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UAF highlights profitability of Sikuliaq research vessel

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Sikuliaq floats in the Menominee River just after launch. (Photo by Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks)

The University of Alaska Fairbanks operated research vessel Sikuliaq is proving to be a good investment. That was a key message from UAF college of fisheries and ocean sciences dean Bradly Moran during a Sikuliaq update for UA regents last week.

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“The state of Alaska provide a half-million dollars a year as an investment that turns back roughly $12 million in revenue,” Moran said.

UAF operates the Sikuliaq for the National Science Foundation, which funds research projects, and Moran says much of the NSF-funded work is conducted by UA researchers.

“And in FY18, believe it or not, 74 percent of the time at sea doing science, it was someone from the university on that vessel,” Moran said. “That’s an amazing statistic. We were shooting for 20 percent in our strategic plan.”

Moran says that will help the university when it has to compete to retain the NSF operation contract in 2023. Moran also highlighted the recent purchase of a large trawl net that will enable the Sikuliaq to conduct fisheries research.

“It’s a very large contraption, takes a lot of people to use,” Moran said. So we’ll see how this goes, but I do believe that this investment of $250,000 will open up some new finding opportunities that we don’t actually have on the ship right now.”

Moran says the trawl which has under ice fishing capability was purchased with funds left over from the sale of the NSF previous research vessel, the Alpha Helix. Moran says the university is also investing in up to 5 new faculty, who will work aboard the Sikuliaq.

”This is important because we want to ensure faculty at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and across the state use this vessel,” Moran said.

Noting challenges facing the Sikuliaq program, Moran listed the need for a new 10 to 12 million dollar pier facility at Seward, but said he does not believe that re-securing the NSF operating contract in 2023 is contingent on building a new pier.


Clear Air Force station missile defense project receives $14.8 million grant

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Clear Air Force Station, near Anderson, Alaska. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $14.8 million contract to a Palmer-based contractor for work on a missile defense-related project at Clear Air Force Station, near Anderson.

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The contract awarded to White Mountain Construction calls for construction of a secure facility for the radar site at Clear. The project is one of several going on at the $345 million radar, which is intended to improve the military’s ability to detect and intercept incoming enemy missiles.

Jomo Stewart with the Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation says the radar facility is one of many military construction projects under way at Clear, Eielson Air Force Base and the missile defense base at Fort Greely.

“There are a number of military- and defense-related projects going on throughout the Interior,” Stewart said. “So, a substantial dollar figure, and a substantial amount of work.”

FEDCO President and CEO Jim Dodson said last year that a total of some $1.5 billion in military construction work was scheduled through this year for the Interior. Stewart says that’s bringing more jobs to the Interior.

“We, as much as possible, want to make sure as much of that work is conducted by local contractors, either directly or as subcontractors,” Dodson said.

The $14.8 million entry control facility project at Clear is scheduled to be completed in September of 2020.

State fines group opposing salmon habitat initiative for violating naming rule

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Campaign materials for Stand for Alaska – Vote No on One on display at an Anchorage conference. (photo by Nat Herz/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

The state is fining the main group opposing the salmon habitat ballot initiative $1,925.

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The Alaska Public Offices Commission says the group violated a rule that requires an organization fighting an initiative to clearly state its opposition in its name.

The organization is now called “Stand for Alaska – Vote No on One.” But the group was called simply “Stand for Alaska” until June 12, when it changed its name. The group also used “Stand for Alaska” in several campaign videos posted online.

APOC staff said the maximum penalty for all of the violations was $7,700, but the commission opted to reduce the fine because this is the first election cycle it has been active, and also “because the penalty is out of proportion to the degree of harm to the public,” the commission wrote in its decision.

Stand for Salmon, a group campaigning for the initiative, filed the complaint with the commission, arguing the name “Stand for Alaska” confused and misled voters. Ryan Schryver, director of Stand for Salmon, said the original name was “intentionally deceptive.”

The Stand for Alaska — Vote No on One campaign manager said that wasn’t the case.

“As far as the naming error goes, it was honest mistake, but a mistake nonetheless,” Kati Capozzi of Stand for Alaska said. “We will be paying the fine and we’re not going to be contesting it.”

Alaska News Nightly: Tuesday, Sept. 11, 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 @AKPublicNews

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Southeast bids adieu to fast ferry Fairweather

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska – Juneau

Alaska’s fast ferry completed what’s likely to be its last Southeast run this past weekend.

