Anchorage news

• Wildfires rage through British Columbia, forcing 40,000 from their homes

  18-07-2017 23:15 via ktoo.org
  
  Wildfires are spreading rapidly across the Canadian province of British Columbia, so far eluding firefighters and forcing some 40,000 people from their homes. And with no rain in the forecast until Thursday, Canadian officials fear the fires currently raging will worsen before they can battle back the blazes.
  In addition to the more than 3,000 fire personnel now fighting these fires, authorities have also requested the help of the military and even Australia. The British Columbia Wildfire Servic
  
  Read more

• NTSB to hold Alaska hearing next month on deadly Togiak plane crash

  18-07-2017 23:14
  
  A plane crash near Togiak that killed three people last year has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to schedule an investigative hearing in Alaska next month, the first the Last Frontier has seen in nearly three decades.
  The NTSB announced the Aug. 17 meeting in Anchorage on Tuesday, following the crash of a Ravn Connect Flight 3153 operated by Hageland Aviation. The Cessna 208 had been en route from Quinhagak to Togiak on Oct. 2 when NTSB officials say Hageland lost contact with
  
  Read more

• Interest in kelp farming drives state tideland applications

  18-07-2017 23:05 via ktoo.org
  
  Like in Alaska, kelp forests in California provide habitat and shelter for a variety of fish species. (Photo courtesy Sonia Ibarra)
  The Alaska Department of Natural Resources is beginning to work through tideland lease applications for the mariculture industry.
  Current and potentially new farmers are applying to use state tidelands to grow Pacific oysters and geoducks.
  Those are all typical requests, but what’s different this year is the acreage farmers are requesting and the increasing in
  
  Read more

• DOJ: Safeway to pay $3M over lax controls at pharmacies

  18-07-2017 23:03
  
  SEATTLE (AP) – The U.S. Department of Justice says the Safeway grocery store chain has agreed to pay $3 million to settle allegations of lax controls at its pharmacies.
  The settlement, announced Tuesday, closes an investigation that began with Safeway stores in North Bend, Washington, and Wasilla, Alaska, in April 2014. For months, the stores had failed to notify the Drug Enforcement Administration that employees had stolen tens of thousands of hydrocodone tablets.
  Investigators eventually
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Newscast – Tuesday, July 18, 2017

  18-07-2017 23:01 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/2017-07-18-newscast.mp3In this newscast:
  The first challenger for the fall Juneau Assembly election has stepped forward,
  Gov. Bill Walker has joined 10 other governors calling on the U.S. Senate to immediately reject efforts to repeal and later replace the Affordable Care Act,
  Walker explains the mechanics of an upcoming third legislative special session on the capital budget, and
  a North Dakota newspaper catches up with the Juneau man who was gore
  
  Read more

• Juneau homes in danger of river erosion shrinking backyards

  18-07-2017 22:56
  
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska residents living in a strip of homes along Juneau’s Mendenhall River have noticed their backyards are shrinking, and some want the city to fix the problem before it’s too late.
  The Juneau Empire reported Sunday that about 28 properties along the river are in danger of erosion, but the price to fix the problem would cost the homeowners about $78,000 each.
  The City and Bureau of Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole discussed the issue Wednesday nigh
  
  Read more

• Move to fire Ketchikan Borough manager fails

  18-07-2017 22:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Two Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly members made a move Monday to fire Borough Manager Ruben Duran, who has been on the job about seven months.
  Ketchikan Gateway Borough Manager Ruben Duran. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  The motion to fire Duran failed in a 5-2 vote following an open discussion of his job performance.
  Duran requested the discussion be in public rather than executive session.
  After stating that this wasn’t a witch hunt, Assembly member Mike Painter led the charge against
  
