Anchorage news

• Ketchikan fire survivor says husband died trying to save her daughter

  14-01-2021 21:49 via ktoo.org
  
  Nicholas Burbary, 41, and Madalyn Carraway, 8, died in a house fire in Ketchikan on Dec. 30. The fire’s lone survivor, Jeanine Burbary, says Nick saved her life. (Courtesy Jeanine Burbary)
  The two people that perished last month in a Ketchikan house fire have been identified by the lone survivor. A memorial service is planned for the two victims later this week.
  Jeanine Burbary credits her husband, Nick Burbary, with getting her out of the house alive.
  “I would like people to know th
  
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• From wilderness to Tlingit culture: Adventures in Learning

  22-01-2021 07:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Forest Wagner, who teaches Outdoor Studies at UAS, calls Juneau a “community of adventurers.” That’s why he says Juneau needs more people trained as Wilderness First Responders.
  On Friday’s Juneau Afternoon, Wagner explains how you can become a certified responder.
  Some other highlights:The “Inspiring Girls Expedition.” How it uses outdoors adventures to get girls hooked on science. Sarah Clement has all the research on why it works.
  How the Sealaska Heritage
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021

  22-01-2021 03:08 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/2021/01/012121-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Alaska now has the highest COVID-19 vaccination per capita of any state in the country.
  Governor Mike Dunleavy said he’s open to working with President Joe Biden.
  A new airline service is coming to Petersburg.
  The Alaska Senate has announced who will serve on its committees for the next two years.
  
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• Why Alaska has the highest COVID-19 vaccination rate of all 50 states

  22-01-2021 02:58 via ktoo.org
  
  Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, speaks at a news conference in March 2020. (Creative Commons photo by Office of Gov. Mike Dunleavy)
  According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alaska now has the highest COVID-19 vaccinations per capita of any state in the country.
  “Which is super exciting,” said Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer.
  She spoke to the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday and explained why. Firs
  
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• Royal Caribbean scratches megaship from Alaska schedule

  22-01-2021 02:47 via ktoo.org
  
  Royal Caribbean International’s Ovation of the Seas, another quantum-class cruise ship, in Skagway’s port. (Claire Stremple/KHNS)
  One of Royal Caribbean International’s largest ships won’t be deployed to Alaska in 2021. The 4,900-passenger Quantum of the Seas was scheduled to make its maiden voyage to Alaska this year.
  But Royal Caribbean announced Thursday that the megaship would remain in the Asia-Pacific where it’s homeported in Singapore.
  It’s the latest i
  
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• Despite travel restrictions, Akiachak family finds new way to say goodbye with one last flight

  22-01-2021 00:09 via ktoo.org
  
  Kongiganak’s tribal police chief (holding cross) and other tribal police officers receive David Aqvang Evon’s body for his burial. (Photo courtesy of Marcy Daniel)
  At the end of 2020, a 36-year-old David Aqvang Evon died from COVID-19. His family couldn’t attend his burial because of travel restrictions but they, and other people in the community, found different ways to honor his memory.
  David Aqvang Evon grew up in Akiachak, then moved to Kongiganak where he worked as a triba
  
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• Federal mining authorities ID man who died working at Red Dog Mine

  21-01-2021 22:43 via ktoo.org
  
  Secondary housing and offices at Red Dog Mine. Red Dog is 90 Miles north of Kotzebue, 50 miles inside the Arctic Circle. (Ian Dickson, KTOO)
  Federal officials have identified the Red Dog Mine employee who died while working there on Saturday.
  According to a preliminary report from the Mining Safety and Health Administration, 47-year-old driller Dustin Thomas was lowering the mast of a production drill to pack it up. During the operation, the drill turned and caught Thomas’s leg in some equ
  
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• Alaska Senate announces committee members as Sen. Hoffman returns as only Democrat in majority

  21-01-2021 22:30 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D- Bethel, speaks during a joint session of the Alaska Legislature in January 2020. Hoffman re-joined the otherwise Republican Senate majority caucus this week. The Senate announced its committee members on Wednesday. (Photo by Skip Gray/KTOO)
  The Alaska Senate has announced who will serve on its committees for the next two years.
  Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman has joined the Senate majority caucus and will retain his seat on the coveted Senate Finance Committee. 
  
