Galena Residents Struggle To Navigate Assistance Programs
It’s been nearly 4 and a half months since a spring break up flood ravaged Galena. Much progress has been made to repair damaged infrastructure from power and water lines, to roads, and public buildings. Over 50 homes have been fixed or rebuilt, but many others remain in disrepair. Some Galena residents have struggled to navigate a tangle of assistance programs.
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AVEC On Schedule For Bethel Utilities Corporation Takeover
Meera Kohler, President of the Alaska Villages Electric Cooperative, says they are still on schedule for a Spring takeover of Bethel Utilities Corporation. AVEC is a non-profit electric utility serving Western Alaska. The buyout would cut electric rates for customers in Bethel, Napaskiak, and Oscarville. The coop’s other 52 villages should experience lower rates as well.
Sealaska CEO Announces Retirement
The president and chief executive officer of Sealaska Corp. has announced his retirement.
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Veniaminof Volcano Active Once More
A volcano on the Alaska Peninsula has again become active during a months-long eruption, with a trace of ash falling on communities up to 35 miles away.
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UAF Scientists Land Grant For Most Extensive Pacific Walrus Research To Date
Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will spend the next four years studying various aspects of Pacific walruses in the far north. The $1.7 million project is funded by the National Science Foundation.
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300 Villages: Kenny Lake
This week, we’re headed to the community of Kenny Lake on the edge of Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Vicky Koelzer is co-owner of the Kenny Lake Mercantile.
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UAA Hockey Looks Forward To Fresh Start
The University of Alaska Anchorage's hockey team is putting its turbulent off-season behind it. And with a new athletic director and head coach at the helm, the team has an opportunity to take advantage of a clean slate of sorts.
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Diversity In News Coverage
This year’s University of Alaska Anchorage Atwood Chair of Journalism is the first Native to hold the position. Alaska residents come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and the state is home to half of the nation’s tribes, yet most of the reporters in the state are white. Does this matter? What changes when there is more diversity in reporting?
APRN: Tuesday, 10/15 at 10:00am
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AK: Float
At 1.6 million acres, the Wood Tikchik State Park is the largest of its kind in the United States. With no road or trails, the park remains a quiet preserve for the fish and wildlife it was created to protect.
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Murkowski, Young Ask Dept. of Commerce to Jumpstart Crab Season
As it stands, the Bering Sea crab harvest is on hold until fishermen receive their permits from federal government. But three Pacific Northwest congressional leaders have an idea to get the season back on schedule.
Special Counsel To Investigate Mining Raids
Governor Sean Parnell has announced a special counsel to investigate raids by federal and state authorities in the Fortymile River area.
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Salvage Efforts Continue For Sunken Tender In Haines
A salvage operation and clean-up efforts are still underway in Haines, where a 78-foot tender sank last weekend in the boat harbor.
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Impacts Of The Shutdown On The Tongass
The U.S. Forest Service employs about 400 people in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. And most of them are on furlough, awaiting a call from the federal government that they’ll soon be back to work. With the partial U.S. government shutdown in its second week, KTOO’S Rosemarie Alexander takes a look at the impact on the Tongass.
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Fairbanks Natural Gas Founder Running Another LNG Company
The man who started Fairbanks Natural Gas and now runs another gas company, is poised to build a North Slope LNG processing plant that could supply trucked in gas to Fairbanks.
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Public Weighs In On Plan For Northern Access To U-Med District
The city of Anchorage is hoping to build a road through green space in the city's university area. It would be provide additional access to one of the busiest business districts in Anchorage, but neighborhood councils in the area are strongly opposed to the new road. And public feedback at a town hall meeting on Tuesday evening was overwhelmingly negative.
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Revamped GED Test Coming In January
The General Education Development test, better known as the GED, is the standard high school equivalency exam. This January, the test will be updated –made more rigorous according to the test developers. But with the update comes a deadline: those currently working toward a GED need to finish before Dec. 31 or they’ll have to start over next year.
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Sitka’s Water Main’s Fixed, But Who Pays For Repairs?
Sitka’s water system is back in business. Local officials feared the coastal community would run out of water this morning after the main line broke. A contractor rebuilding Sitka’s Sawmill Creek Road damaged the line yesterday afternoon while blasting rock. Water began flowing through the pipe again this morning after repairs were completed.
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Fishermen: Lack of Affordable Health Insurance A Barrier To Industry Growth
Options for health insurance coverage can be pretty limited in Alaska for small businesses and the self-employed. That includes commercial fishermen, who make up a major segment of the economy. Some in the industry say the cost and lack of access to comprehensive health insurance is a barrier to new fishermen and an ongoing concern for those already in the business.
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Beloved Tree Comes Down In Fairbanks
A landmark tree in Fairbanks is gone. The 75-foot-tall white spruce that stood in front of the Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge farm house was cut down Monday. The tree was dying from stress cracks and a beetle infestation and needed to come down. But, it won’t be forgotten.
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Muni Planning and Zoning Stalls Eklutna Landfill
The Anchorage planning commission has shot down a bid by Alaska Native corporation Eklutna, Inc. to develop land the corporation owns near a residential area. Despite Eklutna's last minute request for more research time, commissioners questioned the motive behind some aspects of the industrial project