Anchorage news

• Juneau’s municipal attorney will resign in August

  14-05-2024 21:29 via ktoo.org
  
  City and Borough of Juneau Attorney Robert Palmer at an Assembly meeting on Monday, May 13, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Juneau Municipal Attorney Robert Palmer is leaving his job with the City and Borough of Juneau later this summer to take a position with a private law firm. 
  City Manager Katie Koester announced his coming resignation during an Assembly meeting Monday night.
  “Huge shoes to fill – we’re super excited of course for him and the next adventure – but boy
  
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• Eielson looking into cause of F-16’s in-flight emergency

  10-06-2024 18:55 via ktoo.org
  A May 28 problem with an F-16 Fighting Falcon like this alerted the pilot of the jet fighter from Eielson Air Force Base’s 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron to declare in in-flight emergency and return to base. (Eielson Air Force Base)
  Eielson Air Force Base investigators are looking into the cause of an in-flight emergency that required an F-16 fighter pilot to jettison the plane’s fuel tanks shortly after taking off from the base last month. Meanwhile Eielson officials also are als
  
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• New Sitka Sound Science Center director: ‘The first thing I want to do is listen’

  10-06-2024 18:48 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Arleigh Reynolds stepped into the role of Executive Director of the Sitka Sound Science Center after former director Lisa Busch retired in April. He says he looks forward to expanding partnerships, especially with Indigenous-run organizations in Sitka. (Meredith Redick/KCAW)
  When Lisa Busch announced she was retiring this April after 14 years as Executive Director of the Sitka Sound Science Center, Fairbanks-based veterinarian Arleigh Reynolds says he was ready to hop on a southbound flight. Rey
  
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• Sen. Bert Stedman says he’s confident education funding will survive the governor’s desk

  10-06-2024 18:39 via ktoo.org
  
  Senate Finance Committee Co-Chair Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, listens to testimony from Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Commissioner Ryan Anderson on Feb. 28, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska legislators concluded their session last month and passed a budget that included a one-time increase in education funding of about $680 per student. That budget has yet to be signed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who could decrease the amount like he did last year.
  That uncert
  
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• 8 young Alaskans reignite a court fight over climate change and fossil fuel development

  10-06-2024 18:26 via ktoo.org
  
  Linnea Lentfer is one of eight plaintiffs represented by Our Children’s Trust in a lawsuit against the state over climate change and fossil fuel development. (Photo courtesy Our Children’s Trust)
  Linnea Lentfer grew up in Gustavus, a town of 600 people tucked into the vast, scenic wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska.
  Her father first set eyes on Gustavus on a high school biology trip, visiting from nearby Juneau.
  “[He] fell in love with the place and the
  
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• A new lawsuit over Alaska’s Medicaid backlog asks a judge to order faster processing

  10-06-2024 18:19 via ktoo.org
  
  A hospital hallway is seen on April 7, 2020, in Juneau, Alaska. (Rashah McChesney/KTOO)
  Just days into his life, Sierra Ott’s infant son Liam took a turn for the worse. His doctors thought he might need surgery. He took an emergency flight from Fairbanks.
  “While he was there, they determined that he had hemophilia based on a heel prick that never stopped bleeding,” Ott said in a phone interview Friday. “He was diagnosed with severe hemophilia A, and from there, the hospit
  
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• Newscast – Friday, June 7, 2024

  08-06-2024 02:59 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240607-News-UPdate.mp3
  In this newscast:Southeast Alaska’s cutest models hit the stage at Centennial Hall on Thursday for Celebration’s Toddler Regalia Review,
  The state of Alaska is facing a new class action lawsuit over its failure to process Medicaid applications on time. That’s after state officials told Alaska Public Media last month that more than 15,000 Alaskans are waiting for their applications to be approved,
  Resear
  
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• Toddlers strut their Southeast Alaska regalia at Celebration

  07-06-2024 23:03 via ktoo.org
  
  Tayana Copper-Jane Cavan Adamek walks across the stage at Centennial Hall during Celebration’s Toddler Regalia Review on Thursday, June 6, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Southeast Alaska’s cutest models hit the stage at Centennial Hall on Thursday for Celebration’s Toddler Regalia Review. Celebration is the biennial festival of Lingít, Haida and Tsimshian culture in Juneau. 
  For many, it takes a lot of courage to get in front of hundreds of people and strut your stuff.
  