FBI joins search for missing 10-year-old Kotzebue girl

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The FBI has joined the effort to find a missing girl in Kotzebue. Ten-year-old Ashley Johnson-Barr was last seen the evening of September 6th leaving a local park.

State fines group opposing salmon habitat initiative for violating naming rule

Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage

The Alaska Public Offices Commission says the group violated a rule that requires an organization fighting an initiative to clearly state its opposition in its name.

Park Service extends perioid for public comment on hunting regulations

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The National Park Service has again extended the public comment period on a proposed sport hunting and trapping regulatory change. The controversial change proposed for Alaska National Preserve lands would allow state permitted practices like bear baiting, using artificial light to kill bears at den sites, killing coyotes during denning season, and killing of swimming caribou.

ACLU-Alaska announces settlement in immigration detention

Associated Press

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska says it’s settled a lawsuit with the city of Palmer that alleged officers wrongfully detained a Peruvian man over his immigration status.

Clear Air Force station missile defense project receives $14.8 million grant

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $14.8 million contract to a Palmer-based contractor for work on a missile defense-related project at Clear Air Force Station, near Anderson.

UAF highlights profitability of Sikuliaq research vessel

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

The University of Alaska Fairbanks operated research vessel Sikuliaq is proving to be a good investment. That was a key message from UAF college of fisheries and ocean sciences dean Bradly Moran during a Sikuliaq update for UA regents last week.

Charging details remain confidential for Unalaska teens that allegedly threatened teen with handgun

Laura Kraegel, KUCB – Unalaska

The state has filed charges against two Unalaska teenagers who allegedly threatened another teen with a handgun this July. That’s likely all the information Unalaskans will get about the case — unless it moves to the adult court system.

Alleged assault of grandmother in Juneau courtroom raises concerns about security

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

A 26-year-old Juneau man spent roughly six months in jail for allegedly assaulting his grandmother. Then the man — who’s diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia — did it again — this time in a Juneau courtroom. And it took 11 minutes for a law enforcement officer to arrive.

Wrangell resident shares her story for World Suicide Prevention Day

June Leffler, KSTK – Wrangell

Alaska has the second highest rate of suicide in the nation, that’s according to a 2016 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Five decades on, a Sitkan takes lessons from the 1968 DNC Riots

Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka

Sitkan Jerry Dzugan was a college student in Chicago in 1968 and witnessed firsthand the riots in the streets during the Democratic National Convention in late August. A bystander, he was nevertheless beaten and arrested during widespread efforts by Chicago police to clear the streets and restore order.

Security questioned after grandmother’s alleged assault during courthouse hearing

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The Dimond Courthouse in Juneau in February 2017. An Aug. 6 assault in a courtroom has raised concerns about security. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)

A 26-year-old Juneau man spent roughly six months in jail for allegedly assaulting his grandmother. Then the man, who’s diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, is alleged to have done it again — this time in a Juneau courtroom. And it took 11 minutes for a law enforcement officer to arrive.

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The incident is raising questions about courthouse security.

On Aug. 6, Konnie Chitty was testifying in a closed guardianship hearing for her grandson Tyler Leatham on the third floor of the Dimond Courthouse. The hearing would help determine if the state would become the guardian for Leatham.

Chitty told a recent forum held by supporters of candidate for governor Mike Dunleavywhat happened. She said she was testifying about the earlier assault.

“While I was standing just like this, speaking directly to the judge, my eyes not wavering, my grandson jumped from right here, beside his attorney, and knocked me out in one punch,” Chitty said.

While Leatham stopped the assault after his mother and others in the courtroom urged him to stop, it took time for help to arrive.

“There was only two of us in this, beside his attorney, the judge (and) his secretary, both pushing a panic button inside a locked room and no one came,” Chitty said.

The courthouse had two judicial services officers, who would have been responsible for responding, but both were guarding prisoners at the time. A Juneau police officer outside of the courthouse responded and arrived 11 minutes after the alarm.

For Chitty, the incident raises two concerns. One is about courthouse security. The other is about whether the state provides enough mental health treatment to those like Leatham who need it.

Chitty said the statewide need for in-patient mental health treatment far exceeds the capacity of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute.

“He does not particularly need prison, but a mental health institution,” Chitty said.

