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AK: Historic Iditarod, an Alaska ghost town

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The austere iditarod checkpoint, with just two major shelter structures, and tents or converted out buildings set up for Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/ Alaska Public Media)

For 46 years, the Iditarod Sled Dog Race has traced a thousand-mile path from Anchorage or Willow up to Nome. But the original route actually started in Seward, and only existed for a few year’s time — the product of gold rushes, boom towns and a creeping interest by the federal government.

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This year, along the southern route, the race passed through its namesake: the ghost town of Iditarod, which sits on the shores of the Iditarod River. The word itself is an adaptation of the Deg Hit’an name Haiditirod or Haidilatna, which mean the ‘distant place.’ The checkpoint is the remnant of a large town that was once here, straddling the river.

“It was a major commercial operation with a bank, with their own electric system, with a couple of hotels, the typical brothel and shoes stores,” said Jim Paulus, a race judge at the checkpoint. “It served a lot of people.”

Bank vault door at Iditarod (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/ Alaska Public Media)

The checkpoint is run out of a restored cabin, and is surrounded by a few tiny out-buildings and temporary pop-up tents. A newer shelter cabin serves as a place for mushers to sleep during the race.

Paulus said that this side of the river was once filled with homes, a blacksmith shop and more. But it’s a shadow of its former self.

In 1908, gold was discovered within what became known as the Iditarod Mining District, a vast area from Ruby on the Yukon River down all the way to the drainages of the upper Kuskokwim. It was an un-exploited terrain within the state that prospectors referred to as the Inland Empire. A gold rush kicked off by 1910, and the town Iditarod became a hub of around 3,000 residents serving a greater population of 10,000.

“You had boatloads of people coming and going, miners coming in, leaving, coming back in and out, a very fluid community,” Paulus said.

Today, on the other side of the river are the skeletal wooden husks of old buildings that haven’t totally yet collapsed. Iditarod was one of Alaska’s last big gold stampedes. A decade prior, the boom in Nome brought 20,000-30,000 people to the Seward Peninsula. Locked in by sea ice for much of the year, during the long winters there was virtually no way for people to get out, or to bring much in.

Many of Alaska’s gold-rush newcomers were from the United States, and the federal government had an interest in connecting them with some semblance of services. In 1908, the Alaska Road Commission began scouting a unified trail that could connect Nome with the ice-free harbor in Seward to facilitate travel and freighting mail. After the rush in Iditarod brought traffic and commerce to the sparsely populated Inland Empire, a viable route was forged through the boom town, connecting the Bering Sea coast, Yukon River, Turnagain Arm, and Gulf of Alaska.

Woodsen and Danica Saunders and their not-quite-two-year old daughter Atlee. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)

Hundreds of miles from the road system, Iditarod doesn’t get many tourists. But today there are three: Danica and Woodsen Saunders, who tote their not-quite-two-year-old daughter Atlee around in a small blue plastic sled.

The Saunders fly along the trail in a small Super Cub, and for the third year have turned the sled dog race into a kind of hearty family spring break for themselves, stopping along the trail to explore.

At this particular moment, we’ve all crawled through a warped  window into a long two-story structure that is folding in on itself on one side like a devastated ginger-bread house.

“Collapsing, collapsed, deteriorating old building,” Woodsen Saunders sums up, probing the debris strewn floor for hinges, screws, and the occasional pump valve.

The town of Iditarod didn’t last long. It surged after 1910. By 1920, much of the gold had been scratched out of the land, and the census noted just 50 year-round residents. By the 1940 census, the number was one. The departures were so quick there are remnants of everyday life still scattered on the floor and taped to the walls.

“Dawson, Fairbanks, Tanana, Bettles, Nulato,” Danica Saunders read off a faint piece of paper on a beam. “It is a barge schedule.”

What we call the Iditarod Trail today was a tapestry of parochial routes linked together for a few years by commerce. There were traditional indigenous routes like the portage trail between Unalakleet and Kaltag. And there were newer pathways blazed by fortune-seeking newcomers. Much of what made the full Seward-to-Nome route possible was the presence of roadhouses scattered amply along the way to offer shelter and a hot meal to travelers.

Woodsen Saunders explores a collapsed building at the Iditarod checkpoint from the historic site. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/ Alaska Public Media)

But the trail depended on traffic, and as the Iditarod boom waned that became a problem. Most travelers used just a portion of the thousand-mile trail; few made the full journey from Nome to Seward or vice-versa. The federal mail contract that paid for sled-dog drivers to haul freight the full length of the trail was only in effect for a few years in the 1910s. After 1918, mail runs were routed through Fairbanks.

Not far from the two-story building is a concrete bank vault left standing, its floor littered with old paper notes nibbled down by time and nesting mice. We peak into another crumpled one-story structure that looks like it must have been a home.

“Abandoned ghost town building,” Woodsen Saunders says, looking past the old tile flooring.

There’s a an irony to the Iditarod Sled Dog Race now being in its 46th year, having survived longer than both the historic trail and the the town itself did.


How are Alaska State Troopers coping with lower staffing?

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An Alaska State Trooper cruiser parked on Nome’s Front Street in January 2015. (Photo by Matthew F. Smith/ KNOM)
An Alaska State Trooper cruiser parked on Nome’s Front Street in January 2015. (Photo by Matthew F. Smith/ KNOM)

The Alaska State Troopers face a dilemma. They take on some of Alaska’s toughest cases and are seeing increased demand. But even as state budget shortfalls have forced  cuts, the agency is struggling to keep the troopers it already has. How are the troopers coping with staffing issues? Will public safety suffer?

HOST: Lori Townsend

GUESTS:

  • Col. Hans Brinke – division director, Alaska State Troopers
  • Sgt. Doug Massie – union president, Department of Public Safety chapter, Public Safety Employees Association

Participate:

  • Call 550-8422 (Anchorage) or 1-800-478-8255 (statewide) during the live broadcast
  • Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
  • Send email to talk@alaskapublic.org (comments may be read on air)

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.

