Drones vie for role in wildfire fight
They’re a danger when they intrude on the airspace, but unmanned aircraft can also be an asset in firefighting and efforts are underway to bring more pilotless aircraft to the fight.
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The weatherman at the end of the western world
William Wells lives and works at what may be the nation's most remote weather station. It's 300 miles off the west coast of Alaska (and 500 miles off the east coast of Siberia) in the Bering Sea. Even by St. Paul Island standards, his station is remote: it's off by itself, a few miles away from the village of 400 people who call St. Paul home.
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Bill to crack down on IUU fishing goes to White House
Congress has passed a bill to combat pirate fishing. It puts in law the provisions of an international treaty aimed at denying illegal fishing vessels access to a country’s ports.
Latest trouble with F-35 bars light pilots from cockpit
While an environmental review is underway to determine whether Eielson Air Force Base will get two F-35 squadrons, the Air Force is already flying the fighters in the Lower 48. But the aircraft remains controversial in Congress. The latest problems are with the ejection seat.
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Leaked memo shows Morris misled Juneau, Kenai newspaper readers
A Georgia-based media group with several papers and magazines in Alaska misled readers with a controversial editorial that local editors were told to republish with improper attribution.
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French sailor makes desperate Pacific Ocean leap onto Shell vessel
A Shell Oil icebreaker gained two passengers in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday. French sailor Manu Wattecamps-Etienne dove onto the icebreaker in 20-foot seas Tuesday, about 12 hours after sending out a distress signal. He made the desperate jump--with his cat--about 350 miles southeast of Alaska's Dutch Harbor.
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Savoonga man marooned in Russia, hoping for a charter home
A man from the Bering Sea island community of Savoonga is stuck in Russia after traveling there through a unique visa-free travel program for Alaska Natives. Despite not needing a visa for the trip, Sivoy Miklahook now finds himself on the wrong side of the Strait as his Russian papers inch closer to expiration.
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Murkowski’s irate; Interior nominee heard all about it
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski used a confirmation hearing as an opportunity to voice her frustration over a string of decisions by Sec. Sally Jewell limiting development in Alaska, including last week's cancellation of Arctic offshore lease sales. An Interior Department nominee felt the burn today.
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Online map plots coastal erosion in eight Western Alaska locations
Each year, coastal communities in Western Alaska watch feet - even yards - of shoreline disappear into the waves. Now, a new online mapping tool will let them look at past erosion and see where coastlines might be in future years.
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Obama Administration cancels offshore lease sales, citing lack of interest
The Interior Department won't auction off drilling rights in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the next two years. The auctions would have been the first in the Arctic Ocean since 2008, and the first under President Obama.
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AK: Tlingit carver featured in small-town, large-scale Smithsonian project
Tlingit master carver Wayne Price has a relationship with the ocean and the tides that runs deeper than most. He carves dugout canoes in Haines and his work and words are set to hit the road in the spring as part of the Smithsonian’s Water/Ways exhibit. It’s a traveling show from the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street designed for rural museums.
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Hearing ends 26 years of litigation over Exxon Valdez oil spill
The state and federal governments have decided not to pursue a final $100-million from ExxonMobil over its 1989 oil spill in Prince William Sound.
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AFN keynote, Haida master weaver talks on family, heritage
Alaska Natives from all over the state are in Anchorage for the annual Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, Oct. 15-17. The keynote speaker is Haida master weaver Delores Churchill and her grandson, Haida master carver Donald Varnell. This fall, Churchill was in Petersburg to hold a weaving workshop.
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Dutch Harbor rats (unwittingly) help save Pribilof seabirds from their kind
Biologists and tribal officials in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska are working to protect one of the world's greatest gatherings of seabirds. With a little unwilling help from wharf rats in Alaska's Dutch Harbor, the nation's busiest fishing port, they aim to keep rats as far away as Seattle from devouring the birds of the rat-free Pribilof Islands.
With $3B budget deficit, lawmakers eye oil tax credits
With the state facing a deficit next year of more than $3 billion, lawmakers face the always vexing question of what can be cut. One option on the table is reducing tax credits for oil and gas companies.
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Murkowski raises big cash, expects a fight
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is raising serious money for her re-election bid next year, despite having no serious challenger yet.
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Planned totem poles in Douglas mark ‘A Time for Healing’
Savikko Park and Gastineau Elementary School will be the future sites of two totem poles. Plans include interpretive signs in Tlingit and English, explaining the history of the original people of Juneau and Douglas: the Aakʼw Ḵwáan and Tʼaaḵu Ḵwáan. Technology also plays a part in telling the story.
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Congressional panel to hear criticism of EPA’s Pebble process
A U.S. House Committee chairman has announced a hearing to examine whether the EPA unfairly blocked the Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska with a so-called “pre-emptive veto,” before the mine has even applied for permits.
Assembly votes for changes to residential construction and design
After months of examination and discussion, the Assembly passed a measure that could change the DNA of housing and neighborhoods across Anchorage.
Why did Shell walk away from Alaska?
Shell’s announcement left the state wondering what to blame -- low oil prices? Tough regulations? Better prospects elsewhere? In other words, is it us -- or is it Shell?
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