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• Fairbanks woman remembered for moving hundreds of dogs from shelter to sleds

  21-01-2021 21:59 via ktoo.org
  
  Carol Kleckner. (Don Kiely)
  Fairbanks musher and dog advocate Carol Kleckner died of cancer last month.
  Kleckner always loved dogs. After she moved to Alaska, it wasn’t surprising she eventually became a competitive musher and skijorer.https://media.ktoo.org/2021/01/011921-CarolKleckner.mp3
  Kleckner’s longtime partner Don Kiely said that 20 years ago, sled dogs left at the Fairbanks North Star Borough animal shelter were considered rejects. Many ended up being put down.
  But, he said,
  
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• Prince of Wales trappers report 68 wolves taken in 2020

  21-01-2021 19:46 via ktoo.org
  
  An Alexander Archipelago wolf in Southeast Alaska. (Robin Silver/Center for Biological Diversity)
  State wildlife officials have reported that 68 wolves were taken by trappers on and around Prince of Wales Island.
  Conservationists had unsuccessfully sued to block the 21-day trapping season. They argued that the state and federal officials are allowing wolves to be killed unsustainably.
  But regional wildlife supervisor Tom Schumacher says the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s manager
  
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• These Alaskans felt driven to witness this Inauguration — or something near it

  21-01-2021 19:34 via ktoo.org
  
  Dorothy and Russell Colegrove flew from Anchorage to Washington to witness the Biden-Harris Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. They celebrated at Black Lives Matter Plaza and roamed downtown, where store fronts were boarded up as a precaution. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  Dorothy and Russell Colegrove, of Anchorage, decided during President Trump’s first impeachment they would come to D.C. to celebrate if Trump lost, no matter which Democrat won.
  “The past four years have been, I thi
  
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• Impending Crowley sale stokes fears of fuel monopoly in Ketchikan

  21-01-2021 19:25 via ktoo.org
  
  Petro Marine is set to take over Crowley Fuels’ Southeast Alaska business next month, including this facility on Ketchikan’s Stedman Street. The Environmental Protection Agency recently fined Crowley $1.3 million over gasoline tank farm violations. (Photo courtesy of EPA Region 10)
  A major player is exiting the energy business in Southeast Alaska. Crowley Fuels is set to sell its Southeast Alaska business to Anchorage-based Petro Marine Services. The deal is expected to close in mid-
  
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• How Rep. Zulkosky plans to move forward in unorganized state House

  21-01-2021 18:34 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky, D-Bethel, speaks during a House floor session in the Alaska Capitol in Juneau on Feb. 23, 2020. (Photo by Skip Gray/KTOO)
  The 32nd Alaska Legislature convened in Juneau on Jan. 19. The Senate organized a Republican majority caucus for the ninth straight year and selected a leader, but the House remains unorganized, without a majority or a speaker.
  Democratic Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky, who represents the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the House, spoke with KYUK about how the unorgani
  
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• Biden hires more Arctic drilling opponents for Interior Department

  21-01-2021 18:17 via ktoo.org
  
  Deb Haaland, at podium, spoke at a 2018 rally in Washington, D.C. to oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She is President Biden’s pick to lead the Interior Department. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  The Biden Administration has announced more top positions at the Department of Interior, and they include at least two dedicated opponents of Arctic oil and gas development.
  Marissa Knodel has been named as an advisor for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
  She used to
  
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• Vice President Kamala Harris: Breaking barriers and making history

  21-01-2021 04:42 via ktoo.org
  
  This Thursday’s Juneau Afternoon is presented by the  Juneau Black Awareness Association.
  Sherry Patterson and Kay Smith talk with three Alaska women, who feel a connection with Vice President Kamala Harris and her multi-racial identity. What her historic rise to the vice presidency means to Fay Callam, Dr. Myandi Than and Dr. Cindy Cork.
  Vice President Kamala Harris, photo courtesy of the White House
  This edition of Juneau Afternoon will air on KTOO Juneau 104.3 on Thursday, January
  
