Anchorage news

• Catch rates higher than expected in first Southeast summer king troll opening

  20-07-2017 23:42 via ktoo.org
  
  Southeast Alaska’s commercial salmon troll fleet had higher than expected catch rates of king salmon during the first summer opening at the start of the month.
  Commercial troll caught king salmon. (Photo courtesy of Matt Lichtenstein)
  Kings are managed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty between the U.S. and Canada and Alaska’s troll fleet catches a mix of hatchery and wild king salmon mostly returning to British Columbia and Pacific Northwest states.
  In the first opening, fishery manage
  
  Read more

• Gardentalk – Garlic harvesting

  20-07-2017 22:44 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Garlic scape is all curled up in a North Douglas garden. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  Watch for the curl and then the uncurl. That’s what Master Gardener Ed Buyarski recommends while harvesting garlic this summer. He provided a primer during the latest edition of Gardentalk that airs Thursdays on KTOO’s Morning Edition.
  The scape, or the bulbous top of the garlic stem, will curl up as the garlic plant’s lower leaves start turning yellow and dry out. When the scape straighte
  
  Read more

• Port Graham man charged with faking his disappearance at sea

  20-07-2017 22:40
  
  A man and his girlfriend from the Kenai Peninsula village of Port Graham are accused of falsely reporting him missing at sea last winter, launching an expensive search in what prosecutors called a bid to let him evade serving prison time from a plea deal.
  Ryan Riley Meganack, 34, and Ivy Rose Rodriguez, 25, were charged with conspiracy and false distress in the case, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder’s office. Meganack, who is listed in the state sexual offender database, fa
  
  Read more

• Newscast – Thursday, July 20, 2017

  20-07-2017 22:34 via ktoo.org
  
  
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/newscast7202017.mp3In this newscast:
  Bogoslof volcano was a haven for endangered animals, but scientists did not know if animals would return to the eastern Aleutian Island. Biologists are now starting to answer that question.
  Former NBA player Carlos Boozer is returning to Juneau to host his Carlos Boozer Basketball Camp.
  An Alaskan radio station is facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines for a list of FCC violations.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Eruptions can’t stop sealife from calling Bogoslof home

  20-07-2017 22:18 via ktoo.org
  
  Marine mammals are hauled out on Bogoslof island on July 3, the day after an eruption. (Courtesy Paul Wade, NOAA Fisheries)
  Before Bogoslof volcano started erupting, it was a haven for endangered Steller sea lions, fur seals, and sea birds. But scientists did not know when and if animals would return to the eastern Aleutian Island.
  In the last year, Bogoslof volcano has erupted more than 50 times and is giving no indication of slowing down. This means even though scientists like Tom Gelatt would
  
  Read more

• Safeway to pay feds $3M after Wasilla pharmacy lost thousands of pain pills

  20-07-2017 22:05 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The supermarket chain Safeway Inc. has agreed to pay $3 million in a settlement that involves missing pain medication from a pharmacy in Wasilla.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170719-03.mp3A settlement agreement signed Tuesday between Safeway and the Department of Justice said the Wasilla Carrs pharmacy was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration for failing to follow DEA protocols on reporting controlled substances like opioids when they go missing.
  “We received a loss noti
  
  Read more

• O.J. Simpson granted parole after serving nearly nine years in prison

  20-07-2017 21:54 via ktoo.org
  
  A Nevada parole board has granted O.J. Simpson parole from prison after he served nearly nine years following a conviction on armed robbery and other charges.
  O.J. Simpson (Creative Commons photo via Wikimedia.org)
  On Thursday, the four-person panel unanimously voted to grant parole. The parole board said that Oct. 1 is the earliest the former NFL star is eligible for release.
  NPR’s Ina Jaffe walked us through the incident that led to his conviction:
  “[H]e was convicted of a botched
  
  Read more

• WEIO a family affair for athletes young and old

  20-07-2017 21:24
  
  As World Eskimo-Indian Olympics athletes took the floor of the Carlson Center in Fairbanks for games like the toe kick and one hand reach, Carol Hull sat at her craft table chatting with passersby.
  She may not compete in the games any more, but Hull still has fond memories from her heyday as an athlete.
  “As I made myself try every event to find out what I was good at I was a one-foot high kicker,” Hull recalled. “I think it’s 20-some years now I held the record in th
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Baltimore police caught planting drugs in body-cam footage, public defender says

  20-07-2017 21:19 via ktoo.org
  
  A Baltimore man was held in jail for months after police found a stash of drugs — but the officer who found the drugs also seems to be the one who hid them in that spot, according to footage from his body camera. The public defender’s office says the man is now free and it is questioning the officer’s involvement in 53 active cases.
  The officer has been suspended and two of his colleagues are on administrative duty, Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said, as the agency&
  
