Anchorage news

• Juneau’s Housing First ribbon cutting postponed

  12-09-2017 02:09 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The Housing First Project under construction on November 17, 2016. (Photo by David Purdy/KTOO)
  Juneau’s Housing First grand opening – slated for this week – has been delayed again.https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/09/170911HOUSING.mp3The housing complex designed for Juneau’s most vulnerable residents was originally scheduled to open in May.
  Project officials didn’t immediately offer an explanation for the delay, though it was confirmed that this week&rsqu
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, May 21, 2024

  22-05-2024 03:01 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240521-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Security footage posted online shows Anchorage police killing an armed man last week, but a witness who owns the camera says her footage contradicts what officers say happened in the lead up to the shooting,
  The first Alaska woman has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences,
  The remote village of Golovin is the subject of a new documentary that shines a light on the unique hardships experienced
  
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• Juneau Afternoon: Michael Franti and Spearhead to play in Juneau on August 6

  22-05-2024 02:58 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Michael Franti and Spearhead will play Juneau on August 6, 2024Tuesday, May 21, 2024 — Full EpisodeOn today’s program:Cabin Door Productions Cheri Snook on the upcoming August concert with Michael Franti and SpearheadNAMI Juneau with information on Mental Health MonthThe Pottery Jungle is offering community classes and Youth Pottery Summer CampSEARHC with information on Women’s Health Month
  Bostin Christopher hosts the conversation. Juneau Afternoon airs at 3:00 p.m. on KTOO an
  
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• Native advocates celebrate passage of bill to address Alaska’s MMIP crisis

  22-05-2024 02:53 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A group sings on the steps of the Alaska Capitol in Juneau for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day on May 5, 2022. (Paige Sparks/KTOO)
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240521142314-16MMIP-BILL.mp3
  One of the bills that crossed the finish line in the final hours of the Alaska Legislature is what advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous people call a major milestone.
  The bill was launched by Sen. Donny Olson, an Inupiaq and a Democrat from Golovin, but it
  
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• Suzanne LaFrance declares victory in Anchorage mayor’s race

  21-05-2024 23:39 via ktoo.org
  
  Mayoral candidate Suzanne LaFrance stands for her closing statements during a debate held at the Petroleum Club of Anchorage on April 29, 2024. On Tuesday, LaFrance declared victory in the election. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)
  Suzanne LaFrance declared victory in Anchorage’s mayoral race on Tuesday, one week after voting ended in the runoff election.
  “Over the coming days and weeks, my team and I will be sharing more about the transition, what’s ahead, and how to get inv
  
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• Family of man fatally shot by Anchorage police demands release of body camera footage

  21-05-2024 18:57 via ktoo.org
  
  Anchorage police fatally shot 34-year-old Kristopher Handy on May 13, 2024. (Courtesy of Handy family)
  The family of a man fatally shot by Anchorage police last week is calling on the city to release body-worn camera footage of the incident.
  Anchorage Police Chief Bianca Cross initially said the man, 34-year-old Kristopher Handy, pointed a gun at officers before they shot and killed him. But a neighbor later released security footage that she says shows Handy did not raise his gun.
  His brother,
  
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• Homer man dies in moose attack

  21-05-2024 18:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Dale Chorman posing in front of a tree. (Courtesy Dale Chorman’s family)
  A Homer man died Sunday morning after being attacked by a moose.
  According to an online dispatch posted by Alaska State Troopers, a cow moose charged at 70-year-old Dale Chorman and another person.
  Journalist and writer Tom Kizzia was asked by Chorman’s family to speak on their behalf. He said Chorman and his friend were looking at newborn moose calves on Chorman’s property located east of Homer near Fernw
  
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• Gov. Dunleavy examining energy bills passed by Alaska Legislature

  21-05-2024 18:32 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks about his vision for Alaska’s energy future at the Connecting the Arctic conference held in Anchorage on Monday. Next to him is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, invited to Anchorage to speak at this week’s Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  Energy bills passed by the Alaska Legislature will help the state address natural gas supply problems in Southcentral’s Cook Inlet region and energy problems statewide, Gov. Mike Dunle
  
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• 15,000 Alaskans are caught in Medicaid backlog, but care continues, state says

  21-05-2024 18:14 via ktoo.org
  
  Application for Medicaid for Alaska Residents. (Rachel Cassandra/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaskans applying for Medicaid, the government-run insurance program for low-income people, are facing long wait times as the Division of Public Assistance struggles to keep up with demand. Some 15,646 applications are pending, according to the state health department.
  But in most cases, eligible Alaskans are still able to access care as long as they’ve submitted an application, said division director Deb
  
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• Newscast – Monday, May 20, 2024

  21-05-2024 01:57 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240520-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:An electric pole in Ketchikan caught fire late last month and sent Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Wrangell into a blackout. The three grids – which are interconnected – went dark for a few hours. That smoldering electric pole was symptomatic of a much larger, decades-long issue facing Ketchikan Public Utilities,
  Tongass Voices: Kanik Corinne James on being uplifted by Indigenous women in the art
  
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• An Alaska smokejumper talks about his job as wildfire season picks up

