Dan Bross, KUAC - Fairbanks
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
Fairbanks Borough Weighs In On Redistricting
The Fairbanks North Star Borough assembly will maintain amicus status in a drawn out suit challenging the Alaska Redistricting Board voter maps.
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2 Fort Wainwright Soldiers Die In Water-Related Accidents Over Weekend
It was a deadly weekend for soldiers. Officials say Fort Wainwright soldier died in when a jet boat lost power on the Klutina River and capsized, and another drowned while swimming at the Chena Lakes Recreation area.
Fairbanks Registers 12th Day Above 85 Degrees
It got up to 88 degrees in Fairbanks on Sunday, the 12th day this summer it’s crested 85 – an all time record.
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Settlement Expected In Fairbanks Wood Boiler Case
Resolution of the Straughn wood boiler case in Fairbanks appears imminent. The state Department of Environmental Conservation sued Fairbanks residents Andrew and Gloria Straughn for creating a public nuisance by operating two wood fired boilers that smoked out neighbors, including students and staff at Wood River Elementary school.
State Offers Large Tok-Area Timber Sale
The state is offering a large timber sale in the Tok area. The 25-year, Division of Forestry contract is for harvest of even hundred to nine hundred acres a year of primarily smaller-diameter Black and White Spruce.
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Study Says Proposed Livengold Mine Would Lose Money
The proposed Livengood Mining project would not break even at current gold prices. A feasibility study released by project developer International Tower Hill Mines shows profitable operation of the gold mine north of Fairbanks would require prices higher than $1,500 an ounce. Gold is currently selling in the 13 hundred dollar an ounce range, more than 500 dollars below its 2011 peak.
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Interior Communities Seek Donations For Flood Recovery
Specific items are being requested to help flood impacted communities in the interior, including Galena, where the most severe and wide ranging break up damage occurred. State Division of Homeland security and emergency management spokesman Jeremy Zidek urges people wanting to help to consider what’s needed before making donations.
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New Tool Used To Combat Elodea
The invasive aquatic plant elodea is growing in a few Alaska fresh water sites, and work continues to fight it back.
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FEMA Admin Keeping Close Eye On Yukon River Disaster Response
FEMA Region 10 Administrator Ken Murphy is in Alaska this week to keep an eye on disaster response for Yukon River flood victims. Murphy spoke with APRN on Wednesday on the agency’s ultimate goal of providing services to disaster survivors to get them back on their feet as soon as possible. As of July 21, FEMA has paid out over $1 million in awards to individuals and households in the damaged areas.
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Galena, CCHRC Work Together To Rebuild Homes
The Fairbanks based Cold Climate Housing Research Center is working with Galena residents whose homes were damaged and destroyed by the flood. CCHRC President Jack Hebert is visiting Galena on Wednesday to share home designs based on past village housing projects, and get feedback from Galena.
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Stuart Creek Fire Remains At 57 Percent Containment
Fire managers report progress on the Stuart Creek wildfire east of Fairbanks. Nearly 450 firefighters remain on the blaze, which burned an 85,000-acre area south of Chena Hot Springs Road, until suppression work and rain slowed the flames.
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GVEA Forwards New Gas Trucking Proposal
Golden Valley Electric Association has forwarded a new gas trucking proposal. The Interior electric coop submitted the proposal to the state at the request of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority Friday. AIDEA and the Alaska Energy Authority are shepherding the North Slope to Fairbanks project, and asked GVEA and three other parties interested in partnering with the state for updated proposals last month.
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Governor Emphasizes Work On LNG Trucking Plan
Governor Sean Parnell is reassuring Fairbanks area residents that the state is working toward trucking North Slope gas to the interior, where residents are currently limited to oil and wood for heat. The legislature approved an over $300 million financing package this spring, and a number of companies have expressed interest in participating.
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Fairbanks-Area Voters To File Opposition To Latest Redistricting Plan
Two Fairbanks area voters plan to file opposition to the latest state redistricting plan. Goldstream Valley resident Ron Dearborn and George Riley of Ester have contested redistricting board proposals in court from the start. Riley says their latest objections primarily focus on the re-alignment of two Fairbanks Senate Districts to make them more geographically and politically aligned.
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Evacuation Watch Lifted For Two Rivers, Pleasant Valley
Work will continue on the Stuart Creek wildfire east of Fairbanks, despite rainy weather.
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HAARP Facility Shuts Down
The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP facility, shut down last month. The official in charge of the military research facility near Glennallen isn’t talking, but the closure appears to be short term.
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Cool, Damp Weather Assisting Stuart Creek 2 Firefighters
Cooler damper weather is helping fire fighters working the Stuart Creek 2 wildfire outside Fairbanks. Alaska Fire service information officer Bernie Pinetta says the focus remains along the blaze’s northeast perimeter, where spot fires were corralled Tuesday.
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Flood Warning Issued In Brooks Range
Heavy rain is swelling streams in the Brooks Range. National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Brader says a flood warning was issued early this morning for the region where precipitation began over night.
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Recovery Process Continues On ‘Sandbar Mitchell’
A Michigan based team in Fairbanks is recovering and restoring what’s left of an historic aircraft known as “Sandbar Mitchell.” Before starting their work, the group placed a plaque at the site of the plane crash that occurred on a Tanana River sandbar near Fairbanks 44 years ago. It remembers the Mitchell B-25 bomber that went down while in service as a fire fighting air tanker on June 27th 1969.
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Galena Residents Gradually Return To Rebuild
It’s been nearly a month since an ice choked Yukon River overflowed its banks and flooded Galena. The ice bergs have melted and the river looks docile, but many people remain displaced by what it did. Most flood refugees are living outside the village, but more and more are coming back to rebuild their lives.
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