Anchorage news

• Coalition lawmakers say they’re confident bipartisan Alaska House majority will hold

  08-11-2024 20:57 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol on Jan. 11, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  There are still tens of thousands of votes across the state left to be counted, and some key races remain undetermined. But in the Alaska Legislature, members of bipartisan coalitions in the House and Senate are wasting no time in announcing their leadership and organizing their caucuses.
  Lawmakers announced Wednesday that the House would flip from Republican-led majority control. The speaker of the House will be Dillingham In
  
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• Silver Bay Seafoods acquires Peter Pan facilities in Dillingham, Port Moller

  12-11-2024 22:55 via ktoo.org
  
  Peter Pan Seafoods’ processing plant in Dillingham in November 2024. (Margaret Sutherland/KDLG)
  Silver Bay Seafoods will acquire processing plants in Dillingham and Port Moller, along with fishery support sites in Dillingham and North Naknek.
  Silver Bay announced the acquisition from Rodger May, the former co-owner of Peter Pan Seafoods, in a press release Wednesday. The Dillingham and Port Moller plants are Silver Bay’s fourth and fifth plant acquisitions this year. It also took ove
  
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• At least 8 teens injured in an explosion at a Kodiak beach party

  12-11-2024 19:30 via ktoo.org
  
  One of several ash piles near the entrance to White Sands Beach near Kodiak. The beach is a popular spot for bonfires, fishing, bear watching, walks, or letting dogs run around off-leash. (Brian Venua/KMXT)
  At least eight teenagers were injured after an explosion at a drinking party and bonfire on Kodiak Island in the early morning on Sunday. Five of those children were medevaced to Anchorage with moderate injuries, according to a release from Alaska State Troopers. None of the injurie
  
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• Alaska-owned corporation approves $750,000 for legal fights over Ambler Road and ANWR

  12-11-2024 19:25 via ktoo.org
  
  The Anchorage headquarters of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, shares space with a sister agency, the Alaska Energy Authority. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz)
  Alaska’s state-owned development corporation is advancing plans to explore for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to build a 300-mile road to a mining district in Northwest Alaska.
  The board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority voted unanimously Thursday to spend up to $750,000&n
  
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• Former Haines mayor says he did not authorize contested $10M steel purchase

  11-11-2024 21:07 via ktoo.org
  
  A view under Haines’ Lutak Dock shows where beams, corroded by saltwater, once fit into the concrete above. (KHNS file photo from 2018)
  Someone made a $10 million mistake buying steel for a critical dock project in Haines. The dispute about who’s responsible for the bill – Haines taxpayers or the construction contractor – is now almost a year old, and continues to delay the project.
  For nearly a year, the municipality has been in a $10 million disagreement with Turna
  
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• Three nominated for upcoming vacancy on Alaska Supreme Court

  11-11-2024 20:58 via ktoo.org
  
  The Boney Courthouse building in Anchorage holds the Alaska Supreme Court chambers. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  The Alaska Judicial Council has nominated an Anchorage judge, an assistant attorney general and an expert in utilities law for an upcoming vacancy on the Alaska Supreme Court.
  When Gov. Mike Dunleavy picks one of the three, he will create the first majority-female Supreme Court in Alaska history.
  Kate Demarest, Josie Garton and Aimee Oravec were each nomin
  
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• Alaska Capitol’s ‘worst-kept secret’ is that Gov. Dunleavy may leave office to join Trump

  11-11-2024 19:10 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy pose for a photo aboard Air Force One during a stopover at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage in 2019. (Sheila Craighead / White House photo)
  Alaska lawmakers expect bipartisan coalitions to control the state House and Senate when the Alaska Legislature convenes in January, but they don’t know who the state’s governor will be.
  Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s second term isn’t over until December 2026, but in a series of
  
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• Lingít Word of the Week: Dóosh — Cat

