Anchorage news

• Could Alaska be the final destination for Japan’s carbon pollution?

  09-05-2024 21:42 via ktoo.org
  
  Officials from Japanese energy companies listen to a presentation from U.S. Department of Energy officials at a carbon workshop Tuesday in Anchorage. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
  For decades, Alaska shipped liquefied natural gas to Japan, which burned the fuel to generate power — and also generated ample climate-warming carbon emissions.
  Now, the Biden administration wants to study whether those Japanese emissions could be captured, liquefied and shipped back to Ala
  
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• Former Haines lawmaker is vying for Juneau Rep. Andi Story’s seat in the House

  03-06-2024 23:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Former lawmaker Bill Thomas on the House floor. (Photo courtesy of the Alaska Legislature)
  In a last-minute filing, a Haines resident and former Alaska House of Representatives member is vying for the seat that’s currently held by Juneau Representative Andi Story. 
  Republican Bill Thomas registered to run last week, just a couple of days before the deadline for the statewide primaries. Thomas is Lingít and a lifelong resident of Haines. 
  In an interview, Thomas said that a
  
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• Tongass Voices: Dave Hanson on the cosmos of Marie Drake Planetarium

  03-06-2024 23:09 via ktoo.org
  
  Dave Hanson photographs the starry, auroral night sky at False Outer Point on Douglas Island in December 2017. (Photo provided by Dave Hanson)
  This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond. 
  Sandwiched between Juneau-Douglas High School and Harborview Elementary is the Marie Drake building, home to Juneau’s planetarium. Volunteers host free lectures, First Fridays, films, and field trips.Dave
  
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• ACLU says Department of Corrections is illegally limiting access to attorneys in Alaska

  03-06-2024 19:54 via ktoo.org
  
  Inmates from Hiland Mountain Correctional Center work on various art projects on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)
  Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Alaska Department of Corrections of unconstitutionally limiting prisoners’ access to attorneys at the state’s only all-female prison. The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska made the allegations in a letter to the department last month.
  ACLU of Alaska Prison Project Director Megan Edge said her gr
  
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• What to make of the new COVID variants, FLiRT

  03-06-2024 19:24 via ktoo.org
  Dr. Ashish Jha says the U.S. is seeing typically two COVID waves a year. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
  As much as we would all love to ignore COVID, a new set of variants that scientists call “FLiRT” is here to remind us that the virus is still with us.
  The good news: as of last Friday, the CDC says that the amount of respiratory illness in the U.S. is low.
  The not-so-great news: the U.S. has often flirted with summer COVID waves because of travel and air-conditioned gatherings.
  Dr.
  
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• Alaska’s seafood industry is in trouble. Processors and policy makers blame Russia.

  03-06-2024 19:12 via ktoo.org
  Boats offload to Kodiak’s myriad of shoreside processing plants. (Brian Venua/KMXT)
  Alaska waters produce the most seafood in the country, and many of the state’s coastal communities depend on commercial fisheries to sustain their economy.
  But Alaska’s fisheries are facing a massive economic slump right now, and policymakers are increasingly blaming flooded global markets. The private sector and federal policymakers are teaming up to try to stop the bleeding.
  Last year was brut
  
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• Permanent Fund bosses vote to defy Alaska Legislature, keep Anchorage office

  03-06-2024 18:56 via ktoo.org
  
  The offices of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. are seen Monday, June 6, 2022 in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. will keep its Anchorage office, ignoring state lawmakers’ instructions to shut it down.
  The corporation’s Board of Trustees voted 4-2 on Thursday to continue operating the office, though board members acknowledged that the decision is likely to intensify legislative dissatisfaction with the corporation.
  The corporation,
  
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• Newscast – Friday, May 31, 2024

  01-06-2024 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240531-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The City and Borough of Juneau has negotiated an official agreement with cruise lines that will put a limit on the number of daily passengers that come into Juneau in 2026,
  The US Coast Guard shared their conclusions from a year long investigation into what caused the loss of a charter vessel in Sitka Sound and its five passengers
  
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• Garden Talk: What it means to harvest plants respectfully

  31-05-2024 23:44 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A meadow off Sawmill Creek near Berners Bay. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/31GT_RespecHarvest1.mp3
  As part of the Kayaani Sisters Council, Naomi Michelson helped develop a free guide for people who want to learn about how to sustainably and respectfully gather local plants. For this week’s Garden Talk, Michelson shared some reflections on the practice of respectful harvesting.
  “I didn’t really grow up talking about respectful harve
  
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• With cruise tourism booming, Juneau has negotiated a limit on how many passengers can come off ships

  31-05-2024 23:32 via ktoo.org
  
  The Norwegian Sun in downtown Juneau on Saturday, May 4, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  After a record-breaking boom in cruise ship tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic, city leaders in Juneau have been publicly considering if — and how — they can limit that growth in the coming years. 
  Now they’ve negotiated an agreement with cruise lines that they believe does just that. Starting in 2026, Juneau will have a cap on the number of daily passengers that come off cruise ship
  
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• Celebration returns this week to uplift Indigenous culture in Juneau