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• Garden Talk: More from Naomi Michalsen on respectful harvesting

  07-06-2024 20:39 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A child harvesting salmonberries. (Photo by Jeff Bringhurst)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/07GT_RespecHarvest2.mp3
  As part of a group called the Kayaani Sisters Council, Naomi Michalsen helped develop a free guide for people who want to learn to sustainably and respectfully gather local plants. In May, Michalsen spoke with KTOO’s Chloe Pleznac about respectful harvesting. 
  In last week’s Garden Talk, Michalsen talked about some of the basic principles of respe
  
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• How much fish do Alaskans eat? Enough to require new water pollution rules, EPA says

  07-06-2024 18:33 via ktoo.org
  
  Water washes over fish in a subsistence net on Kanakanak Beach in Bristol Bay. (Brian Venua/KDLG)
  Alaskans eat a lot of fish. So many, in fact, that the federal government announced Thursday that the state needs to update its water quality standards.
  The Environmental Protection Agency is giving the state Department of Environmental Conservation six to 12 months to come up with new or revised standards for more than 100 pollutants in state waters. That’s based on data showing that Alaskans
  
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• Mother and daughter’s spruce root hat wins Celebration’s juried arts show

  07-06-2024 18:24 via ktoo.org
  
  Goosh-shu Haa Jennie Wheeler and Káakaxaawulga Jennifer Younger at the Native artists’ market at Celebration. June 6, 2024. (Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)
  A mother-daughter duo — a weaver and an engraver — won Best of Show at this Celebration’s juried arts show. Their winning entry was a spruce root hat called Dancing in the Summer Rain. 
  At her table at the Celebration Native artists’ market, Goosh-shu Haa Jennie Wheeler said she was surprised to win. 
  &ldqu
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, June 6, 2024

  07-06-2024 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240606-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Earlier this week, a swath of gray storm clouds interrupted an afternoon of clear blue skies in Juneau. A few people caught the sound of thunder and saw flashes of lightning. Juneau is no stranger to rainy days, but thunderstorms only happen once every two years or so here. KTOO’s Anna Canny explains why they’re so rare;
  A mother-daughter duo — a weaver and an engraver — won Best
  
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• In Juneau, years can pass without a thunderstorm. Why are they so rare?

  07-06-2024 00:30 via ktoo.org
  
  Lightning strikes over Juneau, June 17, 2013. (Photo by Mikko Wilson)
  On Tuesday afternoon, Juneau climatologist Rick Fritsch was getting ready for his afternoon shift when the sky darkened suddenly, and the wind picked up. 
  “It was rocking the trees, something furious. And my birdhouses were flying, you know, seven ways till Sunday,” Fritsch said. “So I kind of knew that something was up.”
  A few minutes later, when he got to the National Weather Service office, a th
  
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• Photos: Dancers make a Grand Entrance to Celebration 2024

  06-06-2024 21:49 via ktoo.org
  
  Amiah Johnson sings during a processional and grand entrance for Celebration in Juneau on Wednesday, June 6, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  More than 1,500 Indigenous dancers from across Southeast Alaska filled Willoughby Avenue and Centennial Hall for the Grand Entrance Procession of Celebration 2024 on Wednesday. 
  The procession marks the kick-off of the four-day Celebration festival in Juneau — a biennial gathering that honors and uplifts the culture of Lingít, Haida and Tsimshi
  
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• They were there on D-Day, on the beaches and in the skies. This is what they saw

  06-06-2024 19:11 via ktoo.org
  
  American soldiers huddle inside a landing craft approaching Utah Beach during the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on D-Day. (U.S. Army Photo/AFP via Getty Images)
  This is part of a special series where NPR looks back at our coverage of major news stories in the past.
  Frank Walk was in a hurry.
  The U.S. Army captain had been ordered to bring top-secret planning documents to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters, which at the time was a 19th-century manor near Portsmouth, England. It
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, June 5, 2024

