News

Two brothers from Juneau died in a boating accident Friday near Tenakee Springs. Alaska State Troopers Spokeswoman Megan Peters says 26-year-old Casey Newman and 23-year-old Kelly Newman went missing when their 18-foot Lund skiff capsized late Friday. Peters says Jim Brown, Jr., in his mid-20s, was also on the boat and was able to swim to shore.

It's been over a week since the tug Polar Wind and the barge it was towing grounded off the Alaska Peninsula, and response crews are still struggling to remove fuel and other cargo.

Governor Sean Parnell wants the State Board of Education to make student performance an important part of teacher evaluations. The board has been working for months on drafting a new rule that bases 20 percent of a teacher's evaluation on student achievement. The Governor wrote a letter to the board this week, asking to boost that figure to 50 percent.

Scientists have known for years that greenhouse gasses are altering the chemical makeup of our oceans. More and more carbon dioxide is dissolving into salt water, creating carbonic acid. That changes the ocean’s pH, or acid-alkaline balance. And it’s hitting harder in Alaska.

It’s been a slow week on Capitol Hill with lawmakers out for Thanksgiving. But talks are ongoing between Congressional leaders and the White House about working to stave off the fiscal cliff and establishing the frame work for a deficit reduction package. Tax reform could play a significant part of the debt package, and the oil and gas industry is making sure it keeps its tax breaks.

A Canadian company is pushing a rail link from Alberta to Delta Junction. Vancouver based Generating for 7 Generations or “G-7-G” wants to build the 1,600 mile railroad to export oil sands through the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

Two people are dead and two taken to the hospital after a single-car accident on South Tongass Highway. Deputy Police Chief Josh Dossett says the Ketchikan Police Department received a call at 9:05 Monday night reporting an accident just south of the Coast Guard Base.

National and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and individuals have submitted their reviews of studies designed to show what will happen to the Susitna River if the 800 foot-high Susitna Watana hydroelectric dam is built. And many national agencies have expressed concerns with the speed of the process the Alaska Energy Authority has undertaken as it prepares to apply for the license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

A report commissioned by the State Department of Environmental Conservation shows water quality on the lower Kenai River violates state standards. The report has not been released by DEC.

With the election come and gone, the consensus in Washington is that the healthcare overhaul will remain law. The Supreme Court decision over the summer granted states the choice to expand their Medicaid roles or not. Alaska still needs to decide whether it will.

The Task Force organized in October to address issues related to the Department of Fish and Game’s king salmon management plan met for the first of four meetings Friday at Kenai Peninsula College.

The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is developing a Highway Safety Improvement Program project that will construct Slow Vehicle Turnouts on the Sterling Highway. The project would add 22 of the turnouts to reduce injuries and fatalities between Soldotna and Bay Crest Hill in Homer.

A board member for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation has been charged with sexually assaulting a female. 45 year old Sergie Chukwak, of Naknek, is accused of assaulting the woman on Nov. 5. This morning, he appeared before the magistrate in Dillingham telephonically from the courthouse in Naknek.

The Ernie Turner Center is back in operation. A new interpretation of state regulations forced the closure of the Anchorage de-toxification center because of the cost of staffing it. The Cook Inlet Tribal Council says the change is going to cost it another hundred thousand dollars a year, and they don't know where that money is going to come from. They say there is a wait list.

Two grounded vessels have been leaking fuel in the Aleutians. The tug "Polar Wind" and a barge went aground last week on Ukolnoi Island in the Aleutians - between Cold Bay and Sand Point.

Alaskans and coin collectors from as far away as the Lower 48, were in Healy yesterday for the U.S. Mint’s official launch of a new Denali National Park quarter.

An explosion aboard Shell’s Noble Discoverer drill rig sent fire crews in Unalaska scrambling this morning. Ports Director Peggy McLaughlin says she felt the blast from the harbor office, which is about 200 yards away.

A former fishing associate of disgraced congressional aide Arne Fuglvog will have to pay $100,000 for his own illegal fishing activities. Freddie Joe Hankins was sentenced last week to three-years of probation and will have all of his future fishing activities recorded by an electronic monitoring device. Twenty-five-thousand dollars will be in the form of a fine and $75,000 will be a community service payment. He'll also be required to have a statement acknowledging his wrongdoing published in National Fisherman magazine.

The oil and gas industry, government agencies and scientists are meeting this week in Anchorage to talk about Arctic oil and gas development. A wide range of issues are being discussed – everything from spill response to ice tracking to wildlife changes. It is well known that over the past decade the sea ice has been melting back to record levels. But what is less well known is how to track some of the large – and dangerous – pieces of ice that have been breaking loose.

Senate Republicans are vowing to continue a moratorium on earmarks this coming Congress. It could have repercussions in Alaska; a state that relies heavily on federal funding.