Tim Ellis, KUAC - Fairbanks
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
‘Let The Games Begin!’ Gala Opening Ceremony Celebrates Diverse Cultures
The 2014 Arctic Winter Games officially got underway Sunday, with a gala opening ceremony before a standing-room-only crowd at the Carlson Center. A full slate of competition – and a weeklong array of cultural events – begins today.
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People Say Final Farewell To Former Territorial Governor Stepovich
People from across Alaska and the Lower 48 assembled in Fairbanks today to bid final farewell to former Territorial Governor Mike Stepovich.
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Tok Residents Trying to Revive Biomass-Fueled Power Plant Project To Cut Energy Costs
Business and community leaders in Tok are trying to revive a plan to cut the area’s high energy costs by generating electricity with biomass.
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Tourists Rescued Near Chatanika
Alaska State Troopers rescued a group of tourists late Friday night after they got stuck in their vehicle trying to get to a lodge about 20 miles north of Fairbanks near Chatanika on an outing to view the aurora borealis.
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North Pole Crude Refinery Shutting Down
Officials with Flint Hills Resources Alaska announced today they will halt processing crude oil at the company’s North Pole refinery over the next few months.
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Army Seeks ‘Data Gaps’ Over Cleanups At Old Chem/Bio-warfare Site Near Greely
Environmental officials are reviewing cleanup work conducted at a former military test site south of Delta Junction. The Gerstle River site was used by the Army to test chemical and biological agents during the height of the Cold War.
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PILT: Local Municipal Officials Hope Congress Will Fund Federal-Aid Program
City and borough government officials here in Alaska are a bit on edge about Congress’s failure to provide funding for the PILT program, which helps local governments with a lot of federal land in their areas. The program is especially critical to smaller communities like Delta Junction.
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Fairbanks Militia Leader Holding Anti-Gun-Control Rally
A local militia leader is organizing an anti-gun-control rally that’ll be held next month in downtown Fairbanks. The rally is one of five to be held around the state on Feb. 23 to show support for the Second Amendment and other right-wing political causes.
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Refinery Owner Seeks Lower Cleanup Level For Tainted Groundwater
The operator of the North Pole refinery wants the state to set a lower standard for cleaning up the sulfolane groundwater-contamination problem in the North Pole area. Flint Hills Resources Alaska has asked the head of the state Department of Environmental Conservation to set a less-stringent cleanup level for the industrial solvent that leaked into the groundwater for more than a decade before Flint Hills bought the refinery in 2004. The requests could delay cleanup for several months.
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Air Quality Regulations Worry Fairbanks, State Officials
The controversial air-quality regulations that state officials have proposed for Fairbanks-area residents are aimed at reducing pollution from wood-burning heating systems. They do not apply to coal-fired systems, which are increasingly popular because coal is cheaper than wood.
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Bernice Joseph Dies At Age 49
Alaska Native leader Bernice Joseph of Fairbanks died of cancer yesterday at age 49. Joseph was a professor and administrator at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, but she maintained strong ties with rural Alaska.
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Slow Business, High Costs Shut Down Paxson Lodge
The Paxson Lodge is closed. The owner of the roadhouse at the junction of the Richardson and Denali highways says he shut the lodge down due to slow business and high operating costs. It’s the latest of several Richardson Highway roadhouses that have closed down in recent years.
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Tanana Chiefs Conference Gets Lead Role In Tribal Foster Care
Tanana Chiefs Conference President Jerry Isaac and the head of the Health and Social Services Commissioner signed an agreement yesterday that will give TCC the lead role in managing foster care for tribal children.
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Greely Missile-Defense Base Prepares For More Interceptors
Fort Greely’s missile-defense base could get a big boost in spending this year if the U.S. Senate approves a measure worked out last week by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Plucky Delta Farmer Undaunted, Determined to Rebuild Poultry Barn Razed by Fire
A Delta Junction-area farmer is rebuilding a barn fire that killed 500 chickens and other livestock last spring. Despite that and other adversity, Brandy McLain is determined to restore her poultry operation.
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Delta Junction Seeking Funds for Pharmacy
A two-year effort to improve medical care in Delta Junction got a big boost earlier this month in the form of a $400,000 grant that will enable the Interior Alaska Hospital Foundation to open a clinic by March. Now,a foundation members have launched a drive to raise at least $150,000 for a pharmacy they’d like to open along with the clinic.
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Richardson Highway Speed Limit Changed To 65 Between Delta Junction, Valdez
The State Department of Transportation begun changing speed limit signs this week along the Richardson Highway between Delta Junction and Valdez from 55 to 65 miles per hour.
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UAF Celebrates Ted Stevens’ Birthday With New Mapping Exhibit
Dozens of friends, former staffers and other well-wishers gathered Monday at UAF’s Rasmuson Library to celebrate what would’ve been former Sen. Ted Stevens’ 90th birthday. Monday’s commemoration also marked the opening of a new exhibit in the library’s collection of Stevens’s official papers generated during his long career as a U.S. senator from Alaska.
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Livestock Owners Cope With Hay Shortage
State agriculture officials are advising Alaska livestock owners how to cope with the high cost of feeding their animals. Feed prices have risen sharply following last summer’s drought that hurt the interior hay and straw crop.
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North Pole Company Suffers Multimillion Dollar Loss After Building Burns
Investigators are trying to determine what sparked the fire that destroyed a maintenance building at a North Pole cement plant on Monday morning. No one was injured, but the owners of HC Redi-Mix are feeling the pain of a multimillion-dollar loss caused by the fire – which not only destroyed the building, but also several pieces of heavy equipment inside.
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