Chitty had this concern before the August incident. After Leatham’s first alleged assault against her in February, he was first jailed, then flown to Anchorage. His family understood that the state was seeking to move him to the state psychiatric institute. However, Chitty said that never happened and he spent much of his time in solitary confinement.

“I don’t know if we’re going to get help for our Tyler,” Chitty said.

Neil Nesheim is the area court administrator for Southeast Alaska. He was working nearby when the incident occurred. He said judicial services or Juneau Police Department officers are generally in courtrooms at the request of one of the parties or the judge.

“If somebody would be considered dangerous and a threat in the courtroom, certainly either party or either attorney could ask the court to provide some sort of JS officer or JPD officer or state trooper to be present, if that were the case,” Nesheim said. “To my knowledge, we haven’t received anything along those lines.”

Nesheim said those who work in the courthouse learned from the August incident.

“It was an unusual incident,” Nesheim said. “I don’t think anybody expected that really to happen. Certainly it’s one of those things where it’s one for the learning books in terms of what to look out for in terms of: Does someone have any mental health issues and would they be considered a danger to society or those people in the courtroom?”

Nesheim said the incident may lead to having more security in the courthouse.

“I would expect that the change would primarily result with the additional staff of judicial services officers,” Nesheim said. “Right now, they only have two. Typically in the past they’ve had three. I don’t know if that’s because of budget cuts or just the inability of being able to find somebody. But simply the presence of another judicial service officer would certainly help.”

Chitty flew down to Seattle last week to have her injuries from the incident checked out.

“It’s been horrible for our family, but we are moving forward,” Chitty said.

Leatham has been in Juneau’s Lemon Creek Correctional Center since the incident. And Chitty said the state has been granted guardianship over him. That means the state will provide for his treatment and everyday living needs.

Southeast bids adieu to fast ferry Fairweather

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The M/V Fairweather steams through Chatham Strait in 2011. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska)

Alaska’s fast-ferry completed what’s likely to be its last Southeast run this past weekend. That’s sparked sadness over the loss of a popular service and concern over the future reliability of the Alaska Marine Highway.

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When the M/V Fairweather entered service in 2004, there was excitement over the catamaran capable of doing 32 knots. That allows it to run from Juneau to other Southeast ports in about half the time it takes the rest of the fleet.

During the ferry’s run from Skagway and Haines to Juneau on Sept. 9, the Fairweather’s crew made an announcement. One of the passengers on board, 34-year-old Carl Brodersen of Juneau, set the scene.

“There’s two stone-faced looking officers standing on either side of a cake that says ‘Bon Voyage Fairweather,’” Brodersen said Tuesday, “and they explain that this almost assuredly the last voyage the Fairweather is going to take in Southeast.”

Frosted cake was shared between passengers and crew.

It was, Brodersen said, “a moment of real sadness at realizing that something that’s been an important of Southeast for years and years and years is probably going away.”

There were originally two fast ferries. But the Fairweather’s sister ship, the M/V Chenega has been tied up since 2015 when the state said it couldn’t afford to run it.

Officially, at least, the fate of the sole remaining fast ferry remains undecided. Two brand new Alaska-class vessels are expected to enter service next year, putting the future of Fairweather in doubt.

“Basically, we can’t keep the same ships running when you got two new ones coming in,” Alaska Marine Highway System General Manager John Falvey said. “So we’re in the process of making those decisions and we’ve not made those decisions yet.”

Crew of the M/V Fairweather presented cake to passengers on Sunday in an impromptu ceremony celebrating what will likely be the fast ferry’s final run in Southeast Alaska. (Photo courtesy Carl Brodersen)

The slower Alaska-class vessels have more passenger and vehicle capacity. They’re also touted to be more fuel-efficient and hence less expensive to run than the fast ferries – and more seaworthy in harsh winter weather.

When the first Alaska-class is delivered, that’s when Falvey said it’s decision time.

“We will need to take a very close look at what is the best fleet mix as far as service, as far as budgets and funding, to go forward from May 1,” Falvey said.

The Legislature has cut ferry funding by about $29 million over the past five years. That’s led to inevitable cuts to service.

“I think there’s a general concern really what the long-term viability is for service, especially for some of our smaller communities, as we see more and more of the fleet aging and being retired,” Robert Venables, chair of Alaska’s Marine Transportation Advisory Board, said. “We’re seeing a swap out of vessels with the Alaska-class ferry, but at the same time we’re not quite sure exactly how it’s going to be scheduled or deployed so that does leave a lot of potential riders wondering how it’s going to work out.”