  20-05-2024 23:51 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Three smokejumpers float in the air during a refresher jump near Fairbanks on May 24, 2017. (Beth Ipsen/BLM AFS)
  Alaska is heading into wildfire season, and firefighters are gearing up to be ready for it.
  That includes smokejumpers, who parachute in to fight some of the most remote fires, often providing the first boots-on-the-ground attack as they try to keep the flames from spreading out of control.
  One smokejumper based in Alaska is Dylan Brooks with the Bureau of Land Management‘s Alas
  
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• Tongass Voices: Kanik Corinne James on being uplifted by Indigenous women in the art world

  20-05-2024 23:24 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Formline artist Kanik Corinne James at KTOO on May 12, 2024. (Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)
  This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.
  Kanik Corinne James is a Juneau-based formline artist who first started selling her designs under the brand Tlingit Aesthetics when she was 18. She learns from traditional formline styles, but adds her own creative twists to them.
  Kanik recently designed a piece called &ldquo
  
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• After several drowning deaths, Alaska Legislature votes to require harbor safety ladders

  20-05-2024 18:36 via ktoo.org
  
  Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, speaks Wednesday, May 8, 2024, on the floor of the Alaska House of Representatives. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  Harbors owned and operated by Alaska’s cities and boroughs will be required to install safety ladders usable by someone who falls into the water.
  On Wednesday, the Alaska Senate approved House Bill 345, which requires the ladders in all harbor projects that receive money from the state’s harbor facility grant fund.
  Before the Senate vote
  
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• A sea ice monitoring project is a climate adaptation tool for Utqiaġvik whalers

  20-05-2024 18:30 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Josh Jones, researcher with UAF’s Geophysical Institute and International Arctic Research Center, tows a sled of equipment that measures sea ice thickness along the coast of Utqiaġvik on April 22, 2024. (Valerie Lake/Alaska Public Media)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240517152257-15SEAICE.mp3
  On a foggy afternoon in April, scientists Matt Druckenmiller and Josh Jones revved a pair of snow machines to the edge of the shorefast sea ice, the wide sheet of ice connect
  
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• Newscast – Friday, May 17, 2024

  18-05-2024 03:07 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20230517-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:AKPM’s Eric Stone reports on the dozens of bills passed as lawmakers concluded their work this legislative session.
  Injured commercial fishermen and boat owners in Alaska will now be able to access higher insurance reimbursements, thanks to a senate bill passed by lawmakers.
  A bill passed by the legislature addresses the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous People in the state.
  
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• Juneau Afternoon: Weekend performance preview with Simply Three and No Script, All Wit

  18-05-2024 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Simply Three to close Spring Jazz and Classics Festival, May 18, 2024 (Photo: Simply Three)On today’s program:Simply Three returns to Juneau for an encore performance at the Juneau Jazz and Classics Spring FestivalNo Script, All Wit – A return of the live improv group at The Crystal SaloonMonthly update from the Juneau Public LibrariesGarden Talk with host Chloe PleznacBostin Christopher hosts the conversation. Juneau Afternoon airs at 3:00 p.m. on KTOO and KAUK with a rebroadcast at
  
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• Peltola defies party with votes on border enforcement and arms for Israel

  18-05-2024 01:27 via ktoo.org
  
  U.S. Congresswoman Mary Peltola. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola continues to be one of the Democrats most likely to vote against her party. She voted this week for five bills and a non-binding resolution that most of her Democratic colleagues voted against.
  Several of the bills call for tougher enforcement of the southern border. As she has before, Pelotola voted to condemn President Biden’s handling of the border. She also voted for a bill to deport u
  
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• Klawock hopes for an economic boost as it welcomes cruise ships for the first time

  18-05-2024 00:50 via ktoo.org
  
  Tourists being ferried from the Seabourn Odyssey to the Port of Klawock during its May 6, 2024 grand opening. (Jack Darrell/KRBD)Alaska’s newest port, until a few months ago, was full of piles of milled timber in knee-deep mud.
  On its opening day earlier this month, local kids and adults in traditional hats and robes danced on the concrete dock below a banner that read “Welcome to Port Klawock.”
  After the first dance on May 6, a local teacher named Eva Roan addressed the crowd
  
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• Garden Talk: Jensen-Olson Arboretum previews upcoming events for Alaska Native Plant Month

  17-05-2024 23:25 via ktoo.org
  
  
  The view from Jensen-Olson Arboretum in Juneau. (Photo courtesy of the Jensen-Olson Arboretum).https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GT-for-May-17.mp3
  Spring is in bloom at Juneau’s Jensen-Olson Arboretum.
  Ginger Hudson manages the arboretum, a city-owned garden located out the road just pass the Shrine of St. Therese. She spoke with KTOO’s Garden Talk about spring planting and upcoming events at the arboretum for Alaska Native Plant Month.
  “In the Lower 48, Native
  
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• Alaska lawmakers expand food stamp program with goal of preventing hunger, application backlogs

  17-05-2024 20:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage, stares at a pile stack of budget amendments on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  More Alaskans will be able to access food stamps following lawmakers’ vote to expand eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Wednesday night.
  The change comes after more than a year of extreme delays in food stamp distribution across the state that left thousands of vulnerable Alaskans without aid for months at a time, drivi
  
