Palmer Waste Dump Plan Draws Opposition
About one hundred people turned out to speak at a Matanuska Susitna Borough planning commission meeting on Monday. At issue - a plan to construct an inert construction debris dump on private land near Palmer.
Savoonga Post Office Faces Intermittent Closure Until New Postal Worker is Hired
Savoonga’s only postal worker resigned mid-November, and now the St. Lawrence Island community of 700 has been without regular postal service for almost two weeks. There’s no indication of when a permanent postmaster will be hired to fill the vacancy.
Sealaska Selections in Tongass Added to Defense Bill
Sealaska Corporation would get land within the Tongass National Forest in a bill that’s moving quickly in the final days of Congress. It would turn over about 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest to Sealaska, mostly for logging and development. It's part of a large package of public lands bills that's been tacked on to a must-pass defense bill.
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Legislators Prepare For Marijuana Regulation
When it comes to marijuana legislation, Senate Judiciary Chair Lesil McGuire says the number one goal for her is to “implement the voters’ will.”
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Fairbanks Municipal Leaders Hold Joint Meeting to Consider Pot-Legalization Law
Municipal leaders from all three local governments gathered for a joint meeting Tuesday night with about 120 citizens to talk about the state’s new marijuana-legalization law. The first-of-its-kind meeting was held so the leaders could talk amongst themselves, and with the audience, about how they’re going to put the law into practice.
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Anti-Corruption Measure Cleared For Signatures
Supporters of a proposed ballot initiative aimed at public corruption have been given the OK to begin gathering signatures.
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Search Goes On for Missing Crew of Sunk Pollock Boat
Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 11 more crew members from a South Korean pollock boat that sank in the Bering Sea on Monday.
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University of Alaska Delays Survey on Sexual Assault on Campus
The University of Alaska system has delayed a campus climate survey originally scheduled for October. The goal of the survey is to gauge the prevalence of sexual assault on campus and students’ attitudes on the issue.
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Southeast Divers Finish Up Sea Cucumber Season
It was a relatively quick season for Southeast Alaska sea cucumber divers. The season closed in mid-November after the fleet landed a little more than a million pounds of the seafood delicacy. Meanwhile, it looks like diving for geoduck clams might not be over so quickly.
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Juneau Homeless Shelter To Be Closed At Least A Month
Juneau’s nonprofit homeless shelter, the Glory Hole, will be closed at least a month after a burst water pipe caused major flood damage last weekend.
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Traditional gut sewing at the Anchorage Museum
The Anchorage Museum is hosting three Alaska Native artists this week. They are teaching students and others about gut sewing, a traditional skill still used today to make rain gear. They're also learning about the craft from each other and from historical items in the museum's collection. Mary Tunuchuk talks about the process.
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Toksook Bay Teen’s Yup’ik Music Videos Gain Popularity
Attracting an audience of over 10,000 Facebook followers, a Toksook Bay teenager is creating his own version of Yup’ik songs and sharing them with an international audience.
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Alaska News Nightly: December 3, 2014
Sealaska Selections in Tongass Added to Defense Bill; Lawmakers Prepare To Address Marijuana Issues; Fairbanks Municipal Leaders Hold Joint Meeting to Consider Pot-Legalization Law; Anti-Corruption Measure Cleared For Signatures; Search Goes On for Missing Crew of Sunk Pollock Boat; University of Alaska Delays Survey on Sexual Assault on Campus; Southeast Divers Finish Up Sea Cucumber Season; Juneau Homeless Shelter To Be Closed At Least A Month; Traditional gut sewing at the Anchorage Museum; Toksook Bay Teen’s Yup’ik Music Videos Gain Popularity
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NOAA Proposes Critical Habitat For Ringed Seals
A federal agency has proposed about 350,000 square miles of ocean off Alaska's north and west coasts as critical habitat for the seal that's the main prey of polar bears.
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BOEM Report Says Chukchi Sea Drilling Runs Heightened Risk Of Large Spill
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is holding hearings around the state on lease sale 193, in the Chukchi Sea. In its latest Environmental Impact Statement, BOEM says there’s likely more oil there, but also more risk of a large oil spill.
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Caribou, Reindeer Compete For Space On The Seward Peninsula
For decades, caribou have posed a threat to reindeer herders on the Seward Peninsula — their numbers swelling, even as the reindeer population shrinks. Now, a new front has developed in the turf war between reindeer and caribou.
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State Releases Design Study For Tustumena Ferry Replacement
The ferry Tustumena is getting old. For the last few years, the state has been looking into options for repairing or replacing the aging vessel, which serves parts of Southcentral and Southwestern Alaska, Kodiak Island, and the Aleutian chain. On Dec. 2, the Department of Transportation released the design study report for a replacement vessel with an estimated construction cost of $237 million.
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Burst Water Pipe, Flood Temporarily Shut Down Juneau Homeless Shelter
The Glory Hole, Juneau’s emergency homeless shelter and soup kitchen, is temporarily out of commission following a burst water pipe and flood at the downtown facility Sunday evening.
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Compliance Ordered for Ketchikan Water Supply
A compliance order from the state Department of Environmental Conservation spells out what the City of Ketchikan is required to do over the next couple of years to address ongoing water concerns.
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