  11-11-2024 17:00 via ktoo.org
  
  This week’s Lingít word is dóosh, or cat. Popsicle is the cat of KTOO reporter Yvonne Krumrey. (Photo by Yvonne Krumrey).
  This is Lingít Word of the Week. Each week, we feature a Lingít word voiced by master speakers. Lingít has been spoken throughout present-day Southeast Alaska and parts of Canada for over 10,000 years.
  Gunalchéesh to X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and the University of Alaska Southeast for sharing the
  
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• Newscast – Friday, Nov. 8, 2024

  09-11-2024 03:02 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241108-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Alaska is well into the start of respiratory disease season. And with it, Alaskans are getting coughs, colds, COVID-19 and cases of flu.  And physicians are seeing a few things that make this year stand out.
  The Hecla Greens Creek mine near Juneau plans to break ground on an expansion sometime next year. That’s because on Thursday the U.S. Forest officially permitted its project on Admiralty I
  
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• Early election results mistakenly showed imprisoned U.S. House candidate leading in one Southeast Alaska precinct

  09-11-2024 01:05 via ktoo.org
  
  Pelican on Monday, July 3, 2023. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/08pelican.wav
  Unofficial results from the Division of Elections earlier this week showed one Southeast Alaska precinct seemed to overwhelmingly choose a peculiar candidate for the U.S. House — a man currently imprisoned in New York. 
  Those results confused voters from the communities, who said that didn’t line up with how they voted. 
  When Pelican resident Patricia Philli
  
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• Scientists discover volcano-like structure in Arctic Ocean off Alaska

  08-11-2024 23:01 via ktoo.org
  
  New data is used to map a volcano-like feature discovered this fall by science teams aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, a polar-class icebreaker used for Arctic research. The scientists found the structure on the continental slope off northern Alaska. (Image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
  Scientists aboard a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker have discovered something unusual in the Arctic Ocean off northern Alaska: a volcano-like structure rising more than 500
  
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• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers visiting Juneau next week with tips for flood victims

  08-11-2024 04:05 via ktoo.org
  
  Sam and Amanda Hatch, of Meander Way, raised their house after the 2023 outburst flood. Now, some of their neighbors are considering doing the same (Photo by Anna Canny/KTOO)
  The City and Borough of Juneau and officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host two public meetings next week to share ideas for flood proofing houses. 
  Both events will take place in the Thunder Mountain Middle School auditorium.
  During this August’s glacial outburst flood, nearly 300 homes in the M
  
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• Greens Creek receives final Forest Service approval to begin expansion next year

  08-11-2024 03:50 via ktoo.org
  
  Hecla Greens Creek Mine on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Hecla Greens Creek Mine just got the green light for an expansion that could extend mine operations for up to another 18 years. The U.S. Forest Service officially permitted the project on Admiralty Island on Thursday.
  After nearly five years of planning and public review, Greens Creek is now allowed to build more storage for tailings — the ground-up rock that’s leftover after the extraction of valuable metals l
  
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• Newscast – Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024

  08-11-2024 03:04 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241107-News-Updates.mp3
  In this newscast:Some key races across Alaska remain too close to call with tens of thousands of votes yet to be counted. Ballot Measure 2, repealing ranked choice voting and open primaries, leads by less than two percentage points. A Fairbanks state Senate race and an Anchorage House race are each on a knife’s edge.
  Next week marks the beginning of wolf-trapping season on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alask
  
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• Biden administration plans new limits on oil leasing in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

  08-11-2024 00:51 via ktoo.org
  
  The Canning River, which flows on the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into the Beaufort Sea, is seen from the air on Aug. 23, 2015. The coastal plain of the refuge, through which the river flows, is the subject of new rules proposed by the Biden administration to minimize the environmental impact of legally mandated oil leasing there. (Photo by Katrina Liebich/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
  Oil companies could buy oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but with n
  
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• Wrangell unites to send Capitol Christmas Tree to Washington, D.C.

