News

A 39-year-old man died last Thursday of natural causes on a Coast Guard medevac bound for Unalaska. Riche J. Tonato, from the Philippines, was the head cook on the cargo ship Matsura. That vessel had recently left Canada, and was on its way to Nagasaki, Japan.

When NIOSH started investigating injuries to Alaskan seiners a few years ago, they found a common theme. Researchers were able to trace countless instances of crushing, amputation, and drowning back to getting tangled up in the net.

Mercury testing in gold miners in Nome is going to take place next week. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services will conduct the voluntary screenings that were prompted from concerns that miners in Nome may be exposed to harmful levels of mercury fumes.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough would take on utility powers and build a natural gas distribution network under a proposal being pushed by a group of local leaders.

The state has finalized its approval of a Petersburg Borough plan. In a teleconferenced meeting Wednesday morning, Alaska’s Local Boundary Commission or LBC passed its written decision on the matter.

Two Republicans with ties to the Matanuska Susitna Borough School Board are vying for the Senate D candidate’s slot in next week’s primary. While both see education funding as a priority, the two have distinct views on the state’s fiscal policies.

A popular Fairbanks area hiking trail, recently closed due to bear trouble, has reopened. The Granite Tors Trail in the Chena River State Recreation Area has been the location of four human bear encounters this summer, the latest of which saw a bear tear a hole in a camper’s tent. No one has been hurt, but bear spray, rocks and gun shots have been used to scare the animals off.

A handful of organizations have teamed up to create a unique way of accessing the health of the world’s oceans.

A NOAA law enforcement officer says about 20 beluga whales were stranded in Turnagain Arm. Officer Noah Meisenheimer says he spotted the whales on the mudflats of Turnagain Arm at about 8 p.m. Tuesday. He says they were clustered up in a small pool at low tide.

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan says the city is facing a $30 million budget gap. Speaking to the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Monday Sullivan says that is the amount needed if the city expects to have the same size of government next year.

There is political chatter in Washington, D.C. that Congress may alter its self-imposed ban on earmarks in January. Earmarks are the local pet projects of lawmakers that the federal government pays for. It’s unlikely that lawmakers will revert back to the large allocations seen in the earlier part of this century.

National weather service forecasters say more rain is on the way to Northwest Alaska. Downpours there over the past week have led to flooding in Kivalina, Ambler and other communities, despite a short break in the weather on Monday.

State attorneys filed a challenge to the federal Voting Rights Act in district court in Washington, DC on Tuesday, according to Gail Fenumiai, the state division of elections director.

Thirty one White Alice stations were developed in Alaska during the Cold War. The Anvil Mountain Towers north of Nome are the only White Alice towers still standing in the State of Alaska. And just last week – the Air Force received directives from the native corporation that will take ownership of the land to remove the towers. Those towers – to some – represent a portion of not just Nome’s history – but the world’s.

A year and a half after Golden Valley Electric Association turned down his proposal to sell GVEA up to 24 megawatts of power, Fairbanks entrepreneur Mike Craft is pushing ahead on construction of a second big wind generator at his wind farm near Delta Junction. Craft says he intends to continue selling the utility 1 megawatt and use the rest of the electricity for a big greenhouse he plans to build next summer.

The helicopter that crashed two weeks ago in a remote spot near the Pogo gold mine, killing the pilot, reportedly had touched down on a primitive helipad before it pitched up, apparently out-of-control, then hit some nearby trees and rolled down a hillside.