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Keyes Autopsy Underway, Investigations Continue
Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage
An autopsy is being performed on the body of confessed killer Israel Keyes, who died in an apparent suicide in his cell at the Anchorage Correctional Complex Sunday. Keyes, who admitted murdering Anchorage Barista Samantha Koenig and a Vermont couple, was being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Authorities are still investigating his connection to other missing people in other states.
Unalaska Installs Emergency Mooring Buoy
Lauren Rosenthal, KUCB – Unalaska
When vessels run into trouble along the Great Circle shipping route, they often end up in Unalaska. A new emergency resource should help provide those ships safe harbor.
Recount Gives Kreiss-Tomkins 32 Vote Victory In House District 34
Margaret Friedenauer, KHNS – Haines
It’s been nearly a month since Election Day and the race for House District 34 has finally come to an end with a four-term legislator losing his seat to a political newcomer.
Earthquake Rattles Southcentral Alaska
Annie Feidt, APRN – Anchorage
A 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook Anchorage at 4:42 this afternoon. The earthquake was centered 27 miles directly west of Anchorage in Cook Inlet, right next to Tyonek.
Janelle Baker works for the native village of Tyonek as an administrative assistant. She says at first it sounded like a tractor was going by her window at work.
Baker says there was no damage to her building. But the Internet in town went out immediately so she’s wondering if the earthquake played a role in that.
Several smaller aftershocks followed the initial earthquake.
McGrath Power Costs Temporarily Jump 35 Percent
Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage
Electric power costs are going up in many areas, but in McGrath, electric rates jumped about 35 percent on Nov. 1. That is a temporary increase.
Electricity Rates Dropping In Fairbanks
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
Electricity rates are coming down in the Fairbanks area. Golden Valley Electric customers from Delta Junction to Fairbanks and Healy will see their bills drop 11 to 13 percent, depending on service level as of Dec. 1. Golden Valley is benefiting from additional power from Anchorage – natural gas fired energy that’s less expensive than oil generated electricity in Fairbanks.
Trials Reset for Native Fishermen in Salmon Cases
The Associated Press
A Bethel court magistrate has rescheduled the trials of 22 Alaska Natives who are charged with illegal fishing during a weak king salmon run.
Magistrate Bruce Ward reset the trials for the subsistence fishermen to begin April 15.
The fishermen’s attorney, James J. Davis Jr., had sought to consolidate the trials into one case to allow two specialists on Yup’ik Eskimo culture to act as pro bono experts for all the defendants.
Davis says Ward did not officially rule on the consolidation request in a hearing Friday, but agreed that the experts would not have to testify in all of the cases.
Learning in Two Languages
Sophie Evan, KYUK – Bethel
Early in our series “Being Young in Rural Alaska” from the producers of Kids These Days, we learned about efforts to re-introduce indigenous languages through school programs. At the Lower Kuskokwim School District, they have a different challenge: figuring out the best way to teach reading and writing to kids who are already living in two languages. LKSD is the heart of Yup’ik country. One quarter of the certified teachers are Yup’ik, the greatest percentage of indigenous educators of any district in Alaska. The district is rolling out a new method for teaching its bilingual students called the dual language model.
Talkeetna Bachelors Fetch Hefty Price At Annual Auction
Melis Coady, KTNA – Talkeetna
For 364 days they cost nothing, you can find them in the woods or at the local bar, but for one special night a year Talkeetna’s bachelors fetch a hefty price. And this year’s 32nd annual Talkeetna Bachelor Auction was the most successful ever.
