruiting bodies of Gemmamyces piceae on white spruce near Anchorage, AK. (Credit: Forest Service) Deranged growth of ornamental Colorado blue spruce caused by Gemmamyces piceae near Homer, AK. (Credit: Forest Service)
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A fungus th
  
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• Onsite marijuana consumption one step closer to reality

  14-07-2017 19:54
  
  Alaska marijuana regulators are on track to approve onsite use of marijuana in retail cannabis shops.
  On Friday, they passed proposed rules to allow people to smoke marijuana after they buy it.
  Board member Nick Miller says they moved forward a very similar draft to the one they’ve looked at in the past, with minor changes. He says the most notable is that the rules give local cities and municipalities control, meaning if they didn’t want on-site consumptions, they could pass their o
  
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• Alaska marijuana regulators to revisit onsite pot use debate

  14-07-2017 19:54
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska marijuana regulators plan to revive debate over onsite use of marijuana in retail cannabis shops.
  In February, the Marijuana Control Board scuttled proposed rules that would have allowed onsite use of marijuana in authorized stores, citing skittishness over how President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice would view marijuana.
  Marijuana is legal for recreational use in Alaska and seven other states but illegal at the federal level.
  But the board later v
  
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• 4 members of Alaska borough assembly could face recall vote

  14-07-2017 19:52
  
  PETERSBURG, Alaska (AP) – Four of the six members of an Alaska borough assembly could be facing a recall election.
  KFSK.org reported Thursday a group of residents from the Petersburg borough has submitted applications seeking a recall petition for assembly members Jeigh Stanton Gregor, Nancy Strand, Kurt Wohlhueter and Eric Castro.
  The application alleges the members violated Alaska’s Open Meetings Act at a May 30 meeting of the borough assembly by going into a closed-door, executive
  
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• Mod Carousel brings boylesque world premiere to Juneau

  14-07-2017 19:50 via ktoo.org
  
  Moscato Extatique performs “Small Death” in Seattle boylesque collective Mod Carousel’s new show “Gilded,” premiering Friday, July 14, 2017, in Juneau. (Photo courtesy Meneldor Photography)
  Under a purple ethereal light, a figure cloaked in black sheer fabric floats across stage and slinks around a folding chair.
  Personifying the angel of death, Moscato Extatique begins peeling away layers of clothing, blurring the lines of gender expression.
  It&rsquo
  
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• Inmate charged with attempted murder of man in prison

  14-07-2017 19:50
  
  SEWARD, Alaska (AP) – A man serving time for a felony assault conviction has been charged with the attempted murder of another inmate at the Seward prison.
  Alaska State Troopers say 57-year-old Rickey Sizemore was arrested Thursday at Spring Creek Correctional Facility.
  He is charged with attempting to cut the throat of a man identified by the initials “L.S.”
  Prison officials called in troopers after the suspected attack Dec. 22. The second inmate suffered minor injuries.
  Troop
  
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• New extreme event will cause Seward Highway delays Saturday

  14-07-2017 19:48
  
  A warning if you’re driving the Seward Highway this weekend: expect delays. The inaugural Alaskaman Extreme Triathlon is Saturday.
  It starts in Seward with a 2.6-mile swim from Lowell Point to downtown. Then, swimmers will transition to the bike and ride 112 miles from downtown Seward to the Seward Highway and end up at the Bird Creek Parking lot, where they’ll put on their running shoes and race back towards Girdwood, where they’ll turn on the Alyeska Highway, run through town
  
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• Gardentalk – Invasive species

  14-07-2017 17:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Uh, oh. This almost looks like Japanese knotweed that has a established a foothold in a North Douglas garden. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  In the latest segment of Gardentalk, Master Gardener Ed Buyarski briefs Juneau gardeners about some of the common invasive species that may crowd out vegetables and yard plants this season.
  “Homeowners should at least try to control them if they are starting to sneak into their yards,” Buyarski said. “Because they can take over into lawns, in
  