SUBSCRIBE: Get Talk of Alaska updates automatically by emailRSS or podcast.

Some charter companies would trade number of fish for more fishing

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Chris Fiala of Kodiak Island Charters. (Photo by Kayla Desroches / KMXT)

A declining Pacific halibut stock means more restrictions for charter companies.

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NOAA Fisheries released both the Pacific halibut catch limits and the charter management measures this week, just days before the season opener on March 24. Numbers are down – roughly 9 percent overall from last year.

There are some days where charter companies can’t fish halibut by regulation. And those days vary year to year.

“We never know whether it’s gonna be three days, four days, whether they’re gonna do all of ‘em.” Michael Ensley, with Happy Hooker Charters, said.

Ensley says businesses often learn about the restrictions long after the customers book their trips.

“I’ve gotta call these people and let them know, see if it’s an option to move the dates or [if they’re] willing to accept, and then turn around and have to give them some kind of special deal for the days that they can’t fish halibut,” Ensley said.

This year, charter fishermen are barred from fishing halibut all Wednesdays and six days in July and August. That’s an additional three days from last year.

And each person is limited to two fish daily, with one less than or equal to 28 inches. That’s been pretty consistent over the last few years, and Insley says he doesn’t take issue with it.

But Ensley would be willing to trade more fishing for fewer fish. He says he’d take an allotment of one fish per person in exchange for keeping all the fishing days.

“We don’t need that two halibut. Especially in Kodiak,” Ensley said.

Chris Fiala of Kodiak Island Charters agrees. He says the Kodiak area is lumped into the same regulatory district as communities along the road system like Homer and Seward.

“And the problem is that we’re significantly different than their type of demand,” Fiala said. “They have the impulsive demand from the larger areas, from Anchorage.”

Fiala says a lot of tourists fly into Kodiak for week long stays, and while his customers catch a lot of different types of fish, he calls halibut a number one draw.

“They want to be able to go out and catch halibut any day they go out,” Fiala said. “So the one fish really fits us really to a T.”

Fiala says Kodiak charter businesses have talking about a more open schedule for years, and he’s still hoping for a change sometime in the future.

Andy Mezirow is a charter operator in Seward and serves on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Mezirow says it’s unlikely that Kodiak could cut off from the rest of the district with its own management measures.

“The problem is if we created a rural designation and we tried to manage them separately, it wouldn’t just be Kodiak,” Mezirow said. “It would be every rural area that wants in on it. And then there are a lot more boats and then their behavior – it’s just, it’s much more difficult to break it down by sub areas.”

Mezirow says the entire district is “feeling the pinch of a restricted harvest” and everybody would like more days and more opportunity, but there has to be a way to stay within the allocation to do that.

“And I think the better question for the Kodiak fishermen to consider is do you want to consider selling one halibut under 30 pounds or one over 200 as the option that you’re selling in order to free yourself up to do more trips? And in the rest of 3A, most fishermen have felt no,” Mezirow said.

Mezirow says they’d rather use their boat to do sightseeing or salmon fishing or other activities on those closed days and have less dependency on halibut built in their business models.

Mezirow says adapting and diversifying could be the key to attracting customers despite bag limits.

Chinese officials tour proposed gasline project

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Alaska Gasline Development Corporation President Keith Meyer, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and Bank of China Executive Vice President Yingxin Gao, talk during a visit to Beijing where Alaska and China inked a deal to explore building a liquified natural gas pipeline. (Photo courtesy Alaska Governor’s Office)

A Chinese group is touring the route of a proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline. Chinese government and energy officials are investigating the project in cooperation with the state of Alaska, in anticipation of investing in construction of the $43 billion gas line. Speaking in Fairbanks yesterday, Alaska Governor Bill Walker said the Chinese contingent here this week is taking in the breadth of the project from the North Slope to Cook Inlet.

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”They’re what’s called the due diligence group,” Walker said. “They’re over here looking at the North Slope where the gas is, looking at the route, looking at the terminal site, they’re looking at some of the infrastructure we have in Alaska. It’s just the next step of them getting comfortable with where they want to do business.”

Walker says the group of 39 Chinese officials began the trip with meetings in Anchorage earlier this week.

”Discussions with Department of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Conservation, etc. And then up at the Slope to actually look at the facilities,” Walker said. “Half of them are headed to Fairbanks by bus because they wanted to see the route and what to expect. Then they’ll go down to the Kenai Peninsula, look at the LNG terminal that’s there now — former ConocoPhillips, now Tesoro. And they’re gonna go over to Seward and go to the Avtech facility where they have a ship simulator where, I assuem, they’re gonna drive an LNG ship.”

Also this week, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation announced that the Bank of China and Goldman Sachs have agreed to coordinate financing of the line, and that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released a schedule for environmental review of the project. Governor Walker describes the developments as key to a go, or no go decision in the 2020 time-frame.

“The final investment decision is really the critical piece when you’re gonna have a project,” Walker said. “But these are pieces that are necessary to get to that.”

AGDC, Chinese lenders and energy companies signed an agreement in November to investigate an Alaska gas line project, under which China would be granted a portion of the lines capacity in exchange for helping to finance its construction.

Anchorage to lend prosecutor for some state felony cases

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Officials in Anchorage and the State of Alaska say they are partnering to prosecute more cases of domestic violence and serious property crime in the city.

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Under an agreement announced Friday, an Anchorage city prosecutor will work on felony cases in the state District Attorney’s office. Until now, city prosecutors have not typically handled felony cases. The agreement will also have two Anchorage police officers assisting in the state District Attorney office’s investigations.

