Parnell Says Medicaid Won’t Expand In Alaska
Friday, Governor Parnell announced he won't expand Medicaid in Alaska. Medicaid expansion is a key provision of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. It would offer health coverage to an estimated 40,000 low income Alaskans. Parnell says he doesn't want to attach Alaskans health care or finances to a "failing Obamacare system."
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Storms Appear To Subside In Western Alaska
The worst appears to be over for coastal villages in Western Alaska. State Emergency incident Commander Mark Roberts says a return to a more normal weather pattern with clear, cold conditions is forecast.
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Thousands Of Interior Residents Still Without Power
Thousands of residents from Fairbanks to Fox and Nenana remain without electricity Friday following damage wrought by a mix freezing rain, snow and high winds.
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Alaska Legislators Ask Constituents To Support Storm Relief Efforts
Massive weather events have shaken up coastal communities in Alaska and Philippines this month. Now, two state legislators are asking their constituents to support to relief efforts on both fronts.
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Alaska Leaders Attend White House Tribal Nations Conference
Tribal leaders from Alaska and the rest of the country had a chance this week talk with the highest powers in the federal government. Nearly all of President Obama’s cabinet secretaries participated in the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference, as did Obama himself.
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AK: Tlingit Ventriloquism
Like many other indigenous languages, Tlingit is in survival mode. Revitalizing the language was the focus of this year’s Tlingit Tribes and Clans Conference held in Juneau last week. A Juneau resident has one solution for how to keep the language alive. During a conference session, realtor and assemblyman Carlton Smith gave participants a lesson in how to teach Tlingit to children with puppets. And he does it with the help of a special guest.
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300 Villages: Kiana
This week we head to Kiana, a village of about 350 people on the Kobuk River about 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Bertha Barr works for the village’s food distribution program.
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Public Use Cabins
On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’re talking about public use cabins. Why now? Well, they’re open in the winter, and perfect for a ski or snowshoeing weekend. Perhaps more importantly, the season for reserving cabins for summer will soon be upon us. Believe it or not, it’s time to start planning your cabin trips for 2014. We learn about remote cabins you can rent, how to do it, and personal favorites across the region.
KSKA: Thursday 11/21 at 2:00 and 9:00 pm
Sullivan: More Patrols Downtown to Curb Crime
More police officers will be patrolling downtown Anchorage late at night when the bars let out, starting this weekend. Officers will patrol in cars and on foot downtown overnight on the weekends.
Tribal Law and Order in Alaska
Would tribal law enforcement jurisdiction help address the social and cultural problems in rural Alaska? It has been debated for decades, and now a congressionally-mandated panel says it’s the only way to go. But, a Supreme Court ruling says there is no Indian country in most of the state.
APRN: Tuesday, 11/19 at 10:00am
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Fairbanks Assembly Approves Land Sale to Chena Hot Springs Resort
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly voted during their regular meeting Thursday to approve a land exchange sale between the Borough and Chena Hot Springs Resort. It's a deal that’s been in the works for more than a decade. It stalled earlier this year after a disagreement over the appraised value of the property.
Stimson Back In Service After Maintenance In Unalaska
The Alaska State Troopers’ largest patrol vessel is back in service after an engine upgrade in its home port of Dutch Harbor. The patrol vessel Stimson was out of commission for 10 days earlier this month during the overhaul.
2nd Grader Started Fire In Bethel School Bathroom
Lower Kuskokwim school officials say it was a 2nd grade student with a lighter that caused the fire in a detached building’s bathroom. The school will be disciplining the 2nd grade student according to the district’s policies.
Alaska’s Congressional Delegation Pushes For Fishery Disaster Funds
Alaska’s congressional delegation is pushing for disaster funds related to 2012’s low Chinook runs on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. Twenty-two new lawmakers are now included on a letter of support for $150 million in relief to be spread across other national fishery disasters.
Bethel Residents Make Case For Keeping Rural Status
Bethel’s rural status is not immediately at risk. But once the population hits 7,000, it will be presumed to be non-rural unless it proves to have rural characteristics. The federal subsistence board is in a multi-year process of reviewing how it decides which communities have the critical rural priority for accessing resources on federal lands as described under ANILCA.
Harbeson Homestead Joins the Great Land Trust Effort
Earlier this year we enjoyed an intimate celebration with the Harbeson, Chapman, Barlow family complete with carrot cake, sparkling cider, hugs, and a few proud tears.
In the conference room at Mat-Su Title, with a lovely view of Wasilla lake, we finalized the conservation easement on their historic thirty acre homestead including O’Brien Creek Estuary, overlooking Knik Arm.
Read more. Obama’s ACA ‘Fix’ Will Be Tricky To Implement In Alaska
President Obama said today insurers can continue offering the plans they intended to cancel as part of the Affordable Care Act. The announcement is a response to outcry over the President's "if you like your plan you can keep it" promise, which turned out to be untrue for millions of Americans. Now, state insurance regulators and insurance companies have to figure out if they can make Obama's new plan work.
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Storms Continue Dealing Damage In Western Alaska
Western Alaska has been wracked by storms the last few days. The first round occurred Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Before clean-up efforts were even finished in some of the worst-hit communities, strong winds and coastal flooding did more damage last night.
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Bad Weather Closes Fairbanks Schools
Schools were closed in Fairbanks for a second day on Thursday due to stormy weather. Driving conditions are slick, and more than 13,000 households were without power this morning. Golden Valley Electric Association had the number down to a few thousand by mid-day, but expected it will take until Friday morning to restore power to some remote neighborhoods.
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Large Projects Aim To Reduce Railbelt Energy Costs
The state is currently putting money toward five different large-scale projects aimed at reducing energy costs on the Railbelt. Some, like subsidizing Cook Inlet gas production, impact energy costs now and in the near term. Other projects, like the proposed LNG pipeline wouldn’t affect prices for at least a decade. The question is—should the state be supporting all of the projects?
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