Legislators Consider State Takeover Of School Health Plans To Lower Costs
School districts currently manage their own health insurance plans. They pick their own providers, they decide how much of the premium they want to cover, and their employees can bargain for better benefits. But now, a senator from the Mat-Su Borough is pushing for the state to take over management of school health plans, and a report commissioned by the Legislature backs that proposal up as a way of saving money.
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Presidential Adviser Pete Rouse Maintains Alaska Roots
One of President Obama’s closest advisers is leaving. Pete Rouse has been at Obama’s side since his first days in the Senate and at the White House, serving at times as chief of staff. But Rouse shuns the spotlight, so few people know of his Alaska roots, or the pull he’s had on the 49th state.
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Savoonga Whales Fulfill Musical Needs
Savoonga, a community on St. Lawrence Island, harvested two bowhead whales last week, both of them female. While the island is praising the immense intake of muktuk and meat amid an economic disaster, Theodore Kingeekuk, a drummer on the island, is celebrating another part of the anatomy — the uterus.
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Warming Arctic Likely Contributing To Erratic Worldwide Weather Patterns
A federal agency says the Arctic continued to warm in 2013 and may have entered a "new normal" of diminished sea ice and wilder swings in weather that affect lower latitudes.
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Parnell Proposes ‘Belt-tightening’ State Budget
With oil revenues expected to decline, Gov. Sean Parnell wants to cut the state's budget by $1 billion next year and draw on savings to balance the rest.
Big Outside Money Expected For US Senate Race
Outside money is expected to pour into the race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Mark Begich, and the first of it is making a splash across Alaska’s TV sets.
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Department of Administration Gets New Acting Commissioner
The Department of Administration has a new acting commissioner. Curtis Thayer has been promoted from his deputy position, and he will be taking over for Becky Hultberg, who left the position for a job with the state hospital association.
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Savoonga Harvests Second Whale
Amid an economic disaster and food shortage, Savoonga, a community on Saint Lawrence Island, harvested a 57-foot bowhead whale on Friday, the second whale for the community last week.
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Funerary Polar Bear Skulls May Be Returned To St. Lawrence Island
For over 80 years, hundreds of polar bear skulls from St. Lawrence Island have been sitting in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Now, under NAGPRA, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the artifacts may be returning to the tribe that buried them.
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Inmate Hospitalized After Assault
An Alaska prison inmate is in an Anchorage hospital tonight, according to Alaska State Troopers following an assault by a fellow inmate. The alleged assault happened on Friday evening. A corrections officer at Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward called it in.
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Fairbanks Company Offers Giant Pellet Fuel Logs
Wood is a primary heating fuel in the interior, but the practice of burning less than dry logs often results in elevated fine particulate pollution in the Fairbanks area. A local business has a solution.
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Bristol Bay Fishermen File Suit Over Lone Star Sinking
A group of Bristol Bay fishermen have filed suit against Trident Seafoods, Magone Marine Services, and the owner and operator of the vessel Lone Star, which sank in the Igushik River during the middle of this past year’s salmon fishery. The resulting oil spill shut down the fishery, costing most Igushik Beach set netters their season. They say they have still not been paid for their lost income for the season.
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FDA To Announce Decision On Genetically Modified Salmon
Alaska’s Congressional delegation is bracing for an FDA decision on genetically modified salmon and Sen. Mark Begich has asked the head of the agency not to exploit the holiday season to release what’s expected to be an unpopular report.
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Man Found Dead Outside Eagle River Home
A man was found dead in an Eagle River home Saturday and police are calling it a homicide, but not yet releasing the cause of death for Andrew Conn, 32.
Woman Charged In Anchorage Homicide
A woman was charged with second degree homicide Friday night after she called police and said she had accidentally shot a man in a south Anchorage home.
Lindsey Holmes Recall Application Rejected
The Division of Elections has rejected a petition calling for the recall of Rep. Lindsey Holmes. While the recall group exceeded the number of signatures required by the state, state attorneys weren't compelled by their legal reasoning for removing Holmes from office.
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Representative Bob Herron Fined For Ethics Violation
Representative Bob Herron is being fined for ethics violations, dating back to when he was first elected to the Legislature in 2009. The House ethics committee found that Herron knowingly withheld “sufficient detail" on his business ventures with another legislator – Senator Lyman Hoffman.
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Attorney General Questions Commission’s Public Safety Solutions
A national commission blames the state of Alaska for the epidemic of violence afflicting Alaska Natives, and has come up with a series of recommendations to strengthen tribal jurisdiction. The state Attorney General agrees there’s a public safety problem, but says the Commission’s solutions aren’t suited to Alaska.
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UAA Tops Out New Engineering Building
The final piece of steel in the University of Alaska Anchorage's new engineering building was put into place today. It marks the beginning of the end for a decade of vast expansion at the university.
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2-Year-Old Assaulted in Bethel, Man Arrested
A Bethel man is in custody for allegedly beating his two-year-old son. Police were called to a Bethel home early on a morning last week and found the toddler with visible facial wounds and a broken clavicle that would require medevac to Anchorage.