Southeast residents like Carl Brodersen in Juneau say service cuts are making it harder to use the ferry on a regular basis.

“You used to be sure that there was always going to be a good, convenient ferry for when you wanted to make a trip and we simply don’t have that anymore,” Brodersen said.

That leads to what Broderson describes as a “death spiral.”

“The schedules are not good because they don’t have enough passengers because people can’t take the ferry because the schedule isn’t good,” Broderson said.

For now, the Fairweather remains on the job – but in Prince William Sound, not in Southeast.

As it did last winter, the ship will connect the communities of Cordova, Whittier and Valdez. At least until May, when its future in the fleet will be decided.

Alaska Native organizations receive federal grant for safe and healthy housing

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Three Alaska Native tribal organizations have won nearly $3 million in federal housing grants to improve living conditions in more than 100 homes.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the Tribal Healthy Homes Production grants Monday in Juneau. The recipients hope to use the money for home repairs, education and to deal with mold and mildew issues.

The Organized Village of Kake and the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority each received $1 million. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium won almost $870,000.

Housing Authority Executive Director Joyce Niven said the organizations will work together and with partners to improve living conditions in their regions.

“We all have different skill sets that we’ll need to use to execute the grant … because it’s ‘Healthy Homes,’ it’s not just going in and repairing homes,” Niven said. “It’s educating people about managing their homes in a healthy manner.”

One issue she said they frequently deal with in Southeast is mold and mildew. With the area’s wet climate, respiratory issues can result from poor ventilation in people’s homes.

Niven said the Healthy Homes grant funding will help the organizations address those problems more thoroughly.

“When we’re in the homes there’s often so much to be done that we have to set priorities and figure out what’s the most critical thing to get fixed. These funds will help us not have to set so many priorities and maybe get the entire home fixed,’” Niven said.

Niven said she and her staff will start work on an implementation plan due back to the federal government in 90 days.

The Healthy Homes grants are the first of their kind. HUD awarded $12 million in total to 13 tribal organizations across the country.

Five Guam-based B-52s parked out in Eielson amidst typhoon

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A B-52 Stratofortress and a B-1 Lancer taxi to the runway at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., June 15, 2016. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Curt Beach)

Five B-52s from an U.S. air base in Guam are parked on the flightline at Eielson Air Force Base. Air Force officials sent the big bombers and their crews to Eielson this week to wait out Typhoon Mangkhut, which struck the island Monday.

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A Weather Channel forecaster said Tuesday Mangkhut had grown stronger after it had spun away from Guam en route to Asia.

“So, Mangkhut is now a super typhoon. This is a monstrous, very scary-looking storm, with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour,” the forecaster said. “And it is set to make some big-time impacts on southeastern Asia, as we get closer toward the weekend.”

An Eielson spokesperson said Tuesday the five bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana had been deployed to Andersen Air Base in Guam as part of a routine deployment. The B-52s are assigned to the 96th Bomb Squadron from Barksdale.

Eielson officials say they’re not sure how long the B-52s will remain at Eielson.


Southeast’s commercial red king crab fishery won’t open in 2018

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State managers are trying to grow the red king crab population in Southeast. (Photo/ADF&G)

Commercial crab fishermen won’t have a season for red king crab in Southeast this fall. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game made that announcement on September 7.

The lucrative fishery was open last year for the first time in six years. The catch last season was over 120,000 pounds worth around $1.3 million at the docks.

Fish and Game says estimates of legal-sized male crab have declined nine percent from last year and are below the threshold in regulation that allows for a fishery. Those estimates are based in part on an annual survey of crab stocks in seven areas of Northern and Central Southeast.

Fishermen sought changes to regulations at last winter’s meeting of the Board of Fisheries in Sitka but were unsuccessful in attempts to have more king crab fishing opportunity even while crab numbers are low. The one change that passed will allow them to apply for a commissioner’s permit to explore for king crab in offshore waters, beyond three miles.

Meanwhile, Fish and Game Friday also announced changes to the personal use fishery for king crab. Those include a new closed area in Gambier Bay on southern Admiralty Island starting September 16. Bag and possession limits are also being reduced in areas that remain open. In addition, the Board of Fish also voted in January to create a permit for the personal use fishery and require reporting. That requirement started in July.

