Health Commissioner Valerie Davidson during a discussion on Medicaid reform with the Senate Finance Committee in February 2016. Davidson accepted the resignation of three senior Department of Health and Social Services officials on Friday and named their replacements, including two in an acting capacity. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
Three senior Alaska Department of Health and Social Services administrators resigned Friday. Commissioner Valerie “Nurr’araaluk” Davidson has named two acting replacements and a new permanent CEO of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute.
The changes came two days after the release of a report that found Alaska’s only state-run psychiatric hospital is an unsafe place to work.
Department spokeswoman Katie Marquette declined to comment on whether the changes were related to the report. She said it’s a personnel matter.
Davidson sent a letter to all Division of Behavioral Health employees. Marquette said the letter let them know they can contact the new administrators.
“She encouraged them to reach out to these newly appointed individuals to talk to them about how these changes will impact the Division of Behavioral Health and the entire department going forward,” Marquette said.
Deputy Commissioner Karen Forrest, Division of Behavioral Health Director Randall Burns and API head Ron Hale resigned.
Davidson named Monique Martin as the deputy commissioner of family, community and integrated services. She had been working for the department as a policy adviser. Gennifer Moreau-Johnson was named acting director of the Division of Behavioral Health. She had been the deputy director.
Duane Mayes is the new CEO for API. He’s already started work. He had been the director of the Division of Senior and Disabilities Services. Deb Etheridge became acting director of senior and disabilities services, after serving as the deputy director.
The state hired a private law firm to investigate whether API employees are safe at work, as well as 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. He concluded that several factors make it dangerous to work at API.
Marquette said the division will continue to make a series of changes Davidson outlined at a press conference Wednesday about the report. They include raising the pay for psychiatric nurses at API. That pay hike occurred on Sunday. Marquette said this will improve the institute’s ability to attract and retain nurses.
“It’s really challenging to recruit psychiatric nurses at API when those positions make substantially less than their counterparts in the private sector,” Marquette said.
Along with the psychiatric nurses’ pay increase, the 80-bed institute is looking to hire 20 new nurses. The increases in staff and salaries were included in the state budget for this year.
The population of beluga whales that live in the Cook Inlet has been steadily declining in recent years. (Photo courtesy Marine Mammal Commission)
Federal wildlife managers organized an event over the weekend based on a really basic principle: You’re more likely to care about something if you can see it. That’s why they recruited an army of citizen scientists Saturday to count endangered beluga whales near Anchorage.
There were 18 viewing stations scattered across Cook Inlet. At one of them just off the Seward Highway south of town, Brooke Faulkner, a college student, spotted a whale and a calf.
“I was just talking and then all of a sudden I was like, ‘It’s right there!’” Faulkner said. She’s studying biology at a Homer-based semester program. “It was within like 50 feet of us.”
Scientists estimate that there are about 330 belugas in the inlet, down from more than 1,000 in the 1970s. The federal government named Cook Inlet beluga whales as an endangered species in 2008.
Biologists think hunting originally caused the decline. But even though hunting has stopped, the population hasn’t recovered, and scientists aren’t exactly sure why.
“They just didn’t bounce back the way we expected they would. So the question is, once you remove that immediate source of mortality, if they’re not bouncing back from that, what else might be hindering them?” said Jon Kurland, a Juneau-based official with NOAA Fisheries, the agency charged with protecting belugas. “Is it food? Is it noise? Is it contaminants? Is it just something else that we haven’t thought of yet?”
The process to list Cook Inlet belugas as endangered was contentious, in part because of fears that beluga protections could interfere with commerce in Cook Inlet.
The inlet has offshore platforms producing oil and gas. There’s also a commercial fishing industry. And Anchorage’s port is a hub for food, cars and fuel shipped into the state. The state of Alaska and an oil company actually sued to block the beluga listing, though they lost.
Federal managers said they think events like the count can help build public support for belugas.
“We all tend to care about things that are in our backyard, right? And things we can see,” said Donna Wieting, a NOAA Fisheries official who traveled to Anchorage from the Washington, D.C. area for Saturday’s count.