  Read more

• Justice Department announces ‘largest darknet takedown in history’

  20-07-2017 21:11 via ktoo.org
  
  The Justice Department announced Thursday that together with the FBI and international law enforcement agencies, officials had shut down “the largest darknet marketplace in history.” AlphaBay, a Web bazaar where users’ identities were cloaked and illicit goods and drugs were sold, has officially been seized and shut down.
  “This is the largest dark net marketplace takedown in history,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in remarks prepared for a news conference Thur
  
  Read more

• OJ Simpson granted parole in Nevada robbery

  20-07-2017 21:00
  
  O.J. Simpson sits during a break on the second day of an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, on May 14, 2013. AP
  LOVELOCK, Nev. (AP) – O.J. Simpson will be paroled after serving nine years in prison for a botched bid to retrieve sports memorabilia in Las Vegas.
  A Nevada parole board decided Thursday that the 70-year-old former football, TV and movie star will be released in October after serving his minimum term for armed robbery and assault with a weapon.
  Simp
  
  Read more

• Kenai assembly member charged with DUI after early morning four-wheeler ride

  20-07-2017 20:56 via ktoo.org
  
  Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member Jill Schaefer was arrested this week.
  Assembly member Jill Schaefer of Kenai faces charges of driving while intoxicate and refusing breath tests following an incident involving a 4-wheeler early Monday morning.
  Kenai police were called about 1 a.m. Monday with a report of a four-wheeler making laps around the neighborhood.
  Schaefer was identified as the operater and charged with driving under the influence and later, refusing a breath test.
  Following
  
  Read more

• House backs King Cove road in remote Alaska wildlife refuge

  20-07-2017 20:47
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has approved legislation allowing a proposed road through a remote national wildlife refuge in Alaska that was rejected by the Obama administration.
  A bill approved Thursday would grant a land exchange allowing Alaska to build the road between two rural communities, King Cove and Cold Bay. They sit near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, 600 miles southwest of Anchorage.
  Supporters say the road is needed because strong winds and mountains make air travel in the r
  
  Read more

• North Pole Council urges water-system expansion to help Moose Creek deal with tainted groundwater

  20-07-2017 20:38 via ktoo.org
  
  
  U.S. Air Force and New Jersey state fire protection specialists from the New Jersey Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing battle a simulated aircraft fire with Aqueous Film Forming Foam at Military Sealift Command Training Center East in Freehold, N.J. on June 12. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Amber Powell/Released)
  Officials with the Air Force and other agencies are asking members of the public to weigh in on several proposals to provide drinking water to Moose Cree
  
  Read more

• Fishermen on Yukon lose economic opportunity when buyer becomes overloaded, cancels opening

  20-07-2017 20:30 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Fishermen are selling more salmon than the Yukon River’s only buyer can handle.
  Record-breaking sales Monday closed a commercial opening for fishermen upriver.
  Those fishermen spent Tuesday watching tens of thousands of dollars swim by during the river’s first opportunity to sell king salmon this decade.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170719-05.mp3District One in the lower Yukon River saw its first commercial opening of the fall season on Monday, and Kwik’Pak Fisher
  
  Read more

• Research ships find Bering Sea crab boat in sinking with 6 missing

  20-07-2017 20:19
  
  A 3-D image from NOAA Ship Fairweather multi-beam sonar. The profile of the F/V Destination is clearly visible, including the bulbous bow to the right, the forward house and mast, equipment (likely crab pots) stacked amidships, the deck crane aft, and the skeg and rudder. (NOAA)
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Federal research ships have found a crab boat that sank with six men on board in the Bering Sea.
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the F/V Destination, a 98-foot crab
  
  Read more

• Crab boat found in Bering Sea after sinking that left 6 missing

  20-07-2017 20:19
  
  A 3-D image from NOAA Ship Fairweather multi-beam sonar. The profile of the F/V Destination is clearly visible, including the bulbous bow to the right, the forward house and mast, equipment (likely crab pots) stacked amidships, the deck crane aft, and the skeg and rudder. (NOAA)
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Federal research ships have found a crab boat that sank with six men on board in the Bering Sea.
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the F/V Destination, a 98-foot crab
  
  Read more

• Safeway drug theft puts focus on delayed reporting issues, DEA says

  20-07-2017 18:25
  
  Drug Enforcement Administration officials say a recent $3 million settlement paid by the Safeway grocery chain, prompted by opioids missing from an Alaska pharmacy, highlights the need for a documented trail of the supply and distribution chain of all medications from pharmacies.
  The fine settles allegations by the Department of Justice that Safeway did not report significant losses or theft of controlled substances in a timely fashion.
  According to documents, a DEA investigator contacted Safewa
  
