State Tells Medevac Payment Program To Drop Alaska Members
The state has ordered a Seattle-based medevac insurance program to end coverage in Alaska. Airlift Northwest’s AirCare program fills the gap between air ambulance charges and what health insurance pays.
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Cause Of Late-Season Interior Rain Remains A Mystery
Rain in Interior Alaska is rare, or so it might seem, but the region has seen rain fall in November in seven of the last 12 winters. An explanation remains a mystery.
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Juneau’s Filipino Community Raises $21,000 For Typhoon Relief
Juneau’s Filipino community will contribute more than $21,000 to the relief effort for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. That’s the amount raised during Saturday’s fundraising dinner.
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Redistricting Decision Suits Petersburg Officials
Petersburg’s mayor is pleased with the court decision in favor of the state’s latest redistricting plan. The legislative boundary map will put Petersburg in a district with Sitka and 22 other small Southeast communities.
Safely Defrosting Your Turkey
With Thanksgiving on the horizon, Extension has released a four-minute video to demonstrate methods for even procrastinating cooks to safely defrost a turkey.
Roxie Dinstel, a Fairbanks Extension agent, advises cooks to keep the turkey out of the “temperature danger zone” of 40 to 140 degrees.
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Canadian Company Explores Possibility Of Graphite Mine
A small Canadian mining company is in the exploratory phases of setting up a graphite mine on the Seward Peninsula. Though years away from being operational, the Graphite Creek deposit could be the nation’s first and only graphite mine.
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Sikuliaq Departure Delayed
The National Science Foundation’s new arctic research vessel Sikuliaq will spend the winter undergoing trials in the Great Lakes. The 261 foot ship to be operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was launched in Lake Michigan a year ago, but the Sikuliaq’s original target date for arrival at homeport in Seward has been delayed a year due to technical problems.
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Group Investigating Biomass Energy Potential
A state and federally funded task group has investigated biomass energy potential in 75 communities around the state. Alaska Energy Authority Biomass manager Devany Plentovich is tracking projects that have resulted from a base line analysis that looked at availability of wood and opportunity for turning it into energy.
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Premera Alaska Allows 5,200 Customers To Keep Insurance Plans
Health Insurer Premera Alaska will allow 5,200 customers in the state to keep their insurance plans. The company canceled the plans for 2014 because they didn't meet requirements of the Affordable Care Act. But earlier this month, after public outcry, President Obama said insurers could offer those canceled plans for another year, as long as states allowed it.
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SEARHC Front Street Clinic Soon To Be Under New Management
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) decided to cut funding to Juneau’s homeless medical center at the end of September due to budgetary constraints. Front Street Clinic got a six month reprieve when the community was able to raise more than $120,000. Now, a coalition of local organizations have joined together to keep the clinic open, hopefully, forever.
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Juneau Panel Aims To Deconstruct Racism In Alaska And Beyond
A group of Juneau residents are tackling the issue of racism head on. Their work started earlier this year, and sprang out of the trial of George Zimmerman for killing unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, as well as a series of local events that had been building up for years.
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Breaking Up With Healthcare.gov
Enrolling in healthcare.gov is not easy. But Anchorage hair stylist Lara Imler is one of the few Alaskans who managed to get through the process late last month. Now though, after she discovered problems with her application, Imler wants to cancel her enrollment. And she's finding that may not be so simple either.
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FAA approves UAS Above JBER, New Runway Installed
Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or UAS, will soon be flying more often over Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Soldiers assigned to the aircraft just tested out a new runway on the base earlier this month. Officials say it will allow more training on the remotely piloted aircraft in Anchorage.
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Governor Appoints A New Judge To Bethel District Court
Governor Sean Parnell today appointed Nathaniel Peters to the Bethel District Court. Peters has experience in the local court system as he served in Bethel with the Alaska Public Defender Agency from 2003 to 2006.
State Proposes Changes to Oil Spill Response Plan
State officials were in Unalaska on Friday to talk about a proposal pre-authorizing the use of chemical dispersants on oil spills in Alaska waters.
KTUU And GCI Cable Continue Talks
The television station known statewide as Channel 2 will stay on the air in Juneau and Sitka through Dec. 6th, while the station andGCI Cable continue to negotiate carriage terms.
I am an Alaskan Pro Wrestler
After the untimely death of his brother, Michael Saunders set out to do something different. He founded the Alaska Pro Wrestling league and found closure amongst the barrage of punches and body slams.
http://youtu.be/WMTUb4iKUpQ
Thanksgiving Risotto: Highly Refined Holiday Porridge
Today we’re getting ready for Thanksgiving. Sarah Alvarez has been writing her food blog The Hungry Alaskan for about two years. And being a food writer, it’s no surprise she gets excited about Thanksgiving.
While risotto may seem like a simple dish, it does require constant attention; most of which is stirring.
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Fishermen Propose Broader Testing of Electronic Monitoring
Alaska fishermen want to broaden the experimental use of cameras and other monitoring devices in the federal government’s fishery observer program.
State Completes New Magnetic Surveys of Historic Mining Area
Southwest Alaska has a special place in the state’s mining history with the gold rushes in the Iditarod and Aniak areas. It’s also where the future of gold is happening, at the nearby Donlin Creek project. The area now is getting a fresh look with the most recent survey technology.