Wieting said her agency tries to get people spotting other species, too. All along the West Coast, there are “Whale Trail” stations where people can look for orcas.
Julia Grindstaff said that idea makes sense to her. She was also at Point Woronzof on Saturday — she moved to Anchorage a few years ago and said she got way more excited about belugas after she saw them in Cook Inlet.
“I’d been landlocked in Illinois and Colorado, so when I came here and actually saw the belugas — oh my gosh, it was pretty amazing,” Grindstaff said. “It does make it more real to you than just seeing it on television or hearing about it.”
Grindstaff said she calls the belugas the “ghosts of the Inlet,” because of how quickly and smoothly they rise out of the water.
Organizers said just under 2,000 people showed up to count them Saturday, and spotted an estimated 100 whales.
Gov. Bill Walker looks out over Sitka Sound on June 22, as trollers pass by calling for him to not sign a Pacific Salmon Treaty annex that further cuts Alaska’s allocation. (Photo by Emily Kwong/KCAW)
Alaska will see a reduced salmon allocation under a proposed salmon treaty deal with Canada. That’s according to a proposed 10-year extension of the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
Formal talks finished in mid-August. Now, the numbers are out: Alaska will accept a 7.5 percent reduction, compared to 12.5 percent for Canada. In Washington and Oregon, the cuts range from 5 to 15 percent.
“There’s some that would consider it to be winners and losers and I think in this case, I think everybody was equally disappointed,” said Alaska Fish and Game Deputy Commissioner Charlie Swanton, who headed Alaska’s delegation.
It’s unclear just what the reduction will mean for Alaska’s fisheries; a lot will be up to the Board of Fisheries when it meets in March. But it will certainly mean less fishing time and other conservation measures.
Reaction was mixed.
“The decrease is unfortunate,” said Samantha Weinstein, executive director of Southeast Alaska Guides Organization. “We always regret losing the opportunity for clients to catch even just one more fish, but conservation needs to be put first.”
“It’s always been crystal clear that we don’t want any cuts,” said Amy Daugherty, executive director of the Alaska Trollers Association. “We have of course a variation of opinion throughout our organization but no one wanted cuts.”
Commercial fishermen, most of them trollers, held rallies in recent months urging the governor not to commit to more cuts.
Gov. Bill Walker said he’d met with treaty critics. But a one-year delay he said he’d floated during a recent visit to Washington D.C. wasn’t feasible.
“I realize some fishery groups are unhappy with this outcome,” the governor said in a prepared statement, “but I commend Commissioner Swanton and his team of industry and fishery negotiators for their tireless effort to get the best deal possible for Alaska.”
Sitka troller Caven Pfeiffer said that’ll be remembered come November.
“The troll fleet is not going to take this lying down,” Pfeiffer said. “This is going to be something that Gov. Walker is going to have deal with this fall when he’s running for re-election.”
“And if we didn’t have a treaty,” Swanton said, “it is likely and it has happened in the past, where some provisions of the Endangered Species Act would essentially be affecting how the state of Alaska operates our salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska.”
In other words, it could invite federal intervention into the state’s fisheries.
The ink’s not dry yet. The deal is still pending legal review in Washington and Ottawa. Only then can it be formally ratified by diplomats from both countries.
Judges and the parties in hearings may request more security after a recent alleged assault at the Dimond Courthouse in Juneau, pictured here in February 2017. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
Juneau’s Dimond Courthouse won’t be adding another security officer as a result of a recent alleged assault in a court room. But the Alaska State Troopers say they’ll guarantee that there is an officer or trooper in any courtroom where they’re specifically requested.
On Aug. 6, 26-year-old Tyler Leatham allegedly attacked his grandmother Konnie Chitty. It occurred during a hearing over whether the state would become Leatham’s guardian. Chitty said Leatham has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had just been released from jail after another alleged assault against her in February.
It took 11 minutes for an officer to arrive.
The incident may make parties, lawyers and judges more likely to request an officer, said Lt. John Brown, deputy commander for the troopers’ detachment in Ketchikan.
“Hopefully, they’re able to look at that information prior to going to the hearing and say: ‘You know, this person has displayed aggressive behavior in the past and maybe we should have some type of security here at the court room when this hearing happens,’” Brown said.