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• Ketchikan tourist sues borough after scooter tips over on public bus

  17-05-2024 20:27 via ktoo.org
  
  Ketchikan buses sit parked outside the Ketchikan Gateway Borough maintenance facility. (Eric Stone/KRBD)
  A 91-year-old cruise-ship tourist is suing the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for negligence after his mobility scooter tipped over on a public bus.
  The complaint was filed in federal court in Alaska on May 8. It says that Donald Gillingham of Montana and his wife were on a cruise that docked in Ketchikan in September. Gillingham has limited mobility, so they rented a motorized scooter and bo
  
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• A look at some of the bills that failed to pass the Alaska Legislature this year

  17-05-2024 20:22 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, listens to discussion on the Senate floor on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  In the last days of their two-year session, Alaska lawmakers passed dozens of bills on topics ranging from Juneteenth to carbon dioxide.
  While legislators will surely count their successes in the months before this year’s legislative elections, some high-priority items and hundreds of smaller bills failed to pass through the Capitol and must start anew w
  
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• Where do the Foodland ravens roost?

  17-05-2024 04:04 via ktoo.org
  
  A raven sits on the roof of the Foodland grocery store on Thursday, May 16 2024. (Photo by Anna Canny/KTOO)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/16CJravens-new.wav
  Marc Wheeler lives in downtown Juneau, close to the Foodland grocery store. He often stops there for lunch. That’s when he sees the parking lot’s resident ravens.
  “I’ll be like walking while I eat it, and they’ll literally follow you like a gang of thugs,” Wheeler said. “Cause they
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, May 16, 2024

  17-05-2024 03:06 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20230516-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:An affordable housing project built specifically for people in recovery from substance misuse received funding support from the Juneau Assembly this week.
  KTOO reporter Anna Canny sought out where ravens roost in Juneau in this week’s Curious Juneau episode.
  A 91-year-old cruise tourist is suing the Ketchikan Borough for negligence after his mobility scooter tipped over on a public bus.
  
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• Some Juneau schools will have later start times next year

  17-05-2024 00:25 via ktoo.org
  
  Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé in Feb. 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  The Juneau School District’s consolidation plan for next fall means some students and parents will have to spend extra time traveling each day to get to school.
  To accommodate that, the Juneau School Board voted on Tuesday to slightly change the start times for some grade levels. 
  While all elementary school start times will remain the same next year, middle school and high school will shift to begin
  
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• Bill will allow higher insurance reimbursements for injured commercial fishermen

  16-05-2024 22:26 via ktoo.org
  
  Vessels at the Homer Harbor. (Sean McDermott/KBBI)
  Injured commercial fishermen and boat owners in Alaska will now be able to access higher insurance reimbursements, thanks to Senate Bill 93, which was signed into law last month.
  The bill was sponsored by the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, which Nikiski Republican Sen. Jesse Bjorkman chairs. It concerns the fishermen’s fund, which was established pre-statehood as a service to commercial fishermen who are injured while fishing. I
  
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• New study says social media drives visitation in National Parks, especially in Alaska

  16-05-2024 22:23 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park and Preserve (Brian Venua/KMXT)
  More and more, National Parks are using social media to boost visitor numbers and amplify their conservation efforts. A new study found that it’s working- with the help of everyday visitors. Parks with high social media exposure saw a significant increase in visitor traffic, and that effect was especially noticeable in Alaska.https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NatParks-1-C.mp3
  Casey Wichman is the author of
  
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• State lawmakers wrapped up their four-month session last night. Here’s what they did.

  16-05-2024 19:53 via ktoo.org
  
  Lawmakers leave the House chamber after adjourning sine die in the early morning hours of Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  After 121 days in Juneau, state lawmakers have concluded their work. That’s after passing dozens of bills and finalizing the state’s operating budget for the fiscal year that begins this July.
  The budget, if signed into law by the governor, would provide Alaskans a payment of roughly $1,655 this fall, including a $1,360 Permanent Fund divi
  
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• U.S. Forest Service considers higher fees for new Alaska cabins

  16-05-2024 04:13 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Petersburg resident, Brian Richards, stands outside of West Point Cabin located on the north side of Kupreanof Island on May 4, 2024. (Photo by Ola Richards)
  The U.S. Forest Service is planning to build a few dozen new cabins in the Tongass and Chugach National Forests in the coming years. The agency is proposing higher fees – $75 a night – to help keep up with the increased cost of maintenance.https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/15CabinFees.mp3
  Life-long Petersburg res
  
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• Juneau Assembly OKs $2M grant for low-income supportive housing project

  16-05-2024 03:45 via ktoo.org
  
  This is a conceptual design for Gastineau Human Service’s proposed 51-unit permanent supportive housing project in the Lemon Creek area. (City and Borough of Juneau)
  An affordable housing project built specifically for people in recovery from substance misuse received funding support from the Juneau Assembly this week. 
  On Monday, the Assembly unanimously approved a grant of $2 million to Gastineau Human Services, a local nonprofit that works to help people affected by homelessness or
  
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