Anchorage news

• University of Alaska could receive $5 million for capital projects

  29-07-2017 03:40 via ktoo.org
  Five million dollars is coming down the legislative pipe for the state’s university system to spend on major building renovations and repairs.
  The Legislature passed its capital budget Thursday and it’s waiting for the governor’s signature.
  University of Alaska officials said the Board of Regents will decide how to distribute the money to Alaska universities at its Aug. 9 meeting.
  Michael Ciri, vice chancellor for administration at the University of Alaska Southeast, said capit
  
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• New capital budget is much lower than previous budgets

  29-07-2017 03:15 via ktoo.org
  A conceptual rendering of the Knik Arm Bridge. Construction industry advocates support the project, but Gov. Bill Walker hasn’t pursued it. (Image courtesy Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority)
  State lawmakers who voted to pass the capital budget Thursday said it will help the economy. But it will provide less help than it did just a few years ago.
  It was more than twice as large then — $3.6 billion in 2013, in contrast with $1.4 billion in the new budget.
  When oil prices fell in 2014,
  
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• Gardentalk – Sampling potatoes

  29-07-2017 02:58 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Flower buds form on potato plants in a North Douglas garden. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
  In this edition of Gardentalk, master gardener Ed Buyarski says it’s alright to sample a few of the smaller potatoes now, but we should wait until early September for the big harvest.
  We can stop hilling dirt around the plants, but don’t worry about the flower buds that may be appearing. Buyarski says those flowers are not expected to consume very much energy.
  Buyarski also previews some of the e
  
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• Silver Bay Seafoods Naknek target of state OSHA investigation

  29-07-2017 02:55 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A state Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator is looking into claims of workplace health and safety issues at the Silver Bay Seafoods processing plant in Naknek.
  While many of Bristol Bay’s salmon processing companies had issues with their workforce during this record-setting season, only Silver Bay has drawn the state’s attention so far.
  The company also is on the receiving end of some particularly bad press in Puerto Rico, where a number of its seasonal workers
  
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• Murkowski’s healthcare vote causes a stir in Washington and Alaska

  29-07-2017 02:22 via ktoo.org
  
  
  U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski speaks with reporters at a press availability following her annual address to the Alaska Legislature on Feb. 22, 2017. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  The Alaska Dispatch News is reporting that the Trump Administration threatened to target Alaska as retribution for Senator Lisa Murkowski’s stand against Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act this week.
  http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/07/27-Murkowski-Call.mp3The story stated that Senator Mur
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 7-31-17

  29-07-2017 02:21 via ktoo.org
  Today on A Juneau Afternoon, Laury Scandling hosts.
  We’ll hear the first episode of the Midnight Oil podcast from Alaska’s Energy Desk – about the Trans Alaska Pipeline and how it shaped the state.
  Tom Paul will be here to highlight the upcoming Camp Damp;
  That, Writers Almanac, Bird Note, music and more, today on A Juneau Afternoon, live at 3 on KTOO, repeated at 4 on KRNN, and available on-demand via ktoo.org
  Tune in tonight at 7 for a live broadcast of the CBJ Assembly
  
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• Changing climate pushes polar bears toward more dangerous interactions with humans

  29-07-2017 02:08 via ktoo.org
  As melting sea ice forces polar bears onto dry land, interactions with humans are becoming more common and potentially more dangerous. (Creative Commons photo by Christopher Michel/Flickr)
  For Halloween in 2014, the kids in the village of Arviat in the Canadian Arctic had to trick-or-treat indoors. In the community center, they had a warm place to show off their costumes, but more importantly, they were safe from three polar bears outside.
  That night a polar bear and her two yearlings spent thre
  
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• Controversial Anchorage bathroom bill will go on April ballot

  29-07-2017 01:27 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A sign hangs outside a bathroom in Montreal on Feb. 25, 2017. (Public domain photo by Exile on Ontario St)
  Anchorage voters will decide next spring how public bathrooms are going to be regulated.
  According to the municipal clerk’s office, a citizens’ initiative has gathered enough signatures from supporters to go before voters on the April 3 ballot in 2018.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170727-06.mp3
  The measure seeks to regulate bathrooms, locker-rooms and other “intimate s
  
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• Some Haines residents object to local taxes on pot and tobacco

  29-07-2017 00:59 via ktoo.org
  Haines Borough Assembly members are divided on so-called “sin taxes” on tobacco and marijuana.
  They heard some opposition to the proposal at a meeting Tuesday when residents raised concerns that the taxes could hurt low-income people and a budding industry.
  Over the last few months, three Haines residents have applied for five pot business applications with the state. That prompted the Assembly to think about how, if at all, the borough should regulate and tax marijuana.
  The group di
  
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• Caterpillars spike around lakes and rivers near Aleknagik and Dillingham for second year

  29-07-2017 00:47 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Noctuid caterpillars munch on plants in Wood Tikchik State Park.
  (Photo courtesy Daniel Schindler/University of Washington)
  Visitors to Wood-Tikchick State Park were greeted by an unusual sight this summer.
  Alders that are normally dense, green and leafy were bare.
  “It looks almost like fall came early, so everything’s kind of brown and without any leaves on it,” said Daniel Schindler, a professor from the University of Washington. Schindler is an aquatic and fisheries science
  
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