Brown noted that officers are automatically assigned to hearings with prisoners.
While the courthouse had three officers in the past, Brown said one of the officer’s positions was converted into a trooper position.
Troopers found the body of Holly Mayeda, age 25, in the Kuskokwim River near Napakiak on September 14, 2018. (Google Maps screen capture)
One body has been recovered and the search continues for a second person involved in a presumed boat accident on the Kuskokwim River last week.
Search and rescue volunteers are dragging the river on the south end of the island across from Bethel, hoping to recover the body of 28-year-old Stacey Hoagland of Akiak. Hoagland is missing and is believed to have been involved in a recent boat accident.
On Thursday evening, State Troopers found the body of Holly Mayeda, age 25, floating in the Kuskokwim River near Napakiak. There were no signs of foul play. The next day, troopers found a boat submerged on the south end of the island across from Bethel. Law enforcement believe that Mayeda and Hoagland were traveling in the boat together.
Since Friday, multiple local search and rescue groups have been working together to recover Hoagland. Perry Barr is a Bethel Search and Rescue member who was involved with the recovery effort on Sunday.
“We spent all day out there,” Barr told KYUK Monday morning. “Bethel Search and Rescue, Akiak Search and Rescue, Kasigluk Search and Rescue and others participated. So we had 15 plus boats out there, and they were all actively searching.”
The volunteers are concentrating their search efforts where the submerged boat was discovered near the island across from Bethel.
“The boat was found overturned; there was some debris that indicated that the boat didn’t float too far from where it had been discovered,” Barr said. “We figured that that would be a great place to start.”
The searchers are using drag bars to comb the river bottom to look for Hoagland. It’s difficult, manual labor involving a heavy system of ropes, metal bars and lead hooks.
On Monday afternoon, members of Bethel Search and Rescue are boating to Akiak to pick up a clothing sample that belonged to Hoagland. Bethel Search and Rescue Canine D.O.G. will use the scent to search for the missing man.
Carbon scientist Katey Walter Anthony and her assistant Hannah Mevenkamp look for methane bubbles at the North Star Golf Club. Sept. 13th, 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
For golfers at the North Star Golf Club in Fairbanks, there’s an extra perk: if you come at the right time of year, you can find methane bubbles on the course. It’s been happening for the past two decades, according to Roger Evans, the owner. People regularly poke them with tees and light them on fire.
In many respects, the North Star Golf Club looks like any other golf course: emerald grass dotted with ponds, idyllic forest on all sides, a flock of bothersome geese. But it’s full of dips and swells, like a pond frozen mid-ripple.
That’s not by design, Evans said.
“Twenty five years ago, this was all a disked field that was all smooth,” Evans said. “So this is all permafrost action.”
Evans is out on his golf course in big boots, squelching through the waterlogged grass to help scientist Katey Walter Anthony and her two assistants find some methane bubbles. Walter Anthony is a research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She’s been studying methane bubbles in Alaska and Russia for almost 20 years.
Walter Anthony says that the reason methane is being produced beneath this turf likely has to do with the permafrost thaw Evans described. That thaw triggers the breakdown of organic matter that has accumulated beneath the soil over thousands of years.
“It’s like opening the freezer door, making it accessible to microbes that decompose it and turn it from organic carbon in the soil… back into greenhouse gases,” Walter Anthony said.
Often the greenhouse gas released is carbon dioxide. But when the decomposition happens in an environment without a lot of oxygen, it can produce methane too.
The most obvious place for scientists to look for that kind of methane is in lakes and wetlands, because standing water makes it hard for oxygen to get into the soil. That’s where Walter Anthony usually does her research.
“To see and to hear about methane bubbles under grass in a golf course lawn is very different than the type of environment we’re normally sampling methane in,” Walter Anthony said.
This golf course is not exactly a wetland, but after four inches of rain in August, it is pretty soggy. And Evans says that the methane bubbles usually appear during the wet seasons: spring and fall.
Walter Anthony thinks rainwater may be pooling above a layer of impermeable permafrost, creating the conditions for methane production.
