Anchorage news

• John Heard, ‘Home Alone’ actor, dies at 71

  23-07-2017 22:01
  John Heard, the actor best known for his roles in “Home Alone” and “The Sopranos,” has died, the Santa Clara Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed to CBS News. He was 71.
  Early reports from TMZ said Heard was found dead in his hotel room in Palo Alto, California.
  Earlier this week, representatives for Heard told TMZ the actor underwent minor back surgery at Stanford Medical Center on Wednesday. They said he planned to stay at the hotel during his recovery.
  His appearance man
  
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• Princes William, Harry remember devastating last call with Princess Diana

  23-07-2017 21:53
  LONDON — It was a typical phone call between two boys playing and their mother, who was on vacation in France. It was brief – the boys wanted to get back to playing with their cousins, not spend time on the phone chatting.
  The brevity of that 1997 call troubles Prince William and Prince Harry to this day – for their mother, Princess Diana, would die in a car crash that night.
  “Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know ‘see you later’&hellip
  
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• Alaska Legislature to meet Thursday on construction budget

  23-07-2017 21:37
  Courtesy Department of Administration
  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Legislature is coming back to the state Capitol in Juneau.
  The Juneau Empire reports the Legislature will convene Thursday for what is expected to be a one-day special session to pass the state’s capital construction budget.
  The capital budget funds road construction and building projects across Alaska, and most of its funding will come from the federal government, but it – like the state’s multibillio
  
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• 1 dead in head-on Parks Highway crash

  23-07-2017 21:04
  A Fairbanks man is dead after a head-on collision in Healy.
  Alaska State Troopers responded to a two-vehicle head-on crash on the Parks Highway near mile post 254 in the Denali Borough south of Fairbanks. The call came in around 6:20 Saturday evening.
  The initial investigation indicates that 31-year-old Justin Yurong, of Fairbanks, was driving a 2016 Jeep Cherokee southbound when he crossed the centerline and struck a motor home driven by 67-year-old Jack Gannon, of Spokane, Washington.
  Yur
  
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• Personal use king crab fishery in Juneau area to open for 5 days

  23-07-2017 12:04 via ktoo.org
  Red king crab (Photo courtesy of ADF&G)
  It’s been six years since it was legal to haul a pot full of red or blue king crab up out of Juneau area waters and take them home for a crab dinner.
  The Department of Fish and Game said in a Friday news release that the summer personal use red and blue king crab fishery will open for five days: Thursday, July 27, through Monday, July 31. The order is for Section 11-A, which includes Gastineau Channel, Stephens Passage and part of Lynn
  
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• Stubbs, Talkeetna’s honorary cat mayor, dies

  23-07-2017 08:25
  Stubbs, Talkeetna’s honorary cat mayor beloved by Alaskans and tourists alike, has died at the age of 20 according to a statement from the animal’s owners.
  Stubbs’ death was announced late Saturday in a statement from the Spone family, which purchased Nagley’s General Store and the West Rib Pub and Grill in 2015. Part of the contract, the family said, was that Stubbs would stay with the store.
  Stubbs had survived an attack by a dog in 2013, but spent less time out and abo
  
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• New White House communications director deletes old tweets contradicting Trump

  23-07-2017 05:55
  A day after accepting a top White House job, President Trump’s new communications director announced Saturday that he’s deleting old tweets that were critical of his new boss, saying his own views have evolved and that what he said in the past shouldn’t be a distraction.Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that's all that matters
  — Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 22, 2017“F
  
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• Car-motorcycle crash hurts 2, closes Old Seward Highway south of Dowling Road

  23-07-2017 05:05
  Two people were hurt in a car-motorcycle crash at the Old Seward Highway and Merlin Loop on the night of Saturday, July 22, 2017. (Andy Nitchman/KTVA)
  The Old Seward Highway was closed Saturday night south of Dowling Road in both directions by a car-motorcycle collision that injured two people.
  Alaska road-conditions website 511.alaska.gov first mentioned the wreck at Old Seward near 69th Avenue shortly after 6 p.m.
  Anchorage police Sgt. Dawn Neer, at the scene, said a motorcycle had been headed
  
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• Coast Guard: Missile test could occur as early as next week

  23-07-2017 04:37 via ktoo.org
  KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a launch from the Kodiak Island rocket launch complex in Alaska will occur as soon as next week.
  The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports a U.S. Coast Guard notice released Wednesday states the launch is scheduled to occur at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska between 7 p.m. on July 29 and 1:30 a.m. on July 30.
  Alternative times for the launch are listed as between 7 p.m. on July 30 and 1:30 a.m. on July 31, or between 7 p.m. on July 31 and 1:30 a.m
  
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• Late-night crash kills driver on Glenn Highway near Sutton

  23-07-2017 04:34 via ktoo.org
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska State Troopers are investigating a traffic crash that killed a driver near Sutton in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
  Troopers say a vehicle traveling south near Mile 68 Glenn Highway left the road and struck a tree.
  Troopers took a call on the crash after 10 p.m. Thursday.
  The driver was the only one in the vehicle.
  The name and gender of the driver were not immediately available.
  
