News

All news stories, regardless of topic (local, statewide + national news stories, as well as Talk of Alaska, Alaska News Nightly, Alaska Insight, Alaska Economic Report). Some news stories may also have other categories marked, which will also put them on a subpage. Not all news stories will fall into a subpage.

Cannabis Entrepreneurs Preparing For Potential Legalization

Alaska’s marijuana ballot initiative has some Fairbanks entrepreneurs organizing in hopes of being able to grow and sell the drug. Proposition 2 would have the state regulate marijuana like alcohol. Download Audio

British Kayakers Take On Aleutian Chain

For the past three years, a British woman has been trying to travel around the globe using only her own strength. Sarah Outen has biked through China and rowed the Pacific Ocean. Now, she’s in the Aleutian Islands, tackling some of the world’s wildest seas in a kayak — and learning plenty along the way. Download Audio

Alaska News Nightly: May 21, 2014

Investigators Find No Cover-up at Alaska National Guard; Funny River Fire Takes 20,000 Acres, More Firefighters On The Way; Tyonek Fire Grows To 1,500 Acres; Anchorage Scientist Studies Ancient Cancer For Clues To Modern Disease; Kuskokwim Working Group Grapples With Fishwheels, Threatened Weirs, And Confusion; Cannabis Entrepreneurs Preparing For Potential Legalization; Assembly Passes Special Zoning For Eklutna Village; British Kayakers Take On Aleutian Chain Download Audio

Legislators Honor Mat Su Fish Experts

Alaska's salmon resource often tangles in the nets of politics, but Tuesday night, members of the Matanuska Susitna Borough's legislative delegation were all smiles as they acknowledged the Borough's Fish Commission. Download Audio

Borough Assembly Upholds School Funding Veto

A mayoral veto of a school district appropriation prompted dozens of people to plead with the Matanuska Susitna Assembly for an override at Tuesday night's meeting, the votes just were not there. Download Audio

Innovation Lab at Loussac Public Library

Innovation-Lab-excerpt Innovation is a word quickly gaining in popularity. You’ve probably heard the word. Or see the word in Forbes or Entrepreneur magazine. The company you work for may have innovation in their mission statement. Read more.

Assembly passes special zoning for Eklutna village

The village of Eklutna is now protected as a special area within the city of Anchorage. The Anchorage Assembly unanimously voted on Tuesday to create an overlay district to protect the 800 acres that are considered the to be the oldest continually inhabited Athabascan site in the region. Download Audio

Wildfire Continues To Burn On Central Kenai Peninsula

A 7,000 acre wildfire continues to burn on the central Kenai Peninsula. So far, no evacuations have been ordered, and no property damage has been reported. Download Audio

Tyonek Fire Draws Response From State Firefighters

Another fire near the Alaska Native village of Tyonek is drawing a full response from state firefighters. The blaze erupted late Monday afternoon at the village airport, which is across the Chuitna River from Tyonek. But heavy winds in the area pushed the fire across the river in several spots by evening, forcing an evacuation of the village. Download Audio

USFW Wants to Regulate Oil & Gas on Refuges; Young Objects

About 200 national wildlife refuges have oil and gas development. Among them: the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, the only refuge in Alaska with active petroleum extraction. The agency that manages refuges, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wants rules to regulate that activity. Alaska Congressman Don Young doesn’t like the idea, and he wasn’t quiet about it at a Congressional hearing today. Download Audio

Fired Oil Tax Assessor To Run For State House

In January, Gov. Sean Parnell removed Marty McGee from a board that deals with the oil producers' tax bill. Now, McGee wants to take on oil tax policy again – but as a state legislator. Download Audio

Seismologist Delivers Cautionary Notes

If you have lived in Southcentral Alaska for a year or more, you are almost certain to have felt an earthquake. But a damaging quake is something else again. Experts tell us a quake as powerful as the Great Alaska Earthquake of fifty years ago isn’t likely any time soon, but it doesn’t take a Magnitude Nine to do big damage. Download Audio

Ammo Shortages Still Hampering Rural Subsistence Hunters

With the return of marine mammals and migratory birds to the Bering Straits region, subsistence hunters are still struggling to find certain kinds of ammunition. Download Audio

New Equipment Means New Opportunities For Polar Bear Treatment

As companies look to expand oil and gas exploration in Alaska, many worry about the possibility of a spill and how wildlife – including polar bears – would be cared for. New equipment has given the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the capability to treat polar bears on the scene, which, until now, hasn’t been a possibility. Download Audio

Alaska News Nightly: May 20, 2014

Wildfire Continues To Burn On Central Kenai Peninsula; Tyonek Fire Draws Response From State Firefighters; USFW Wants to Regulate Oil & Gas on Refuges; Young; Fired Oil Tax Assessor To Run For State House; Seismologist Delivers Cautionary Notes; Ammo Shortages Still Hampering Rural Subsistence Hunters; New Equipment Means New Opportunities For Polar Bear Treatment; Former Sitka Principal Found Not Guilty On All Counts; ASD Passes Amended Budget, Adds Back In Teacher Positions Download Audio

2014 Summer of Heroes Program to Honor Local Youth

Alaska Communications and Boys & Girls Clubs – Alaska are coming together again for the fourth annual Summer of Heroes program to recognize local youth making a difference in their local communities. The search is on for five young Alaskan heroes, plus one from the Employee Program, who are going above and beyond to make an impact in the lives of others. Read more.

Former Sitka Principal Found Not Guilty On All Counts

Joe Robidou has been found not guilty on all counts. A Sitka jury of seven women and five men delivered its verdict in favor of the former school administrator at about 6 p.m. Monday evening. Download Audio

Funny River Wildfire Tops 900 Acres

A pair of large wildfires have blazed through hundreds of acres in Soldotna and Tyonek. As of 10 p.m. Monday, a fire located near Funny River Road near Soldotna had burned more than 900 acres.

ASD passes amended budget, adds back in teacher positions

The Anchorage School Board voted to increase the 2014-2015 school budget by $26.5 million on Monday night, which takes the total up to almost $770 million. With the additional money the district will only lose 57 teachers instead of 143. Other funds will go toward charter schools, early literacy programs, and updating aging science teaching kits. Download Audio

Report Says U.S. Participation In Arctic Council Lacks Coordination, Follow-Through

A report released Monday from the Government Accountability Office suggests U.S. participation in the Arctic Council lacks coordination and follow-through. Download Audio