According to the memorandum of understanding, the new special assistant district attorney will focus on felony domestic violence and, it specifies, property crime if workload allows.

The deal comes amid soaring caseloads for prosecutors and after years of budget cuts that have hit the state DA’s offices hard.

The city says the two officers are available now that Anchorage’s police department has expanded its ranks. A city spokesperson says it will be sending a seasoned municipal prosecutor over to work in the state DA’s office, and hiring a new prosecutor to work on Anchorage misdemeanors.

Alaska News Nightly: Friday, March 30, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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Alaska House reverses itself on full dividend

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

Four days after passing a full Alaska Permanent Fund dividend of roughly $2700, the House today voted to take back the action, and passed a $1600 PFD instead.

Chinese officials tour proposed gasline project

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

A Chinese group is touring the route of a proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline. Chinese government and energy officials are investigating the project in cooperation with the state of Alaska, in anticipation of investing in construction of the $43 billion gas line.

Anchorage to lend prosecutor for some state felony cases

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Under an agreement announced Friday, an Anchorage city prosecutor will work on felony cases in the state District Attorney’s office.

Alaska Senate passes Stedman’s sea otter resolution

Joe Viechnicki, KFSK – Petersburg

The Alaska Senate passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the federal government to take steps to increase the harvest of sea otters in Southeast Alaska. Senate Joint Resolution 13 is sponsored by Sitka Republican senator Bert Stedman.

Some charter companies would trade number of fish for more fishing

Kayla Desroches, KMXT – Kodiak

A declining Pacific halibut stock means more restrictions for charter companies.

As Sitkans wait for roe, news of sickness from herring eggs in Canada

Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau

Typically, cholera is associated with tropical destinations. But recently, the bacteria that can cause the disease was found in subsistence herring eggs in British Columbia.

AK: Historic Iditarod, an Alaska ghost town

Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

In 1910, the gold rush boom town of Iditarod was the most populous city in the state. By 1940, the population was one. Today, it serves as a checkpoint for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, a shadow of its former self.

49 Voices: Mary Ellen Frank of Juneau

Tripp Crouse, KTOO – Juneau

This week we’re hearing from Mary Ellen Frank in Juneau. Frank is a doll maker and director/curator of Aunt Claudia’s Dolls, a local Museum.

Alaska House reverses itself on full dividend

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Rep. Geran Tarr, D-Anchorage, comments on a state operating budget amendment during a House floor session in the Alaska Capitol on Friday. The House reversed itself on passing a $2,700 permanent fund dividend. Instead, it passed a $1,600 PFD. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

Four days after passing a full Alaska Permanent Fund dividend of roughly $2,700, the House today voted to take back the action, and passed a $1,600 PFD instead.

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The House had been stalled since Monday, when the majority split over the size of the PFD. Six members of the majority today reversed their position.

Dillingham Democratic House Speaker Bryce Edgmon was one of those members. He said there weren’t enough votes in either the House or the Senate to pass the state budget with the full dividend amount under a formula set by state law. And he said the lower amount is still higher than last year’s.

“It became pretty clear to me that if I had the opportunity to get my constituents a $500 increase in the dividend — from last year’s $1,100 dividend to $1,600 this year — that that’s where my vote was going to go,” Edgmon said.

Edgmon said there are enough votes in the House majority to pass the budget. If no minority caucus members vote for the budget, all but one member of the 22-member majority must vote for it to pass the 40-member House. That vote could come as soon as Monday.

The PFD reversal drew criticism from those members of the House minority caucus who supported the full dividend.

North Pole Republican Rep. Tammie Wilson opposed the reversal and the vote to set the PFD at $1,600.

“I’m going to stay consistent,” Wilson said, addressing Edgmon. “And my consistency, Mr. Speaker, is $1,600 is still wrong.”

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Geran Tarr had been in favor of the full PFD. But she ultimately voted for setting it at $1,600. She said lower-income Alaskans rely on the PFD to pay for basic necessities.

“At some point … I hope that this Legislature can do the right thing, and do something that’s fair to all Alaskans, instead of asking the biggest commitment from the ones that have the least among us,” Tarr said. “And cutting the PFD is what that does.”

Last year, the House majority proposed higher taxes on oil and gas companies and reinstating an income tax. The Senate majority opposes those tax changes.

The budget amendment the House passed today also set how much the House would draw from permanent fund earnings to pay for the budget. The dividend draw would be $2.7 billion, which is slightly less than 5.25 percent of the fund’s market value.

Finding local seafood is getting easier at America’s top fishing port

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Buying local crab gave Rubi Warden an opportunity to show her daughter Pia where their food comes from. (Zoë Sobel/KUCB)

Unalaska is America’s fish capital. More seafood is hauled into Dutch Harbor than anywhere in the country, but for residents it’s not easy to find fresh fish unless they catch it themselves.

At the local grocery stores even seafood caught in the Aleutians is exported before landing in freezer cases. But it’s getting a little easier to get locally caught seafood on the dinner table.

It doesn’t happen often in Unalaska, but fishermen can sell their catch directly to customers. If you’re imagining a fish market, wipe away that image.

Buying fresh seafood means going directly to a boat like Roger Rowland’s. On a weekday in January people like Rubi Warden are crowding onto the dock to pick out tanner crab.

“Can you help me to carry it to my truck?” Warden asked.” “I’m buying $400 worth for three families.”

Fishing is a family affair for Roger Rowland. Here his daughter helps fill an order. (Zoë Sobel/KUCB)

Warden and her daughter Pia are buying 48 crab.  She’ll serve some of it to her parents when they visit from Hawaii.

Local crab hasn’t been sold on the dock in two years.

This is Rowland’s second time selling crab this season. The first time they took pre-orders, but today anyone can buy. It’s $12 a crab or 12 for $100.

“This year they’re very nice, very big,” Rowland said. “It’s really encouraging to see the really nice product.”