  Read more

• Kodiak city employees receive 5 percent raises

  18-07-2017 22:48
  
  KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – City employees in Kodiak have received 5 percent raises.
  The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports the City Council unanimously approved the raises on Thursday in an effort to retain a skilled workforce.
  The adjustment impacts only current full-time, part-time and temporary employees. It will not be offered to new employees.
  Councilor John Whiddon called the adjustment “a necessary step” and said retaining quality employees is a “key to the success of the orga
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• NTSB to conduct hearing in Alaska of fatal airplane crash

  18-07-2017 22:40
  
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigative hearing in Alaska of a fatal commercial airplane crash.
  The NTSB says the investigative hearing Aug. 17 in Anchorage will be the first in Alaska since the Exxon Valdez wreck in 1989 and the first held outside of Washington, D.C., in nearly 20 years.
  The hearing will focus on an Oct. 2 crash that killed two pilots and a passenger near the village of Togiak (TOH-gee-ak) in southwest Alaska.
  The fl
  
  Read more

• June goes down as third warmest on record globally

  18-07-2017 22:33
  
  The results are in for June and it was another warm month worldwide.
  According to NOAA’s latest monthly global temperature analysis, last month was the third warmest on record over land and ocean surfaces combined. It was the fourth warmest June on record for land-only temperatures. Global records began in 1880.
  The month of June was 1.48 degrees above the 20th-century average of 59.9 degrees. This is the fourth straight year record heat was recorded during the month of June. When taking
  
  Read more

• Ecosystem study unlocks the mystery of black cod survival

  18-07-2017 22:09 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A juvenile black cod is tagged and released back into the ocean. (Photo courtesy NOAA)
  Over the past couple of decades black cod — or sablefish — has become one of Southeast Alaska’s most commercially important species.
  Longliners target them in deep waters off the continental shelf, during the same season as halibut.
  Although stocks are strong, biologists don’t fully grasp black cod population ecology. A research partnership in Sitka hopes to change that.
  Alaska Fisherie
  
  Read more

• McConnell backup plan to repeal Affordable Care Act falters

  18-07-2017 21:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Updated at 2:40 p.m. ET
  Hours after a replacement for the Affordable Care Act was all but scuttled by a clutch of Senate Republicans, three lawmakers appear to have doomed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Plan B: Repeal the Affordable Care Act without replacing it.
  Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine have all said they would vote “no” on a motion that would have kicked off McConnell’s plan to vote on a s
  
  Read more

• First challenger emerges in Juneau Assembly race

  18-07-2017 21:24 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Rob Edwardson announced his candidacy for Juneau Assembly during a visit to KTOO on July 17. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
  Three Juneau Assembly members will be up for re-election in October and already the first challenger has filed papers to run.
  Coast Guard veteran Rob Edwardson is a legislative aide for Juneau Rep. Justin Parish, a Democrat.
  Edwardson is a former senior manager who worked for several state agencies including the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environm
  
  Read more

• Teller stabbing suspect charged with first-degree murder

  18-07-2017 20:59
  
  TELLER, Alaska (AP) – A man from the western Alaska village of Teller has been charged with first-degree murder in a stabbing death.
  Alaska State Troopers say 43-year-old Frank Lee is charged with killing 31-year-old William Johnson of Barrow and Unalakleet. Online court records do not list Lee’s attorney.
  Teller is 72 miles northwest of Nome.
  Nome troopers at 4:30 a.m. Thursday took a call of the death. Troopers say multiple people witnessed the stabbing.
  Troopers say Lee was medica
  
  Read more

• Why wildlife cops spent over a year investigating a hunting spree across Southeast

  18-07-2017 10:16 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska Wildlife Trooper Jake Abbott stands in front of the Alaska State Trooper post in Juneau on Saturday. (Photo by Quinton Chandler/KTOO)http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/14Wildlife.mp3It’s hard to get a hold of Trooper Jake Abbott during the summer. He’s just back from a two-week boat patrol between Juneau and Ketchikan. When he did pick up the phone, he said his investigation report on the seven-man hunting spree was nearly 20 pages.
  He said they’re generally
  