  Read more

• SUV accidentally stuck on South Anchorage tracks struck by train

  20-07-2017 15:37
  
  Alaska Railroad workers test a crossing signal at the site of a train-SUV collision on Arctic Boulevard near Dowling Road on Thursday, July 20, 2017. (Rick Rysso/KTVA)
  A sport-utility vehicle was struck by an Alaska Railroad train early Thursday in South Anchorage, police said.
  No injuries were reported in the collision involving a Chevrolet Blazer just before 2 a.m., according to police dispatchers. The wreck occurred at a railroad crossing on Arctic Boulevard just north of Arctic Spur Road.
  Po
  
  Read more

• South Anchorage train-SUV collision under investigation

  20-07-2017 15:37
  
  A sport-utility vehicle was struck by an Alaska Railroad train early Thursday in South Anchorage, police said.
  No injuries were reported in the collision involving a Chevrolet Blazer just before 2 a.m., according to police dispatchers. The wreck occurred at a railroad crossing on Arctic Boulevard just north of the Dowling Road overpass.
  Arctic was closed north of Arctic Spur Road and C Street was closed at Raspberry Road due to the collision, but both had reopened by 3:30 a.m.
  John Grobe contrib
  
  Read more

• Video: Oil clues hidden in stone

  20-07-2017 09:32 via ktoo.org
  
  If you’re looking for oil, it helps to have an idea about the geologic formations below the Earth’s surface. If you’re in Alaska, there’s one giant warehouse that holds this information, collected from all across the state, housed in thousands of boxes.
  
  Read more

• Audiogram: Alaska’s great recession

  20-07-2017 09:28 via ktoo.org
  
  In 1986, the price of oil tanked. Thousands of people left the state. Find out how one man gained and lost a fortune, and if today’s recession in Alaska is anything like the one in the late 80s.
  
  Read more

• STDs on the rise in Alaska

  20-07-2017 06:46
  
  New numbers from the state show sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in Alaska. Alaska already has some of the highest rates in the country.
  Chlamydia rose half a percent from 2015 to 2016, with about 5,700 new cases reported. Of those cases,79 percent are from people under the age of 29. Chlamydia is the most common STD in the Nation, and Alaska has the highest infection rate in the country.There was a huge uptick in gonorrhea — 31 percent from 2015 to 2016.Northern Alaska and th
  
  Read more

• Assemblyman objects to new shelter downtown

  20-07-2017 05:28
  
  Downtown Assemblyman Christopher Constant said on Wednesday, enough is enough when it comes to putting more services for the homeless downtown.Constant was reacting to a plan to open a new shelter on B Street, also in downtown Anchorage.
  Anchorage Homeless Coordinator Nancy Burke said the city wants to lease a former halfway house near the Federal Building that is now vacant and turn it into a shelter for homeless seniors aged 65 and older. Burke said that would take some of the pressure off the
  
  Read more

• At White House lunch with GOP senators, table set for awkwardness with repeal and replace opponents

  20-07-2017 05:12 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump holds a working lunch with GOP senators at the White House on Wednesday. Prominent opponents of repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement like Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, second from right, were seated near the president. (Photo courtesy WhiteHouse.gov)
  President Trump summoned Republican senators to the White House for lunch Wednesday, where he pressured them to pass a health care reform bill. Just yesterday Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of three Republicans w
  
  Read more

• Joe Balash gets Federal appointment by Trump administration

  20-07-2017 04:50
  
  President Trump has nominated a key Alaskan to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Land and Mineral management.
  Wednesday the Trump administration announced the nomination for Joe Balash, chief of staff to Senator Dan Sullivan to take on the job as Secretary of the Interior, Land and Mineral Management.
  Senator Pete Kelly (R-Fairbanks) praises the administration saying how they couldn’t have picked a better candidate.
   
  “Joe is a guy who has been making great things h
  
  Read more

• State, municipalities face higher borrowing costs from falling credit ratings

  20-07-2017 04:45 via ktoo.org
  
  Standard & Poor’s lowered Alaska’s credit rating this week. (Creative Commons photo by eflon)
  Alaska’s credit was downgraded by two rating agencies in the past week. The state had the highest possible rating at the beginning of last year. But the Legislature failed to pass a plan to balance future state budgets for two straight years, which has contributed to the downgrades.
  Alaska’s credit rating comes into play when the state issues bonds to pay for infrastructure.
  