Selling fish off a boat doesn’t involve too much paperwork. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game requires a catcher seller permit to be completed along with a $25 processing fee.

Another way it’s getting easier to find local fish in Unalaska is at restaurants – at least at all the dining establishments owned by UniSea, one of the big processing plants in town.

Vic Fisher looks forward to Taco Tuesday the way most people look forward to the weekend.

“I’m sitting on Monday and I’m thinking about Taco Tuesday,” Fisher said.

Fisher is excited to try tonights’ menu: Alaska cod “just off the boat” marinated in chili lime sauce with cabbage slaw, and chipotle creme fraiche.

“I love fresh caught anything,” Fisher said. “This is fresh cod and this is absolutely a new thing. I’m down for it.”

The person responsible for all this fresh fish at the restaurant is Brett Richardson, the general manager of the Grand Aleutian Hotel. He’s been around for six years and says previous managers served fish from Asia.

“I was wondering why we weren’t serving fish that we caught. If only, not having to pay shipping costs,” Richardson said. “Something that’s local and something that I think tastes pretty good should be on the menu.”

All the restaurants at the Grand Aleutian Hotel are serving fresh, local fish seasonally. (Zoë Sobel/KUCB)

Richardson’s first move was to shift the hotel’s weekly seafood buffet from a cornucopia of products from around the world to just Alaska fish — cod, pollock, salmon and scallops.

In some ways it makes his job more difficult. He’s responsible for picking up the fish.

“We don’t have a delivery structure,” Richardson said. “I literally just drive my little car over, put it in the trunk, and bring it on over.”

Richardson can get fish so fresh it’s been off the boat for less than an hour. Workers process the fish on a slime line and instead of taking it to the freezers as they would for international customers, they walk it out to Richardson.

Even with Richardson’s three restaurants at the hotel and a few more nearby starting to serve local seafood, it’s still not easy to find fresh fish on the island.

Why is it so challenging? Richardson says it could be similar to why you can’t get good coffee in Java, Indonesia.

“The only thing they had there available for anybody was Nescafé,” Richardson said. “They export all of their coffee because other markets will pay much more premium products for that.”

Because of the seasonal nature of Alaska’s fisheries, there won’t be fish this fresh available year round. Richardson says the prime season is at the beginning of the year, but he thinks they’ll likely still have local cod through the end of April.


Kensington Mine audit outlines environmental challenges

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The Kensington Mine is located in the Tongass National Forest between Berners Bay (pictured) and Lynn Canal. (Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation)

An environmental audit of the Kensington Mine found the operation to be “generally in compliance” with its conditions of its permit that govern waste disposal and the long-term closure plan. Auditors pointed out some long-term challenges for the gold mine 45 miles north of Juneau.

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Auditors hired by the mining company Coeur Alaska visited the gold mine last fall and their recommendations are outlined in a 60-page report.

The external review is required by a pair of state permits that expire this year.

“The audit is a critical for the agencies for taking a look – kind of a third party objective look – at our permitting program to see if there’s areas of improvement,” Allan Nakanishi said. Nakanishi is an engineer with the Department of Environmental Conservation overseeing waste disposal at the mine.

One issue of concern noted by the auditors from the firm HDR, is exposed rock that when mixed with air and water leeches acid. These are veins of graphitic phyllite that have oxidized after being churned up by machinery. It’s like metal left in the rain that rusts. Except that in this case it produces sulfuric acid.

“It’s not uncommon in the Southeast to hit pockets of material that have high sulfide minerals within it and that go acid,” Nakanishi said.

In a written response to questions, the mining company said areas of concern are limited to the tailings treatment facility. It’s working to engineer a solution when it raises its tailings dam for the third time to increase the holding lake’s capacity.

But mine critics say acidic runoff threatens water quality in the long run.

“You know, once acid generation starts, it’s almost impossible to stop it and it’s very obvious even through the pictures that it’s getting worse over time,” Guy Archibald, staff scientist for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said. The group’s unsuccessful legal challenge went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.

“They do describe that they will remedy this issue when they complete the third phase, the third raising of the dam over time, they talk about grouting in there to keep the water out,” Archibald continued. “Again, these are short-term fixes.”

DEC cited the mine for acid runoff leeching into its unlined tailing treatment facility in 2013. There are quarterly samples being taken there now. And the auditors recommended the state begin monitoring the flow of contaminated water to keep tabs on the trend. They also gave mixed reviews to the effectiveness of concrete applied to seal off the source of the acid runoff.

Nakanishi said his big picture view is that occasional spikes in contaminants isn’t alarming.

“There have been some issues, some exceedances but that’s not uncommon,” Nakanishi said.

Auditors also critiqued how Kensington reports its environmental test result data to the state. Raw numbers in charts are provided in tables. They should be graphed out with baseline data so trends and abnormalities are more easily spotted.

Nakanishi said that’s an example of where the state could improve oversight.

“Some of the recommendations, I think, are valid and warranted,” Nakanishi said, “and we will be using this audit in the development of the future permit.”

Coeur Alaska said by email that it does provide data in a fuller context – but that’s through a separate water quality permit that was renewed last year and not examined by the audit team.

An extensive monitoring network is in place to routinely monitor water quality, the results of which are frequently reported,” Kensington Mine spokeswoman Jan Trigg wrote in an email.

This year, Kensington will need to renew both its state-issued waste management and reclamation permits, which expire in May and September. They’re good for five years.

The public process gives mine watchdogs like Guy Archibald a chance to weigh in.

“The bigger picture is I’m always concerned when there’s a large dam holding back solid waste directly above Berners Bay,” Archibald said.

Reading the audit, Archibald said the mining company has an enormous task and responsibility ahead of it.