  Read more

• Watch: NASA videos take you on a personal tour of Pluto

  18-07-2017 08:19
  
  New video from NASA provides an up close and personal tour of Pluto’s majestic mountains, icy plains, and more.
  The video comes thanks to NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which made a historic flyby of Pluto back on July 14, 2015, providing scientists with a wealth of data they are still steadily evaluating and learning from.
  The team behind the mission was “blown away by the incredible diversity of terrain on Pluto and just generally, the collection of phenomena
  
  Read more

• Homeless numbers are down in Anchorage, but there’s still a long road ahead

  18-07-2017 08:16
  
  Lisa Aquino with Catholic Social Services says collaboration and partnerships are contributing to a reduced number of homeless people in Anchorage.
  “There’s more kinds of opportunity for housing,” Aquino said. “But most importantly, we’re just eliminating the barriers, the silos that we all kind of work with.”
  Aquino spoke during the Make-It-Monday Forum with the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, along with Nancy Burke, homeless and housing coordinator for the Mu
  
  Read more

• Parents of 19-year-old killed in Afghanistan recall son full of life

  18-07-2017 08:14
  
  “He was one of the best people I ever knew,” Will Newnham told KTVA as he and his wife, Anngel Norkist, shared their thoughts of their son with at Wasilla’s Armed Forces Honor Garden.
  “I kept telling him how proud I was, proud of him regardless, I don’t think I told him enough, I’m more proud of him then he’ll ever know,” said Newnham, father of Private First Class Hansen Kirkpatrick. The 19-year-old from Wasilla died during a battle with the Talib
  
  Read more

• A Day at the beach? Alaska volleyball players are ready

  18-07-2017 08:11
  
  Think of Alaska and what comes to mind — Beaches? This week it does for a group from the 49th State.
  Hope Todd, along with teammates, Hahni Johnson, Delaney Gill and Danae Stoke are headed to the Sunshine State to test themselves at the National Junior Beach Volleyball Tournament. It’s the first time Alaska will be represented there.
  “If you’re mentally behind, or doing bad, you can’t get a sub or anything, you just have to push yourself mentally I think.” sai
  
  Read more

• Dog helps rescue deer stranded in body of water

  18-07-2017 06:07
  
  PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. — When a young deer got into trouble in New York’s Long Island Sound, it took a team to bring it to safety: first a dog, then a few Good Samaritans, CBS New York station WCBS-TV reports.
  The owner of Storm, an English golden retriever, knows he’s loyal and caring, but on Sunday morning, Storm really surprised him.
  “Storm just plunged into the water, started swimming out to the fawn and then grabbed the fawn by her neck and started swimming in to the s
  
  Read more

• Ann Coulter gets pushback from Delta Air Lines over seat change tweets

  18-07-2017 06:03
  
  NEW YORK — Delta Air Lines has pushed back at Ann Coulter after the conservative commentator berated the carrier on Twitter over a changed seat assignment.
  Coulter began tweeting about the episode Saturday in which she said the airline gave away an “extra room seat” she reserved before a flight from New York to Florida departed. Coulter had booked an aisle seat, but got a window seat.
  “Why are you taking me out of the extra room seat I specifically booked, @Delta?’
  
  Read more

• Is Caitlyn Jenner considering a U.S. Senate bid?

  18-07-2017 05:37
  
  Well @realDonaldTrump, from one Republican to another, this is a disaster. You made a promise to protect the LGBTQ community. Call me. pic.twitter.com/XwYe0LNUOq
  — Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) February 24, 2017
  Reality TV personality and former Olympic Athlete Caitlyn Jenner says she is considering a run for Senate in California and that she wants to help change the perception of the Republican party.
  “Over the next six months or so, I got to find out where I can do a better job,
  
