Anchorage news

• Project seeks to gather Alaska environmental knowledge embedded in Indigenous languages

  26-03-2024 18:23 via ktoo.org
  
  Annauk Olin, holding her daugher Tulġuna T’aas Olin, and Rochelle Adams pose on March 20, 2024, after giving a presentation on language at the Alaska Just Transition Summit in Juneau. The two, who work together at the Alaska Public Interest Group’s Language Access program, hope to compile an Indigenous environmental glossary. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word for month known in English as July is Ł
  
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• Newscast – Tuesday, May 14, 2024

  15-05-2024 02:46 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240514-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau Assembly approved the school district’s more than $85 million budget for next school year last night,
  Budget negotiators in the Alaska Legislature have settled on the amount of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend and energy relief check,
  Since statehood, Alaska has not had the death penalty, but the men who were last executed here shouldn’t be forgotten
  
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• With staff layoffs pending, Juneau Assembly approves school district budget

  15-05-2024 01:19 via ktoo.org
  
  The Juneau School District building at Harborview Elementary School. (Photo by Bridget Dowd/ KTOO)
  The Juneau Assembly unanimously approved the school district’s more than $85 million budget for next school year at a meeting Monday night. 
  The move comes after months of turmoil and difficult decisions as the district faced a nearly $10 million deficit. The approved budget plan is funded via city, state and federal dollars. 
  Superintendent Frank Hauser said it’s a relief to
  
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• 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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• Alaska hasn’t executed anyone in over 70 years. The stories of the last two men hanged in Juneau may explain why.

  14-05-2024 20:52 via ktoo.org
  
  Headlines from Alaska newspapers in the late 1940s covering the trials of Austin Nelson and Eugene LaMoore. (Library of Congress/KTOO)
  When Mary Lou Spartz was a senior at Juneau High School in 1948, she says she could hear the sounds of construction at the federal jail a block away from her classroom on 5th and Main Street. 
  “We didn’t talk about it,” Spartz said. “But you’d sit in class and you’d hear the pounding on that building, and you couldn’
  
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• Alaska lawmakers settle on roughly $1,650 Permanent Fund dividend, energy relief amount

  14-05-2024 20:51 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, speaks with Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, ahead of the final meeting of the budget conference committee on May 14, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Budget negotiators in the Alaska Legislature have settled on the amount of this year’s Permanent Fund dividend and energy relief check. Alaskans would receive approximately $1,655 this fall if approved by the House and Senate in a final up-or-down vote expected Wednesday, the final day of the legislative sessi
  
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• Multi-boat fire at Douglas Harbor displaces resident, causing $500K in damages

  14-05-2024 20:43 via ktoo.org
  
  A fire engulfs a boat at the Douglas Harbor on Monday, May 13, 2024. (Capital City Fire/Rescue)
  A fire that spread to three boats at the Douglas Harbor Monday evening displaced one liveaboard resident and caused more than half a million dollars in damages. 
  Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Dan Jager said the cause of the fire is still being investigated. 
  “The main boat that was on fire first is completely destroyed. There’s some of the hull left that had never sank
  
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• Ketchikan residents protest imitation totem poles carved by convicted murderer

  14-05-2024 20:36 via ktoo.org
  
  Demonstrators listen as Willard Jackson shares a story and song at a May 5 protest. (Michael Fanelli/KRBD)
  Several dozen people gathered in the rain last week across the street from a coned-off Ketchikan property. They held signs saying “No Fake Totem Poles” and “Protect Indigenous Artists.” They faced a small construction vehicle sitting atop a pile of rubble spilling onto two carved, wooden poles.
  Leaders from a number of Native groups turned out for the May 5 protest,
  
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• Alaska lawmakers approve task force to consider responses to seafood industry ‘implosion’

  14-05-2024 19:21 via ktoo.org
  
  Fishing boats line the docks in Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 2, 2022. Fish-harvesting employment has been declining since 2015, with multiple factors at play, according to an Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development analysis. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  A special legislative panel is to make recommendations about state policies to rescue Alaska’s seafood industry, a major pillar of the economy that is mired in crisis, under a bill that won final passage over
  
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• Newscast – Monday, May 13, 2024

  14-05-2024 02:19 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240513-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Alaska lawmakers passed a bill last week that adds several Indigenous languages to Alaska’s official list of languages,
  One People Canoe Society visited Wrangell in early spring to teach residents how to make traditional Lingít paddles. This class was the kickoff for the Journey to Celebration, where a group of paddlers will canoe from Wrangell to Juneau at the end of May and early June,
  Tong
  
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• Tongass Voices: Rebecca Hsieh on intertwining community and art with Head in the Clouds Collective

