Anchorage news

• Global warming makes expedition to ice-locked North Pole possible

  11-08-2017 23:25 via ktoo.org
  Arctic Mission’s crew hails from Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States. From left to right: Jaap van Rijckevorsel, Tim Gordon, Pen Hadow, Nick Carter, Frances Brann, Heather Bauscher, Erik de Jong, Krystina Scheller, Fukimi, Tegid Cartwright and Conor McDonnell. (Photo courtesy Conor McDonnell)
  Two specially equipped sailboats are attempting a voyage that’s never been done before – a trip to the North Pole.
  Led by a British explorer, the international crew has moved t
  
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• NOAA scientist finds rare whales in the Bering Sea

  11-08-2017 22:15 via ktoo.org
  An extremely rare North Pacific right whale. (Public domain photo by John Durban, NOAA, Wikipedia Commons)
  The North Pacific right whale is one of the rarest animals in the Bering Sea.
  Only about 30 North Pacific right whales inhabit the eastern Bering Sea, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
  This week, a NOAA researcher was able to find and collect information on not one but two of these whales.
  NOAA Fisheries researcher Jessica Crance uses acous
  
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• Newscast – Friday, August 11, 2017

  11-08-2017 21:53 via ktoo.org
  
  
  In this newscast:http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/08/170811newscast.mp3The Bluejack gold mine in British Columbia near the controversial KSM mining complex begins operations
  NOAA researchers identify extremely rare whale species in the Bering Sea
  State ferry Tustumena returns to service after wasted steel took it out of commission in March
  
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• Walker signs SB88, Mental Health Trust land exchange

  11-08-2017 21:49 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Gov. Bill Walker hold up a signed Senate Bill 88, the Alaska Mental Health Trust land exchange. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  Alaska Gov. Bill Walker was joined in Ketchikan on Thursday by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, state Sen. Bert Stedman and state Rep. Dan Ortiz to sign a bill accepting a land trade between the U.S. Forest Service and Alaska Mental Health Trust.
  The trade puts parcels of Trust land close to communities in Ketchikan and Petersburg into Forest Service ownership, in exchange for fe
  
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• Walker signs SB 88, Mental Health Trust land exchange

  11-08-2017 21:49 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Gov. Bill Walker hold up a signed Senate Bill 88, the Alaska Mental Health Trust land exchange. (Photo by Leila Kheiry/KRBD)
  Alaska Gov. Bill Walker was joined in Ketchikan on Thursday by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, state Sen. Bert Stedman and state Rep. Dan Ortiz to sign a bill accepting a land trade between the U.S. Forest Service and Alaska Mental Health Trust.
  The trade puts parcels of Trust land close to communities in Ketchikan and Petersburg into Forest Service ownership, in exchange for fe
  
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• Trump says U.S. military is ‘locked and loaded’ to deal with North Korea

  11-08-2017 21:34 via ktoo.org
  “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely,” President Trump said on Friday, in his latest salvo in the exchange of rhetoric with the isolated regime.
  Trump added, “Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!
  — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2017The statement, m
  
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• Alaska Marine Highway ferry Tustumena returns to service

  11-08-2017 21:14 via ktoo.org
  KODIAK, Alaska — An Alaska marine highway ferry is ready to hit the water again after wasted steel found in a routine overhaul took it out of commission in March.
  The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports the Tustumena will leave the Ketchikan shipyard on or around Friday. The ferry is expected to make its first stop in Kodiak on Wednesday.
  It is one of two Alaska Marine Highway System ferries serving Kodiak.
  Marine Highway System public information officer Aurah Landau says the Tustumena&rsquo
  
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• Two murders occur within two hours; Anchorage police say they’re unrelated

  11-08-2017 20:47 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Anchorage Police Department logged its 17th and 18th homicides of the year in less than two hours Wednesday night.http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170810-03.mp3One victim, a woman, was shot in Spenard. The other, a man, was stabbed in Midtown.
  Police say they believe the two deaths were unrelated and – though there have been no arrests in either killing – Anchorage residents should not be alarmed.
  “We understand their concerns, but we want to reassure that we are working to clo
  
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• Gardentalk – Porcupine protection

  11-08-2017 17:00 via ktoo.org
  Porcupine climbs up a tree near the bear-viewing platforms at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in 2014. (File photo by Heather Bryant/KTOO)
  Master Gardener Ed Buyarski calls them giant, spiny tree rats, otherwise known as porcupines.
  They usually don’t go after berries and garden vegetables, but their ability to feed and deleaf entire plants and trees could cripple them for years to come.
  Buyarski recommends wrapping stove pipe or wide, metal flashing at least 4 feet high around the t
  
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• Where did the Birdman of Alcatraz commit his first murder?

