Anchorage news

• With a few weeks to go, Alaska schools are short 245 teachers and special educators

  05-08-2017 23:30 via ktoo.org
  (Photo illustration by Quinton Chandler/KTOO)http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/08/02Teachers.mp3Imagine you’re fresh out of school, broke and hunting for your first teaching job. Then a school district offers you a job paying $70,000 a year. Afterward, you meet Joshua Gill from the Lower Kuskokwim School District in rural Alaska and he offers you a job paying $52,000 a year.
  “For a kid coming out of school, that’s an $18,000 difference,&r
  
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• U.S. appeals court tosses ex-Blackwater guard’s conviction in 2007 Baghdad massacre

  05-08-2017 23:15 via ktoo.org
  This composite photo shows former Blackwater guards Dustin Heard (from left), Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. A federal appeals court has thrown out a murder conviction against Slatten and ordered resentencing of the other three men. (Photo by Associated Press)
  Updated at 2:15 p.m. ET
  A federal appeals court has thrown out the murder conviction of an ex-Blackwater security guard and ordered three others to be resentenced in connection with the 2007 massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqi ci
  
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• Search and rescue underway for U.S. marines in ‘mishap’ off Australian coast

  05-08-2017 20:17 via ktoo.org
  On Saturday, the U.S. Marines said three service members were missing after a MV-22 Osprey, like the one shown on the far left, “entered the water” off the coast of Australia.
  Koji Ueda/AP
  Three U.S. Marines are missing after an MV-22 Osprey from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit “entered the water” Saturday off of Australia’s east coast.
  In a statement, III Marine Expeditionary Force said that following a “mishap,” 23 out of 26 personnel aboard had bee
  
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• State lets Conoco expand North Slope unit, but with conditions

  05-08-2017 03:09 via ktoo.org
  A flow line curves above the horizon on the western North Slope. ConocoPhillips wants to expand one of its units in the region. (Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
  The state is trying to speed up development of oil fields on the North Slope by putting pressure on ConocoPhillips to explore a new area.
  This week, the Department of Natural Resources announced it’s allowing Conoco to expand one of its North Slope units, but only under certain conditions. In February, the state turne
  
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• Teaching the next crop of whale entanglement responders

  05-08-2017 02:55 via ktoo.org
  Ed Lyman is in Unalaska teaching the next crop of large whale entanglement responders. (Berett Wilber/KUCB)
  On a sunny Tuesday night, about a dozen people are gathered on a dock. They’re practicing the skills needed to free a stranded whale.
  Ed Lyman is up from Hawaii to lead the course. He has a lot of experience freeing entangled whales. He’s in town for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — working to build Unalaska’s response team.
  “Here w
  
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• Egan calls for criminal justice bill, income tax

  05-08-2017 02:35 via ktoo.org
  State Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, speaks to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He called for another attempt to revise the 2016 criminal justice law. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)
  State Sen. Dennis Egan said the Legislature should have passed a bill revising last year’s criminal justice overhaul.
  Senate Bill 54 would have increased jail times for some offenses. The Senate passed the bill by a wide margin.
  “Senate Bill 54 passed the Senate on a vote of 19 to 1,” sai
  
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• Skagway leaders move toward 15-year waterfront lease, but some hurdles remain

  05-08-2017 02:23 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A Disney cruise ship tied up at Skagway’s ore dock. (Photo by Emily Files/KHNS)
  Skagway leaders are moving ahead with a new 15-year tidelands lease proposal and they’re hoping to get it to voters this October.
  The Assembly put some tough questions to the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad president at a public meeting Thursday.
  The executive told them the railroad is willing to compromise on some things, but it needs a 15-year lease guarantee.http://khns.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/
  
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• Audiogram: The future of an oil state

  05-08-2017 02:06 via ktoo.org
  Today, the trans-Alaska pipeline carries a quarter of what it did in its heyday. And so Alaska is facing the question its been ducking for forty years: Will we always be an oil state?
  
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• Some tribes see failure, but Kalispel Tribe sees victory in Yellowstone grizzly delisting

  05-08-2017 01:38 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Yellowstone grizzly bear has been delisted from the Endangered Species Act. (Photo courtesy Jim Peaco/Natioanl Park Service)https://cpa.ds.npr.org/northwestnews/audio/2017/08/080417ES_GrizzlyTribes_web.mp3Endangered species protections were lifted for grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park Monday. Many tribes prepared for the delisting last fall by signing a treaty to protect the bears.
  But one tribe in the Northwest looks at it differently.
  Ray Entz, the director of Wildlife and Terrest
  
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• Mandated reporting of prescribed controlled substances begins in Alaska

  05-08-2017 00:49 via ktoo.org
  Medical professionals prescribing controlled substances in Alaska are now required to provide hard numbers. (Photo by Aaron Bolton/KBBI)
  The state has been collecting data on prescription opioids and controlled substances since 2012, but until last month, prescribers and pharmacies have been volunteering that data.
  As part of an ongoing legislative effort, medical professionals prescribing controlled substances are now required to provide hard numbers.
  The effort will help the state grasp the si
  
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• Community centers in Dillingham provide places of welcome for the old and young

  05-08-2017 00:18 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Paul “Elvis” Chythlook dons a pair of gold chrome shades at the piano bench. He plays for the community in the Dillingham Senior Center regularly, gospel and traditional tunes he knows by heart. (Photo by Zoey Laird/KDLG)
  In downtown Dillingham, both the senior center and the Christian youth center are places to find food and fellowship with others.
  https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kdlg/audio/2017/08/080317_community_centers_8.4_pkg.mp3Paul Chythlook plays gospel piano at the Dillingham Senior
  
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