  08-11-2024 00:11 via ktoo.org
  
  The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in front of Wrangell’s Nolan Center during its Harvest Festival on Oct. 26, 2024. (Colette Czarnecki/KSTK)
  As early voters in the Southeast Alaska community of Wrangell helped choose Alaska’s next U.S. representative, local workers were preparing to send a Sitka spruce to the nation’s Capitol.
  In the run-up to the Oct. 26 Harvest Festival celebrating this year’s chosen U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, everyone was busy inside Wrangell
  
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• Juneau group home for women in reentry and recovery reopens after demolition

  07-11-2024 21:35 via ktoo.org
  
  Christina Lee is the operations manager for Tlingit and Haida’s Reentry and Recovery program. She stands at the new T’áa Shuyee Hit Haven House building on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Yvonne Krumrey/KTOO)
  A group home in Juneau for women experiencing addiction or leaving incarceration has just reopened after being rebuilt following flood damage. T’áa Shuyee Hit Haven House is now accepting applicants. 
  Haven House is run by the Central Council of the Tlingit and Ha
  
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• Alaska Republican leaders celebrate Trump’s victory

  07-11-2024 20:46 via ktoo.org
  
  Sen. Dan Sullivan delivers remarks at a Republican election watch party on Nov. 5, 2024. (Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)
  Alaska Republican leaders said they’re elated by Tuesday’s election results and hopeful they will create more opportunity for oil drilling and other development on Alaska’s federal lands.
  Not only did Donald Trump win back the White House, but Republicans regained control of the U.S. Senate. That means both Alaska senators are back in the majority, in
  
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• Staff at Alaska’s largest newspaper approve new union, election results show

  07-11-2024 19:49 via ktoo.org
  
  The Anchorage Daily News office in Midtown Anchorage is seen on Sept. 16, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
  Newsroom staff at the Anchorage Daily News, the state’s largest newspaper, have voted to unionize, according to election results published Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board.
  The vote was 13-4 in favor of unionization, with two eligible voters not participating.
  The Anchorage News Guild, which will represent newsroom staff, had requested that
  
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• Bipartisan coalitions claim control of both Alaska House and Senate

  07-11-2024 19:15 via ktoo.org
  
  The Alaska State Capitol on March 25, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)
  Bipartisan majorities will control both the Alaska House and Senate following the election, lawmakers said Wednesday evening.
  That means the state House will flip from Republican-led majority control and have a new speaker, according to a news release. Independent Dillingham Rep. Bryce Edgmon will take the gavel.
  Two other top leadership jobs will go to moderate Republicans, according to the release. Chuck Kopp, a moder
  
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• Newscast – Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024

  07-11-2024 03:14 via ktoo.org
  
  
  https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241106-News-Update.mp3
  In this newscast:Final election results are trickling in today [WED] for the national and state races. In Alaska, unofficial results show the Republican presidential and U.S. House candidates lead in their races statewide,  but there’s evidence of a lot of split-ticket voters in Juneau,
  A group home in Juneau for women experiencing addiction or leaving incarceration has just reopened after a three-year hiatus
  
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• Juneau voters favored Peltola in this election — even the ones that voted for Trump

  07-11-2024 02:49 via ktoo.org
  
  People voting early at the Mendenhall Mall on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)
  Former Republican President Donald Trump is set to return to power and preliminary election results show Republican Nick Begich III leads the race for the state’s sole U.S. House seat.
  But in Juneau, there’s a slightly different story unfolding. Though voters were split on who should be president, there’s little question about who voters in the capital city wanted in the U.S. House –
  
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• State ferry Tustumena’s replacement could face years of construction setbacks

  07-11-2024 01:41 via ktoo.org
  
  A computer-generated mockup of the new Tustumena replacement ferry is seen in an undated image published by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. (DOT image)
  State ferry passengers will have to wait even longer to sail on the ferry Tustumena’s replacement vessel. The more than $300 million project is not expected to be completed until at least the end of 2028 – a year later than originally anticipated.
  Earlier this year the Alaska Marine Highway System had be
  