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• Man indicted for murder in death of Ketchikan Dr. Eric Garcia

  23-07-2017 04:33 via ktoo.org
  (Photo by Victor/Flickr Creative Commons)
  First- and second-degree murder charges have been filed against 32-year-old Jordan Joplin for the mid-March death of Ketchikan surgeon Dr. Eric Garcia.
  Joplin has been in custody since late March on related theft charges. A Ketchikan Grand Jury Friday handed down indictments also charging him with homicide.
  Dr. Eric Garcia was found dead on March 27 in the upstairs living room area of his home on Summit Avenue. Police say Jordan Joplin, of Maple Valley,
  
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• CDC: Half of all female homicide victims are killed by intimate partners

  23-07-2017 04:13 via ktoo.org
  A lone bouquet of flowers stands in front of a home in Phoenix in 2013 after police said a man killed his wife, daughter and brother-in-law before killing himself. A new CDC report sheds light on patterns in homicides of women. Ross D. Franklin/AP
  More than half of female homicide victims were killed in connection to intimate partner violence — and in 10 percent of those cases, violence shortly before the killing might have provided an opportunity for intervention.
  That is according to a n
  
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• Efforts continue to save Anchorage’s 4th Avenue Theatre

  23-07-2017 03:38
  There’s no denying Sandy Harper loves the 4th Avenue Theatre.
  “The theater has been here longer than I have,” said Harper, who has called Anchorage home for 30 years. The building has been part of the downtown Anchorage skyline for more than twice that, a span of 70 years.
  “I don’t think there’s anything like it, certainly in Alaska,” Harper said.
  That’s why she is among those trying to save the building from any possibility that it might face the
  
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• Dozens hospitalized for excessive drinking at Chance The Rapper concert

  23-07-2017 03:28
  Chance the Rapper (Chance the Rapper/Facebook)
  HARTFORD, Conn. — More than 90 people were hospitalized Friday during a concert featuring Chance the Rapper in Connecticut, officials said.
  A large number of people hospitalized were underage attendees experiencing “severe intoxication,” Hartford Deputy Chief Brian Foley said Saturday.
  Foley said officers made 50 underage drinking referrals Friday at Hot 93.7′s Hot Jam concert at Xfinity Theatre. Most of those
  
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• Juneau cops and homeless strike common ground at the bowling alley

  23-07-2017 03:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Wayne Fu Smallwood bowls at Taku Lanes on Saturday. (Photo by Quinton Chandler/KTOO)http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/18BowlNPR1.mp3Last weekend, it was the Street versus the Beat at the Taku Lanes bowling alley. Both teams celebrate strikes and laugh at occasional gutter balls. But all but one of the seven people bowling against the police are homeless or in some kind of unstable housing.
  Wayne Fu Smallwood is ­67 and lives in a cabin in the woods.
  “I just got a wood stov
  
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• Coast Guard: Kodiak missile test could occur as early as next week

  23-07-2017 00:15
  KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – The U.S. Coast Guard says a launch from the Kodiak Island rocket launch complex in Alaska will occur as soon as next week.
  The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports a U.S. Coast Guard notice released Wednesday states the launch is scheduled to occur at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska between 7 p.m. on July 29 and 1:30 a.m. on July 30.
  Alternative times for the launch are listed as between 7 p.m. on July 30 and 1:30 a.m. on July 31, or between 7 p.m. on July 31 and 1:30 a.m
  
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• Son charged in death of father whose body was left on couch for weeks

  23-07-2017 00:12
  FRACKVILLE, Pa. — A man has been charged with killing his father, who authorities say was shot to death and his body then left on a couch in his home for weeks.
  Tyler Swantek, 24, faces charges in Schuylkill County including criminal homicide, first- and third-degree murder, aggravated assault and abuse of a corpse in the death of Todd Swantek, 49, whose body was found May 24 in the Frackville home the two formerly shared.
  Police said Friday that Frackville officers called to the home
  
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