After about 20 minutes of searching, we finally find what we’re looking for. Evans points it out.
The bubble is sort of flat, not like the bigger ones that Evans has described as beach balls that bulge up out of the ground. But when you tap the ground with your foot, you can definitely tell that it’s not normal grass. It wobbles like Jell-O. “It’s kind of like an air mattress,” Walter Anthony’s colleague Philip Hanke said.
“Or a water bed,” Evans added.
Using a syringe, a sawed off plastic bottle and a few other tools they rig on the spot, Walter Anthony and her team collect several vials of methane gas. She’ll use those samples to confirm that the methane really does come from thawed organic matter in the permafrost. She’s pretty sure it does, based on the obvious permafrost thaw all around us.
But why is the methane forming bubbles?
Walter Anthony cuts up a square of the soil to take a look at what’s underneath.
“It’s probably that little silt layer right there,” Walter Anthony said, pointing.
Katey Walter Anthony, Hannah Mevenkamp and and Philip Hanke, collecting methane from one of the bubbles at the North Star Golf Club. September 13th, 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Walter Anthony hypothesizes that the density and fineness of the silt combined with the layer of grass could make it hard for the methane to escape. All the traffic the golf course gets could be part of it too, compressing the top layer to make it even denser.
That’s all interesting to Walter Anthony, but what she’s really curious about is if this phenomenon is happening elsewhere on land.
“It’s an area that I and some other colleagues have started thinking about: can you get methane forming in terrestrial environments? But it’s a very new area of science,” Walter Anthony said.
It’s a new area of science because grasslands and boreal forests are thought of as places where greenhouse gases are absorbed, not released. But as permafrost thaw increases in the Interior — releasing more trapped carbon — Walter Anthony wonders if that’s changing. That would be really important for scientists to document and build into climate models, since potential emissions from the ground could contribute to global warming.
Walter Anthony says that none of this is definitive yet, but that’s why it merits further study.
Her next step?
“I’m probably going to go hiking through the woods… and look for some gas bubbles,” Walter Anthony says.
Attorneys sparred over the constitutionality of Juneau’s head tax levied on cruise ship passengers. The oral arguments in federal court could be a prelude of things to come as the lawsuit heads toward trial.
For methane researcher, golf course bubbles are a first
Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks
“It’s an area that I and some other colleagues have started thinking about: can you get methane forming in terrestrial environments? But it’s a very new area of science,” carbon scientist Katey Walter Anthony said.
Courthouse attack won’t lead to more officers, but may increase vigilance
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
The Alaska State Troopers say they’ll guarantee that there is an officer or trooper in any courtroom where they’re requested.
Local SAR reins in search for Stacey Hoagland while troopers gather more information
Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel
Bethel Search and Rescue is scaling back its search efforts for a missing man who’s disappearance is possibly related to a recent boat accident. The group is waiting for Alaska State Troopers to gather more information on the case.
Calista denies wrongdoing in sexual harassment lawsuit
Teresa Cotsirilos, KYUK – Bethel
The Calista Regional Native Corporation has denied any wrongdoing in an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit against the company.
Former youth hockey treasurer sentenced for embezzlement
Associated Press
The former treasurer for an Anchorage youth hockey association has been sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for embezzlement.
GVEA declares Healy 2 power plant operational
Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks
Golden Valley Electric Association’s chief executive says the 50-megawatt Healy 2 power plant is finally fully online and commercially operational after successful testing of repaired/updated systems.
Alaska Native organizations receive federal grant for safe and healthy housing
Adelyn Baxter, KTOO – Juneau
The Organized Village of Kake and the Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority each received $1 million and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium won almost $870,000. They hope to use the money for home repairs, education and to deal with mold and mildew issues.
Calls of bear sightings are up around Juneau. But why?
Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau
This season, it seems like more bears have been spotted around Juneau scavenging for food, and scientists think they know why.
The Holland America cruise ship Zaandam docked in Juneau on June 22, 2018. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
It’s a modern case involving state-of-the-art ocean liners. But attorneys were sparring early Tuesday morning over 200-year-old legal doctrines and 19th century case law.