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• Bethel’s absentee in-person polling location ran out of official ballots hours before closing

  07-11-2024 01:35 via ktoo.org
  
  A sample ballot from the 2022 special election. (Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media)
  An absentee in-person voting location in Bethel ran out of official ballots on Monday and started recording votes with sample ballots. The move prompted some concern on a popular community Facebook page, but the state said that it was perfectly legal.
  A screenshot of a post that briefly appeared (since deleted) on a popular Bethel community Facebook page on the afternoon of Nov. 4. (Facebook)
  State election program
  
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• Alaska voters retaining all 19 state judges up for election

  06-11-2024 16:43 via ktoo.org
  
  Pedestrians pass the Nesbett Courthouse, located in downtown Anchorage on August 31, 2022. (Valerie Kern/ Alaska Public Media)
  All 19 of Alaska’s state judges up for election this cycle are leading in their bids to remain on the state bench, including the judge who faced a campaign to oust him over his controversial homeschool ruling.
  Voters are so far approving Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman by the slimmest margin, with 53% saying yes to his retention, meaning he’d
  
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• Juneau’s legislative delegation wins reelection — not that it’s any surprise

  06-11-2024 15:03 via ktoo.org
  
  From left to right: Rep. Sara Hannan, Sen. Jesse Kiehl and Rep. Andi Story pose for photographers outside the Capitol in Juneau on Jan. 16, 2019. The three Democrats were newly sworn in to represent Juneau in the Alaska Legislature. (Photo by Skip Gray/KTOO)
  As results continue to trickle in for the national and state elections, Juneau’s local outcome, at least, is clear. 
  Juneau’s delegation in the Alaska Legislature ran unopposed this year. Incumbents Sen. Jesse Kiehl, Rep. An
  
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• How Alaska legislative races are shaping up

  06-11-2024 10:01 via ktoo.org
  
  Voters fill out ballots at Bethel’s Precinct 1 in the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center on Nov. 5, 2024. (MaryCait Dolan/KYUK)
  Results are rolling in late Tuesday for the Alaska legislative races.
  At stake: control of the House and Senate, responsible for setting state policy on everything from education to energy to the Permanent Fund and more.
  So far, with 62% of precincts reporting, many coalition-minded Senate candidates are leading, and control of the state House is up in the ai
  
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• Trump declares victory in White House race, ahead of AP call

  06-11-2024 09:17 via ktoo.org
  Republican former President Donald Trump, joined by, from right, Melania Trump and Barron Trump, arrives to speaks at an election night watch party. (Alex Brandon/AP)
  Former President Donald Trump addressed his supporters at his Florida watch party in the early hours of Wednesday, claiming victory in the competitive race against Vice President Harris.
  Flanked by family and staff, Trump spoke to a convention center ballroom crowd in West Palm Beach after Fox News had projected that he had won &md
  
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• Donald Trump has won the presidential election and will return to the White House

  06-11-2024 09:17 via ktoo.org
  Republican former President Donald Trump, joined by, from right, Melania Trump and Barron Trump, arrives to speaks at an election night watch party. (Alex Brandon/AP)
  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump will return to the White House, according to a race call by the Associated Press.
  Trump won the key states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, with a combined 29 electoral votes to clinch the 270 necessary to win the presidency. As of 5:34am ET Wednesday, Trump h
  
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• Repeal of Alaska’s ranked choice voting pulls ahead in early counts

  06-11-2024 08:17 via ktoo.org
  
  Dorthy Smith (right) waves a sign in support of Ballot Measure 2 in Anchorage on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)
  Ballot Measure 2, the effort to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting and open primaries pulled ahead by 1% in election night results, with about 44% of Alaska precincts reporting.
  The other initiative on Alaska voters’ ballots, to increase the state’s minimum wage, appeared headed to victory, with a margin of just under 13% in early resu
  
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