  31-05-2024 22:33 via ktoo.org
  
  A dancer performs at the Celebration grand entrance in June, 2016. (Rashah McChesney/KTOO)
  The beloved festival known as Celebration returns to Juneau this week. 
  Since its inception in 1982, the biennial gathering has brought Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian people together in the capital city to celebrate their cultural survival and share it with the general public. 
  It’s hosted by the Sealaska Heritage Institute. This year, it will happen from Wednesday, June 5 through Satur
  
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• Celebration returns next week to uplift Indigenous culture in Juneau

  31-05-2024 22:33 via ktoo.org
  
  A dancer performs at the Celebration grand entrance in June, 2016. (Rashah McChesney/KTOO)
  The beloved festival known as Celebration returns to Juneau next week. 
  Since its inception in 1982, the biennial gathering has brought Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian people together in the capital city to celebrate their cultural survival and share it with the general public. 
  It’s hosted by the Sealaska Heritage Institute. This year, it will happen from Wednesday, June 5 through
  
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• 1 climber rescued, 1 dead after days stranded near Denali’s summit

  31-05-2024 21:14 via ktoo.org
  
  A photograph of Denali, with elevations marked for its summit and the “Football Field,” where the two climbers built their snow cave. (From Denali National Park)
  One of the two climbers trapped since Tuesday near Denali’s summit was rescued alive by a helicopter crew early Friday. The other died in a snow cave while waiting for help, according to park officials.
  The rescue at 19,600 feet took place at about 7 a.m., according to a statement from Denali National Park an
  
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• Surprise moves ahead of Saturday deadline scramble races for Alaska Legislature

  31-05-2024 18:00 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol on March 25, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Surprise announcements from candidates for the Alaska Legislature are leading to a last-minute scramble ahead of Saturday’s deadline to file for state office.
  Rep. Tom McKay, R-Anchorage, is dropping his bid for reelection and running for Senate instead. He’s challenging Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, for a seat representing Sand Lake and West Anchorage. McKay said in a phone interview Thursday that he&rsquo
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, May 30, 2024

  31-05-2024 02:59 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240530-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Bartlett Regional Hospital is facing a multi-million dollar deficit and now hospital leaders are considering cutting some services to stop the bleeding,
  A partnership between scientists and local hunters to monitor sea ice is helping Utqiagvik adapt to the lost of ice due to climate change
  
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• Culture Rich Conversations “A Summer of Fun with Juneau’s Black Community”

  31-05-2024 01:50 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Culture Rich Conversations Host        Christina Michellehttps://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CRC-6-30-24.mp3On this episode of Culture Rich Conversations from Juneau’s Black Awareness Association, host Christina Michelle is catching up with Lance Mitchell regarding The Supremes and their upcoming August concert as well as filling us in on all the events happening this summer with Alaska’s Black Community.  As summer approaches, a vibrant array o
  
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• Juneau’s hospital is bleeding cash. City leaders are considering cutting services to stop it

  31-05-2024 01:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Bartlett Regional Hospital Board President Kenny Solomon-Gross talks during a meeting with the Assembly on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Bartlett Regional Hospital is in a tough spot. It’s facing a $7.5 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year, and will have to dip into savings to cover the shortfall. But its board says that’s not sustainable.
  Max Mertz, the hospital board’s finance committee chair, explained how the hospital got into such a hole —
  
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• Former President Trump is found guilty in historic New York criminal case

  31-05-2024 00:41 via ktoo.org
  
  Former President Donald Trump sits in a courtroom at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21 for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments. (Justin Lane/Pool/Getty Images)
  NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, a historic verdict as Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, campaigns again for the White House.
  This is the first time a former or
  
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• What happened to the village, gardens and fish camp at Auke Rec?

  30-05-2024 20:52 via ktoo.org
  
  
  People walking at Aanchg̱altsóow, or Auke Recreation Area, on March 24, 2024. (Photo by Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CJAukeRec.mp3
  Every other June, canoes — or yaakw — arrive at a beach in Juneau. With carved formline paddles in hand, Southeast Alaska Native people row for days to get there. 
  They come for Celebration, the gathering of Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian people honoring the survival of traditional dancing, art,
  
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• Rescue teams attempting to reach 2 hypothermic climbers stranded near Denali’s summit

  30-05-2024 18:25 via ktoo.org
  
  The Denali Park Road curls around a mountainside near the Polychrome Overlook on Sunday, May 3, 2020. (Nat Herz/Alaska Public Media)
  Update, 8:15 a.m. Thursday:
  Cloud cover around Denali prevented further flights to rescue two climbers stranded near the mountain’s summit since early Tuesday.
  Denali National Park and Preserve spokesman Paul Ollig said crews were still awaiting a break in the clouds Thursday morning to launch another flight to the climbers just below the mountain’s sum
  
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• Organization awards home in Fairbanks to combat-wounded Army veteran

  30-05-2024 18:16 via ktoo.org
  Andy Armstrong prepares to get the keys to his news house from representatives of the organization and business that awarded the home to him. From left, Ken Eakes, Military Warriors Support Foundation executive director; Armstrong; Adam Little, regional Bank of America/Merrill Wealth Management marketing executive; Tyann Hollis, BofA/Merrill Wealth Management vice president. (Tim Ellis/KUAC)
  An Army veteran has been given a home in Fairbanks, courtesy of a program that helps wounded combat vets
  