  11-08-2017 16:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Headline and excerpt of Jan. 23, 1909, article in Alaska Weekly Transcript.
  Many people are familiar with the story of Robert Stroud, one of the country’s most famous inmates of the last century, and how he spent over half his life in solitary confinement and gained fame for his careful study of birds and bird diseases.
  But many people probably don’t know that Stroud was initially sent to prison for a murder he committed just a few short blocks away from the present-day Alaska State
  
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• Sen. Sullivan wants 28 more interceptors at Fort Greely

  11-08-2017 04:55 via ktoo.org
  A ground-based missile interceptor is lowered into its silo at Fort Greely, Alaska, in 2007. (Photo courtesy U.S. Army)
  Day by day, the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea are ratcheting up the threats of fiery destruction. The missile defense system based at Fort Greely, southeast of Fairbanks, is intended to shield the entire nation from attack. The system has had a spotty test record, but U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said he has confidence in it. In fact, Sullivan wants Congress to invest in more&n
  
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• Permanent Fund Corp. headquarters to undergo $4 million renovation

  11-08-2017 04:46 via ktoo.org
  Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. CEO Angela Rodell stands in the corporation headquarters on Wednesday. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)
  The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. will be renovating its headquarters in Juneau. Its goal is to modernize its offices and help its workers communicate more easily. It’s budgeted to cost $4 million. Supporters say it may be a small price for the state to pay if it makes a difference in growing the $60.7 billion fund.
  The Permanent Fund Corp. office looks a lot l
  
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• Juneau Assembly committee advances temporary hotel tax for JACC

  11-08-2017 03:06 via ktoo.org
  (Creative Commons photo by Jason Trbovich)
  Hotel customers in Juneau would pay 14 percent in taxes to the city under a proposal local officials are considering. And they’d help pay for a new and improved Juneau Arts and Culture Center.  
  According to data city staff collected, Juneau’s hotels would tie for third for the highest combined hotel tax and sales tax rate in the state.&n
  
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• Wild Alaska salmon not on menus in China…yet

  11-08-2017 02:58 via ktoo.org
  Salmon displayed in China. Qiujie “Angie” Zheng says a recent consumer study found that Chinese shoppers are interested in buying wild Alaska salmon bones and skin for fish broth and stocks. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Sea Grant)
  About a third of the salmon caught in Alaska gets shipped to China for processing. But a recent consumer study suggests that at least some of that wild salmon should stay in the Chinese markets.Qiujie “Angie” Zheng didn’t grow up eating much
  
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• As Fairbanks police deal with spike in violent crime, low pay complicates filling vacancies

  11-08-2017 02:46 via ktoo.org
  Police Chief Eric Jewkes urged the City Council to boost pay for officers to retain those on staff and to help attract new recruits. (KUAC file photo)
  The Fairbanks Police Department remains understaffed, despite a recently approved hiring bonus.
  Police Chief Eric Jewkes told City Council members this week the substandard pay is driving high turnover and making recruiting difficult.
  Jewkes said the short-staffed department must deal with a spike in violent crime while a new labor contract is bei
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 8-11-17

  11-08-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  Friday at 3 on a Juneau Afternoon, Andy Kline will host.
  We’ll find out about Red Cross CPR Training, with guest, Julie Jackson;
  We’ll learn about Escape AK, with guest, Nikki Skeek.
  We’ll learn about an intensive Grants Workshop;
  That, Writer’s Almanac, Bird Note, music and more, live at 3 on KTOO, repeated at 4 on KRNN, and available on demand via ktoo.org
  
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• After 20 years of work, bison team win award for conservation efforts

  11-08-2017 01:36 via ktoo.org
  Wood Bison No. 124, seen here from the air, was illegally shot and killed January 27, 2017, near Quinhagak. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is calling the animal’s death a setback for the Alaska Wood Bison Restoration Project.
  (Photo by Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
  After over 20 years of hard work, a dogged crew of wildlife managers has successfully reintroduced wood bison to the tundra of Southwest Alaska.
  Now, they’ve received an award for it.
  This week, the state Fis
  
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• New Skagway port lease may go to special election instead of October vote

  11-08-2017 01:27 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Norwegian Pearl tied up at Skagway’s Broadway dock in July 2017. Two more cruise ships are moored at the railroad dock in the background. (Photo by Emily Files/KHNS)
  Skagway leaders continue to work on a 15-year tidelands lease that would prolong a private company’s control of the waterfront.
  Residents will get a chance to weigh in through a public vote.
  But the Assembly is now talking about scheduling a special election later in the year, instead of rushing to meet deadlines for
  
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