  14-05-2024 01:57 via ktoo.org
  
  Rebecca Hsieh from ReccaShay Studios sits in her corner of the Heads in the Clouds Collective studio in March 2024.
  This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond. 
  It’s been over a year since Rebecca Hsieh moved into her new studio space downtown. Since then, she and three other artists have formed Heads in the Clouds Collective, a growing community space for anyone in Juneau to learn a new a
  
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• Bill adding more Indigenous languages to Alaska’s official list heads to governor

  14-05-2024 00:57 via ktoo.org
  
  Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, speaks during a House Education Committee meeting on May 3, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska lawmakers passed a bill last week that adds several Indigenous languages to Alaska’s official list of languages.
  A version of the bill, sponsored by Juneau Rep. Andi Story, was approved by the Senate and then OK’d by the House last week. It was originally passed in the House last year. Now it heads to the governor.
  Earlier this year, Story, a Democrat,
  
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• Alaska House passes trans sports ban after extended filibuster by opponents

  13-05-2024 20:54 via ktoo.org
  
  Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, talks to fellow lawmakers about rules for debate on House Bill 183 on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  The Alaska House of Representatives voted 22-18 late Sunday to ban transgender girls from girls’ school sports teams by limiting access to girls whose original birth certificates identify them as girls.
  The decision followed hours of filibustering by a coalition of opponents, but supporters mustered enough votes to
  
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• Southeast Alaska not ready for a hatchery-only king fishery, study finds

  13-05-2024 20:48 via ktoo.org
  
  King salmon landed in the commercial troll fishery in the summer of 2019. (Photo courtesy of Matt Lichtenstein)
  Should Southeast Alaska have a hatchery-only king salmon sports fishery? Researchers recently tried to answer that question as a possible solution to a declining number of wild kings.
  Chinook or king salmon are the largest and most valuable salmon species. They’re sought-after by sport, commercial, and subsistence fishermen alike. But in recent decades, their harvest has become m
  
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• New report questions business model of British Columbia gold mines

  13-05-2024 20:43 via ktoo.org
  
  
  A view of the Stikine River near Wrangell and Petersburg. The river is downstream of many Canadian mines in the Alaska transboundary watershed. (Photo courtesy of Cindi Lagoudakis)
  Gold mines near the British Columbia border are controversial in Alaska because of the potential for negative impacts to the environment and fisheries downstream. A nonprofit group called the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released a report in January that found that these gold mines operate somewh
  
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• Alaska lawmakers support push to investigate, document forced assimilation in boarding schools 

  13-05-2024 19:33 via ktoo.org
  
  Jan Bronson of Anchorage and Cathy Walling of Fairbanks, representing the Alaska Friends Conference, apologize to Alaska Native communities for the boarding schools it ran in Alaska and the United States. The apology took place at Sayéik Gastineau elementary school, the former site of a Quaker mission school in Juneau, during Orange Shirt Day, Sept. 30, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)
  Alaska lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to support a federal proposal that would investigate and do
  
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• Newscast – Friday, May 10, 2024

  11-05-2024 02:46 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240510-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:A new study reveals that snow slides are a leading cause of death for mountain goats,
  Should Southeast Alaska have a hatchery-only king salmon sports fishery? Researchers recently tried to answer that question as a possible solution to a declining number of wild kings,
  Active aurora is forecast this weekend due to intense solar flares in recent days
  
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• Dunleavy declares disaster amid historic breakup flooding on the Kuskokwim River

  11-05-2024 00:20 via ktoo.org
  
  A truck drives through floodwater on Sixth Avenue in Bethel on May 9, 2024. (MaryCait Dolan/KYUK)
  Amid historic breakup flooding on the Kuskokwim River, Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Friday issued a disaster declaration for lower Kuskokwim and Yukon River communities. The declaration allows eligible communities and individuals to access state funds for emergency-related costs and provide assistance.
  The declaration comes as icy water continues to flood multiple communities on the Lower Kuskokwim.
  The Ku
  
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• Sudden ANTHC leadership change: Valerie Davidson no longer at the helm

  11-05-2024 00:14 via ktoo.org
  
  Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, former president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, speaks at a press conference on June 14, 2021. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)
  Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson was not only head of one of the largest tribal health organizations in the nation, but also recognized as a trailblazer in Native health care. But Davidson is no longer president and CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
  In a statement on its website, ANTHC ann
  
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• Brinksmanship and compromise emerge in Alaska’s Capitol as legislative session nears an end

  10-05-2024 20:54 via ktoo.org
  
  Budding trees and bushes are seen in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
  Members of the Alaska Senate have killed, at least temporarily, a plan to end a tax policy worth more than $100 million for one of the state’s largest oil companies.
  The move came after Hilcorp Alaska and members of the state House of Representatives warned that there would be consequences if the Senate moved forward with plans to end a tax policy that ben
  
