Health Care Broker Enroll Alaska Scales Back
Enroll Alaska is scaling back its business in the state. The division of Northrim Bank launched last year with plans to help tens of thousands Alaskans sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The company ended up with disappointing results and is now rethinking its strategy.
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Alaska News Nightly: June 13, 2014
Begich Painted As Soft On VA Scandal; Air Force Considering Transfer Of HAARP Facility To UAF; Health Care Broker Enroll Alaska Scales Back; As Pollock Season Begins, Bycatch Debate Looms; Kuskokwim Fishermen Push for an Opportunity to Fish; Emergency Order Limits Kasilof King Fishing Hours; AK: Gold Miner; 300 Villages: Girdwood
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Kuskokwim Fishermen Push for an Opportunity to Fish
At Thursday’s Yupiit Nation fish forum in Bethel, long-term planning for tribal fishery co-management took a backseat to the anxiety and uncertainly surrounding the current king salmon restrictions.
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Emergency Order Limits Kasilof King Fishing Hours
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order restricting personal use setnetting on the Kasilof River Thursday. That fishery’s time will be cut in half in an effort to get more king salmon up the Kasilof River.
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Before The Pipeline: Clutch Lounsbury
Gold is in Clutch Lounsbury’s blood. His grandparents took the Valdez Trail up to Fairbanks during the Gold Rush, and Clutch was on a cat before he could walk. He’s searched in creeks, canyons, and underground. He’s sluice boxed, dredged,and hard rock mined all over the Interior and the Arctic. Today he lives in Ester above an 800-foot mine shaft in the hillside.
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300 Villages: Girdwood
This week, we're heading to Girdwood, which was originally founded as a camp for placer gold miners. Kirsti Ryan describes her hometown.
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Tanana River Bridge Nearly Done, But State Officials Can’t Predict Fate of Next Phase
Alaska’s longest bridge is pretty much done. The 3,300-foot structure now spans the Tanana riverbed just west of Salcha, providing the military with year-round ground access to its training ranges on the far side. But, state officials don’t yet know where they’ll get funding to begin work on the next phase of the Northern Rail Extension project.
Local Fishing & Local Markets
If food security can also be job security for fishermen, you could call it a win-win situation. Sustainability labeling is catching on in the U.S. after making a difference for years in European seafood sales. And now even in Alaska, some large customers are making deals with fishermen who promise to fish sustainably.
APRN: Tuesday, 6/17 at 10:00am
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Alaska Edition Friday June 13, 2014
A federal judge tells the state it must do a better job of translating the election ballot into Native languages. The proposed King Cove road is subject of a lawsuit. The drilling firm Buccaneer goes bankrupt. Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller suggests troopers pulled him over because of his political views. Hard Rock Cafe comes to Anchorage. Democratic lawmakers challenge SB 21. Families sue driver charged with two DUI murders.
KSKA: Friday, June 13 at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 14 at 6:00 p.m.
KAKM: Friday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, June 14 at 4:30 p.m.
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Newly Forming Permafrost May Not Survive Century’s End
Scientists are announcing a surprising find from the arctic: new permafrost is still forming. But it is unlikely to survive beyond the end of the century. That’s according to a new study out this week in the publication Geophysical Research Letters. Researchers made the discovery at a lake in Alaska’s Eastern Interior.
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Subsistence Users Criticize Miners And Regulators At Nome Meeting
Subsistence users in Nome are criticizing gold miners and regulators for failing to take into account the negative impacts mining is having on other resources in the area. Officials from different agencies took public comment on the issue at a community meeting yesterday.
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Air Quality Permit Raises Ire
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has given the go ahead for an air quality permit for Usibelli Coal’s Wishbone Hill mine near Palmer. The move has been met with outrage by members of the Castle Mountain Coalition, an anti-coal group in the Matanuska Valley.
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2,000 Dancers Make Grand Entrance To Celebration
More than two-thousand Southeast Alaska Natives danced their way to Juneau’s Centennial Hall on Wednesday evening for Celebration 2014. The biennial festival is the largest cultural event in the state. Organized by Sealaska Heritage Institute, it brings multiple generations of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people together to celebrate their culture.
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Research Opportunities Abound In Funny River Fire Aftermath
The Funny River fire is now considered 60 percent contained, with minimal fire growth over the past few days. As the fire slowly burns out, scientists are excited about new research possibilities in the area.
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Before The Pipeline: Ritchie Musick
Fairbanks didn’t attract a lot of young, single ladies in the ‘60s. Ritchie Musick was 24 when she first came to Alaska to escape city life in southern California. She found all the adventure she dreamed of–hauling water, mushing, and moose in the backyard. Fifty years later she has the same frontier spirit, though she finally got plumbing.
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Urban Yeti Improv Group Enters Second Season
How can you tell when a town has matured into a city? You could use sheer population numbers, but that’s boring. How about entertainment offerings? Anchorage can now boast two comedy Improv groups. Scared Scriptless has been around for several years, and newcomer Urban Yeti Improv is starting its second season.
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Alaska News Nightly: June 12, 2014
Newly Forming Permafrost May Not Survive Century’s End; Air Quality Permit Raises Ire; Subsistence Users Criticize Miners And Regulators At Nome Meeting; Research Opportunities Abound In Funny River Fire Aftermath; 2,000 Dancers Make Grand Entrance To Celebration; Before The Pipeline: Ritchie Musick; Urban Yeti Improv Group Enters Second Season
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Large crowd greets Celebration paddlers
Dozens of paddlers from Yakutat to Metlakatla and places in between landed their canoes on a Juneau beach on their way to the Southeast Native cultural festival Celebration 2014. More than 500 people waded into the water or watched from the shore as the paddlers ended their journey Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of others lined a nearby causeway or cheered from parks and bridges along the route. We spoke with some of the paddlers and recorded some of the songs and filed this audio post card.
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State Hires Ferry Security Officer With Questionable Past
A former Haines Police officer with a questionable work history was recently hired by the state for a high level security position, but the state is not releasing much information about the hiring process or what it knew about his past.
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Missile Defense Budget Shows Continued Alaska Role
The ground-based missile defense system, which includes interceptors at Fort Greeley, failed at target practice over the Pacific last year. Now the Pentagon is asking Congress for money to overhaul the system. The budget request shows Alaska is likely to remain central to missile defense as the system matures.
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