News

November is usually the second snowiest month in Anchorage, but this year, snow totals are well below average. So far, only about three inches of snow has fallen in the city. November usually sees an average of seven inches by now, with a total of a little more than 13 inches for the month. National Weather Service Meteorologist Dave Snider says total snowfall for the season is also well below normal.

A think tank in Washington D.C. is launching a program to elevate Native youth who show promise for shaping future Native policy. The Center For Native American Youth is looking to an Alaska Native for inspiration.

The Ernie Turner Center is back in operation. A new interpretation of state regulations forced the closure of the Anchorage de-toxification center because of the cost of staffing it. The Cook Inlet Tribal Council says the change is going to cost it another hundred thousand dollars a year, and they don't know where that money is going to come from. They say there is a wait list.

An additional 86 absentee ballots have been counted, according to Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections. Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins now has 4,110 votes to Haines Republican Representative Bill Thomas’s 4,082 votes. The remaining 26 special absentee ballots will be counted on Wednesday along with any other eligible ballots postmarked from overseas that arrive by Wednesday.

Two grounded vessels have been leaking fuel in the Aleutians. The tug "Polar Wind" and a barge went aground last week on Ukolnoi Island in the Aleutians - between Cold Bay and Sand Point.

BP has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $4.5 billion fine to settle federal criminal charges surrounding the Deepwater Horizon blowout and spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people were killed in the 2010 explosion. The Anchorage Daily News reports that the company could be on the hook for billions more as the federal government plans to pursue a civil claim for violations of the Clean Water Act. More than 4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico from the blowout.

Alaskans and coin collectors from as far away as the Lower 48, were in Healy yesterday for the U.S. Mint’s official launch of a new Denali National Park quarter.

The Hoonah man who was convicted this month of the murder of two police officers wants a new trial on whether one of the officers was actually in performance of his official duties. The difference could mean as much as 79-years taken off his potential sentence.

The long-time leader of the Bethel Search and Rescue team is stepping down as President. Citing obligations to the health of family members, Peter Atchak has submitted his resignation to the all-volunteer organization.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Alaska is bracing for an exodus of expertise. Forty to 50 employees – just under 10 percent of the workforce – are expected to retire Dec. 31 to take advantage of a window to boost retirement pay.

The race for House District 34, between Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D-Sitka) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Haines), is now tied. KHNS reports two questioned ballots were counted from Port Alexander, closing the gap. The Division of Elections now says it will not count any more ballots until Monday, with the final count still slated for Wednesday.

This week, we’re heading to the Southeast community of Craig, on Prince of Wales Island. Victoria Merritt is the recreation director in Craig.

State mining officials held a public hearing in Anchorage last [tuesday] night to determine if the sale of a coal lease near Skwentna is in the state's best interest. Most of those who attended were against the idea.

An explosion aboard Shell’s Noble Discoverer drill rig sent fire crews in Unalaska scrambling this morning. Ports Director Peggy McLaughlin says she felt the blast from the harbor office, which is about 200 yards away.

A former fishing associate of disgraced congressional aide Arne Fuglvog will have to pay $100,000 for his own illegal fishing activities. Freddie Joe Hankins was sentenced last week to three-years of probation and will have all of his future fishing activities recorded by an electronic monitoring device. Twenty-five-thousand dollars will be in the form of a fine and $75,000 will be a community service payment. He'll also be required to have a statement acknowledging his wrongdoing published in National Fisherman magazine.

Watch The Dust Bowl Preview on PBS. See more from The Dust Bowl.

Survey the causes of the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, when the frenzied wheat boom of the “Great Plow-Up,” followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. See vivid interviews with 26 survivors of those hard times, combined with dramatic photographs and seldom-seen movie footage, that bring to life stories of incredible human suffering and equally incredible perseverance. The documentary is also a morality tale about our relationship to the land that sustains us — a lesson we ignore at our peril. TV: Part 1 - Sunday, 11/18 at 7:00pm, repeating at 9:00pm TV: Part 2 - Monday, 11/19 at 7:00pm, repeating at 9:00pm

The oil and gas industry, government agencies and scientists are meeting this week in Anchorage to talk about Arctic oil and gas development. A wide range of issues are being discussed – everything from spill response to ice tracking to wildlife changes. It is well known that over the past decade the sea ice has been melting back to record levels. But what is less well known is how to track some of the large – and dangerous – pieces of ice that have been breaking loose.