Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media
Zachariah Hughes reports on city & state politics, arts & culture, drugs, and military affairs in Anchorage and South Central Alaska.
@ZachHughesAK About Zachariah
@ZachHughesAK About Zachariah
Graphite One Resources Purchases Promising Seward Peninsula Claim
Vancouver-based Graphite One Resources announced this month they’ve finalized all land purchases for a promising graphite claim on the Seward Peninsula. But village residents in the area are concerned the proposed mine could harm subsistence resources. And they’re frustrated they haven’t yet heard from company officials.
Download Audio
Rural Communities Get Help With Tax Prep
The Alaska Business Development Center spent last week coordinating free tax assistance across the state. Teams of two and three volunteers travel to small bush communities to help residents prepare tax returns.
Download Audio
Red King Crab Harvest Abysmal In Bering Straits
Earlier in March, 1.2 million pounds of Tanner crab were caught in the Southeast’s commercial fishery, the biggest haul in over a decade. But in the Bering Straits region the winter season for Red King Crabs has been abysmal.
Download Audio
Nome Health Groups Hold Vaccination Drive Amid Iditarod Festivities
Health groups took advantage of Iditarod visitors last week by holding a vaccination drive at the Nome Recreation Center.
Download Audio
Feds Seeking Local Advice On Environmental Protocols
Members of the federal agency that oversees marine mammals held a teleconference in Nome on Wednesday to solicit region-specific advice on emergency response. It’s part of a process to draft environmental protocols for the Arctic that incorporate local expertise.
Download Audio
Bill Arming VPSOs Passes House
A bill providing funding and support for some Village Public Safety Officers to carry firearms passed unanimously in the house this morning.
Download Audio
AK: Rural Recycling
The city of Nome just bought a new recycling shed online. It’s another step towards diverting more waste from the landfill, and either re-purposing it or shipping it out of Alaska. Rural recycling presents some unique challenges for environmental management. And the city is finding some unique solutions.
Downlaod Audio
VPSO Firearms Bill Moves Ahead
A legislative proposal creating a path for qualified Village Public Safety Officers to carry firearms has cleared another hurdle. SB 98 was passed on Thursday by the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee. But some serious concerns were raised about the proposal.
2 Minors Charged In Illegal Musk Ox Killings
In January, two minors were charged in the Nome Court House with 11 counts of wanton waste of big game. The case comes from an incident a year-and-a-half ago near Brevig Mission in which a herd of musk ox were illegally killed and not harvested. At the time of the incident the defendants were 13 and 10-years-old.
Download Audio
Stebbins Planning To Fix Long-Standing Problems Using Recovery Funds
Two-and-a-half months after severe flooding ruined homes and vital infrastructure, Stebbins is organizing to put recovery funds towards fixing long-standing problems exacerbated by the storm damage. President Obama declared November’s storms in Western Alaska a natural disaster last month, unlocking federal funds to help the community.
Download Audio
Bill Aims To Arm VPSOs As Danger Levels Rise
The legislature’s Community and Regional Affairs Committee convened Tuesday to discuss House Bill 199, a proposal to allow arming village public safety officers in rural Alaska.
Download Audio
Western Alaska Residents Await Disaster Relief Money
President Obama has declared November’s storms in Western Alaska a natural disaster. The storms inflicted heavy damage on Kotlik and Stebbins, and created problems in other Bering Straits communities.
Download Audio
Document Highlights Rural Housing Shortage
Affordable housing is getting harder to find in Nome and surrounding villages. The regional non-profit corporation – Kawerak – is drafting a document to present to the state legislature identifying housing as one of the major issues facing the communities in the area.
Download Audio
World Wildlife Fund Releasing Walrus Ivory Report
Next month, the World Wildlife Fund is releasing a report on walrus ivory.
Download Audio
Army Corp Of Engineers Finalizes Deep-Water Port Recommendations
As the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers finalizes details of its deep-water port recommendations the agency is anticipating continued heavy development in Northern and Western Alaska. The plan expects not only increased vessel traffic in the Bering Straits region, but offshore drilling in the Chukchi Sea and graphite production at a fledgling mining claim on the Seward Peninsula.
Download Audio
Begich Calls for Restraint in Ivory Trade Policy
Alaska Senator Mark Begich has written Interior Secretary Sally Jewell asking her to exercise restraint in upcoming policy recommendations on the ivory trade.
State Urges Residents To Get Flu Vaccine
In the last two months, the Center for Disease Control has seen a rising trend in reports of acute respiratory illness in young and middle-age patients across the country. In Alaska, hundreds of cases of flu have been reported and the state is urging residents to get the flu vaccine, continuing their fee waiver to entice more participation.
Download Audio
Expansion Planned For Nome Graveyard
A recent draft report prepared by the Fairbanks-based company Northern Land Use Research Alaska found what is likely about a hundred unmarked graves in Nome’s cemetery. The company conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar Analysis of the areas around Nome’s existent graveyard as part of a planned expansion for the grounds. Josie Bahnke is Nome’s city manager and says the cemetery expansion is steadily moving forward.
Download Audio
Gambell Carvers Get Ivory To Work With
On St Lawrence Island, the tribal government of Gambell gave one walrus tusk to each household in the community of just under 800. The distribution is meant to provide ivory carvers with a bit of raw material to work with, in order to bring in a little extra cash amid the ongoing economic disaster from last spring’s poor walrus harvest on St. Lawrence Island.
Download Audio
Government Requests Proposals For Emergency Food Systems
Earlier this month, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Department of Military and Veterans Affairs put out a “request for proposals”—or RFP—for contracts to set up an emergency food system. The plan is to stockpile food for 40,000 people at two separate locations in the state.
Download Audio