Quinton Chandler, KTOO - Juneau
Quinton Chandler is a reporter at KTOO in Juneau.
Mixed Feelings On A New Company’s Plans To Drill in Cook Inlet
A Texas-based company will begin drilling for oil in Cook Inlet next year using extended-reach oil wells.
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Homer’s long-lived Coast Guard Cutter retires
The Roanoke Island’s crew, their families, legislative representatives, and Coast Guardsmen from sectors Anchorage and Seward came out to the Homer Elks Lodge for the decommissioning ceremony.
Seniors Find Few Options Beyond Medicaid
The state is being criticized for finding hundreds of seniors ineligible for a Medicaid waiver program that pays the cost of their housing and nursing care.
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Medicaid Denials May Boot Some Seniors From Assisted Living
Many of Alaska’s seniors are in danger of losing their only means of paying for disability services. The state and the federal government partner in funding in-home and assisted living services for the seniors who qualify. Caregivers say the problem is individuals who met the state’s criteria for years are now being let go from the system.
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Researcher Leaves Homer for Studies in the Arctic
Sixteen researchers from the United States, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden will participate in the Fulbright Arctic Initiative. The group will meet in three countries for three different seminars. Each person will join a team to research developments in one of four specific areas: health, water, energy, and infrastructure. Individuals will also make international trips for their specific areas of study.
NOAA Releases Cook Inlet Beluga Recovery Plan
NOAA Fisheries has a draft recovery plan to rebuild the population of Cook Inlet beluga whales. The end goal is to one day remove Belugas from the endangered species list.
Crews Continue Working on Nikolaevsk Fire, Now Contained
The fire started just before 4 p.m. Monday in the Jim Howard Road area near Nikolaevsk. Anchor Point Assistant Fire Chief Doug Loshbough says the wildfire grew to about five acres before it was contained.
Family Farm Brings Heritage Pigs to the Kenai
Gena and Brent Grobarek’s farm is tucked away in a small corner of Anchor Point accessible by a couple of winding gravel roads hidden back in the hills. They moved from Southeast Alaska to Anchor Point one summer about six years ago because they wanted to build a farm.
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Homer Takes First Step Toward Deep Water Dock Expansion
The City of Homer is taking its first step towards a long planned expansion of the city’s deep water dock. Earlier this month, the Homer City Council chose to award R&M Consultants of Anchorage the contract for a study to evaluate the project’s merits.
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Homer Residents Take Part In Christmas Bird Count
The birders met at 8:30 in the morning Saturday at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center to take part in a decades-old tradition of Christmas bird counting.
BOEM Drafting Environmental Impact Statement For Proposed Cook Inlet Oil, Gas Lease Sale
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is in the process of drafting an Environmental Impact Statement on a proposed Cook Inlet Oil and Gas Lease Sale. It’s could open up the federally-managed waters of Cook Inlet to oil and gas exploration. BOEM held a series of public scoping meetings on the Kenai Peninsula last week.
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Heavy Lift Ship Prepares To Tow Drilling Rig Endeavour To South Africa
A heavy lift ship dropped anchor in Kachemak Bay last Tuesday. The Zen Hua 15 is making preparations to tow offshore drilling rig Endeavour Spirit of Independence to South Africa.
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Scientists Note Temperature Spike In Gulf of Alaska
Scientists say temperatures in the Gulf of Alaska recently spiked over a very short time span. The warmer temperatures are a byproduct of mild winter weather and could have serious consequences for marine life. The latest temperatures come from a monitoring program that has collected data from the Gulf Waters for the past 17 years.
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Property Crime Victims Often Given The Back Seat
Nikiski residents are frustrated by a recent rash of property crimes and are dissatisfied with law enforcement’s response. A state agency set up to help crime victims claims there is a larger trend of disenfranchisement among property crime victims across Alaska.
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AK: Going Green
In business the general rule is cut costs and raise revenue wherever possible. A company in Homer partially ignores this tenet to provide compostable and recyclable products to environmentally conscious businesses. For Loopy Lupine and its customers, the trade off is a fair one in favor of a smaller carbon footprint.
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Binders, Pencils, Erasers: Charity Readies Kids For School
On Monday the Homer food pantry inside the United Methodist Church was filled with families lining up for their chance to pick up fish fillets, beans, rice, and other necessities. But before they reach the food a few split off to get into another line leading into a separate room where the Omicron Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma is set up handing out backpacks full of the goodies every child needs for school.
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Peninsula Women Swim Across Kachemak Bay
Early this past Sunday morning three Homer women joined the short list of athletes to successfully swim across Kachemak Bay.
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Observations of Kachemak Cranes Paints Detailed Picture
Volunteers with the Kachemak Crane Watch have kept an eye out for Sand Hill Crane adults and colts all summer. The season isn’t over yet, but the information collected so far has given the group a decent picture of the cranes’ progress.
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