“You know, for the most part they’re doing everything as well as you can do – as well as humans can try to control nature,” Archibald said. “I think they spend a lot of time, effort, money and expertise on attempting to do that. How this is all going to be performed in the long run, we’ll wait and see.”

Since opening in 2010, Kensington’s economic impact to the region has been significant. Coeur Alaska reports around 380 full-time year-round employees and boasts it’s Juneau’s second largest private employer in terms of payroll.

Trigg said by email that the company accepts many of the audit’s findings.

“Overall, Coeur Alaska feels that the third-party audit conducted by HDR was fair and thorough,” Trigg wrote. “However, as part of Coeur Alaska’s continuous improvement program and strong commitment to engaging in best-in-class environmental controls, Coeur Alaska had already identified these areas and begun the implementation of the suggested items, which was not addressed in the report.”

Dillingham marches against domestic and sexual violence

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(Photo by Isabelle Ross, KDLG – Dillingham)

The sun came out on Thursday as about 30 people gathered for the “Choose Respect” march in Dillingham.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are pervasive in Bristol Bay and across the state. According to an Alaska Victimization Survey, in 2015 half of all Alaskan women experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence, or both.

“It’s really what’s holding us back in Dillingham. It’s really what’s causing the cycle of violence, and cycle of drugs and alcohol to continue,” Gregg Marxmiller said. Marxmiller is the education and outreach coordinator for SAFE, the shelter for victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Bristol Bay. “It’s the ugliest thing in our community. We can be better, and we can do better.”

(Photo by Isabelle Ross, KDLG – Dillingham)

This march was just one of many that have taken place across Alaska. Nine years ago, former governor Sean Parnell started “Choose Respect” marches as part of an initiative to raise awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence in the state.

Lucinda Zamir was at the Dillingham march on Friday and said that showing people that there are options and support is why events like the “Choose Respect” marches matter.

“Domestic violence, intimate partner violence and so many other things are just quietly tolerated when people probably don’t realize that they have a voice, that they can speak up, that they should speak up and that they shouldn’t just tolerate people treating them poorly, no matter what it is,” Zamir said.

Marchers pointed, not only to the problem of violence in Bristol Bay, but also to a solution.

“We need to go back to what the elders said. We need to educate. Let’s educate by demonstration or by choosing respect,” Thomas Tilden, Curyung Tribal Council chief, said.

Thursday’s march showed that Dillingham residents will continue to raise their voices to confront domestic violence and sexual assault.

Gasline signs a DC insider

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Consultant Mike Dubke, at a reception for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention in 2016. (Photo: Lawrence Ostrovsky)

Former White House communications director Mike Dubke is now helping promote the Alaska gasline project.

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Mike Dubke, through his company Black Rock Group, has a $15,000-a-month contract to advise the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation on its communication strategy.

Dubke worked at the Trump White House for three months in 2017.  He previously worked on the election campaigns of both Alaska U.S. Senators.

Rosetta Alcantra, AGDC’s vice president of communications, said Dubke’s firm gives the gasline agency more of a presence in Washington, D.C.

“Their resume speaks very well as far as their experience,” Alcantra said. “Not only on the national level and kind of knowing that messaging and who to talk to – that’s definitely a piece that kind of resonates – but they also have that Alaska connection.”

The contract says Dubke will work on strategies to “amplify the benefits” of the liquefied natural gas project to the Trump administration, Congress and federal regulators.

Dubke has worked for American Crossroads, a super PAC affiliated with Karl Rove, and led a group called Americans for Job Security that spent millions running negative ads about Democratic Senate candidates.

Dubke’s firm has hired another well-connected political adviser as a subcontractor for the AGDC job: Kevin Sweeney, of Anchorage. Sweeney’s company, called Six-7 Strategies, will also be paid $15,000 a month. Sweeney is a long-time aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski and is married to Tara Sweeney, Trump’s pick to serve as assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs.

Alcantra said Sweeney will focus more on in-state messaging while Dubke will work primarily in the federal arena.

Wilderness Ski Classic underway in the Brooks Range

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From the 2011 Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic in the Brooks Range. (Photo courtesy of Luc Mehl)

A group of about 40 skiers are somewhere in the Brooks Range right now, competing in an event that’s grueling, even by Alaska standards.

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The annual Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic kicked off on Sunday, April 1. The group of skiers are tasked with traversing the Brooks Range and making to Wiseman by Sunday, April 8.

Luc Mehl is at home in Anchorage getting his gear ready for the event. Walk around the side of Mehl’s house and you’ll find his graveyard.

“This is a lonely ski because its partner broke in Iceland,” Mehl says.

It’s Mehl’s gear graveyard. Even some of his friends’ gear ends up here.

“And these are Evan’s, who was one of my classic partners,” Mehl says. “I don’t really know why they’re here. I don’t really want them, so they’re in my graveyard.”

The crew at the start line of the 2015 Wilderness Ski Classic in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains. (Photo courtesy of Luc Mehl)

Mehl grew up in the Kuskowkwim River village of McGrath and moved to Anchorage for high school. He’s a data scientist by day, and on the weekends, he skis. A lot.

“The last four weekends I’ve done a 20-mile day, 20-mile day, we did a 35-mile overnight, and then a 25-mile day,” Mehl explains.

That’s all in training for the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic– an event that has taken place every year for the last 30 years.

The course ranges from 100 to 200 miles and switches between the Brooks Range, the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains and the Chugach Mountains.

The routes are dreamed up by a man named Dave Cramer. Mehl talks about him like he’s an Alaskan legend.

“He drove horses to Alaska and he trapped and he had hand to hand combat with a wolf,” Mehl says.

Dave Cramer has competed in a number of Wilderness Ski Classics and helped organize the event since it began. (Photo courtesy of Dave Cramer)

Dave Cramer lives outside of Tok in the same cabin he and his wife built.

