House Passes Minimum Wage Bill, As Initiative Sponsors Cry Foul
As initiative supporters cried dirty tricks, the House narrowly passed a minimum wage bill that has the potential to knock their proposition off the ballot. The night only got more tense when the Speaker of the House fired back on the floor.
Download Audio
Legislature Passes Bill Limiting Medicaid Payments For Abortion
The bill defines the term “medically necessary,” so it only covers physical harm – not psychological harm. Critics believe it will make it harder for low-income women to have access to abortion.
Download Audio
Sullivan Maintains Fundraising Momentum
Republican senate candidate Dan Sullivan has kept up his fundraising momentum. Sullivan’s campaign reports he raised $1.3 million in the first quarter of the year.
Download Audio
Parnell Reintroduces Retirement Plan
The Legislature has made little progress on Gov. Sean Parnell's goal of addressing the state's looming retirement problem. Parnell hopes to change that by filing a bill that reintroduces his plan to deal with Alaska’s $12 billion unfunded liability.
Download Audio
Inuit Circumpolar Council Discussing Food Security
The Inuit Circumpolar Council is holding a meeting in Nome next week. The topic is food security, and the goal is to create a framework to understand the issue from an Inuit perspective.
Download Audio
Delta Western Workers Approve Union Membership
After two months of protests, Delta Western fuel workers in Unalaska have voted to unionize. The Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific got the support of a slim majority in an election on Thursday night.
Download Audio
The Alaska Innocence Project Challenging 1987 Murder Conviction
Evidence used to get a conviction for a 1987 Fairbanks murder trial is in question. The Alaska Innocence Project is pursuing post conviction relief for Michael Alexander, who was imprisoned for the March 23, 1987 kidnapping and killing of Fairbanks teenager Kathy Stockholm. The Innocence Project request challenges biological evidence that helped convict Alexander, and the group’s Director Bill Oberly says the FBI has concurred it could be suspect.
Download Audio
Fire Season Likely To Start Early In Southcentral Alaska
Wildland firefighters are gearing up for the upcoming 2014 fire season. According to the Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska Fire Service, fire season could come fast to parts of the Tanana Valley and Southcentral Alaska.
Download Audio
HAARP Research Facility To Shut Down
Gakona's High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, better known as HAARP, is slated for the junkpile. But a group of University of Alaska researchers are trying to stave off a Department of Defense move to scuttle the often - misunderstood scientific facility.
Download Audio
AK: Puppet Town
Haines seems like a quintessential Southeast Alaska town. There are eagles, bears, salmon, big mountains and rough water. It’s a picture-book no stoplight, no movie theater, low crime type of community. But there’s a seedier and eclectic side of Haines that emerged late this winter: the underground puppet scene.
Download Audio
300 Villages: Kasaan
This week, we’re heading to Kasaan, located in Southeast Alaska on Prince of Wales island. The coastal Native village is home to the oldest Haida building in the world. Frederick Otilius Olsen Junior is from Kasaan.
Download Audio
Alaska News Nightly: April 11, 2014
Sullivan Maintains Fundraising Momentum; Little Progress Made In Dealing With Looming Retirement Problem; Inuit Circumpolar Council Discussing Food Security; Delta Western Workers Approve Union Membership; The Alaska Innocence Project Challenging 1987 Murder Conviction; Fire Season Likely To Start Early In Southcentral Alaska; HAARP Research Facility To Shut Down; AK: Puppet Town; 300 Villages: Kasaan
Download Audio
The Potential of Trails in Alaska
With the snow melting back and the ground thawing out, Alaska’s trail builders will soon be back at work making the country more accessible. They’ll be out there with tools and crews, shaping paths for feet, paws and wheels. If you never heard of single tracks and pump tracks and especially if you have, you’ll learn what’s new in trails on the next Talk of Alaska.
APRN: Tuesday, 4/15 at 10:00am
Download Audio
The Armory Show: Art Fair Meets Avant-garde
After my romp through the 2014 Whitney Biennial this past March, I took a crosstown bus from Fifth Avenue to the Armory Show on display on the remodeled Hudson River Piers 92 & 94 .
With two hundred and five exhibitors, the Armory Show is the largest art fair in New York and really Disneyland for art lovers.
Read more. Final Vote On Abortion Bill Delayed After Divisive Amendment Process
The Alaska State House opened debate on a bill putting limits on state Medicaid payments for abortions on Thursday, only to shelve it and delay a final vote to Sunday.
Geraghty Testifies On Tribal Law And Order Commission Report Findings
State Attorney General Michael Geraghty testified before a legislative committee this week to respond to a national report that singles out Alaska for its high rates of violence against Alaska Natives, especially Native women. The Indian Law and Order Commission report was deeply critical of Alaska’s law enforcement and judicial system. But the state’s Geraghty says the Indian Law and Order Commission is trying to impose lower 48 solutions that won’t work in Alaska.
Download Audio
Army Sets New Protocols During Fire Season
The Army has a new protocol for live ordnance training during times of high wildfire danger. Army artillery practice sparked the Stewart Creek 2 wildfire that burned east of Fairbanks though much of last summer. The 87,000 acre blaze forced evacuations and cost more than $20 million to fight.
Download Audio
Exit Exam Bill Could Bring Diplomas To More Students
Graduation time is just around the corner and for most seniors that means walking a stage and accepting a diploma. But a few students a year in Petersburg do not receive a diploma because they don’t pass a test. A bill making its way through the state Legislature would change that. House Bill 220 would repeal the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam.
Download Audio
Sitka Assembly Passes Anti-Smoking Law
The Sitka Assembly passed a controversial amendment Tuesday night, tightening the city’s anti-smoking laws. The question before the assembly was whether children should be prohibited from entering any business that allows smoking — even for a non-smoking event. The decision came down to different interpretations of what voters intended nearly a decade ago.
Download Audio
Fairbanks Will Help Fund New Mental Health Drop In Center
The City of Fairbanks will help fund a new mental health drop in center. Earlier this week, the city council approved $58,000 for the Northern Door Clubhouse.
Download Audio