International Whaling Commission votes to change subsistence quota renewal process

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Subsistence hunt quotas for bowhead whales are set by the International Whaling Commission, which has just voted to change the way it renews those quotas. (Flickr photo by Anne-Line Brink).

At a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Brazil on Wednesday, Sept. 12, Alaska bowhead whale hunters celebrated a big victory.

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The organization — which manages international whaling, including for indigenous hunters — voted to change the way that subsistence hunt quotas are set.

Instead of quotas that expire and have to be renewed by the full IWC every six years, the quotas will now be renewed automatically, provided they have approval from the scientific committee that reviews the health of different whale populations.

It will also enable hunters to carry over more of their unused allowance from past years to another year.

Members of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission are attending the meeting in Brazil as part of the U.S. delegation. The meeting ends Friday, Sept. 14.

The IWC began setting quotas for the Alaska bowhead whale subsistence hunt back in 1977.

A political consultant’s work was scrutinized amid Anchorage voter fraud allegations. Now he’s dead.

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Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, speaks on the floor of the Alaska House in 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

A political consultant has died while his work was being scrutinized amid allegations of voter fraud in a close Anchorage state House race, according to the state representative who hired him.

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Charlie Chang worked with Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, whose district includes parts of the Muldoon neighborhood and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Chang, who lives in California, helped LeDoux recruit Hmong voters, and LeDoux’s opponents tied him to what they described as irregular absentee voting patterns.

LeDoux, in a brief phone interview Wednesday, said Chang died Tuesday from a “major stroke.”

“He was on life support for a couple of days and then he passed away,” LeDoux said. “That’s all I know and it’s sad, and I feel pretty devastated by it.”

Chang had worked with LeDoux periodically for a decade, and she said they’d become friends. His death was first reported by Anchorage TV station KTUU.

LeDoux caucuses with Democrats in the House’s majority coalition, and the Alaska Republican Party has been trying to unseat her. She trailed her GOP primary opponent, Aaron Weaver, by three votes after the first round of counting election night, last month.

A subsequent count of absentee ballots gave LeDoux a 117-vote win. But state elections officials also said they found evidence of voter fraud among the absentee ballots, and they sent their findings to prosecutors for review.

Elections officials said they received absentee applications in the names of seven dead people. Those ballots were not mailed out, but officials also identified 26 suspicious ballots that were returned.

All 26 of those votes went to LeDoux.

The state hasn’t released details about the voters who sent in those suspicious ballots.

But LeDoux’s Republican opponents point to more than two dozen people with Hmong last names who registered to vote from two different Muldoon mobile homes. And they note that LeDoux paid Chang more than $10,000 to recruit Hmong voters.

LeDoux said she told Chang to be careful, and added that she has no reason to believe he broke any laws.

State prosecutors have declined to comment about a possible voter fraud investigation. They did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday about how their work could be affected by Chang’s death.

Alaska News Nightly: Wednesday, Sept. 12, 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 @AKPublicNews

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Investigation confirms unsafe conditions at psychiatric hospital

Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

A report commissioned by the state found barriers to a safe workplace at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, but no evidence of retaliation against employees.

A political consultant’s work was scrutinized amid Anchorage voter fraud allegations. Now he’s dead.

Nathaniel Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage

Charlie Chang worked with Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, whose district includes parts of the Muldoon neighborhood and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

AFN announces its opposition to Brett Kavanuagh’s Supreme Court nomination

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

The Alaska Federation of Natives says it opposes the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

International Whaling Commission votes to change subsistence quota renewal process

Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks

The International Whaling Commission voted to change the way that subsistence hunt quotas are set.

Permit holders, processing workers included in pink salmon disaster money draft plan

Joe Viechnicki, KFSK – Petersburg

Under a draft plan released this summer, commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska would get only a small portion of the $56.3 million appropriated by Congress to address a pink salmon disaster in 2016.

Fairbanks passes controversial ordinance affecting labor contracts

Robyne, KUAC – Fairbanks

The Fairbanks City Council last night passed an ordinance that changes the way labor contracts are negotiated. With tight budgets and some labor contracts pending, the change is controversial.