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• Alaskans suing state over food assistance delays ask judge to order faster application processing

  10-05-2024 20:46 via ktoo.org
  
  Packaged food sits on shelves at Sitka’s Salvation Army food pantry in 2018. (Photo by Emily Kwong/KCAW)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/09SNAP.mp3
  Alaskans who sued the state last year over long wait times for food assistance are asking a federal judge to order the state to speed up processing.
  The state’s Division of Public Assistance has struggled in recent years to keep up with pending applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known a
  
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• Avalanches are a leading cause of death for Southeast Alaska’s mountain goats

  10-05-2024 20:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Close up view of an adult male mountain goat in late-winter, near Juneau Icefield, Alaska. In the background, steep avalanche prone slopes are visible. (Photo courtesy of Kevin White)
  The mountain goat is one of nature’s most skilled mountaineers. The hooved herds make their way through harsh Alpine terrain with relative ease. And they’ve been living with mountain snow since the Ice Age.
  According to wildlife ecologist Kevin White, that also means that they live amid avalanche paths.
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, May 9, 2024

  10-05-2024 03:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240509-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Alaskans who sued the state last year over long wait times for food assistance are asking a federal judge to order the state to speed up processing, but the state says the situation has improved dramatically,
  Transboundary gold mines are controversial because of their environmental impact, but a nonprofit group released a report that found that these mines operate somewhat like a Ponzi scheme
  
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• Culture Rich Conversations: Exploring the relationship between Black Alaskans and food

  10-05-2024 02:56 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Thursday, May 9, 2024 — Full EpisodeOn this episode of Culture Rich Conversations from Juneau’s Black Awareness Association, host Christina Michelle and her guests explore the relationship between Black Alaskans and food. From soul food to BBQ and everything in between, the Black community is passionate about what they put on their plates. Today’s guests discuss why using real ingredients instead of over-processed food in every meal is so important. Christina Michelle
  
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• Widespread high water and flooding continues for lower Kuskokwim communities

  10-05-2024 00:27 via ktoo.org
  
  Floodwaters rise in Bethel’s Alligator Acres neighborhood on May 9, 2024. (Photo by MaryCait Dolan/KYUK)
  Kwethluk remains on flood warning, while Bethel and lower Kuskokwim communities are on flood advisory as the river swells over its banks.
  National Weather Service Hydrologist Johnse Ostman said on KYUK morning show Coffee at KYUK on Thursday that high water is widespread throughout the lower Kuskokwim region.
  “We’ve seen high water all the way from below lower Kalskag down t
  
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• 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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• “Welcome to Deishú”? A mysterious sign change sparks discussion of Haines Borough’s name

  09-05-2024 20:48 via ktoo.org
  
  A sign welcoming people to town as been changed from saying “Welcome to Haines” to “Welcome to Deishu” on Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Rashah McChesney/Chilkat Valley News)
  If you drove into town from the ferry terminal two weeks ago or from up the Chilkat Valley, you may have noticed something odd about the cedar signs welcoming you to Haines.
  In fact, the signs wouldn’t have welcomed you to Haines. Instead, they said “Welcome to Deishú.” That&rsqu
  
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• Alaska Native corporation ending involvement in controversial Ambler road project

  09-05-2024 19:51 via ktoo.org
  
  The NANA Regional Corp. office in downtown Anchorage is seen on Wednesday. The Native corporation, citing dissatisfaction with management by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, is ending its involvement with the Ambler Access Project. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  The regional corporation owned by the Iñupiat people of Northwest Alaska said Wednesday it is severing its ties to the Ambler Access Project, the controversial road that a state agency proposes to bui
  
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• Alaska Legislature heads into session’s homestretch with energy-related bills still on the table

  09-05-2024 19:43 via ktoo.org
  
  Hilcorp’s Dillon platform in Cook Inlet (foreground) photographed last year. (Nathaniel Herz for Alaska Public Media)
  Leaders in both the state House and Senate have listed energy legislation as a primary focus of this session. That’s as gas producers warn that Cook Inlet natural gas supplies are dwindling, threatening higher prices.
  But there’s only about a week left for lawmakers to pass bills that address a number of energy issues. So it’s a good time to check in with
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, May 8, 2024

  09-05-2024 02:42 via ktoo.org
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240508-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:The Juneau Assembly wants the city to ask community organizations if they’d be interested in continuing to care for graveyards on Douglas — with potential funding,
  An audio postcard from this years MMIP Awareness Day in Bethel
  
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