Scrap Company Makes Plans For Aleutian Clean-Up
Over the past year, a Virginia-based company has been helping Unalaska get rid of millions of pounds of scrap metal. They’re finally nearing the finish line, and now, they’re looking to expand to nearby islands.
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Igushik River Sockeye Fishery Reopens After ‘Lone Star’ Sinking
The sinking of the tender "Lone Star" in the mouth of the Igushik River could not have happened at a worse time to close a fishery due to a fuel spill. It was right at the peak of the Sockeye Salmon run. The fishery was closed and then opened again.
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Recovery Efforts Continue For Old Plane Crash Near Knik Glacier
Slow progress is being made in analyzing an old plane crash site emerging each summer now in the Knik Glacier area. The C-124 Globemaster went down there in 1952 with 52 aboard, and the debris was spotted in June of last year.
Stuart Creek Fire East of Eielson Triples in Size
Stuart Creek Fire burning on military land east of Eielson Air Force Base has tripled in size over the last three days.
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Gabrielle Giffords Visits Alaska On ‘Rights and Responsibilities’ Tour
Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, spent Tuesday in Anchorage, the second stop on their seven-state “Rights and Responsibilities ” Tour. The two are trying to gather support for their push to require expanded background checks for gun buyers, but Alaska’s Congressional delegation is not on board.
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Lawmakers Visit Alaska
Alaska is hosting some Washington visitors this week. Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visited Coast Guard facilities, and House Speaker John Boehner is touring some Western Alaska communities with Representative Don Young and will appear at a Republican fundraiser on Tuesday. Also in town is former Representative Gabby Giffords, campaigning for expanded background checks for gun sales.
Oil Sheen Spotted Leaking From Sunken Tender In Bristol Bay
A large response effort is underway to deal with a Trident Seafoods fishing tender that sank Sunday morning near the mouth of one of the major salmon producing rivers in Bristol Bay.
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Redistricting Board Hears Questions, Concerns On New Maps
Every 10 years, Alaska's political lines are redrawn to reflect changes in population. In an ideal world, the state's redistricting board takes the results of the U.S. census, tries to divide the state into regions with equal population, and finalizes a map before the next election cycle. That didn't happen this go-round. It's been nearly three years since the redistricting board first came together, and Alaska still doesn't have its political boundaries settled.
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Rate for Subsidized Stafford Loans Doubles
Congress fails to prevent increase in rate for essential student loan.
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Employees Worry About State-Imposed Office Space Standards
The State of Alaska is implementing new work areas in Juneau and Anchorage office buildings. Officials claim new universal space standards will save money and create a better work environment, but some state employees think otherwise.
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Centennial Denali Expedition Reaches Summit
History was repeated last Friday when the Centennial Denali expedition reached the summit of North America's highest peak. The summit team is made up of four men representing the first party to reach the summit of Denali as well as four guides from Alaska Mountaineering School.
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Plane Crash Near Cantwell Claims 3 Lives
An airplane crash Friday near Cantwell killed three people. The remains of pilot 61-year-old Dale Hemman Steilacoom, Washington, as well as 74-year-old passenger John Ellenberg and 52-year-old Laura Buckner, both from South Carolina, were recovered from the crash site.
Tender ‘Lonestar’ Capsizes In Mouth Of Igushik River
A large vessel, used to transport sockeye salmon from the fishing grounds to a processing facility, has capsized in the mouth of one of the major salmon producing rivers in Bristol Bay.
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House Passes Bill To Increase Offshore Oil, Gas Drilling
The U.S. House passed a bill this morning that aims to increase offshore oil and gas drilling. The bill has no chance in the Senate.
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Polar Star Headed For Arctic Ice Trials
The United States’ only heavy icebreaker will soon be back in service after a four-year, $90 million renovation. The USCGC Polar Star is scheduled to leave Unalaska Friday to undergo several weeks of ice trials in the Arctic.
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Village Consortium Discusses Regional Impacts Of Development
A consortium of 10 Arctic, coastal village corporations recently formed the Bering Sea Alliance and invited Shell, ConocoPhillips and Statoil to a meeting in the community of Wales. The Seward Peninsula village is northwest of Nome.
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Sitka Ammonia Leak Victim Was Longtime Fisherman
A man injured during an ammonia leak aboard a fishing vessel in Sitka has died. Charles “Chuck” Baker, of Auburn, Wash., was aboard the Eigil B. The tender vessel was tied up at Sitka Sound Seafoods at the time of the incident, around 11:15 a.m. Monday.
Wildfire Forces Closure Of Section Of Parks Highway Overnight
More than 500 acres of land are on fire roughly 20 miles west of Fairbanks along the George Parks Highway. The Skinny’s Road Fire, as it’s known, jumped a containment line overnight Wednesday and prompted an overnight closure of the Parks Highway between mileposts 317 and 344.
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Fire Danger Prompts Indefinite Ban On Fireworks, Wood Cutting In Fairbanks
There will be no fireworks on the Fourth of July in Fairbanks. Extreme fire conditions brought the state Fire Marshall to Fairbanks on Thursday. He joined North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins at a press conference to announce an indefinite ban on personal fireworks and local wood cutting.
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KABATA Gets ‘Golden Fleece’ Award From Watchdog Group
A Washington-based watchdog group has given its “Golden Fleece” award to the Knik Arm bridge project in Southcentral Alaska. Taxpayers for Common Sense says the group behind the project, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, or KABATA, “has failed Alaska’s citizens and wasted millions of federal taxpayer dollars, with little to show for it.”
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