In villages, first responders frustrated by an overburdened health care system

Teresa Cotsirilos, KYUK – Bethel

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, and Mountain Village is a place where suicide attempts are common. As in many villages, the first responder is often a Village or Tribal Police Officer.

How little organizations make a big difference through collaboration

Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Solving community problems can be hard, unless you tap into the power of collaboration. This is how Chickaloon does it.

Five Guam-based B-52s parked out in Eielson amidst typhoon

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

Five B-52s from an U.S. air base in Guam are parked on the flightline at Eielson Air Force Base. Air Force officials sent the big bombers and their crews to Eielson this week to wait out Typhoon Mangkhut, which struck the island Monday.

Investigation confirms unsafe conditions at psychiatric hospital

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Attorney Bill Evans presenting a new report on problems at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute. (Photo – Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media, Anchorage)

Alaska’s only state-run psychiatric hospital is an unsafe place to work. That’s the finding of a report by an independent investigation commissioned by the State of Alaska.

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At a press conference in Anchorage on Wednesday, Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth said in March the state launched a probe “to look at concerns of workplace safety and claims of retaliation at Alaska Psychiatric Institute.”

The state hired a private law firm to investigate three main issues: Whether API employees are safe at work, whether there is retaliation by management against employees and if the facility is a hostile work environment.

Attorney Bill Evans wrote the report after conducting confidential interviews with current and former staff, as well as reviewing past surveys and investigations of API. As recently as November of 2017, officials with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Occupational Safety and Health found a number of safety violations at the facility. Evans’s conclusion is that several factors make it dangerous to work at API.

“I focused my report primarily on finding those underlying reasons that maybe affecting safety in the workplace, things that could be controlled, perhaps, by the administration,” Evans said giving a summary of the document.

The report cites nearly a dozen factors hindering employee safety. They include problems with scheduling, inadequate training for entry-level employees, insufficient programming for patients, no intensive care unit and a lack of consequences for patients who physically assault staff.

Evans also investigated claims of retaliation against employees who raise safety concerns and that API is a hostile work environment. He did not find sufficient evidence that either charge is happening in a systematic way, though conceded there are individual incidents that might have contributed to that perception among staff.

By some estimates, API has roughly half the number of beds that the state needs. Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Valerie Davidson explained during remarks that more than a decade ago when the current API facility was built, the broad intent was to replace institutional care with community-based resources. But that hasn’t happened.

“Anytime you have a demonstrated need of 160 beds and you instead end up with a facility that has 80, it’s just a matter of time before those problems are going to come to the forefront,” Davidson said.

Davidson’s department and the Walker Administration are taking a number of immediate steps to improve the situation. This month they are raising wages for nurses at API to make the jobs more competitive with nearby hospitals. They’re also partnering with another state entity, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, to study potential strategies for bringing more treatment beds online. If the Walker Administration remains in place after the November election, Davidson said it will make new legislative funding requests for facility improvements, more staff positions and more treatment spots.

Alaska Federation of Natives opposes Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination

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The Alaska Federation of Natives says it opposes the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

AFN’s statement Wednesday comes as the Senate considers confirming President Trump’s pick for a lifetime appointment to the high court.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has met with Kavanaugh and said she would be mulling over his record. Murkowski’s positions on abortion rights and willingness in the past to break from her fellow Republicans make her a potential key vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Murkowski has enjoyed strong support from the Alaska Federation of Natives and many credit her historic 2010 general election win through a write-in campaign to support from Alaska Native voters, at least in part.

AFN says it opposes Kavanaugh on the basis of his statements or decisions on Native rights cases, as well as concern that he is more conservative than current justices whose positions on Native rights could be disastrous for Alaska.

For the second time this month, Russian warplanes intercepted in Alaska airspace

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A Russian Tu-95 Bomber being escorted by British forces in 2014. (Photo courtesy of U.K. Ministry of Defence)

Two U.S. fighter jets intercepted four Russian warplanes off the west coast of Alaska Tuesday.

It’s the second time this month that fighters have scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft that’s approached U.S. airspace around Alaska.

A news release issued Wednesday by the North American Aerospace Defense Command says the two F-22 Raptors intercepted two TU-95 Bear bombers two SU-35 Flanker fighter jets at around 6 p.m. Tuesday Alaska time.

The NORAD news release says the F-22s were scrambled because the Russian aircraft had
entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone. Aircraft often enter the zone, because it’s international airspace. But warplanes are met and accompanied through the Alaska zone by fighters, usually based out of Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson.