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• Gov. Dunleavy says he’s open to working with President Biden but will oppose blocking development

  21-01-2021 03:18 via ktoo.org
  
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks about his budget proposal, which would begin next July, during a news conference on Dec. 11, 2020. On Wednesday, Dunleavy said in an interview that he is open to working with new President Joe Biden, but that he would use “whatever tools are necessary” to oppose the new administration if Biden consistently opposes developing Alaska’s resources.  (Screen capture of a video stream from the governor’s office)
  Shortly after Joe Biden was sworn i
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021

  21-01-2021 03:09 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/2021/01/012021-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:About a dozen City and Borough of Juneau employees are working from home this week after two of their coworkers tested positive for COVID-19.
  Southeast Alaska’s largest Native cultural gathering won’t be held this year.
  Alaska legislators opened their session Tuesday amid a deadly pandemic and a huge budget shortfall.
  Yesterday, the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation opened eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to
  
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• Banned from the Capitol, Alaska lobbyists contend with pandemic predicament

  21-01-2021 02:52 via ktoo.org
  
  Lobbyists Ted Popely, Frank Bickford and Ray Matiashowski work at the Alaska Capitol in 2017, in a scene unlikely to be repeated this year. (Nathaniel Herz / Anchorage Daily News)
  The Alaska Legislature opened its session Tuesday amid a deadly pandemic and a huge budget shortfall.
  But if you think lawmakers’ job is tough, consider, for a moment, the plight of the lobbyist. They’re paid for access to and intelligence on what’s happening in the Capitol — but for now, they&r
  
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• 24 Alaskans die of COVID-19 as state’s vaccination rate tops nation

  21-01-2021 02:02 via ktoo.org
  
  A nurse fills a needle with the COVID-19 Vaccine in Anchorage, Alaska on Jan. 7, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)
  24 more Alaskans have died of COVID-19, the state health department reported Wednesday, the same day the state moved to the top of the nation in its vaccination rate.
  The deaths represent the largest single-day tally for the state, but only one of the deaths is considered recent. The rest were discovered during a routine review of death certificates, according to state health of
  
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• What it’s like to get the COVID-19 vaccine in Bethel

  21-01-2021 01:29 via ktoo.org
  
  
  KYUK reporter Greg Kim receives the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine from public health nurse Tammy Kaboord on January 19, 2021 in Bethel, Alaska. (Katie Basile/KYUK)https://media.ktoo.org/2021/01/210119_vaccine.mp3
  There were more people at the entrance of the Bethel hospital on Tuesday than I’ve seen during the pandemic. It was the first day that COVID-19 vaccines opened up to the general population in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and I was one of those getting their first dose.
  I walked u
  
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• Lot of emotions, including guilt, as Bethel vaccinates general population against COVID-19

  21-01-2021 01:29 via ktoo.org
  
  KYUK reporter Greg Kim receives the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine from public health nurse Tammy Kaboord on January 19, 2021 in Bethel, Alaska. (Katie Basile/KYUK)https://media.ktoo.org/2021/01/210119_vaccine.mp3
  There were more people at the entrance of the Bethel hospital on Tuesday than I’ve seen during the pandemic. It was the first day that COVID-19 vaccines opened up to the general population in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and I was one of those getting their first dose.
  I walked u
  
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• Sealaska Heritage Institute cancels Celebration 2021

  21-01-2021 01:02 via ktoo.org
  
  Dancers with goose down Celebration 2016 (Photo courtesy of Brian Wallace)
  Southeast Alaska’s largest Native cultural gathering won’t be held this year.
  Celebration traditionally draws thousands of participants to Juneau to honor Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian dances, language and song.
  It’s normally held every two years. But the coronavirus pandemic forced the 2020 event to move online, and organizers hoped to hold a gathering this year.
  Now, the in-person event tentatively plan
  
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• Sealaska Heritage Institute cancels Celebration