  06-06-2024 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20240605-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Traditional canoes — or yaakw — landed in Juneau Tuesday to mark the start of the bi-annual Celebration festival,
  A team of local scientists and emergency managers are trying to improve flood forecasts,
  Tongass Voices: Dave Hanson on the cosmos of Marie Drake Planetarium
  
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• 1 dead, 1 injured after seiner and skiff collide near Petersburg

  06-06-2024 00:46 via ktoo.org
  
  Search boats dot the waters of the Wrangell Narrows near Petersburg on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 after a vessel struck a skiff, leaving one boater missing and a second injured. (Courtesy Bill Flor)
  Update — 8:00 a.m., June 6
  One person has died and another is at a local hospital after two boats collided south of Petersburg on June 6.
  The accident happened in the Wrangell Narrows between Green Rocks and Blind Slough before 9 a.m.
  Petersburg Emergency Services Director Aaron Hankins said a lar
  
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• 1 boater missing, 1 injured after larger vessel strikes skiff near Petersburg

  06-06-2024 00:46 via ktoo.org
  
  Search boats dot the waters of the Wrangell Narrows near Petersburg on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 after a vessel struck a skiff, leaving one boater missing and a second injured. (Courtesy Bill Flor)
  A search is under way Wednesday for a missing boater near Petersburg, with another at a local hospital after a boating accident south of town.
  Petersburg Emergency Services Director Aaron Hankins said a larger vessel reportedly T-boned a Hewescraft skiff at around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday. The accident repor
  
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• Juneau’s hospital hears from the community as budget crisis threatens service cuts

  05-06-2024 23:41 via ktoo.org
  
  Aaron Surma, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Juneau, gives testimony at a Bartlett Regional Hospital meeting on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  As the board for Juneau’s city-owned hospital begins hearing public testimony on services it might cut or reduce, residents say there could be damaging consequences for the community if they’re gone. 
  At a public meeting Tuesday night, Leslie Chandler Holzman spoke in support of the Home Hea
  
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• Fort Wainwright opens the Army’s biggest child care center

  05-06-2024 22:37 via ktoo.org
  
  Fort Wainwright Child and Youth Services Coordinator Jessica Spittle explains the age-appropriate and child-safe design of one of the new CDC’s classrooms. (Tim Ellis/KUAC)
  Fort Wainwright celebrated the opening of its new Child Development Center Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The $3.5 million facility is the Army’s newest and largest child-care center.
  Active-duty military personnel and qualifying federal employees who work at Fort Wainwright now have access to a new 
  
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• Last year’s record outburst flood took Juneau by surprise. As Suicide Basin refills, scientists are working to improve their forecasts.

  05-06-2024 22:28 via ktoo.org
  
   
  Researcher Eran Hood stands on the lip of an empty Suicide Basin just a few days after it drained to create a record-breaking glacial outburst flood in August 2023 (Photo by Anna Canny/KTOO)
  Last summer’s record-breaking glacial outburst flood took everyone in Juneau by surprise. 
  So this year, a team of local scientists and emergency managers are trying to improve flood forecasts. They talked about it during a Monday-night presentation at the University of Alaska Southeast.
  Re
  
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• Last year’s record flood took Juneau by surprise. As Suicide Basin refills, scientists are working to improve their forecasts.

  05-06-2024 22:28 via ktoo.org
  
   
  Researcher Eran Hood stands on the lip of an empty Suicide Basin just a few days after it drained to create a record-breaking glacial outburst flood in August 2023 (Photo by Anna Canny/KTOO)
  Last summer’s record-breaking glacial outburst flood took everyone in Juneau by surprise. 
  So this year, a team of local scientists and emergency managers are trying to improve flood forecasts. They talked about it during a Monday-night presentation at the University of Alaska Southeast.
  Re
  
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• Ketchikan man agrees not to raise fake totem poles carved by convicted murderer