“The romantic vision of what Alaska is about– trapping and hunting and so on– I did those things,” Cramer says.

And Cramer did, in fact, arrive on horseback in 1970.

Cramer has been organizing the classic since the late 1980s. He interviews every single applicant and has each one sign a waiver.

“This prevents the participant and/or the participant’s next of kin from blaming, suing, or even getting mad at the event organizers, coordinators and other event volunteers,” the waiver reads.

“It’s a release,” Cramer explains. “What we’re trying to say in plain language is that if you choose to do this, you do it at your own free will.”

There are no aid stations along the way, just checkpoints, which sometimes are just a sheet of paper and pen inside a Nalgene hanging from a tree.

It’s a grueling event, but Cramer says interest is on rise, especially among women.

“Let’s see– I’ve got a partial roster in front of me,” Cramer says, and starts counting. “One, two, three, four…”

Sarah Histand is one of 10 women signed up for this year’s ski classic. She’s got safety glasses on and one ski pole clamped tight.

Sarah Histand grinds down the tips of her ski poles so the sharp tips can grab onto glare ice. (Emily Russell/Alaska Public Media)

“The tips of my ski poles are a little dull from use,” Histand explains. “I’m going to grind them so they’re super pointy– as pointy as possible.”

Histand is a mental health counselor and personal trainer from Valdez. She skied her first classic four years ago back when there was just one other woman heading into the wilderness.

“It made me challenge my idea of what I was capable of,” Histand says. “I feel like that shaped my whole perspective on what we, as individuals, are all capable of.”

And now it’s a challenge Histand and Luc Mehl will go through together. The two are dating and also partnering up for the ski classic.

It’s been ten years since Mehl’s first classic, and he says the end of the event — that’s always the best part.

“There’s the elation of finishing and being done, because what you just did is really hard,” Mehl says, laughing to himself.

And then people swap stories and compare blisters.

“You finish that in this warm, cozy little bubble with baked lasagna and people sharing this experience– it ends up being pretty powerful,” Mehl explains.

Luc Mehl and Sarah Histand expect to spend five nights together in the wilderness before finishing in the 31st annual Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic in Wiseman.

Alaska down to 2 cannabis testers after lease, loan problems

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One of Alaska’s three cannabis testing labs, Steep Hill Alaska, has closed because of complications with a loan connected to the space the business leased, its CEO said.

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Steep Hill CEO Brian Coyle said his landlord had received a letter from Wells Fargo threatening to foreclose on the building where the lab leased space, and the bank would not renew the landlord’s loan because Steep Hill is a cannabis business. The landlord asked Steep Hill to move out, which it did over the weekend.

Several other tenants in the building that run businesses unrelated to cannabis were apparently not affected.

Wells Fargo’s Alaska spokesperson David Kennedy declined an interview request and issued a written statement.

“It is currently Wells Fargo’s policy not to knowingly bank marijuana businesses, based on federal laws under which the sale and use of marijuana is still illegal,” the statement said.

Kennedy said the fact that the building has other tenants and that Steep Hill itself was not banking with, nor borrowing from, Wells Fargo does not change the bank’s position.

Coyle, the lab CEO, said he hopes to reopen elsewhere, but he is unsure when or where that might be.

Meantime, the closure leaves only two other labs in Alaska providing state-mandated testing for cannabis growers. The two remaining are CannTest in Anchorage and New Frontier Research near Wasilla.

Alaska regulations require growers to have cannabis tested for potency, among other things, before it can be sold at retail shops.

State records show there are three other testing facilities currently going through the application and review process.

Alaska News Nightly: Monday, April 2, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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House passes state budget in close vote

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

The Alaska House passed the state budget today by a bare majority. The 21-19 vote sends the spending plan to the Senate.

Walker asks Legislature to redirect previously requested ANWR exploration funding elsewhere

Rashah McChesney, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage

Gov. Bill Walker is asking the state legislature to take $10 million he originally wanted to spend exploring for signs of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — and put it toward other things.

Gasline signs a DC insider

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

Former White House communications director Mike Dubke is now helping promote the Alaska gasline project.

Nearly $1M spent on Anchorage “bathroom bill” ahead of vote

Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Amid a packed slate of propositions and candidates, one particularly controversial measure has drawn the lion’s share of campaign money.

Alaska down to 2 cannabis testers after lease, loan problems

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

One of Alaska’s three cannabis testing labs, Steep Hill Alaska, has closed because of complications with a loan connected to the space the business leased, its CEO said.

Coast Guard searching for man near Peril Strait

Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka

The Coast Guard and Sitka Mountain Rescue are searching for a missing man, who activated an emergency distress signal in Peril Strait Sunday afternoon.

Kensington Mine audit outlines environmental challenges

Jacob Resneck, KTOO – Juneau

A third-party audit finds the mine is “generally in compliance” with conditions required of two state permits. Kensington’s permits for waste management and reclamation are up for renewal this year.

Changing the mindset of the healthcare system

Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

For most healthcare systems, mental health and physical health are two separate issues. Not at one of the largest healthcare providers in Alaska, where doctors and behavioral health consultants work together with a new mindset.

Wilderness Ski Classic underway in the Brooks Range

Emily Russell, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

The annual Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic kicked off on Sunday, April. 1. The group of skiers are tasked with traversing the Brooks Range and making to Wiseman by Sunday, April 8.

Nearly $1M spent on Anchorage “bathroom bill” ahead of vote

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A vote counting machine unloaded at Anchorage’s election central to handle the city’s first Vote By Mail (photo: Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media)

Tuesday is the last day to submit ballots in Anchorage’s first-ever Vote By Mail election. Amid a packed slate of propositions and candidates, one particularly controversial measure has drawn the lion’s share of campaign money.

