Legislative Session Gives Juneau Businesses Temporary Boost
Dozens of lawmakers and their staffers are relocating to the capitol city for Tuesday’s start of the legislative session. Lobbyists and reporters will also spend at least part of the 90 day session in Juneau. The temporary population influx provides an important revenue boost to many local businesses.
Download Audio
Alaskans Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Alaskans celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior’s birthday with songs and remarks from state and local leaders.
Download Audio
Rohn Buser Crowned K300 Champion
k300 finish top 6 2014 from KYUK on Vimeo.
Rohn Buser has won his second Kuskokwim 300 title. He arrived in Bethel at 9:18 Sunday morning after a 50-mile run from the final checkpoint of Tuluksak. The 24-year-old Big Lake musher had previously won the 2012 race. Buser outlasted a chasing Jeff King to take the title in a close finish. King finished at 9:25, just seven minutes behind Buser. He was two minutes slower than Buser over the 50 miles into Bethel. Download Audio
With Drop Bags Delivered, Yukon Quest Mushers are One Step Closer to Race Day
On Saturday, volunteers with the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race gathered drop bags from mushers in both Whitehorse and Fairbanks. Over the next two weeks, race personnel will deliver the bags to nine checkpoints along the 1,000 mile trail. Packing more than 1,500 pounds of food and gear for a remote sled dog race is a long, logistically-challenging process.
Download Audio
Alaska News Nightly: January 20, 2014
Legislature Prepares To Gavel In; Begich Takes Stand Against Pebble Mine; Thayer Named Administration Commissioner; Legislative Session Gives Juneau Businesses Temporary Boost; Alaskans Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Rohn Buser Crowned K300 Champion; With Drop Bags Delivered, Yukon Quest Mushers are One Step Closer to Race Day
Download Audio
Alaska Attorneys Give Free Legal Advice for MLK Jr. Day
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Anchorage attorneys provided free legal services at the Mountain View Community Center in Anchorage.
Download Audio
Poetry Is My Day Job
By day, Kima Hamilton is a poet, a mentor, a father, and a community leader. But he pays the bills by DJ-ing in nightclubs.
http://youtu.be/jk400MZQQn4
Panel Will Target Tongass Plan Rewrite, Timber Transition
The Forest Service is setting up an advisory board to help rewrite the Tongass National Forest’s management plan. It’s somewhat similar to another panel that shut down last year without completing its work.
Anchorage Starts Reading Early
Elizabeth Nicolai is the Youth Services Coordinator for the Loussac Library, and right now she’s reading a dinosaur book to a group of very small children.
Recently the library expanded their second floor to include what they call the Play and Learn center. Inside of what looks like a massive fort of books there are toys, inspirational messages, and interactive art work on the walls.
Read more.
Southeast Commercial Halibut Catch Increased For 2014
Southeast Alaska’s commercial halibut catch limit is going up. The International Pacific Halibut Commission concluded its annual meeting Friday in Seattle and approved catch limits for Alaska, British Columbia, and the West Coast of the U.S.
Project Aims to Turn Homer Into Tidal Energy Testing Site
Work is continuing on Homer’s Tidal Energy Incubator Project. Those involved, which includes scientists from around the state and University of Alaska engineering students, are trying to find out if they can turn tides into electricity sold on the market. They’ve been studying the tides near Homer’s Deep Water Dock.
Spending Bill Includes $75 Million For Fisheries Disaster Assistance
Alaska’s congressional delegation has been churning out press releases to trumpet Alaska-bound funds in the trillion-dollar spending bill President Obama is expected to sign Saturday.
Download Audio
US, Russia Drafting Voluntary Bering Strait Passage Regulations
Vessel traffic is increasing through the Bering Strait, and no regulations exist to monitor that movement. The United States Coast Guard wants to change that.
Download Audio
Early Bills Tackle Lawsuits, Medical Care
With the legislative session getting ever closer, lawmakers have released another batch of bills for consideration.
Download Audio
Signatures Submitted for Minimum Wage Initiative
Sponsors of an initiative to raise Alaska's minimum wage have turned in their signatures. They submitted 43,000 names to the Division of Election's Anchorage office on Friday morning.
Download Audio
Alaska Ranks 5th In Millionaires Per Capita
In a count of millionaires per capita, Alaska ranks fifth among states, according to a market research firm that tracks affluence.
Download Audio
Alaska’s Population Grows By 3.7 Percent In Three Years
Alaska's population growth is increasing faster than that of the rest of the country. Figures released Friday by the state labor department indicate that the state's population increased 3.7 percent over the past three years, compared with a 2.4 growth rate in the US.
Download Audio
Health Campus Proposed To Handle Anchorage’s Homeless
A recent editorial in the Anchorage Daily News proposes addressing chronic inebriation and the moribund area of east 4th avenue as the way forward for a more vibrant downtown. These ideas have been on the table before, but not from the person charged with championing the city as a great place to visit and do business. Andrew Halcro is a former state lawmaker and the current President of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Rather than glossing over the city's ongoing problems, he proposes a health campus to deal head on with homeless people and chronic drunks.
Download Audio
2014 Kuskokwim 300 Brings Past Champions And New Trail
Twenty-four mushers, including six past champions will be at the starting line for the 35th running of the Kuskokwim 300. The start is scheduled for 6:30 this evening, but an incoming winter storm could hold up the race.
Download Audio
AK: Girls Wrestling
Your high school might have had a wrestling team, but how many wrestlers were girls? There are more than a dozen girls on Sitka’s Mt. Edgecumbe High School wrestling team, and they regularly beat boys in their weight class.
Download Audio