The JBER F-22s scrambled on September 1 st to intercept two Russian Bear bombers.


In case of missing Kotzebue girl, troopers shift from search and rescue to investigation

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Ashley Johnson-Barr (Photo courtesy of the Kotzebue Police Department)

It’s been a week since 10-year-old Ashely Johnson-Barr went missing in Kotzebue, and the response is shifting their focus from search and rescue to investigation.

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Alaska State Trooper spokesman Jonathon Taylor says some search efforts will continue along shoreline and water access points, but the exhaustive nature of the multi-agency operation, and length of time that’s passed, warrant transitioning the focus toward investigation. Taylor says that includes investigating ”whether criminal activity could’ve been involved in her disappearance.”

For now, Taylor says law enforcement, including the FBI, is not downsizing its presence in Kotzebue, and that investigators are following up on information received from the public.

”There could be criminal activity involved in Ashley’s disappearance. It could just be a tragic accident,” Taylor said. “Law enforcement is trying to pursue all of the leads.”

Taylor says a forensics analysts in Anchorage are going through Johnson-Barr’s cellphone, which was found on a local street near a Kotzebue park where she was last seen September 6th.

About 3,000 people live in the remote Northwest Alaska coastal city, and Taylor says investigators believe someone knows what happened.

”We’re urging anyone who may have details or knowledge of Ashley’s disappearance or current whereabouts to come forward with that information,” Taylor said.

Taylor says a local call and text tip line (907-995-3890) has been set up, and anyone outside Kotzebue with information can call State Troopers (907-451-5100).

UA regents to meet in Juneau this week

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The University of Alaska Board of Regents will meet in Juneau on Thursday and Friday to discuss the university system’s budget and programs.

The meeting agenda includes updates on the university’s compliance with federal requirements for handling sexual discrimination, harassment and assault. It also includes progress on Strategic Pathways, the university’s comprehensive cost-cutting plan now in its third and final phase.

At the University of Alaska Southeast campus, regents will begin discussing their budget request to the Alaska Legislature for next year.

Tuition for most UA students increased 5 percent this fall. Regents approved that hike last November. Tuition will rise another 5 percent next school year as well.

The board plans to hold a public reception Thursday evening at the UAS Recreation Center.

The meeting will be livestreamed at alaska.edu.

The full board meets regularly every two months at alternating campuses.

How this week’s aurora activity is being driven by the sun

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(Photo courtesy UAF Geophysical Institute)

Solar activity is increasing the likelihood of active aurora. University of Alaska Fairbanks Emeritus professor of physics, and longtime aurora forecaster, Charles Deehr says this week’s activity is one of two mechanisms that drive the aurora.

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”The first are these huge outbursts that we get during the solar maximum. Now we’re on our way down to the minimum,” Deehr said. “We have the other method, what we call coronal holes. These are high-speed streams of particles that come out from the sun and it looks like a great big garden sprinkler.”

Deehr says one hole occurred on Monday the 10th, and computer modeling predicts a second on the 13th or 14th. Deehr stresses aurora over any region hinge on timing.

”Sometimes there’s a lot of activity but it’s all over on, say, the other side of the earth,” Deehr said. “Our time zone for active aurora is nine to twelve, universal time, The three-hour period where we’re at magnetic midnight.”

Alaska’s magnetic midnight, when the magnetic North Pole is between us and the sun, is between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Deehr says the current coronal hole activity will continue to increase the likely hood of aurora over the next 4 to 5 days.

In Mountain Village, a VPO works tirelessly to save her neighbors

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Village Police Officers Anna Bill and Joseph Rivers chat between calls in Mountain Village. (Photo by Teresa Cotsirilos/KYUK)

It’s Friday night in Mountain Village, and Village Police Officer Anna Bill is trying to stay awake.

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“It’s only just starting,” Anna says, then groans. “I’m on one hour of sleep.”

A potty-mouthed mother of four, Anna’s been a VPO for a little under a year. The night before this, she received 39 calls in about four hours. She and I were just sitting down to a family potluck when she got a call about another assault, and we’re not wasting any time getting there. Anna’s driving towards the caller’s house with a paper plate of green beans, which her relatives insisted we take for the road.

We park in front of a small house and Anna and VPO Joseph Rivers walk briskly up the steps. After a while, Anna jogs back out and gets on her phone. The woman inside has tried to kill herself.