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Voters this year are deciding on a lot. Mayor Ethan Berkowitz is seeking a second term against his main challenger Rebecca Logan, whose campaign donations totaled less than half that of the incumbent’s. According to disclosures with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, Logan has brought in around $89,000 to Berkowitz’s $231,000.

There are also three school board seats up for election, and seven bond measures on the ballot. Residents are also asked whether the city should sell off utility Municipal Light and Power to Chugach Electric Association. And the ballot includes proposals to expand property tax exemptions for homeowners, give Whittier police authority to write parking tickets in Girdwood and bring a tract of homes in Eagle River under the Anchorage Fire Department’s protection.

Then there is Proposition 1, the so-called “bathroom bill”, a contentious proposal that has attracted a flood of campaign money — outpacing all other measures combined.

Prop 1 started as an initiative led by the conservative group Alaska Family Action and drew thousands of signatures to make it onto the ballot. The measure aims to undo part of a 2015 law that bans discrimination against residents on the basis of gender or sexuality, and would regulate public restrooms and changing facilities by a person’s biological sex at birth, rather than their self-identified gender. In campaign materials, backers say the measure is necessary to protect privacy.

The campaign in favor of Prop 1 has raised about $128,000, the majority of which is from Alaska Family Action. In the last month alone, AFA spent $75,000 on the campaign, with several thousand more coming from individual donations, and $1,100 from the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club. Much of the money raised has been spent on TV ads.

The proposition’s supporters have been outspent by its opponents more than six to one.

A coalition of groups called Fair Anchorage has raised about $824,000 to oppose the rule-change, arguing that it discriminates against transgender residents, will damage the local economy and is impractical to enforce. Many of the donations are non-monetary contributions from outside national groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Freedom for All Americans and Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaii, most of which were for compensation for staff time, services and consultations. Additionally, the group’s financial disclosures are filled with smaller individual donations. Much of the money has been spent on media ads, mailers and voter outreach.

April 3rd is the last day to submit ballots. As of Monday, the number of votes cast is on pace to surpass turnout in 2015, the last time there was a mayoral election.


House passes state budget in close vote

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Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, co-chair of the House Finance Committee, gives an overview of House Bill 286, the state operating budget, during the House floor session in the Alaska Capitol on Monday. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

The Alaska House passed the state budget Monday by a bare majority. The 21-19 vote sends the spending plan to the Senate. The action came after minority-caucus Republicans criticized the budget for not including more of the spending cuts they proposed.

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Homer Rep. Paul Seaton spoke in a favor of the budget, House Bill 286. He’s a majority-caucus Republican who shaped the bill as the co-chairman of the House Finance Committee. Seaton noted the state would draw $1.7 billion from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for state government.

“This budget is historic, in that it is the first time we’re planning to use the percent of market value calculation for (the) permanent fund earnings reserve account for public services, in addition to providing the annual permanent fund dividend,” Seaton said.

The budget price tag comes in at $5.5 billion for the portion of the budget the Legislature focuses on each year. That’s $548 million more than last year.

Palmer minority-caucus Republican Rep. DeLena Johnson criticized the budget. As an example of spending she opposed, she cited a $500,000 study of vitamin D deficiency supported by Seaton.

“There’s still a lot of waste,” Johnson said. “It comes back to accountability. We are accountable for this budget and if we’re not able to bring something forward that shows that we’ve really done our due diligence the budget to the point that is manageable, then … I can’t support this budget.”

North Pole Republican Rep. Tammie Wilson agreed there was still room to cut.

“I am an absolute no” on the budget, Wilson said. “If we can’t even take out the fat that is in this budget, before we could have the real discussions on the other areas, then we truly aren’t looking for change or transparency.”

Much of the increased spending, $263 million, was due to a rise in the permanent fund dividend from $1,100 last year to roughly $1,600. The rest of the increase was mostly for payments for public worker benefits, a $107 million increase, and another $100 million increase for Medicaid and children’s health insurance.

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Les Gara said the increases cover the cost of inflation and support public safety.

“Those of us who are voting for this budget are saying, ‘Enough is enough. People have a right to be safe in their homes,’” Gara said. “That’s not waste, that’s not fat … those are basic services the public deserves.”

Any changes the Senate makes in the budget would likely be worked out in a conference committee.

Gov. Bill Walker put out a newsletter Monday reiterating the two conditions under which he’d accept a draw on permanent fund earnings. He said the draw must not endanger the long-term health of the fund and be set at fixed percentage in state law, and that there must be a legal limit on how low the PFD can be.

Walker asks legislature to divert funds from studying ANWR into public safety

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A still from the ANWR video released by the White House. (Image courtesy YouTube)

Gov. Bill Walker is asking the state legislature to take $10 million he originally wanted to spend exploring for signs of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — and put it toward other things.

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Walker sent a letter to the co-chairs of the House and Senate Finance committees on April 2, asking them to redirect more than $8.3 million toward a statewide 9-1-1 system. Walker originally allocated the funds for seismic exploratory work, in the budget he released in December.

Walker also wants to split $1.5 million between the Department of Revenue and the Department of Natural Resources to do legal and financial work on the Alaska LNG project.

Congress opened the Refuge to development in December, but there is not a lot of data about how much oil is actually in it.

In the letter, Walker says the funds are not needed for seismic exploration in the Refuge right now.

Both the House and the Senate will have to approve the budget before the money can be spent.

Governor invites Alaska’s export-minded entrepreneurs to join China Trade Mission

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Gov. Bill Walker greets Chinese President Xi Jinping in April at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage during Xi’s stopover in Alaska on his return trip from a visit to Europe and Washington. First Lady Donna Walker, right, looks on. In November, Walker secured a preliminary agreement with China Petrochemical Corp., a.k.a. Sinopec Group, to advance a proposed $43 billion project to build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to Nikiski. The deal, if finalized, would enable export of LNG to China. (Office of the Governor)

Governor Bill Walker is inviting businesspersons from around the state who are interested in boosting trade with Alaska’s largest international trading partner to come along on a China trade mission to be launched in May.  A member of the Walker administration says the governor is especially interested in bringing along representatives of the mining and tourism industries.

