Anchorage Teachers Get Tiny Raise, Part-Timers Lose Benefits
Anchorage teachers have a new contract. It gives them a small raise that doesn't keep up with the cost of living and eliminates benefits for part-time educators.
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Alaska Fire Crews Heading South
More Alaska crews are heading south to help battle wildfires in the western lower 48, including the Rim Fire near Yosemite, California. Alaska Fire Service spokesman Mel Slater is tracking the state and federal fire fighter deployments.
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Unalaskans Question Funding for Arctic Research
A lot more scientific research is needed if the United States wants to beef up its presence in the Arctic. The U.S. Arctic Research Commission met in Unalaska this week to figure out what work takes priority. But as KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, locals were mostly concerned with how the government plans to pay for it all.
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Talkeetna Struggling With Sewer / Water Debt
Talkeetna is currently struggling with a growing debt from its water and sewer system. It's one example of a problem that is rapidly spreading through the state, where small communities can't pay the operating and maintenance costs of systems more than twenty years ago with federal funds.
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Critical Sitka Weather Buoy Back in Service
The Cape Edgecumbe weather buoy, which records observations and reports them on a website from a station off-shore from Sitka, is back in service.
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Reduced Ferry Service Puts Strain On Kodiak Athletics
For almost a year the ferry Tustumena has been out of service for repairs, leaving much of Southwest Alaska accessible only by air. The Kennicott picked up additional sailings between Kodiak and Homer, but the impacts from reduced ferry service were still felt throughout the island. Now, as summer quickly fades into fall, classes are resuming at Kodiak High School and young athletes are starting to feel the impact as well.
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Accessible Playgrounds in Juneau a Work in Progress
It’s recess at Glacier Valley Elementary School. A dozen kids run straight to a piece of playground equipment that looks like a three dimensional spider web. They climb onto the webbing where they hover ten feet off the ground. Elsewhere in the playground, students crawl up ladders, go down slides, pump their legs on swings.
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“World School” Documentary & Photography Exhibit
Alaskans looking for some inspiration to travel won’t want to miss “World School,” a photography exhibit and film that will be shown in Anchorage in September.
The photos and 45-minute documentary chronicle the year long, global trip taken by Alaska Filmmaker and mom Mary Katzke and her at that time 5th grade son, Corin.
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With New Standards Test, Schools In For Rude Awakening
This year, Alaska got the OK to start judging schools using its own measurements instead of the standards required by the federal No Child Left Behind law. But with new metrics come new -- and more difficult -- tests, and state officials are expecting to see student performance fall as a result.
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Lawmakers Tour Valley Farms
On a farm in Palmer, the sweet taste of summer can be found in an acre of plump, big -as- your -fist strawberries that are destined for sale at farmer's markets. As KSKA's Ellen Lockyer reports, a recent tour of Matanuska Valley farms is helping state legislators get in touch with Alaska's agricultural potential.
Begich Skeptical of Syrian Strikes Without Congressional Assent
The United States Sixth Fleet is sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Fifth Fleet is in nearby Bahrain. The Pentagon is mobilizing forces for long-range bombings or cruise missile strikes.
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UAF Career Services Office Will Close
Students are returning to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus for classes beginning this week. But this will be the last year they will have the opportunity to seek career advice from staff. The office of Career Services will close in December 2014 as part of what the University calls a “budgetary pullback.”
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ASD Cuts Impact English Language Learners
The number of immigrant, refugee and other students who need help with English is growing parts of Anchorage, but the school district is spread thin because of last year's cuts and they don't have the money to hire any new teachers or tutors.
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Sequestration Cuts Shorten Head Start Year
The Tlingit-Haida Central Council’s Head Start program serves more than 250 Southeast Alaska preschoolers. But they’ll have less time in the classroom this year due to budget cuts tied to sequestration. We took a this look at the program and the impacts of lower funding.
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State Blocks $15 Million Hoonah Dock Grant
State officials say they’ll withdraw funding for a $15 million Hoonah dock unless the Southeast city changes its location. The money was appropriated by the Legislature, in part to support the town’s Icy Strait Point tourist attraction, 40 air miles west of Juneau.
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Lawmakers View Valley Farms
The very word "Alaska" is synonymous with wintery snow and ice although on one Palmer farm, the sweet taste of summer can be found in an acre of plump, big -as- your -fist strawberries that are destined for sale at farmer's markets. As KSKA's Ellen Lockyer reports, a recent tour of Matanuska Valley farms is helping state legislators get in touch with Alaska's agricultural potential.
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Wild Alaska Salmon Quiche
There comes a time in every woman's life where they sort of just hit a wall. For me, it happened this week.
The wall came in the form of: several bills from house projects completed over the summer, an unexpected brake replacement on my Jeep, a hot water heater on the fritz, and just for good measure, a boiler that decided to take a little break.
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Dillingham Residents Talk Pebble Mine With EPA Administrator
Political, business and tribal leaders from the Bristol Bay region welcomed the new EPA Administrator to Dillingham Tuesday. They called on the EPA to step in and stop development of the proposed Pebble Mine. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the story.
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Two Months Later, Tender Is Still Grounded
The 78-foot sunken fishing tender Lone Star is still stuck in the mud in the Igushik River as responders try and figure out a new way to recover the vessel. The vessel grounded on June 30th while taking fish from the local fishermen for processing by Trident Seafoods.
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Nature Conservancy Will Review Susitna Dam Studies
A worldwide environmental conservation group is becoming more involved in the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project. This summer, contractors working under the Alaska Energy Authority have been conducting 58 studies to assess the environmental impact of the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric project.
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