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• Juneau Assembly eyes raising hotel bed tax, sets sales tax funding plan

  14-07-2017 09:21 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A woman leaves Juneau City Hall on May 10, 2016. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/KTOO)
  In vote after vote, a divided Juneau Assembly set its list of sales tax-funded projects. All of this is contingent on voters passing a 5-year extension of 1 percent of the local sales tax in October.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/170714SALESTAX.mp3It was never going to be easy. The Juneau Assembly received a wish list of 26 projects totaling about $120 million. But as it only projects abou
  
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• CDC report shows opioid prescriptions down, but rates remain high

  14-07-2017 07:39
  
  The amount of opioid prescriptions have decreased each year through 2015, but rates remain high, according to a new report this month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  Family members trying to find hope in their heartache know the opioid epidemic in Alaska is what is leading their loved ones to heroin.
  “It’s a family problem,” Kim Whitaker, president of the Anchorage Opioid Task Force, said. “It’s a community problem and the community needs to hel
  
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• DOC hiring new officers in light of SB91

  14-07-2017 05:33
  
  State budget cuts have dominated the news for months, but one state department has money to spend. The Alaska Department of Corrections is looking to hire dozens of officers for a new department called Pre-trial Services.
  Pre-trail Services is a direct offshoot of Senate Bill 91, the legislation that made big changes to Alaska’s Criminal Codes. The new rules mean many people who’ve been charged with crimes will be no longer be held in jail while they wait for their trials or sentenci
  
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• Reality Check w/ John Tracy: Is it time to turn off water at Mile 109?

  14-07-2017 05:16
  
  If you’re lucky enough to live in this part of Alaska, you know a couple of things about the drive on Turnagain Arm: if you’re here very early in the morning, you’re likely to get a close encounter with Dahl sheep. And, if you’re thirsty, you’ll find a popular watering hole at mile 109.
  It’s a 3-inch hole to be exact. And out of it comes what some believe is the best drinking water in Alaska.
  It’s so popular that many people make a weekly pilgr
  
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• Special sessions have cost nearly $400,000 in per diem, lawmakers likely headed for another

  14-07-2017 05:12
  
  So far, Alaska lawmakers have collected $393,340 dollars in per diem during special sessions this year, according to numbers provided by the Legislative Affairs Agency Thursday. The legislature is now likely headed for a third — after negotiations on oil taxes derailed Wednesday. That would cost the state hundreds of thousands more.
  Because the state capitol building is operational year round, a lot of the cost incurred for a special session stems from per diem payments to cover
  
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• Sign pilot project tackles trailhead parking problems

  14-07-2017 04:47
  
  Hikers who make frequent trips to Eagle and Symphony Lakes know the early bird gets the parking spot.
  “I’ve counted 75 cars on a weekend. When I see that I don’t hike here, I go somewhere else,” said Lisa Moorehead, who hikes that trail with her dog Kota about twice a week.
  The Upper South Fork Trailhead in Eagle River only has room for about 40 vehicles in its lot. On a sunny weekend day, the lot quickly fills up, leaving people to park along the roadway.
  To combat the c
  
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• Should lawmakers be able to block constituents on Twitter?

  14-07-2017 04:46
  
  It’s a conversation happening at the national level, as a group of Twitter users blocked by President Donald Trump has filed a federal lawsuit, and now some Alaskans are concerned their lawmakers are shutting them out, too.
  A week ago, Elizabeth Nocolai tweeted she used her lunch break to call her senator’s office to ask why she had been blocked, but Senator Cathy Giessel’s staffers didn’t have an answer for her.
  I used my lunch break to call my state senator’s offi
  
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• United Airlines’ plan to deal with overbooked flights