  21-01-2021 01:02 via ktoo.org
  
  Dancers with goose down Celebration 2016 (Photo courtesy of Brian Wallace)
  Southeast Alaska’s largest Native cultural gathering won’t be held this year.
  Celebration traditionally draws thousands of participants to Juneau to honor Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian dances, language and song.
  It’s normally held every two years. But the coronavirus pandemic forced the 2020 event to move online, and organizers hoped to hold a gathering this year.
  Now, the in-person event tentatively plan
  
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• Drilling at Mendenhall Glacier part of improvement plan

  20-01-2021 23:29 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Contractors employed by the U.S. Forest Service conduct geotechnical investigations in the parking lot of the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area on Jan. 15, 2021. (Photo by Pablo Arauz Peña/KTOO)
  At the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, a group of workers wheels a drilling machine about the size of a golf cart into the visitor center parking lot.https://media.ktoo.org/2021/01/19glacier.mp3
  Sean Sjostedt of PND Engineers says they’re drilling to collect soil samples to find out wha
  
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• Fire destroys Tuluksak’s only source of clean water

  20-01-2021 21:42 via ktoo.org
  
  The washeteria and water plant building burned down in Tuluksak on Sat., Jan. 16. (courtesy of Kristy Napoka)
  A fire destroyed Tuluksak’s only source of clean, running water on Saturday, and an emergency water delivery is delayed because of weather conditions.
  Donated bottled water is ready to go out on the next plane from Bethel, but Tuluksak’s runway has been unusable because of snow. The man who usually plows it is in Anchorage being treated for COVID-19.
  Tribal Council Secretary
  
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• Feds arrest 2 after seizing Fentanyl headed to Utqiagvik

  20-01-2021 21:12 via ktoo.org
  
  “M30” Fentanyl pills similar to the batch recovered by authorities in Anchorage. (Photo courtesy of Drug Enforcement Agency)
  Two Utqiagvik residents are in custody after officials say they received  fentanyl they intended to sell.
  According to a charging document, federal postal inspectors in Anchorage flagged a package sent from Arizona to 30-year-old Roberta Sielak of Utqiagvik. Inspectors opened the package and found 2.4 ounces of blue “M30” pills that contained f
  
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• Worker evacuated from Akutan seafood processor after positive COVID-19 test

  20-01-2021 19:58 via ktoo.org
  
  The four cases mark the first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak at any of Trident’s Alaska facilities. (Laura Kraegel/KUCB)
  A second seafood processing plant in the Aleutian Islands has been hit with COVID-19 infections as the busy winter pollock fishing season is set to kick off.
  The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated a Trident Seafoods worker to Anchorage on Sunday from its huge plant on the remote Aleutian island of Akutan after the man tested positive for COVID-19.
  His three roommates also tested po
  
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• SeaLife Center seals deal on spill response partnership

  20-01-2021 19:24 via ktoo.org
  
  The new program will send SeaLife Center staff to oil spill sites in western Alaska. (courtesy Alaska SeaLife Center)
  The Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward is partnering with an oil spill response organization to rehabilitate oiled marine mammals in Western Alaska.
  Through an agreement with nonprofit Alaska Chadux̂ Network, the center will treat marine mammals affected by spill pollution in a large chunk of Alaska waters.
  The idea is to get wildlife experts to the scene of a spill as quickly
  
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• ‘They’re just going to rip everything open’: Displaced Haines residents worry that bears will trash their empty homes

  20-01-2021 18:28 via ktoo.org
  
  Amber Winkel (left) and Todd Winkel (right) make their way across the Beach Road landslide in order to check on their home. (Photo by Henry Leasia/KHNS)
  When residents evacuated Beach Road in Haines last month, they left home abruptly with little more than the clothes on their backs. They still don’t know when they will be able to return.
  The landslide cut off electricity and road access to the area, making it difficult to return home to retrieve items.
  “It really worries me because
  
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• Biden to slam brakes on oil drilling in Arctic refuge

  20-01-2021 18:10 via ktoo.org
  
  Caribou graze on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with the Brooks Range as a backdrop in October 2010. (Public domain photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  Joe Biden will sign an executive order imposing a “temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities” in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge upon taking office Wednesday, his transition team said in a statement.
  The move to immediately slam the brakes on drilling in the refuge in n
  
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