The Cruise Lines International Association Alaska lawsuit alleges the city’s $8 in fees levied on passengers violate the U.S. Constitution’s “tonnage clause,” which prohibits states from taxing vessels in port.
The cruise industry plaintiffs told the judge the framers considered safeguarding inter-state commerce as important as preventing a state from minting its own currency or declaring war. Those powers are for the feds and the feds alone.
The city attorneys countered that James Madison couldn’t have conceived of vessels bringing more than 10,000 daily visitors into a community of 30,000.
Judge H. Russell Holland asked pointed questions. At times he seemed skeptical of the cruise industry’s argument that services paid with marine passenger fees had to be directly tied to ship operations.
Holland pointed to public bathrooms as an example.
“Outhouses far from the docks but heavily used by cruise passengers, still need to be cleaned,” Holland said.
The plaintiffs said the city’s fees aren’t legal because they’re not like traditional user fees for goods and services.
“If they were, and they were particularized and they were compensatory you wouldn’t have an argument,” Washington DC cruise industry attorney Jonathan Benner said in an interview outside the courtroom. “It’s a revenue stream that the city has created and then it’s re-dispensing as it sees fit. And we believe that just blows a big hole in the Constitution.”
The city’s defense is that every item spent can be reasonably tied back to benefiting cruise ship passengers. From longer cruise docks for the bigger ships to seasonal crossing guards that control downtown traffic.
“We believe that we have collected fees that are reasonable,” Juneau City Attorney Rob Palmer said in an interview. “We believe that we’re spending the fees in a constitutional way for the betterment of the community and the cruise ship industry and their passengers. And so, this case is a really big deal for the city and we’re doing our best to make sure that we have a community that works.”
Cruise industry lawyers also told the judge they aren’t seeking repayment. They just want the city’s power to levy fees eliminated.
The city counters it wouldn’t make sense to refund fees to the industry anyway since they never paid a penny. It’s the cruise passengers that fork over the $8 as part of their booking.
The judge has several motions – and counter-motions – to rule on before the case moves to trial. In the meantime, both sides are asking for a quick resolution through summary judgment.
“Nothing like what Juneau has ever done here has happened,” Benner said. “There is no prior case like this.”
It’s been a costly fight. The city has spent $776,000 on legal defense since the lawsuit was filed in 2016.
At stake is about $10 million in annual revenue to the city. The outcome could also affect the state of Alaska’s own passenger fee. Last year, the state collected $18.5 million. It shared all but $2.5 million with port communities.
The judge remarked from the bench the case is “not a simple matter” and indicated it would be some time before he would rule.
Caught on the cam: A black bear makes its way though the backyard. (Photo courtesy of Melissa Griffiths)
In many parts of Alaska it’s not uncommon to see a black bear lumbering through a neighborhood, especially in the summer or fall. The animals are crafty at getting into trash if it’s not secured. But this season, it seems like more bears have been spotted around Juneau scavenging for food, and scientists think they know why.
Melissa Griffiths used to have an outdoor camera for security. But after buying a house on Douglas Island, her motivation for around-the-clock surveillance changed.
“We when we moved here, we decided we would make it a nature cam, and it’s been very effective,” Griffiths said. “This year, we’ve seen a lot of bear activity, some porcupines, some deer.”
Griffiths lives in a subdivision on a hillside. Her backyard leads into a huge expanse of forest. And this has become the scene of a familiar visitor.
She pulls her out her cell phone to show me footage of a chubby black bear.
“He comes down from the left of the playhouse in search of trash,” Griffiths described.
This isn’t speculative. The bear reappears later in the video carrying what looks like a small plastic bag of garbage in its mouth.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened where we’ve seen a bear, could be a different bear, taking a bag of trash up the hill,” Griffiths said.
Griffiths emphatically states: this is not her trash. She reckons it’s from somewhere else in the neighborhood. Still, she’s had to clean the mess up on several occasions. Her partner even broke two wooden spoons banging on a pan, trying scare the bears away.
Griffiths wanted to get the word out about securing garbage.
“So, for the Douglas Island block party, I got this wild idea that I should make a trash bear cake,” Griffiths said.
