House Strikes Retirement Plan, Funding Formula Change From Education Bill
The Alaska House of Representative passed a sweeping education bill Monday night, but only after removing some of its more contentious elements and adding another pot of education funding.
Download Audio
Sealaska Spring Dividends Reflect Zero Corporate Earnings
Sealaska Corp. does not appear to be making much – if any – money. The regional Native corporation’s spring distribution to shareholders, which is basically a dividend, includes no corporate revenues.
Download Audio
Rio Tinto Gives Up On Pebble Mine
Mining Giant Rio Tinto announced Monday it will divest its holdings with Northern Dynasty, the sole owner of the Pebble mine prospect in Bristol Bay. Rio Tinto held 19 percent of Northern Dynasty’s publicly traded shares. But the company is not selling those shares. Instead, it will split them evenly between two charitable organizations.
Download Audio
Researchers Seek Glimpse Into Lives Of Earliest Unangan Population
The Islands of the Four Mountains are at the center of the Aleutians -- geographically, and in folklore passed down from prehistoric times. But we don’t know much about the people who lived there. An upcoming expedition to the site may change that. KUCB’s Annie Ropeik caught up with the researchers in Unalaska as they prepared for their trip -- and for what it could reveal about the earliest Unangan people.
Download Audio
Izembek Road Issue May Be Headed To Court
Over the last year, residents of King Cove have been ramping up their campaign to build what they say is a life-saving road through the Izembek wildlife refuge.
Download Audio
Study Investigates Potential Impacts Of Road Development On Western Arctic Caribou Herd
In March, a group of researchers announced the results of a multi-year study assessing the impacts to caribou habitat of a potential service road from the Dalton Highway to the Ambler Mining District.
Download Audio
Kuskokwim Working Group Outlines 2014 King Salmon Restrictions
Two months before what would normally be time for king salmon fishing, Kuskokwim residents have a sketch of what the summer’s conservation measures will look like. There will be no directed king salmon fishing. For other chum and red salmon, managers are setting no hard dates for the first gillnet opening, other than its anticipated in the last week of June. The Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group last week painstakingly came to a consensus on conservation measures.
Download Audio
Fairbanks Sport Fish Hatchery Prepares For Second Season
The onset of spring has some Alaskans looking forward to fishing season. That includes employees at the state’ new sport fish hatchery in Fairbanks, where they’re hoping for conditions less extreme than those experienced last year.
Download Audio
Alaska News Nightly: April 7, 2014
Rio Tinto Gives Up On Pebble Mine; Izembek Road Issue May Be Headed To Court; Bill Increases Education Funding By $225 Million; Researchers Seek Glimpse Into Lives Of Earliest Unangan Population; Sealaska Dividends Include No Corporate Earnings; Study Investigates Potential Impacts Of Road Development On Western Arctic Caribou Herd; Kuskokwim Working Group Outlines 2014 King Salmon Restrictions; Fairbanks Sport Fish Hatchery Prepares For Second Season
Download Audio
Rural Legislators Wary Of Change To School Funding Formula
With the Alaska House of Representatives set to vote on an omnibus education bill Monday night, rural legislators are prepared to fight a change to the funding formula included in the legislation.
A Different Kind of Sister
Today we meet a pair of sisters. Nine years ago, Gracia O’Connell and Jesenia Peterson were matched in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska program.
Jesenia still remembers her response when asked what kind of Big Sister she wanted.
Rio Tinto Gives Pebble Mine Stake to Nonprofits
The mining conglomerate Rio Tinto announced this morning it is divesting its stake in Northern Dynasty, the owner of the proposed Pebble Mine. Rio said in December it might sell, but in a surprise move, the company says it is donating its 19 percent share to two charities, the Alaska Community Foundation and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation Education Foundation.
We Are The Ionians
Ionia is a remote, and sometimes misunderstood intentional community located outside Kasilof, Alaska. The community was originally formed nearly 30 years ago by four families, each seeking a simpler, quieter life.
The group, now numbering around 30 full-time residents, continues to pursue their goals in the relative solitude of their 160 acre communal property.
http://youtu.be/TzA7W-Q-1kI
With Education Vote Postponed, Parent Group Rallies For More School Funding
The Alaska State House has delayed its vote on an omnibus education bill to Monday, giving lawmakers more time to wrestle with questions over teacher retirement policy and treatment of rural schools. But even though debate on the bill was delayed, that did not stop a crowd of parents from gathering on the Capitol steps to rally for more education funding.
Download Audio
Minimum Wage Bill Introduced Amid Sponsor Outcry
A bill that could supplant the minimum wage initiative has popped up in the Legislature. Initiative organizers strongly oppose any effort to pre-empt their initiative out of concern the Legislature might try to water it down.
Download Audio
Deal Reached For Susitna-Watana Dam Land Access
A land access dispute that threatened to delay progress on the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project has been resolved, though the agreement has come later than expected.
Download Audio
Alaska Shield Exercise Testing Military’s Emergency Readiness
More than 550 military personnel from around the country are gathered at the Port of Anchorage this week for an Alaska Shield exercise, meant to test the readiness of the military to provide emergency support to areas impacted by natural or human-caused disasters.
Download Audio
Senate Ratifies Treaties to Stop Fish Piracy
The U.S. Senate yesterday ratified two international treaties to crack down on illegal international fishing. One is an agreement to restrict ships from using ports if they engage in what’s known as IUU fishing.
Download Audio
State, Feds Wrestle Over Navigable Water Control
The State of Alaska is continuing to fight the federal government over control of navigable waters in two cases involving Interior rivers.
Download Audio
Food Tastes Better When It’s Shared
It’s crisp, crunchy, and salty – and you’ll never find it in a bag in the grocery store. Dipped in seal oil or eulachon oil (hooligan), it is a traditional Southeast Alaskan delicacy that signals spring as surely as a warm, sunny day. But, gathering herring eggs-on-hemlock branches is about a lot more than food.
Download Audio