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• Independent Rep. Dan Ortiz withdraws from House District 1 race

  30-05-2024 18:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, sits at the Senate Finance Committee table in the Alaska State Capitol during a conference committee meeting on May 14, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Ketchikan Independent Representative Dan Ortiz will no longer seek reelection to his House seat this fall.
  Alaska House District 1 covers Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Saxman, Wrangell, Hyder, and part of northern Prince of Wales Island. Ortiz is a former Ketchikan High School teacher and coach, and has represented th
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, May 29, 2024

  30-05-2024 02:04 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240529-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Students studying environmental science at UAS will settle into a brand new building this fall,
  An organization working to reduce the cost of trash disposal in Southeast Alaska has won a $500,000 grant to study  where there are cheaper, more efficient ways to get rid of garbage,
  Sixteen people from Wrangell and Petersburg are about to paddle north to Juneau for the bi-annual Celebration festival
  
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• New University of Alaska Southeast natural sciences building ‘opens to the environment’

  30-05-2024 01:58 via ktoo.org
  
  The new “Áakʼw Tá Hít” natural science building in Juneau (Photo by Anna Canny/KTOO)
  There are still some power tools and a clear plastic tarp scattered in the entryway of the newly constructed science building at the University of Southeast Alaska. Inside, there are shiny floors and a new building smell.
  The first room you see after you walk through the main entrance, is a lounge with a few sets of tables and chairs and a giant picture window.
  “This i
  
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• Pipeline proposed to power Donlin mine could have impacts from Y-K Delta to Cook Inlet

  30-05-2024 00:44 via ktoo.org
  
  The proposed Donlin Gold mine site on Aug. 19, 2017. (Katie Basile/KYUK)
  If it’s built, the Donlin Gold mine project on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta would be one of the largest open-pit gold mines in the world, powered by a gas pipeline that would stretch hundreds of miles across the state to Cook Inlet.
  KYUK’s Sage Smiley and KDLL’s Riley Board teamed up from both ends of that potential pipeline to tell this story.
  Mile 315 – Crooked Creek
  There’s gold in th
  
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• Could Alaska once again be home to woolly mammoths? This reporter had to find out.

  30-05-2024 00:32 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A screenshot from the Alaska Future Ecology Institute website. (From Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
  As far as we know, the last time a woolly mammoth roamed mainland Alaska was almost 12,000 years ago. And even if it sounds like a fairytale, some people think mammoths might once again stomp around in the far north.
  Northern Journal reporter Nat Herz went from fairytale to rabbit hole recently, trying to unearth an understanding of how woolly mammoths might be “de-extincted,” as the
  
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• Brent Sass to retire from sled dog racing months after sex assault allegations

  30-05-2024 00:22 via ktoo.org
  
  Brent Sass with dogs Slater and Morello in Nome after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 2022 (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media)
  Iditarod and Yukon Quest champion dog musher Brent Sass announced Wednesday that he is stepping away from racing sled dogs.
  In February, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race disqualified Sass, its 2022 champion, just days ahead of the 1,000-mile race’s 2024 event amid allegations that he had sexually assaulted multiple women.
  Sass, 44, has denied the allegati
  
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• Decades-long monitoring shows reduced levels of regulated contaminants in Arctic people’s bodies

  30-05-2024 00:10 via ktoo.org
  
  Trees are reflected in the waters of Lake Spenard on the evening of May 16. Lake Spenard and Lake Hood, to which it is attached, showed high levels of PFAS contamination in an Alaska Community Action on Toxics study published in 2023. While levels of regulated contaminants appear to be declining around the Arctic, levels of unregulated PFAS contaminants are on the rise in some areas, an Arctic Council study says. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  Around the far north, including in Alaska, le
  
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• Alaska lawmakers move to double state support for Head Start early childhood programs

  29-05-2024 21:28 via ktoo.org
  
  A child peeks through a scope made from a piece of paper at Meadow Lakes Head Start Center in 2023. (Photo by Lela Sieler through CCS Early Learning)
  Alaska lawmakers approved legislation that would nearly double the state’s support to early childhood programs for low income families.
  The boost comes amid a crisis the child care sector, where low wages suppress the number of spaces available and reduce access to care.
  Mark Lackey, director of a Head Start program in Wasilla, attributes the
  
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• State prosecutors sue Ketchikan jeweler over sale of fake gold

  29-05-2024 20:57 via ktoo.org
  
  The storefront of Soni Jewelers in Ketchikan on May 23, 2024. (Jack Darrell/KRBD)
  A jeweler that operates two storefronts in downtown Ketchikan is being sued by the state for allegedly selling fake gold.
  Attorney General Treg Taylor filed the suit Thursday against Soni, Inc., which owns Soni Jewelers and Colors Fine Jewelry, as well as an outlet inside Tongass Trading Company. The two stores are in the heart of downtown Ketchikan, directly across from the cruise ship docks.
  The complaint&nb
  
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