The red velvet cake was shaped like a bear sitting on top of a dumpster. There were even little replicas of Rainier beer cans made out of fondant strewn about.
Griffiths doesn’t remember catching any bears on the camera last summer. But this year, she’s spotted them in the yard at least 20 times. And she reported the uptick to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Carl Koch is one of the management biologists who reviews that information.
“Could be anything from ‘I saw a bear walking down the street’ to ‘There’s a bear ripping into my garbage or my chickens or my garage’,” Koch said.
Last year, Fish and Game and the Juneau Police Department received roughly 470 calls about bear activity. By the end of August this year, they had already fielded more than 600.
“This is the busiest year that I’m aware of since I worked here,” Koch said.
But this year seems to be different. For starters, Koch says, biologists think more cubs may have been born in the spring, due to the mild winter.
So, there are possibly more bears and less natural food.
“A lot of the fish runs were poor and anecdotally, from what I’ve seen out in the woods, it seems like the berry run is low this year,” Koch said.
Bears typically eat salmon to fatten up for hibernation.
Dave Harris, a biologist with Fish and Game, says pink salmon will return to “any little trickle.” But they’re on a two-year cycle.
“We’re in a situation where our even-year pink salmon returns have become very depressed,” Harris said.
Harris says low pink returns are happening north of Petersburg up through the Inside Passage.
The last even year, 2016, was declared by Governor Bill Walker as a fisheries disaster. This year, commercial fleets in Southeast Alaska have reported catching half of that.
“This is about the worst I’ve seen,” Harris said.
Harris says fisheries biologists aren’t entirely sure what’s happening. One study points to even-year pink salmon being less genetically adaptable to changing ocean conditions, like warmer water, than the salmon that spawn in odd years.
On his survey flights, Harris has noticed more bears clustering around streams, almost like they’re competing.
“There’s just a lot less food now available in this poor return of pink salmon for the bears, so they’re looking for other things,” Harris said.
Sometimes those other things take the form of the stinky garbage sitting out on the curb.
Next year, biologists predict odd year pink salmon returns will be good. But in the meantime, the bear sightings could ramp up as they make that final push to find enough food before winter.
In a jointly-filed response last Friday, Calista CEO Andrew Guy claims that he and his corporation didn’t do anything wrong. When a woman approached Guy with a sexual harassment complaint against a Calista top executive, his attorneys argue that he dealt with it appropriately. Their filing denies that Guy tried to bury her claim, and it denies that the Calista Corporation put the woman in harm’s way.
The woman, of course, tells a different story. In a lawsuit filed last June, Tiffany Phillips accuses former executive George Owletuck of relentlessly harassing her when she tried to sell her company to Calista. She says that Owletuck sent her Victoria Secret lingerie, a handwritten love letter and over a thousand text messages – none of which Calista disputes. When Phillips told CEO Andrew Guy about the harassment, she claims that he tried to bury it by failing to report her complaint to Calista’s Human Resources Department. She also claims that Calista should have known Owletuck posed a threat to her. According to a memo written by former Human Resources Director Heather Spear, Calista had already disciplined Owletuck for harassing his co-workers several times before.
Phillips is suing Andrew Guy for breach of contract and the Calista Corporation for negligence. In their initial complaint, her attorneys also sued Owletuck for sexual harassment, but the court he has since dismissed him from the case. Owletuck left both his family and the country earlier this year and is believed to be living in Ecuador. Phillips’ legal team was unable to find and serve him with the proper paperwork.
Guy’s critics accuse him of burying Phillips’ harassment complaint to protect Owletuck. The two men have known each other since college and have gone hunting and traveling together; Guy is Owletuck’s daughter’s godfather, and Owletuck has referred to himself as one of Guy’s closest advisors. In the response filed Friday, Guy’s attorneys made an effort to distance him from Owletuck. The filing states that Guy “sporadically kept in touch” with him, and that “Andrew Guy and his wife have been godparents to a great many children.”
The lawsuit has been moved to federal court, and the court has set a scheduling conference for November 28. It is one of two lawsuits that Calista is currently involved in. The corporation is also trying to forcibly remove its former chairman, Col. Wayne Don, from its Board of Directors. Don raised concerns about Guy’s treatment of Phillips last year, and Guy’s allies claim that he was trying to use the controversy as leverage in a failed boardroom coup.
