State Raises Concerns Over Costs As Anchorage Hospitals Vie For More ER Beds
State Health Commissioner Valerie Davidson is granting Providence Hospital in Anchorage permission to build eight new emergency room beds. The decision also denies Alaska Regional's plan to build the first freestanding emergency rooms in the state. The commissioner hopes the decision will help discourage inappropriate use of an expensive healthcare option.
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‘Gar-Barge’ Arrives To Courier Alaska’s Marine Debris To the Lower 48
A massive barge is docked in Kodiak this week, and that barge is more or less a huge floating trash can. It's en route to the Lower 48 with hundreds of tons of marine debris on board - debris that will be recycled once the barge arrives in Seattle.
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Administration OKs Further Work On The Juneau Access Project
The state Department of Transportation is moving forward with its environmental review of the Juneau Access Project. The governor’s state budget director wrote a memo last week giving the department the go-ahead to finish the document that lays out the state’s case for where the road should or shouldn’t be built.
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State Sides With Providence In Competition To Build New ER Beds
State Health Commissioner Valerie Davidson is granting Providence Hospital in Anchorage permission to build eight new emergency room beds. That's fewer than the hospital was hoping for. Providence submitted plans to build 14 new rooms, 10 that would have focused on pediatric patients.
Coast Guard Gears Up for Shell’s Chukchi Season
Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft says if Shell is allowed to drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer, the Coast Guard will be there with five ships and two aircraft. But, the admiral says, nothing about the Arctic is easy.
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Report: Alaska Heroin Use is Skyrocketing
A new report from the state health department shows a dramatic rise in heroin use in Alaska. The number of hospitalizations for heroin related causes nearly doubled in the state from 2008 to 2012.
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Governor’s Office Advises DOT To Proceed With Knik Arm Project
In a letter to state Department of Transportation commissioner Mark Luiken, state office of management and budget director Pat Pitney has advised DOT to proceed within existing appropriations, to continue work on the Knik Arm Crossing.
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Education lawsuit heads through appeals process
A flurry of briefs was filed by the June 30th deadline with the Alaska Supreme Court in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough’s ongoing lawsuit challenging the State of Alaska’s requirement that local governments earmark a certain amount of property taxes for public education.
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Nome Reindeer Ranch Cultivates A New Generation of Herders
In 1967, Larry Davis snow machined from Nome to Cape Espenberg. When he returned, he brought with him 200 reindeer — a herd that would eventually swell to 10,000 in the 1990s. But that’s just a piece of recent history.
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Suspicious Duffel Bag at Federal Building Draws Juneau’s Bomb Squad
A suspicious duffel bag left in the post office parking lot outside Juneau’s downtown Federal Building on Monday drew out the bomb squad. Police cordoned off the area, but the building wasn’t evacuated.
Lessons for Alaska: Oregon Shellfish Hatchery Tackles Ocean Acidification
A recent NOAA study pegged 2040 as the date for the potential end of Alaskan shellfish hatcheries. That is, unless serious mitigation efforts are put in place to combat ocean acidification. Last week we reported on the research, done at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward. Now, we’ll take a look at what a hatchery on the Oregon coast is doing to deal with these harmful changes in ocean chemistry.
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On the Nushagak, Sportfishers Struggle to Reel In The Kings
The Nushagak River is becoming one of Alaska’s premier destinations for king salmon sport fishermen. The king return to the Nushagak is proving stronger this year than last, and Fish and Game says they’re on track to meet the escapement goal. Sport fishing guides say the angling has only been average.
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New RX Drug Drop gives community a chance to safely purge meds
Starting Monday, Juneau residents will be able to walk into the police department and hand over prescription drugs without consequence. It’s been several months since the community could safely dispose of their medications.
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State Says Sockeye Fire Sprung from A Burn Pile; 2 Face Charges
On Monday, the State of Alaska filed charges against two Anchorage residents for starting the debris burn that turned into the 7,200-acre Sockeye Fire.
Despite marriage equality ruling, LGBTQ Alaskans can still be discriminated against
The State of Alaska has a commission whose sole purpose is to eliminate and prevent discrimination, but it can’t do anything when it comes to gender identity or sexual orientation. Alaska is one of 28 states that allows workplace discrimination against these classes.
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In historic vote, Calista shareholders choose to enroll afterborns
Thousands of so-called afterborns will be eligible for shares of Calista Corporation after shareholders voted Saturday. The preliminary results from the annual meeting in Kasigluk dramatically reshapes the ownership of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s regional Alaska Native Corporation.
BC’s Mount Polley Mine to Re-Open After 2014 Dam Breach
A British Columbia mine that’s become a symbol of mineral extraction’s environmental threats will reopen next month. Provincial officials on Thursday granted the Mount Polley Mine conditional approval to resume limited operations.
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Hoonah Vets Recount Vietnam War in New Documentary
A new documentary profiles the lives of Tlingit veterans from Hoonah who fought in the Vietnam War. “Hunting in Wartime”premieres in the Southeast Alaska Native village Friday.
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Governor, Delegation Rally to Stymie JBER Cuts
The reduction of 2,600 soldiers from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson isn’t expected to begin for more than a year. Alaska officials hope that gives enough time to stop it, or at least mitigate the loss. Gov. Bill Walker Thursday pledged a campaign to retain Alaska’s military forces and attract new ones.
On A Mission In Australia, News of Army Cuts Trickles in Via Family, Social Media
The Army will be cutting thousands of positions from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, with the majority expected to come from the 4-25th Airborne Brigade. This week hundreds of troops from that unit are currently in Australia on a training mission. Many of the soldiers heard about the cuts for the first time from family or on social media.
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