Bethel Man Shot by Officer Arrested in Anchorage
A man shot in Bethel last month during an altercation with police was arrested Wednesday by Alaska State Troopers after being released from the hospital in Anchorage.
Alaska Natives Wait… And Wait, For Health Law Exemption
Most Americans are supposed to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But up to 50,000 Alaska Natives and American Indians in Alaska are excused from the requirement. They have to apply for that lifetime exemption though. And the federal government is mishandling many of those applications.
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Initiative Revives Air Regulation Debate
Sides are lining out their positions is the long running battle over who should be in charge of cleaning up Fairbanks air. A twice passed citizen initiative, which bans the North Star Borough from regulating wood and coal burning stoves and boilers, is up for renewal in next month’s municipal election.
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UA President Pat Gamble Asks Regents To Review Retention Incentive
University of Alaska President Pat Gamble has requested the Board of Regents review a $320,000 retention incentive the board approved for him in June.
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Southeast ‘Trashwood’ Finds New Markets
Southeast residents will be able to buy locally milled lumber in the future—as small scale timber sales begin on Mitkof Island. The trees are mostly from young growth stands, comprised of what some would call “trashwood.”
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Alaska Democrats Vote To Support Independent Candidate for Governor
The Central Committee of the Alaska Democratic Party voted Monday evening to support an Independent party ticket for Governor and Lieutenant Governor comprised of Bill Walker and Byron Mallott. Mallot has been the Democratic nominee for Governor but would run as Lieutenant Governor with Walker on the Independent ticket. The vote was 89 to 2.
Change Coming to Lower Kuskokwim School District
Lower Kuskokwim School District Superintendent Jacob Jensen says change is on the horizon for the district with the largest number of rural students in the state.
Forecasters Keeping Eye Out for an El Nino
Weather forecasters have their eye out for an El Nino this fall and winter. The equatorial Pacific Ocean warming has been observed in its early stages this summer. National Weather Service Alaska region climate science and services manager Rick Thoman is tracking conditions that signal El Nino.
State Ferry Union Averts Strike
Alaska Marine Highway System captains and deck officers have avoided a strike that could have shut down ferry service across the state this weekend.
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Juneau Police Reach Community One Cup of Coffee At A Time
With the recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., police departments across the country are under a lot of scrutiny. Questions are being raised about use of force, police militarization and racial profiling.
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Appeals Court To Rehear Tongass Exemption Case
The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit released an announcement today (Friday) that it would rehear the Tongass Roadless Rule exemption case.
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3 Officials Accused of Failing to Disclose Gifts
Three Kenai Peninsula residents have filed complaints with the Alaska Public Offices Commission against statewide public officials for failure to disclose gifts.
Shell Sketches Plans for Arctic Drilling in 2015
Shell Oil took its first step toward returning to the Arctic on Thursday morning. The company filed a new plan to explore the Chukchi Sea with federal regulators in Anchorage.
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New Study Sheds Light on Peopling of the Arctic
Archaeologists have been arguing for decades about how human beings got to the new world, and genetic research released today deepens the mystery. An article published in "Science" magazine shows that there must have been at least four pulses of migration from Siberia through Alaska since the last Ice Age, and the Yupik and Inupiat people now in Alaska actually replaced an earlier population.
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Mom, Tot Injured In ATV Hit-And-Run
A Mountain Village woman was arrested Wednesday after driving an ATV into a woman pushing a toddler in a stroller.
Commercial Fishing Winds Down In Lower Cook Inlet
The season is wrapping up in the Southern, Outer, and Kamishak Bay districts. Sockeye returns were not very consistent over the lower Cook Inlet, but pinks did well overall, a Fish and Game biologist says.
Meeting in Nome Attempts to Elucidate Arctic Policy Goals
The Alaska Arctic Commission has been working for more than a year and a half to write the state’s first comprehensive arctic policy—a policy the commission hopes will lay out not just Alaska’s future, but America’s future, in the arctic. But with priorities ranging from international to extremely local, Tuesday's meeting in Nome saw lawmakers, researchers, and coastal representatives still working out just what that policy will be.
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Judges Weigh Yup’ik Religious Appeal
Three judges with the Alaska Court of appeals are now weighing whether Yup’ik Fishermen, who targeted Chinook or king Salmon during a closure on the Kuskokwim River in 2012, were wrongfully convicted. Their attorney based their defense on a 1970s moose-hunting case. The fishermen say state fisheries managers interfered with their religious rights and they want new regulations to insure it won’t happen again.
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DOT To Commence Herbicide Spraying In Southeast
The Alaska Department of Transportation plans to spray herbicides on Prince of Wales Island. It will be the first time the DOT has applied herbicides in southeast Alaska since the state eliminated public review requirements in 2013. This has some community members and environmental groups worried about chemicals leaching into nearby habitat.
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Attorney: Yup’ik Fishermen Wrongfully Convicted
Attorneys argued before the Alaska Court of Appeals in downtown Anchorage today about whether Yup’ik fishermen, who fished for Chinook or king Salmon during a closure on the Kuskokwim River in 2012, were wrongfully convicted.
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