  Read more

• AK Airlines pilot back at work after donating kidney to co-worker

  18-07-2017 04:56
  
  An Alaska Airlines pilot was back on the job, for the first time Monday, four months after donating a kidney to a fellow flight attendant.
  Alaska Airlines Captain Jodi Harskamp said she had no regrets about making the decision to give a kidney to her co-worker, Jenny Stansel.
  “We joke, I’m so stubborn that kidney is going to last 50 years,” said Harskamp.
  “I received a very strong body part,” said Stansel laughing. “I know it, I know it.”
  Stansel has a l
  
  Read more

• Bear spray basics: Practice makes perfect

  18-07-2017 04:44
  
  If you live in Alaska, you live in bear country. That’s the message from the Anchorage Bear Committee.
  About 75 people attended a free bear aware seminar the group held on Monday.
  BLM Campbell Science Center instructor Eric Stuart said many people carry bear spray with them while hiking, but few have practiced how to get the safety cap off.
  “Just like with anything in an emergency situation the more you train the more you become comfortable with something the better off you are,&rdqu
  
  Read more

• Troopers shoot bear after it kills and eats dog in Sitka neighborhood

  18-07-2017 04:18 via ktoo.org
  
  A brown bear in Sitka. (Creative Commons photo by Eric Heath)
  Wildlife troopers in Sitka shot and killed a brown bear Friday afternoon after it killed and partially consumed a resident’s dog.
  A homeowner on Rudolf Walton Circle notified troopers at around 3:30 p.m. that he suspected his dog had just been killed.
  Troopers and Sitka police responded to the area and found the dog’s carcass in the woods behind the home, and a male brown bear nearby.
  Brown bears are known to aggressively
  
  Read more

• Walker says future special sessions depend on progress

  18-07-2017 04:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Bill Walker speaks at a press availability in Anchorage on Monday. He said he won’t call lawmakers back to Juneau unless they make progress. (Photo by Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)
  Gov. Bill Walker said he won’t call lawmakers back to Juneau to work on a plan to balance future state budgets, unless he knows they’re making progress.
  “It won’t be just, I’m going to put more time on the clock and hope something happens,” Walker said Monday at
  
  Read more

• Aleutian tsunami advisory canceled after 7.8 earthquake in Russia

  18-07-2017 03:57 via ktoo.org
  
  A strong earthquake on the Russian side of the Bering Sea briefly prompted a tsunami advisory for parts of the Pacific, including Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands and Russia. The National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer canceled the advisory because the tsunami no longer posed a threat.Officials at the warning center had cautioned waves could reach up to 3 feet above the tide level. But waves later Monday were reported only 6 inches above tide at the sparsely
  
  Read more

• The challenges of being the only woman on a pipeline crew

  18-07-2017 03:33 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Diane Schenker (far right) poses with “Pops” (center right) a heavy equipment operator. (Photo courtesy of: Diane Schenker)
  In 1976, Diane Schenker had recently graduated from Reed College and was living in Fairbanks when she heard a rumor that the Pipeliners 798, a welding union, had been forced to hire women to help build the trans-Alaska pipeline.
  A 21-year-old with no experience in construction, Schenker convinced the union office manager to let her work with an all-male crew of
  
  Read more

• How Alaska decided to give its oil wealth to everyone in the state | MIDNIGHT OIL: Episode 05

  18-07-2017 03:21 via ktoo.org
  
  In Alaska, we don’t pay income tax. We don’t pay state sales tax. But once a year every man, woman and child gets a cut of the state’s oil wealth. There are plenty of other oil states in the world, but Alaska is the only one that treats residents like shareholders and sends them dividend checks every year.
  
