Federal employees have been given the go-ahead to get back to work today.
President Obama signed bipartisan legislation Thursday morning that funds the U.S. government through Jan. 15 and raised the nations debt ceiling, allowing the government to borrow money through Feb. 7.
Late Wednesday, both houses of Congress approved the measure that reopens the government after a 16-day shutdown. All three of Alaska’s delegation voted approval of the bill.
Standard & Poor’s estimates the shutdown has taken $24 billion out of the economy. And the debate is likely to regenerate in a couple of months as new deadlines loom.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