“We’ll get her to the clinic, okay?” Anna tells the woman’s brother, who’s standing in the home’s arctic entryway. “She’s going to be okay.”

Within minutes, a group of city employees veer into the front yard on four-wheelers. Mountain Village’s city manager runs into the house. They need help carrying the woman out. The woman’s fighting them, but Anna and the others manage to haul her into the back of a battered pickup with a broken door, the closest thing Mountain Village has to an ambulance.

“Are you guys ready?” Anna shouts.

A few men jump in the back to hold the woman down and keep her from rolling out the back of the pickup. Anna swerves down the hill towards Mountain Village’s small health clinic.

“This is like nothing compared to normal calls,” Anna says with a weak laugh. “As long as she’s screaming, kicking, and crying, she’s going to be okay.”

“This makes… 54,” Anna says, stopping briefly to count. “Fifty-four individual people in the past seven months.”

About 850 people live in Mountain Village; according to the city’s police records, between 5 and 7 percent of them have attempted suicide in the past year. Anna has helped save them all. She’s responded to as many as three suicide attempts a day. She’s cut several people down who have tried to hang themselves.

The Y-K Delta has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, and as in most villages, the first responder is usually a Village or Tribal Police Officer who receives little training or support. Anna never thought she’d be doing this work. As a teenager in Mountain Village, she actually egged one of the village’s old VPOs, along with a few girlfriends that she still refuses to rat out. She was that kid. When a former VPO offered Anna the job, she prayed on it. Then she put in her application and got to work the same day.

“At five o’clock that evening I got sworn in, and my shift started at midnight,” Anna said.

Anna didn’t receive any training in suicide response, or in anything else. She doesn’t have a uniform, and didn’t have any handcuffs until a Trooper lent her some. She’s also miserably paid.

“Who wants to risk their life for $13 an hour? Me!” Anna says, with a booming laugh. She received a $2 raise after her review.

Anna used to work in behavioral health, which gives her an edge, but when it comes to responding to suicide attempts, she’s mostly taught herself what to do by listening to old calls.

“There are some signs I wish that I could have noticed on some suicide calls,” Anna says. “You can’t blame yourself for it, but it’s really hard not to do.”

Anna keeps a shotgun shell on her desk. It’s a round from the gun that was used in the first suicide attempt she responded to. She talked the man down, but kept the cartridge as a reminder that things can go bad quickly. She tells the growing number of people she’s helped save that they can call or text her at any time.

“It’s a bond that a normal person wouldn’t be able to see,” Anna explained. “An invisible connection to the next person and the next person, like a chain reaction. I look at them, and they’ll look at me, and I’ll just nod. And I’ll know that they’re okay.”

The woman who tried to kill herself is safe in Mountain Village’s clinic. Anna’s running an errand when the phone rings. The conversation’s short.

“We’ve got another suicide attempt,” Anna said.

She turns the car around.

The call is coming from the same house we visited earlier; this time, it’s the woman’s brother. When we get there he’s upset, but hasn’t tried to hurt himself, though his family was afraid he would. He’s calm, eating dinner. Anna talks to him for a while, then gets back in the car.

The brother struggles with alcohol but is making progress, Anna says. He’s taken a swing at her a couple times.

“Every time I encountered him, we had to fight,” Anna said bluntly. He never really managed to land a punch on her. “I’m too short,” Anna explains. “Duck and dodge, baby!” We start to drive home.

By the time we get there, Anna’s exhausted. Her boyfriend, Ivan, fixes her some food.

“Every time I deal with any kind of suicide attempts, I’ll have no energy,” anna said. “I’ll feel sick. It takes a lot out of me.”

It brings up old memories.

“I attempted suicide when I was young,” Anna said. “At one point I tried to take a handful of pills and survived.”

Anna was 16 when she tried to kill herself. She remembers waking up in Bethel’s hospital and thinking about her family. She says that the experience makes her better at dealing with people on these calls.

“A talk to a lot of these kids and I tell them, ‘I’ve been there,'” Anna said. “‘I felt what you felt, I’ve been through it. And I did it before. But look, I’m here. Now, I’m trying to make a difference.'”

In the time it took KYUK to report this story, Anna responded to several more suicide attempts in Mountain Village. She hasn’t lost one yet.

Alaska News Nightly: Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018

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