The 7.5 Million Obamacare Number Only Part Of The Story
Want to know how many people have signed up for private insurance under Obamacare? Like the law itself, the answer is complicated. The administration is tracking the number of plans purchased on healthcare.gov and on the state exchanges. But the federal government isn’t counting the number of people buying plans directly from insurance carriers.
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HB23 Would Allow Public Financing Of KABATA
With a 16-4 vote on Saturday, the state Senate approved House Bill 23, allowing public financing of the Knik Arm Crossing. The approval moves the $892 million project forward by updating the project’s financial model. The bill allows funding for the bridge to come from three public entities: one third from bonds, one third from National Highway System funds, and the final third from federal loans.
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Museum Experts Sift Through The Arctic’s Second Largest Butterfly Collection
It will be a few months before butterflies flit through the air in Interior Alaska, but the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks was recently filled with them.
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YK Delta Residents Speak On Possible King Salmon Fishery Closure
Facing the possibility of a total closure of the King salmon fishery this summer and new dip-net openings, people from the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta are speaking up on all sides of the issue.
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Jeff King Wins Kobuk 440
Jeff King is the winner in this year’s Kobuk 440. King crossed the finish line at 12:12 am Sunday morning, followed by Tony Browning and Hugh Neff.
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Alaska News Nightly: April 14, 2014
Inmate Found Dead At Eagle River Women's Jail; Legislature Passes Bill Limiting Medicaid Payments For Abortion; House Passes Minimum Wage Bill, As Initiative Sponsors Cry Foul; NTSB Advances Investigation Into Fatal Training Flight Crash; John Luther Adams Wins Pulitzer For ‘Become Ocean’; How Many People Have Signed Up Insurance Under Obamacare?; Museum Experts Sift Through The Arctic’s Largest Butterfly Collection; HB23 Would Allow Public Financing Of KABATA; YK Delta Residents Speak On Possible King Salmon Fishery Closure; Jeff King Wins Kobuk 440
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NTSB Advances Investigation Into Fatal Training Flight Crash
The National Transportation Safety Board has finished its on-scene investigation into the crash that killed two Hageland Aviation pilots Tuesday. Derrick Cedars of Bethel and Greggory McGee from Anchorage died in Tuesday’s crash.
‘Erin’s Law’ Passes Alaska Senate
The Alaska Senate unanimously passed Erin’s Law this morning. The law provides age-appropriate sexual abuse education to children in public schools.
POW, Metlakatla Schools Awarded Tech Grants
Hydaburg and Annette Island school districts were among three Alaska Native groups that received advanced telecommunications technology grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development office.
Sitka Tribe Names New General Manager
The Sitka Tribe of Alaska has hired a new general manager. Lawrence SpottedBird, currently of Washington State, will start work on Monday.
Legislature Votes To Create Dr. Walter Soboleff Day In Alaska
The Alaska Legislature has finalized work on a bill that would name November 14th as Walter Soboleff Day in Alaska. He was a revered Tligit elder and religious leader.
A Trip to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
When driving along Turnagain Arm, you might miss the modest sign for the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Portage Creek.
But if you do manage to find your way into the wildlife center, you’ll find some interesting animals with equally fascinating stories.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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