Bethel Residents Make Case For Keeping Rural Status
Bethel’s rural status is not immediately at risk. But once the population hits 7,000, it will be presumed to be non-rural unless it proves to have rural characteristics. The federal subsistence board is in a multi-year process of reviewing how it decides which communities have the critical rural priority for accessing resources on federal lands as described under ANILCA.
Harbeson Homestead Joins the Great Land Trust Effort
Earlier this year we enjoyed an intimate celebration with the Harbeson, Chapman, Barlow family complete with carrot cake, sparkling cider, hugs, and a few proud tears.
In the conference room at Mat-Su Title, with a lovely view of Wasilla lake, we finalized the conservation easement on their historic thirty acre homestead including O’Brien Creek Estuary, overlooking Knik Arm.
Read more. Obama’s ACA ‘Fix’ Will Be Tricky To Implement In Alaska
President Obama said today insurers can continue offering the plans they intended to cancel as part of the Affordable Care Act. The announcement is a response to outcry over the President's "if you like your plan you can keep it" promise, which turned out to be untrue for millions of Americans. Now, state insurance regulators and insurance companies have to figure out if they can make Obama's new plan work.
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Storms Continue Dealing Damage In Western Alaska
Western Alaska has been wracked by storms the last few days. The first round occurred Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Before clean-up efforts were even finished in some of the worst-hit communities, strong winds and coastal flooding did more damage last night.
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Bad Weather Closes Fairbanks Schools
Schools were closed in Fairbanks for a second day on Thursday due to stormy weather. Driving conditions are slick, and more than 13,000 households were without power this morning. Golden Valley Electric Association had the number down to a few thousand by mid-day, but expected it will take until Friday morning to restore power to some remote neighborhoods.
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Large Projects Aim To Reduce Railbelt Energy Costs
The state is currently putting money toward five different large-scale projects aimed at reducing energy costs on the Railbelt. Some, like subsidizing Cook Inlet gas production, impact energy costs now and in the near term. Other projects, like the proposed LNG pipeline wouldn’t affect prices for at least a decade. The question is—should the state be supporting all of the projects?
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Livestock Owners Cope With Hay Shortage
State agriculture officials are advising Alaska livestock owners how to cope with the high cost of feeding their animals. Feed prices have risen sharply following last summer’s drought that hurt the interior hay and straw crop.
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New Report Investigates Alaska’s Suicide Rates
A new report on suicide in Alaska from the State Division of Public Health's epidemiology section, found rates are higher in more northern regions. Erik Woelber is a graduate student intern with the epidemiology section. Woelber says the study breaks communities into three categories by size and road access and looks at factors that may have contributed to the suicide rate. Woelber says the rates of suicide at higher latitudes merits more research.
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JBER Paratroopers Prep For Wide Variety Of Missions
Paratroopers of the 425 Brigade at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson have to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice to take on missions ranging from parachuting into a combat zone to providing humanitarian relief for natural disaster victims. On Tuesday, I had a chance to get a glimpse into the life of Alaska's Airborne soldiers.
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Soldiers To Begin UAV Training
Paratroopers from the same brigade – the 425th Brigade special Troops Battalion on JBER – will also be testing out some drones while they’re in Anchorage.
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Washington DC Gets Lesson In Tlingit Culture
It was Tlingit weekend at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. recently. Storytellers, artists and dancers from Alaska and Canada performed in the museum’s massive atrium. The museum, a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol, is a branch of the Smithsonian, but it’s unlike the others.
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Storm Closes Fairbanks Schools, Knocks Out Power
The Fairbanks area continues to experience strong winds Thursday morning with mixed precipitation. An early winter storm, with snow and freezing rain, has prompted Fairbanks schools to close for a second day. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is open Thursday, but there are widespread power outages.
Alaska Railroad Adopts New Right of Way Use Policy
The Alaska Railroad Corporation has adopted a new policy regarding residential uses of Railroad rights of way. Over the last 30 years, some property owners adjacent to the rail line have created lawns, gardens, or structures that extend into the right of way near the tracks. Now, in order to begin or continue using the right of way, property owners will need a permit from the Railroad.
Homer City Charter Petition Effort Gathers Steam
Homer residents may have noticed a petition circulating around town recently, calling for the formation of a charter commission. If the petition effort is successful, that commission would then be tasked with writing a new city charter for Homer.
Cleaning up Town Square with Classical Music?
Anchorage community members have been brainstorming ways to make Town Square a safer place. One proposed solution is to play classical music into Town Square to discourage illicit behavior and loitering.
Alaska Teen Media Institute's Barae Hirsch interviewed teens and park goers about what they thought of this idea.
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Fairview Residents Work To Re-Image Neighborhood
When I accepted a job in Anchorage more than a dozen years ago, my new boss told me the neighborhood I'd be working in was sketchy. She said signs of illicit sex and drug use, along with alcohol debris would be common in the parking lot. And that homeless people would sleep on the porch. It was all true. That was my introduction to Fairview. But last Saturday I glimpsed a very different version of the neighborhood through the stories of smiling residents who love Fairview, faults and all.
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Alaska Has Few Healthcare.gov Enrollees
Enroll Alaska is back in business. The company suspended enrollments on healthcare.gov last month, after discovering the subsidy calculations weren't working properly for Alaskans.
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Murkowski Says Sequestration Jeopardizing National Defense
The country could face a second round of automatic budget cuts if Congress can’t agree on a spending plan by year’s end.
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Bethel Filipinos Reach Their Families After Storm
It’s unclear how many thousands of people lost their lives in the typhoon that hit the Philippines. But Bethel’s small Filipino population has been desperately trying to reach family back home to make sure they’re okay.
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Fire Damages Classroom At Bethel School
Fire crews responded to a fire today at the Bethel ME school, which houses pre-school through second grade.
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