Diversity In News Coverage
This year’s University of Alaska Anchorage Atwood Chair of Journalism is the first Native to hold the position. Alaska residents come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and the state is home to half of the nation’s tribes, yet most of the reporters in the state are white. Does this matter? What changes when there is more diversity in reporting?
APRN: Tuesday, 10/15 at 10:00am
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AK: Float
At 1.6 million acres, the Wood Tikchik State Park is the largest of its kind in the United States. With no road or trails, the park remains a quiet preserve for the fish and wildlife it was created to protect.
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Murkowski, Young Ask Dept. of Commerce to Jumpstart Crab Season
As it stands, the Bering Sea crab harvest is on hold until fishermen receive their permits from federal government. But three Pacific Northwest congressional leaders have an idea to get the season back on schedule.
Special Counsel To Investigate Mining Raids
Governor Sean Parnell has announced a special counsel to investigate raids by federal and state authorities in the Fortymile River area.
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Salvage Efforts Continue For Sunken Tender In Haines
A salvage operation and clean-up efforts are still underway in Haines, where a 78-foot tender sank last weekend in the boat harbor.
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Impacts Of The Shutdown On The Tongass
The U.S. Forest Service employs about 400 people in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. And most of them are on furlough, awaiting a call from the federal government that they’ll soon be back to work. With the partial U.S. government shutdown in its second week, KTOO’S Rosemarie Alexander takes a look at the impact on the Tongass.
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Fairbanks Natural Gas Founder Running Another LNG Company
The man who started Fairbanks Natural Gas and now runs another gas company, is poised to build a North Slope LNG processing plant that could supply trucked in gas to Fairbanks.
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Public Weighs In On Plan For Northern Access To U-Med District
The city of Anchorage is hoping to build a road through green space in the city's university area. It would be provide additional access to one of the busiest business districts in Anchorage, but neighborhood councils in the area are strongly opposed to the new road. And public feedback at a town hall meeting on Tuesday evening was overwhelmingly negative.
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Revamped GED Test Coming In January
The General Education Development test, better known as the GED, is the standard high school equivalency exam. This January, the test will be updated –made more rigorous according to the test developers. But with the update comes a deadline: those currently working toward a GED need to finish before Dec. 31 or they’ll have to start over next year.
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Sitka’s Water Main’s Fixed, But Who Pays For Repairs?
Sitka’s water system is back in business. Local officials feared the coastal community would run out of water this morning after the main line broke. A contractor rebuilding Sitka’s Sawmill Creek Road damaged the line yesterday afternoon while blasting rock. Water began flowing through the pipe again this morning after repairs were completed.
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Fishermen: Lack of Affordable Health Insurance A Barrier To Industry Growth
Options for health insurance coverage can be pretty limited in Alaska for small businesses and the self-employed. That includes commercial fishermen, who make up a major segment of the economy. Some in the industry say the cost and lack of access to comprehensive health insurance is a barrier to new fishermen and an ongoing concern for those already in the business.
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Beloved Tree Comes Down In Fairbanks
A landmark tree in Fairbanks is gone. The 75-foot-tall white spruce that stood in front of the Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge farm house was cut down Monday. The tree was dying from stress cracks and a beetle infestation and needed to come down. But, it won’t be forgotten.
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Muni Planning and Zoning Stalls Eklutna Landfill
The Anchorage planning commission has shot down a bid by Alaska Native corporation Eklutna, Inc. to develop land the corporation owns near a residential area. Despite Eklutna's last minute request for more research time, commissioners questioned the motive behind some aspects of the industrial project
Kachemak Bay Water Trail – Connecting Communities
Assembly Postpones Decision on AO-37, Traini Proposes Repeal
The Anchorage Assembly continued hearing testimony on two proposals about when to hold a vote whether a controversial labor ordinance should be overturned.
Volleys Traded Over Tennis Court Funding
A $10.5-million earmark for indoor tennis courts in Anchorage has become a lightning rod because the city didn't ask for it and many lawmakers thought the money was being used for other purposes.
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Survey Indicates High Rate of Sexual Assault in the Mat-Su Borough
Almost half of the adult women in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough have experienced some form of sexual violence at least once during their lifetime. That’s the sad news to come out of a recent survey conducted by the UAA Justice Center and the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
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Alaska’s Supreme Court Justice Talks About Diversity On The Court
The Alaska Supreme Court was in Barrow last week to hear a climate change lawsuit on the Barrow high school stage. Chief Justice Dana Fabe says it’s important for students to learn how their legal system works. The Chief Justice feels strongly that diversity on the bench helps communities have faith in the decisions judges make. In her chambers at the Boney courthouse in downtown Anchorage she spoke highly of her predecessor Jay Rabinowitz who believed all Alaskans should have equal access to the judicial system.
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AIDEA Signs Agreement To Support Niblack Project
The owner of the Niblack mining project on Prince of Wales Island continues to explore the possibility of a minerals processing plant on Gravina Island near Ketchikan.
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Study: Southeast’s ‘Blue Economy’ Growing
Southeast Alaska’s maritime economy provides more than a quarter of the wages paid in the region. That’s according to a new study published by the Southeast Conference.
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