Sitka diesel spill now estimated at 2500 gallons
Officials are now estimating that about 2,500 gallons of diesel spilled into Sitka Sound this weekend, after a fuel tank failed at the city’s Jarvis Street Power Plant. That’s significantly less than the 7,000 gallons feared on Sunday.
Roasting Twinkies & Other Kid Wisdom From Camp In the Togiak Refuge
The Togiak National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 4.7 million acres in southwestern Alaska, from the west side of Bristol Bay, near Dillingham, west to Togiak and north to the Quinhagak and Platinum region. Each year, refuge staff organizes a high school science camp, conducted via float trip, to show area students a little sliver of the refuge in their backyard. Earlier this month, six students from Dillingham and Twin Hills floated the Pungokepuk River.
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Alaska News Nightly: Monday, August 17, 2015
Shell Gets Final Approval To Drill Into Oil-Bearing Rock in the Chukchi; 24 Apache Choppers To Nest At Ft. Wainwright; Legislators Plot Their Next Move As Medicaid Rollout Looms; Bethel Preschool Trashed by Vandals; VA Sec. Visits Point Hope, Kotzebue; Bush Vets Share The Woes of Accessing Remote Care; Staffing the Grill & State: Walker's First Governor's Picnic; 2015 Dungeness Season: Lackluster Against 2014's Harvest, But Still Average; Roasting Twinkies And Other Wisdom From Kid Camp In the Togiak; Dispatch From the Couch: Google Trekker Lets You 'Hike' the Chilkoot Trail
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Shell Gets Final Approval To Drill Into Oil-Bearing Rock in the Chukchi
The Interior Department gave final approval to Shell Oil to drill into oil-bearing rocks at the company’s “Burger J” drilling site. The company has until late September to complete this summer’s exploratory drilling.
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24 Apache Choppers To Nest At Ft. Wainwright
The first U.S. Army apache helicopters to be based in Alaska are scheduled to arrive at Fort Wainwright this week. They're part of a new unit that will include 24 helicopters and 400 soldiers.
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Legislators Plot Their Next Move As Medicaid Rollout Looms
A legislative committee plans to meet Tuesday to discuss whether or not to challenge Gov. Bill Walker's plan to expand Medicaid in Alaska.
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Bethel Preschool Trashed by Vandals
Vandals trashed preschool classrooms and smashed windows in 13 of the Lower Kuskokwim School District’s vehicles over the weekend.
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VA Sec. Visits Point Hope, Kotzebue; Bush Vets Share The Woes of Accessing Remote Care
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Robert McDonald, traveled to Point Hope and Kotzebue to address their concerns. Remote access to care and information are among the most common problem facing veterans in Alaska.
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Staffing the Grill & State: Walker’s First Governor’s Picnic
Bill Walker hosted his first Governor’s Picnic in Juneau on Friday at the University of Alaska Southeast.
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2015 Dungeness Season: Lackluster Against 2014, But Still Average
Southeast’s Dungeness summer crab season ended on Saturday. There aren’t any preliminary numbers yet but it’s looking as if this year hasn’t got close to the bumper season crab fishermen had last summer.
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Dispatch From The Couch: Google Trekker Lets You ‘Hike’ the Chilkoot Trail
A hundred years ago, to hike to the Klondike gold fields via the Chilkoot Trail meant a grueling trek carrying a required one ton of supplies, enough to last a year. Soon armchair hikers can breeze along the 33-mile trail virtually, in a few minutes, using Google’s Street View.
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Shell Gets Final Federal Approvals To Drill in the Chukchi
The federal government has given Royal Dutch Shell the final permit it needs to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's northwest coast for the first time in more than two decades.
Juneau Man Held On Non-Criminal Charges, Dies In Correctional Facility
A Juneau man died at Lemon Creek Correctional Center Friday morning, about 12 hours after he was brought in. Forty-nine-year-old Joseph Murphy was booked at the prison around 7 p.m. Thursday night and was being held on non-criminal charges.
Dead herring, poison mussels found on Unalaska shorelines
Hundreds of dead herring washed up on Front Beach in downtown Unalaska on Tuesday.
Can We Call It Hoo-Brew? New Brewery Opens in Hoonah
On Saturday, a Hoonah microbrewery is opening its doors to serve the village a variety of craft beers. Kegs used to become scarce around the same time tourists did. Now fresh pints are guaranteed through winter.
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Fiery Testimony, Complex Problems at Mat-Su Visit From VA Secretary
A listening session held Thursday night in Wasilla by the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs was dominated by complaints about the healthcare system for veterans.
Alaska News Nightly: Friday, August 14, 2015
Mat-Su Vets Rail Against VA During Secretary's Visit; Climate Change, Not Arctic Drilling, Brings Obama to Alaska; Doyon Announces New Oil & Gas Prospect Near Nenana; LGBT Discrimination Claims Still Not Valid in Alaska Despite Federal Ruling; Governor Nominates Elizabeth Peratrovich As The Face of the $10 Bill; Earthquake Swarm Hits Yakutat; AK: Sitka Cirque Lassos Sitkans Into The Show; 49 Voices: Zach Carothers of Portugal. The Man
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Climate change, not Arctic drilling, drives Obama trip to Alaska
President Barack Obama is coming to Alaska later this month. The White House released a video Thursday morning to explain why he will be the first sitting president to visit Alaska’s Arctic.
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LGBT discrimination claims still not valid in Alaska despite federal ruling
The U.S. Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission ruled in late July that sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace is illegal because it is a form of sex discrimination, which is already prohibited. Some of the most common types of discrimination LGBT people face are in the workplace and in housing. Despite this, Alaska’s statewide and Anchorage anti-discrimination commissions don’t offer protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people.
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Governor Nominates Elizabeth Peratrovich As The Face of the $10 Bill
The Walker-Mallott administration has nominated a Tlingit civil-rights leader to be on the new $10 bill.
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