  14-07-2017 03:56
  
  United Airlines is rolling out a new test program to deal with overbooked flights.
  The airline will sell seats that are already booked to other flyers willing to pay a higher price and offer vouchers to passengers on oversold planes up to five days in advance to change their tickets.
  The airline was heavily criticized in April after a passenger was dragged off an overbooked flight.
  CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg joined “CBS This Morning” from Tampa to discuss how the plan wor
  
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• Special session nears end without public progress on oil taxes

  14-07-2017 03:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Rep. Geran Tarr, D-Anchorage, speaks during a House Floor session in April. Tarr and the House majority haven’t agreed on an oil and gas tax bill with the Senate majority. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  As of late afternoon Thursday, the Alaska Senate and House hadn’t made any public progress on oil and gas tax legislation. They met Wednesday, but they still can’t agree on how to replace the state system allowing companies to receive tax credits. Lawmakers only have t
  
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• Blocked Twitter users sue President Trump

  14-07-2017 03:20
  
  A group of Twitter users blocked by President Trump are suing him and two White House aides, arguing that the president’s Twitter account serves as a public forum, which would make it illegal for Mr. Trump, as a government official, to prevent individuals from reading it.
  “President Trump’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, has become an important source of news and information about the government, and an important public forum for speech,” the suit reads.
  The blocked u
  
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• Eels from overturned truck slime cars on Oregon highway

  14-07-2017 03:16
  
  DEPOE BAY, Ore. (AP) – A truck hauling eels overturned on an Oregon highway, turning the coastal road into a slimy mess.
  Oregon State Police on Thursday posted a photo on Twitter that showed damaged cars covered by the gooey eels. The agency also posed the question: “What to tell the #drycleaner?”
  Meanwhile, the Depoe Bay Fire Department posted a video of workers using a bulldozer to clear the eels from Highway 101.
  The fire department said no one was injured in the crash.
  The
  
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• APD searching for person of interest in Carrs shooting

  14-07-2017 02:58
  
  Anchorage Police are looking for a man they say is a person of interest in a shooting at an Anchorage Carrs.
  According to a Nixle alert sent Thursday,  police are wanting to make contact with 38-year-old Thomas McKnight who may have information regarding the June 16 shooting at Carrs Aurora Village, which injured Brandon Smith.
  Police describe McKnight as a white male, six feet tall, 160 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
  Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact Pol
  
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• Washington man pleads guilty to $2.7M Alaska fraud scheme

  14-07-2017 02:33
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A 55-year-old Washington state man who defrauded Alaskans out of $2.7 million has pleaded guilty to federal charges.
  Floyd Mann, Jr., of Puyallup (pew-AL’-up) was convicted Wednesday in Anchorage of 11 counts of wire fraud and eight counts of money laundering. He will be sentenced Dec. 11.
  Assistant U.S. Attorney Aunnie Steward in a release says Mann told victims he had won a multimillion-dollar settlement from a class-action lawsuit with a pharmaceutical com
  
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• Washington man pleads guilty to nearly $2.7 million fraud scheme

  14-07-2017 02:31 via ktoo.org
  
  Floyd Jay Mann, 55, from Puyallup, Washington, pleaded guilty Wednesday to all counts against him in the case of a massive scam of money out of more than a dozen people, mostly from Dillingham.
  Mann is likely to remain free on bail till his sentencing in December despite several requests by the federal prosecutor that he be remanded to custody.
  “On Friday his wife was sentenced on Social Security fraud in Seattle, and today (Wednesday) Floyd Jay Mann plead guilty to 19 counts of wire fraud
  
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• Ravens surprise scientists by showing they can plan

  14-07-2017 00:41 via ktoo.org
  
  As recently as 10 years ago, humans were thought to be the only species with the ability to plan.
  Recent studies on great apes showed the ability is not uniquely human. Now, scientists in Sweden have come to the surprising conclusion that ravens can also deliberately prepare for future events.
  “It is conservative to conclude that ravens perform similarly to great apes and young children,” the researchers write. However, monkeys have failed similar experiments.
  We’ve known that
  
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