  Read more

• Prosecutors haven’t decided whether to charge Sen. Wilson in slapping

  20-07-2017 04:37 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. David Wilson, R-Wasilla, listens to legislative proceedings at his desk on the Senate floor in June. State prosecutors haven’t decided whether to charge him in slapping Alaska Dispatch News reporter Nathaniel Herz. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
  The state Office of Special Prosecutions has not made a decision about whether to charge state Sen. David Wilson in the case in which he’s accused of slapping an Alaska Dispatch News reporter in the Capitol.
  The Juneau Police Department ha
  
  Read more

• 300 pounds of illegal fish waste temporarily closes Bird Ridge Trailhead

  20-07-2017 03:27
  
  A popular Anchorage area trailhead is closed after someone dumped hundreds of pounds of illegal and smelly waste.
  Chugach State Park took to Facebook Tuesday to alert the public of its temporary closure because of 300 pounds of fish waste being dumped in the area of the Bird Ridge Trailhead.
  No other information was given, including when the trailhead will reopen.
  Last month, a black bear killed a teen on that same trail while competing in Bird Ridge Race.
  Related story:
  No sightings of bear th
  
  Read more

• Avista sold to Canadian electric company

  20-07-2017 03:17 via ktoo.org
  
  Alaska Electric Light and Power Company headquarters on Tonsgard Court in Juneau. (Photo by Rosemarie Alexander/KTOO)
  The parent company of Juneau’s electric utility will be based in Canada. Avista has owned Alaska Electric Light & Power for the past four years. The company has headquarters in Spokane, Washington. But on Thursday, Hydro One — an Ontario company — announced it plans to buy Avista for $5.3 billion dollars.According to the press release, Hydro One will keep th
  
  Read more

• Sen. John McCain diagnosed with brain tumor after blood clot removal

  20-07-2017 02:19
  
  Senate Intelligence Committee member Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) heads into a closed-door committee meeting with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats in the Hart Senate Office Building on June 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. According to committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC), Coats met with the committee for four hours to follow up to his testimony from a week earlier and to discuss the FY2018 budget. Getty
  Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, has been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, accord
  
  Read more

• Lawmaker David Wilson withdraws from lieutenant governor’s race

  20-07-2017 02:06
  
  The state senator who made headlines for allegedly slapping a reporter in the face during this year’s legislative session filed, then withdrew plans to run for lieutenant governor next election.
  Sen. David Wilson (R-Wasilla) had signed a letter of intent to run in the 2018 state primary election, according to Wednesday data from the Alaska Public Offices Commission, but amended the filing to indicate he was not running for office.
  Wilson made headlines in May when Alaska Dispatch News poli
  
  Read more

• Lawmaker David Wilson files to run for Lt. Governor

  20-07-2017 02:06
  
  The lawmaker who made headlines for allegedly slapping a reporter in the face during session earlier this year has filed to run for Lieutenant Governor next election.
  David Wilson (R-Wasilla) signed a letter of intent to run in the 2018 State Primary Election on Wednesday, according to the Alaska Public Commission.
  The lawmaker made headlines in May when an Alaska Dispatch political reporter Nathaniel Herz claimed Wilson slapped him across the face because of a story he published.
  The Alaska Dis
  
  Read more

• Seward radio station faces potential $66K FCC fine

  20-07-2017 01:23
  
  The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fining a Seward radio station tens of thousands of dollars, over what station staff suggested might be a series of misunderstandings by enforcement officials.
  A Wednesday statement from the FCC announced the $66,000 fine against Kenai Educational Media, Inc., the licensee for KIBH-FM, claiming that it failed to comply with federal requirements of the Emergency Alert System. EAS notifications allow government agencies to quickly relay information
  
  Read more

• Newborn baby contracts illness and dies, likely from a visitor’s kiss

  20-07-2017 01:07
  
  Mariana Sifrit on life support after being diagnosed with neonatal herpes, just 6 days after her healthy birth.
  Nicole Sifrit via Facebook
  Most parents know that babies are not born with fully developed immune systems, and as such, newborns are more susceptible to illnesses and infections than the adults around them. What many parents may not know, however, is that something as simple as a kiss can be the start of a devastating infection that can even threaten their baby’s life.
  It’s
  
  Read more

• West Anchorage roadway closed due to ‘situation’ now open

  20-07-2017 00:46
  
  Courtesy: Trina Mae Gallahorn / Facebook
  International Airport Road is back open after Anchorage Police responded to what they called a “developing situation.”
  A Nixle alert was sent out at 2:37 p.m. Wednesday. Authorities did not elaborate on the situation but did say that International Airport Road was closed between Electron Drive and Eielson Street for about an hour and 20 minutes.
  Police on scene said they were speaking with a man on the bridge over Minnesota Drive.
  A man on sce
  
  Read more

• APD: Situation closes West Anchorage roadway

  20-07-2017 00:46
  
  Courtesy: Trina Mae Gallahorn / Facebook
  Anchorage Police say a “developing situation” led them to close a main thoroughfare in West Anchorage Wednesday afternoon.
  Authorities did not elaborate on the situation but did say that International Airport Road was closed between Electron Drive and Eielson Street for about an hour and 20 minutes.
  Police on scene said they were speaking with a man on the bridge over Minnesota Drive.
  A man on scene, who identified himself as the father of the
  
  Read more

Follow @AnchorageNewsUS on Twitter!