Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, August 6, 2015
32 Hospitalized After Smoking Spice In Anchorage; Choice Improvement Act Helps Close VA Funding Gap; Coast Guard Boss: Ahoy! Icebreakers on Budget Horizon; No More Kicking the Can Down the Road: Talkeetna Starts Recycling; In Price William Sound, AEA Hears Input On Regional Energy Plans; Open Call for Gas Supply Proposals Closes; Harnessing the Fizz of A Ferment: Homer Gets A Lesson From A Pro; Ishmael Hope Recrafts A Family Tale in 'Never Alone' Follow-Up
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Hospitalizations from Spice on the rise, many cases near Bean’s Cafe
More than 30 people have been hospitalized this week because of the drug spice. Though it's not directly linked to deaths in the homeless community, staff at Bean's Cafe are concerned.
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Choice Improvement Act helps close VA funding gap
A move by the Obama Administration has freed up money in Alaska to close a funding gap in healthcare for veterans.
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Coast Guard Boss: Ahoy! Icebreakers on Budget Horizon
The head of the U.S. Coast Guard says lawmakers and the national security staff are waking up to the need for more icebreakers as the Arctic opens to increased ship traffic.
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No More Kicking the Can Down the Road: Talkeetna Starts Recycling
Talkeetna’s Mat-Su Borough Transfer Site, often referred to by locals as “the dump,” is not the sort of place you would normally expect to find a celebration, but that’s exactly what happened on Monday when the community’s first recycling container was brought online.
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In Price William Sound, AEA Hears Input On Regional Energy Plans
With funding from the Alaska Energy Authority a series of regional energy plans are in the works to help individuals and communities become more energy efficient.
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Open Call for Gas Supply Proposals Closes
The deadline for proposals to supply the State lead Interior Energy Project with natural gas was Monday. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority is managing the project, and AIDEA spokesman Karsten Rodvik says the state corporation is considering a range of possibilities for getting affordable gas to the Interior.
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Harnessing the Fizz of A Ferment: Homer Gets A Lesson From A Pro
A fermentation specialist stopped in Homer this week. He’s making his way up Alaska, teaching about the crossover among food preservation, microbiology, and community. He taught an intensive fermentation workshop on a local farm.
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Ishmael Hope recrafts a family tale in “Never Alone” follow-up
With “Never Alone,” Cook Inlet Tribal Council and game developers combined indigenous storytelling with video gaming in a way that appealed to mass markets. Its success has led to the follow up “Never Alone: Foxtales,” released on July 28. Juneau writer Ishmael Hope relied on his uncles, Alaska Native elders from Kotzebue, to write the game’s narrative.
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Tribes to get voice in state transboundary mine work
State government will formally involve tribal groups in its transboundary mining work. Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott made that commitment Wednesday while meeting in Juneau with Southeast Native leaders.
Helicopter crew, pregnant pilot deliver Aleutian Islands fishermen to safety
Two fishermen were rescued from their boat grounded off Unalga Island in the eastern Aleutians on Tuesday. A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak hoisted the men to safety about 1 pm. The two were flown to Dutch Harbor and did not require medical attention.
USDA to bailout some canned sockeye surplus
There’s some good news this week about that often spoken of glut of canned sockeye salmon: the US Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday it intends to purchase up to $30 million worth and put it into food banks and other emergency assistance programs.
Synthetic drug blamed for 30 Anchorage hospitalizations
Anchorage police say at least 30 people have been taken to the hospital over the past four days with health problems stemming from the use of a synthetic drug called Spice.
State flags removed from Fairbanks bridge due to conditions
A display of America's 50 state flags has been removed from a Fairbanks bridge due to their worn condition and an ongoing debate about Confederate symbols.
Anchorage police investigating shooting of 3-year-old
According to a release from the department, police received a call just after noon on Wednesday reporting the shooting at a home in southeast Anchorage. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Shell's Arctic Icebreaker Returns to Unalaska; Gov. Walker Meets with Kuskokwim Tribes on Trust Lands; University of Alaska-Fairbanks Cuts Means $200k Bite to Nome’s Northwest Campus; 'Expedited Partner Therapy' Lowers Gonorrhea Cases in the YK Delta; The Elasmosaur: A Nessie-Like Dino Unearthed Near Talkeetna; Bering Straits Native Corp. Buys Alaska Industrial Hardware; Kodiak's Alutiiq Museum Releases Book On Karluk Archaeological Site; A New Totem Pole Graces Ketchikan Shipyard; Drums of Hazardous Waste Dumped Near Kodiak
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Shell’s Arctic Icebreaker Returns to Unalaska
Shell's Fennica icebreaker has returned to Alaska. It docked at Dutch Harbor on Tuesday evening after enduring repairs and protests in Portland, Oregon.
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Gov. Walker Meets With Kuskokwim Tribes on Trust Lands
Governor Bill Walker was in Akiachak and Tuluskak Tuesday to discuss a lawsuit involving tribal lands into trust, according to officials in Akiachak. Walker’s office kept his first visit to southwest Alaska since his election low profile amid high interest in a case that could reshape jurisdiction on Alaska Native lands.
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University of Alaska-Fairbanks Cuts Means $200k Bite to Nome’s Northwest Campus
Deep cuts across the University of Alaska Fairbanks are spreading to satellite campus across the state, and Nome’s Northwest Campus is no exception.
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