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For the past seven years, China has been Alaska’s biggest export market. Last year, the state sold more than $1.3 billion in goods and services to China. Most of that, about $865 million worth, was for seafood and other ocean products, followed by $356 million in mineral ore.

“They are a key trading partner with Alaska, and I think that’s why the governor sees great opportunities,” state Transportation Commissioner Marc Luiken said.

Luiken says zinc from the Red Dog Mine in northwestern Alaska accounts for a lot of those mineral exports, along with precious metals. He says the governor believes the state’s mining industry could sell more of its products  to China, and he says Walker hopes the industry will be well-represented on the trade mission, set for May 19-26.

“There are several industries in the state that would benefit from better connections with customers in China,” Luiken said. “So I think he’s open to whoever would be interested in participating.”

Luiken says the governor hopes that’ll also include representatives of the tourism industry. The commissioner says he’s working with Chinese authorities to establish direct flights from China to Alaska to accommodate the nation’s growing interest in visiting Alaska, year-round.

“A lot of the Chinese tourists coming to Alaska are coming in the winter, coming to Fairbanks,” Luiken said.

Deb Hickok, president and CEO of Explore Fairbanks, the area’s tourism-promotion organization, says tourists from China and other Asian countries are increasingly coming to Alaska during the winter to view the aurora borealis.

“Chinese tourism for Fairbanks is really driven by the aurora, so we’re seeing Chinese guests come from late summer all the way through to the spring,” Hickok said. “The lion’s share of our guests do come in the five-month summer period, but we have seen growth in winter tourism.”

Hickok says winter tourism has grown so much over the past 10 years that it now generates 45 percent of the revenue Fairbanks gets from tourism annually. She says she appreciates the governor’s efforts to promote greater tourism with China.

Hickok says she’d like to go along on the trade mission, but she got a schedule conflict due to a major conference she’ll be attending.

But Hickok added, “We absolutely are researching and solidifying plans to intensify our efforts in mainland China.”

Information about how to sign up for the governor’s China trade mission is available on the website of the Alaska Office of International Trade, which along with the state Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development is organizing the trip. Information also is available on the Office of the Governor’s website.

UA President Johnsen shares outlook for university budget

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University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen talks about the spread of the university’s campuses @360 in Juneau on Tuesday. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen has spent the last few months advocating for more funding for the university, arguing that it cannot withstand continued budget cuts.

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The Alaska House of Representatives passed its version of the state operating budget Monday by a narrow margin. It includes $19 million more for the university’s operating budget than Gov. Bill Walker proposed.

Johnsen, appearing on Forum@360, said he was grateful the House decided to increase UA’s budget and is hopeful the Senate will follow suit.

“I can’t control that process, certainly,” Johnsen said. “But what I can do is continue every single day advocating for the interests of the university but always setting those in the context of the interest of the state.”

The university’s annual budget has declined by more than $60 million since 2014, forcing cutbacks that have affected class offerings, staffing and campus enrollment.

In 2016, Johnsen put forward Strategic Pathways, his plan to cut costs and consolidate administration while making the university function better. UA faculty and staff last year criticized Strategic Pathways, and Johnsen. The plan is in its final phase and being implemented across UA campuses.

“I think that the tough decisions the regents have made, the university has made, has gone a long way in persuading legislators that now is the time to stop the cuts and to actually start investing back into higher education for the state,” Johnsen said.

Part of that reinvestment effort includes the new, consolidated Alaska College of Education based in Juneau. Last week, the University of Alaska Southeast announced that Steve Atwater will lead the school as the new executive dean. The university has set a goal to produce 90 percent of the K-12 teachers hired in the state by 2025.

“There’s no more important job in Alaska, in my view, than teachers,” Johnsen said. “And we’re importing 70 percent each year, 70 percent of the new teachers hired in the state. And they churn at a very high rate.”

Johnsen said the university plans more scholarships and outreach to recruit prospective teachers for Alaska classrooms.

The Teach for Alaska Presidential Scholarship provides up to $12,000 to Alaskans pursuing a teaching degree at any UA campus.

Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, April 3, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @aprn

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UA President Johnsen shares outlook for university budget

Adelyn Baxter, KTOO – Juneau

The Alaska House of Representatives passed its version of the state operating budget Monday by a narrow margin. It includes $19 million more for the University of Alaska’s operating budget than Gov. Bill Walker proposed.

Alaska corrections leaders look to Norway for inspiration

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

A small group of Alaska corrections officers are spending more time getting to know inmates, with a goal of helping them reintegrate in society once they’re released. That’s one of several reforms Alaska officials are drawing from the example of Norway, in making changes to how prisons in the state operate.

Denali area wolf harvest paused

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The state has issued an emergency order halting the killing of wolves along the northeastern boundary of Denali National Park. The order implemented in the Stampede Road area, follows the trapping of Park Service collared wolves there this season.

Meet the Fairbanks teen who’s suing the U.S. government over climate change

Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks

“I saw the lawsuit as kind of a last-ditch effort to give my generation a seat at the table,” Nathan Baring said.

Dillingham marches against domestic and sexual violence

Isabelle Ross, KDLG – Dillingham

Dillingham residents of all ages turned out for SAFE’s annual “Choose Respect” march. With signs, chants, and songs they marched against sexual assault and domestic violence.

Governor invites Alaska’s export-minded entrepreneurs to join China Trade Mission

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

Governor Bill Walker is inviting businesspersons from around the state who are interested in boosting trade with Alaska’s largest international trading partner to come along on a China trade mission to be launched in May.

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