Talkeetna Ranger Station to be Renamed
The Talkeetna Ranger Station has a new name. President Obama has signed the Denali National Park Improvement Act, which officially renames the Park Service building to the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station in honor of the Athabascan climber who was the first person to set foot on the summit of Denali in 1913.
Five Arrested in Undercover Drug Sting
Five people are facing felony drug charges after being arrested Tuesday. Unalaska police say they’ve been conducting an undercover investigation for the past four months, which allegedly revealed sales of black tar heroin and crystal meth in town.
Mat-Su Voters Will Decide On Alcohol Tax Proposition
Matanuska Susitna Borough voters will consider an alcohol tax proposition on the Oct. 1 election ballot. The 5 percent tax would be used to offset the burden on Borough property owners, but opponents of the plan say it unfairly targets a specific industry.
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New Evidence Suggests Innocence Of ‘Fairbanks 4’
Hundreds of Alaska Natives gathered outside the state court house in Fairbanks Wednesday afternoon to hear news about a murder case that’s long raised questions about whether justice was served. Four Fairbanks men, three of whom are Alaska Native, are serving long sentences for the 1997 stomping death of local teen John Hartman. The case of “the Fairbanks Four” lacked physical evidence and has been reexamined in recent years by local Native advocates and the Alaska Innocence Project. The groups say new evidence shows the jailed men are innocent.
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Margaret Stock Named MacArthur Genius Grant Winner
An Anchorage immigration attorney is a MacArthur Genius grant winner. Margaret Stock was named today along with 23 other recipients across the country. The honor comes with a $625,000 award over the next five years.
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A Week Later, Shelter Still Home for Mountain View Fire Victims
It's been about a week since fire ripped through Glynwood Manor, a 38-unit apartment complex in the Mountain View neighborhood of Anchorage. Investigators are still trying to figure out the cause. Meantime, 32 people are still living at a Red Cross Shelter at the Fairview Recreation Center.
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Two Dead, One Missing Near Alakanuk
Alaska State Troopers are investigating what appears to be at least two deaths from a boating incident near Alakanuk.
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Haines Highway Progress Slows
The Haines Highway is a stretch of road north of Haines to the Canadian border and toward Alaska’s Interior. The two-lane road follows a prolific salmon river, travels through the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and crisscrosses Native cultural sites. And while a project to expand the highway has been in the works for years, a recent influx of concern about its impact on the Chilkat Valley has slowed its progress.
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Tourism Pioneer Stan Stephens Dies
One of Alaska’s tourism pioneers passed away over the weekend. Stan Stephens was 79-years-old. He was known for his popular charter boat line that provided tours in the Prince William Sound.
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Winter Study of Beluga Whales Difficult, Scientists Say
As scientists attempt to better understand the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale, they are taking a closer look at what the whales eat, but studying the dining habits of beluga whales is harder than you might think.
Anchorage Police Investigating Man’s Death
Anchorage police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found Wednesday morning. Police in a statement say the man was found just before 7 a.m. outside the Anchorage Community Mental Health Services building in East Anchorage.
Veteran Spotlight: Col. Suellyn Wright Novak
In the 3rd grade, Suellyn Wright Novak was asked to draw a picture of what she wanted to be when she grew up.
She told her teacher she wanted to be a colonel in the Air Force in Alaska – and the teacher was so shocked at the clarity of her vision that she convened a parent-teacher conference where Novak’s parents.
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Feds Release Affordable Care Act Insurance Rates
Alaskans will be paying some of the highest premiums in the country for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
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When Will Voters Weigh in on Anchorage Labor Law?
Anchorage Assembly members introduced two ordinances at their regular meeting Tuesday night that would suspend voting on a controversial labor initiative.
Lobbyists And Legislators Converge On Energy Council Meeting
Every March, the Alaska legislature shuts down so lawmakers can travel to Washington, DC to participate in the Energy Council. The Council is a non-profit whose stated mission is to facilitate discussion about energy and environmental issues. But the trips have frequently been criticized as taxpayer-funded junkets.
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Pew Trust Proposes Arctic Drilling Standards
The Interior Department's top offshore oil official says he welcomes a detailed set of recommendations from the Pew Trust on what standards should be required for Arctic drilling.
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BLM Confirms Strategy For Old Alaska Well Cleanup
The Bureau of Land Management says its strategy for cleaning up old oil wells in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska will focus initially on 16 high priority sites.
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Scientists Find Unexpected Response To Climate Change In Northern Moths
The world’s northern-most moths may be dealing with a changing climate more effectively than some scientists expected. In fact, they may be surviving rising temperatures better than their southern counterparts.
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Owners Fight To Save Fairbanks’ Polaris Building
There’s new hope that a derelict downtown Fairbanks landmark can be spared the wrecking ball. The Polaris building could be torn down, but its Anchorage based owner isn’t giving up.
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Healy Clean Coal Plant Shouldn’t See Impact From New Regulations
New federal regulations on coal fired energy should not affect’s Golden Valley Electric Association’s re-start of the Healy Clean Coal plant. GVEA President and CEO Cory Borgeson expects the plan to purchase and operate the long idled facility to remain on track.
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