Lori Townsend, Alaska Public Media
Lori Townsend is the news director and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452.
APOC fines Slope mayor Charlotte Brower $35k for failure to disclose
The Alaska Public Offices Commission is fining North Slope Borough Mayor Charlotte Brower $34,460 dollars for failing to file her annual disclosure report for 2014. In the investigation into her campaign for re-election last year, Brower and her staff refused to provide information repeatedly requested by APOC.
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Economic and legal impacts of Anchorage’s equal protection ordinance
Alaska was the first state in the nation to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, now Anchorage is the first city in our state to pass an equal protection ordinance that makes discrimination illegal in employment or housing for gay, lesbian and transgender people.
APRN: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015 at 10:00am
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Bipartisan effort to enact justice reform taps Outside help
Alaska lawmakers are grappling with an exploding prison population that has grown by 27 percent over the last decade. Since May, lawmakers have been working with the Pew Charitable Trust on Justice system reforms and have tasked a Criminal Justice Commission with bringing recommendations forward by December.
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Justice reform and Alaska’s swelling prison population
Alaska's prison population has grown by 27 percent in the last decade. Without reforms to our justice programs, the state's prison population could exceed capacity within 2 years. What are the best ideas for keeping people off the path to incarceration and reduce recidivism while maintaining public safety?
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APRN: Tuesday, 9/29 at 10:00 a.m.
Seth Kantner out with new collection of essays
Most authors struggle to get their work noticed...at all...and would love to get a phone call by a publisher, asking them to write something...but when an editor called Northwest arctic resident and writer Seth Kantner asking him to write about caribou, this was his response: ...I said no.
Federal grants target mold in tribal housing
Tribal housing in Alaska will benefit from more than $1 million in grants announced Monday through the federal Housing and Urban Development program to address mold.
From Spanish flu to the ’64 quake, AK Child & Family celebrates 125 years
Well over a century ago, United Methodist church members started the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska for children who had been orphaned by disease or needed care while their parents recovered from illness. When the Spanish influenza pandemic wiped out villages along coastal Alaska, the home moved to Seward, and after the 1964 earthquake, it moved again to Anchorage. A hundred and twenty-five years later, Alaska Child and Family, the contemporary to the Jesse Lee facility is celebrating their anniversary this week.
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Growing a new generation of fishers and farmers
Alaska's maritime industry is the largest private employer in the state, but fleet workers are aging. I'm Lori Townsend. On the next Talk of Alaska, we'll discuss plans to attract more young people to the fishing industry, and also look at some of the parallels to farming, too.
APRN: Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 10:00 a.m.
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Study: Climate helps skeeters grow faster; Caribou feel the added bite
The Arctic is already known for having impressive swarms of mosquitoes in the summer. And climate change could boost mosquito population numbers, according to a new study from a Dartmouth researcher.
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BIA settles with 640 tribes for $940M
The U.S. Justice Department today announced the settlement of a large class-action lawsuit brought by 640 tribes and tribal groups against the Bureau of Indian Affairs over payment of contract support costs.
Arguments fly in landmark Ketchikan schools case
The Alaska Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in case that could upend the way the state pays for education. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough is arguing that it's a violation of the state constitution to require local governments to chip in money to fund local schools.
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Alaska’s fiscal and economic future
Oil prices are stubbornly low and the state’s budget is in trouble. Alaska Common Ground will hold a day long forum on Alaska’s Fiscal and Economic Future on September 19th. Organizers solicited budget proposals from citizens. They were tasked with filling a $2.5 billion gap for five years. What did they come up with and will a compromise emerge that the majority of Alaskans could support?
APRN: Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 10:00 a.m.
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Denali Commission ekes back into the spotlight
After being on life support for the past few funding cycles, The Denali Commission is full of muscle again with an expanded mission to help rural Alaska. The Commission, created by the late Senator Ted Stevens to fund village energy projects saw yearly funding up to $150 million at its peak. Currently the Commission's budget is around $10 million, but a mandate by the White House to help combat the effects of climate change on remote communities may help it garner more federal dollars.
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Getting to know a volcano, starting with its plume
A group of scientists from around the country are on a three-week expedition studying volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands. As part of that project, Tobias Fischer with the University of New Mexico is using instruments on helicopters to measure the gas composition of volcanic plumes. The work is aimed at improving volcano monitoring.
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New pipeline film showcases the builders
The trans-Alaska oil pipeline stars in a new film compilation that looks at the history of the 800-mile project through the experiences of five people who helped build it. The Consumer Energy Alliance partnered with the Alaska Support Industry Alliance to produce Pipeline Pioneers. The short, 11-minute series of profiles, recently debuted in Anchorage.
Debrief with Gov. Walker: The aftermath of a Presidential visit
President Obama's visit to Alaska was unprecedented in terms of the length of stay and the places he visited. Governor Bill Walker was able to have the President's full attention on Air Force One. What will this historic visit mean for Alaska's future? What did our state's top executive discuss with the Commander in Chief and how was it received?
APRN: Tuesday, 9/8 at 10:00am
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The ‘Tall One’ restored to its Athabascan roots
Alaskans have been celebrating the federal government's decision to officially recognize Denali as the name of North America's tallest mountain. Aaron Leggett is the Alaska Gallery Curator at the Anchorage Museum and an Athabascan historian. He says more than just local Athabascan people had a name for the mountain.
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In Kotzebue, excitement is high as president ventures north
Air Force One landed in Kotzebue just before 5 p.m. President Obama is now the first sitting president to visit the U.S. Arctic.
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Obama on Exit Glacier: ‘We want to make sure our grandkids see this’
President Obama is in Seward today. He landed early this afternoon in his helicopter, called Marine One and then hiked to Exit Glacier to highlight how much the rivers of ice in the state are retreating because of global climate change.
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Presidential Visits to The Last Frontier
The president is visiting Alaska, and it's more than just a fuel stop this time. On the next Talk of Alaska, we’re taking a trip into the annals of presidential history in the Last Frontier. FDR and Jimmy Carter went fishing during their visits here. Reagan hosted the pope. And Clinton popped downtown for a sandwich. What will Obama's visit be remembered for?
APRN: Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 10:00 a.m.
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