  Read more

• Oprah and Gayle King set sail to Alaska for O-inspired journey

  18-07-2017 03:12
  
  One of America’s favorite talk show hosts has made it to Alaska and by the looks of it, it could very well make the list of her favorite things.
  CBS This Morning’s Gayle King took to Instagram Monday to say Oprah is here!
  SHE is HEEEERE ! @oprah arrives to begin her #OMAGonHAL ALASKA adventure .. swipe right for the big arrival !! @halcruises
  A post shared by Gayle King (@gayleking) on Jul 17, 2017 at 2:50pm PDT
  The cruise line, Holland America, and O, The Oprah Magazine, have teamed
  
  Read more

• BP leak investigation led to shutdown of 5 more wells

  18-07-2017 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Image taken on April 18, 2017, showing the area of light crude spray near BP’s well. (Photo by Jade Gamble, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation)
  BP was forced to plug five at-risk wells on the North Slope after investigating an oil leak that happened this April.
  That’s according to a report the company provided to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC).
  BP told AOGCC that the April leak was most likely caused by thawing permafrost, which put uneven st
  
  Read more

• Tsunami advisory canceled for parts of the Aleutians

  18-07-2017 02:45
  
  The 7.8 earthquake that triggered a tsunami advisory Monday has been canceled.
  The earthquake in the Bering Sea initially prompted an advisory for parts of the Pacific including Shemya, Adak and St. Paul.
  Earthquake upgraded to 7.8. Tsunami Advisory in effect for Shemya, Adak & St. Paul. These areas should move to higher ground. https://t.co/W3Y6s3m2S6
  — Melissa Frey (@MelissaDFrey) July 18, 2017
  The threat level has since passed as of 5:30 p.m. Monday.
  People who live in these areas a
  
  Read more

• Public comment open on future of Juneau’s Lemon Creek area

  18-07-2017 02:29 via ktoo.org
  
  A sketch of future development guidelines for the Lemon Creek area was released July 14 by the City and Borough of Juneau. (Courtesy of City and Borough of Juneau)
  The public can give input on how the Lemon Creek area will be shaped over the next 20 years.The City and Borough of Juneau is working on a formal Lemon Creek Area plan for the future zoning around Lemon Creek, the Fred Meyer shopping center and Switzer Creek areas.Those changes could affect future development going forward.
  “Lem
  
  Read more

• Juneau Afternoon – 7-18-17

  18-07-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Tuesday on A Juneau Afternoon, Laury Scandling hosts.
  We’ll learn about a new coffee shop in Juneau, Sacred Ground;
  We’ll get the details about this weekend’s Family Day and tour of Treadwell;
  Author Davis\d Ramseur will be here with a preview of his Thursday night presentation for the Juneau World Affairs Council.
   
  At 4, tune in to KTOO for All Things Considered, followed at 6, it’s Alaska News Nightly, Telling Tales at 7, New Letters On the Air at 7:30, followed
  
  Read more

• Newscast — Monday, July 17, 2017

  18-07-2017 01:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/newscast1.mp3In this newscast:
  Alaska legislators passed a compromise on oil and gas tax credits.
  Alaska Senator Mike Dunleavy filed documents to run for governor.
  A bear was killed after partially eating a dog in Sitka
  
  Read more

• Conference held in Kodiak to promote tribal conservation districts

  18-07-2017 01:05 via ktoo.org
  
  
  View from the Near Island Bridge. (Photo by Mitch Borden/KMXT)
  The Alaska Tribal Conservation Alliance held a regional conference in Kodiak recently.
  Organizers flew in to promote local communities coming together to preserve their natural resources.
  http://kmxt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ATCA-7-17-17.mp3The last day of the Alaska Tribal Conservation Alliance Regional Conference in Kodiak, attendees and organizers are sitting in a conference room at the Kodiak Inn Best Western discussin
  
  Read more

• Bethel resident competes on ‘American Ninja Warrior’ tonight

  18-07-2017 00:33 via ktoo.org
  
  Bethel’s Nate Dehaan will compete on “American Ninja Warrior” tonight. Tune in at 7 p.m. Monday, July 17, on NBC. (Photo courtesy NBC)
  Tonight, Bethel resident Nate DeHaan will climb walls, poles and rope swings on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior,” a popular competition and fitness challenge.
  DeHaan is a pilot and dog musher who won first place in Bethel’s half-marathon this summer. He and his wife live in City Sub with their 15 dogs and baby girl.
  Yo
  
  Read more

Follow @AnchorageNewsUS on Twitter!