  05-06-2024 21:20 via ktoo.org
  Construction of Joseph Machini’s Ketchikan shops at 420 Water St. appeared nearly complete by Monday, June 4, 2024. (Michael Fanelli/KRBD)
  The owner of a prominent downtown Ketchikan property has agreed not to raise inauthentic totem poles carved by a convicted murderer next to his new shops. After meeting with leaders of the region’s Indigenous communities, Joseph Machini also agreed not to use the name “potlatch” for his marketplace.
  The 420 Water St. property
  
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• An Alaska wildlife refuge is changing its wildfire strategy to limit carbon emissions

  05-06-2024 21:11 via ktoo.org
  
  The Goose Fire (#395) is burning in the Yukon Flats in northeast Alaska about 41 miles east of Fort Yukon on Aug. 4, 2022. Smokejumpers are protecting two Native allotments from this and the Belle Fire. The two fires merged on Aug. 4, 2022. (Photo by John Lyons, BLM Alaska Fire Service air attack)
  Baked with the around-the-clock summer sunlight and regularly peppered with lightning strikes, the Yukon Flats region in eastern Interior Alaska is regularly set ablaze with fires that are considered p
  
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• Best advice for staying safe outdoors? Alaskans share their tips.

  05-06-2024 19:36 via ktoo.org
  
  Eklutna Lake is tucked into the Chugach Mountains not far from Anchorage. (Abbey Collins/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska offers unparalleled access to outdoor spaces and recreation. And with summer now here, many Alaskans are heading out on adventures.
  To help prepare for the season, Alaska Public Media spoke with outdoor safety instructors Deb Ajango and Luc Mehl on Talk of Alaska about their tips for staying safe outside. (Listen to the full episode here.) We also asked our listeners and readers f
  
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• Celebration kicks off with yaakw landings in Juneau

  05-06-2024 03:55 via ktoo.org
  
  
  People row yaakw to shore in downtown Juneau to attend Celebration on June, 4, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/04yaakwlanding.mp3
  Traditional canoes  — or yaakw —  landed in Juneau Tuesday to mark the start of the biennial Celebration festival, a gathering of Indigenous people in Southeast that attracts thousands. The canoes came from across the region and parts of Canada, journeying for days to get here. 
  Eight yaakw made c
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, June 4, 2024

  05-06-2024 03:07 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/20230604-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast: Last week, an Alaska Coach Tours bus backed into a totem pole at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, and drove off. Witnesses called the museum to report the accident. There’s minimal damage to the pole and city engineers made sure it was stable. But for the son of the man who carved the 57-year-old totem pole, the accident was a reminder of what this piece means to him and his father’s leg
  
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• A tour bus backed into a totem pole in downtown Juneau, but it’s still standing

  05-06-2024 02:54 via ktoo.org
  
  Brian Wallace stands next to a totem pole carved by his father Amos in 1967. May 29, 2024. (Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)
  Last week, an Alaska Coach Tours bus backed into a totem pole at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. 
  The pole, one of the oldest in downtown Juneau, has a small dent now. City engineers have made sure that it’s still stable. But for the son of the man who carved the pole 57 years ago, the accident was a reminder of what the piece means to him — and to his father’s
  
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• Juneau Assembly passes budget with historically low property tax rate

  04-06-2024 21:48 via ktoo.org
  
  Tourists walk past City Hall in downtown Juneau on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Juneau Assembly members have approved a city spending plan for next year that lowers the property tax rate and maintains current city services.
  At a special meeting Monday night, members unanimously approved the City and Borough of  Juneau’s budget and mill rate for the fiscal year that will begin July 1. The budget includes funding for things like schools, the city-owned hospital, the airp
  
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• Pro-Dahlstrom PAC announces $5M ad buy in Alaska’s US House race

  04-06-2024 16:41 via ktoo.org
  
  Nancy Dahlstrom, Mary Peltola and Nick Begich III are running for U.S. House in 2024. (Alaska Public Media)
  The major Republican group dedicated to U.S. House races is planning a major ad blitz in Alaska as it tries to unseat the state’s Democratic congresswoman, Mary Peltola.
  The Congressional Leadership Fund announced last month that it has reserved more than $5 million worth of air time for ads this fall in Alaska’s three largest cities.  The super PAC is affiliated with Hous
  
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