The underwater camera BSAR is using to search the Kuskokwim River for Stacey Hoagland, who has been missing since September 13, 2018. (Photo by Anna Rose MacArthur / KYUK)
Bethel Search and Rescue is scaling back its search efforts for a missing man who’s disappearance is possibly related to a recent boat accident. The group is waiting for Alaska State Troopers to gather more information on the case.
Twenty-eight-year-old Stacey Hoagland of Akiak was reported missing last Thursday. That same day, the body of 25-year-old Holly Mayeda was found floating in a slough below Napakiak. The events are suspected to be connected.
Bethel Search and Rescue says that before they disappeared, both Hoagland and Mayeda are reported to have been at the same party at a fish camp on Straight Slough, upriver from Bethel. Troopers found a boat submerged near the island across from Bethel the day after Mayeda’s body was discovered. The three clues — Mayeda’s body, the fish camp and the boat— are all within a 20-mile range. A large area.
False rumors circulated that Troopers told Search and Rescue groups to stand down. Instead, Bethel Search and Rescue Vice President Perry Barr says that the Bethel group decided to rein in its search until more information became available. The Troopers are investigating the incidents, and Search and Rescue hopes to use any information gathered to narrow its search. The members want to give Hoagland’s family the peace and closure that recovering his body would bring.
On Tuesday afternoon, at least six boats, half from Bethel and half from Kasigluk, were looking for the missing Hoagland. The volunteers roamed the water and land around the slough where Holly Mayeda’s body had been found. Bethel Search and Rescue Canine D.O.G. is with them. Some Bethel members stayed up late Monday night, relearning how to operate the group’s underwater camera so that they would be prepared to take it out on Tuesday.
Wrangell as seen from Mount Dewey on July 24, 2014. (Creative Commons photo by James Brooks)
Wrangell’s upper dam leaks. That in itself isn’t a new development or even dangerous. But there were signs it might be getting worse. So the city hired engineers to check it out.
“At this time we don’t feel we have a high level of threat for a breach of the dam,” Amber Al-Haddad, the city’s Public Facilities Director, said.
Al-Haddad says the seepage wasn’t getting worse. And engineers cleared there were no signs of erosion or deterioration of the dam’s material.
But the city and state say there are definitely problems with the dam, which was built over timbers dating back to 1900.
“Because they’re so old, they had basically raised those dams on top of antique dams or defunct dams once a upon a time. And it’s the kind of thing you want to watch closely,” said Charlie Cobb, an engineer for Alaska’s Dam Safety Program. His department is familiar with Wrangell’s dams. And he says earthquakes pose the real risks.
“Right now we believe that they may not be stable under seismic conditions and that has cause for concern,” Cobb said.
One of the dams is likely to breach during a 7.4 magnitude earthquake, according to a 2006 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study. Which is big, but not unprecedented for Southeast Alaska.
Cobb says Wrangell’s levies are among the worst in the state. Upgrading the dams would be expensive. And there is federal assistance available. Congress enacted the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act in 2016. The Department of Homeland Security has $15 million for high hazard dams in its 2019 budget.
But federal programs are for dams across the nation. And Cobb says that makes them competitive.
“It would be relatively difficult for Wrangell to compete with such small amounts of money,” Cobb said. “Because they’re relatively small dams and there’s a relatively small population at risk, compared to large high hazard dams in other locals that could have significant populations at risk.”
That’s not to say there isn’t any risk to people and property. If one or both of the reservoir dams failed, it could hit City Park and flood homes including, one of the trailer parks. Together, the dams are holding back around 70 million gallons of the community’s drinking water.
Cobb said the feds put priority on disasters after they happen. There isn’t enough for preventative medicine.
“Oftentimes there will be money in emergency responses, but there has to be a natural disaster, or some of disaster before that money’s loosened up,” Cobb said. “Unfortunately, they don’t provide money to prevent a disaster from happening to begin with. It’s a quirk of the system.”
The city knows this funding struggle. So for now, it’s updating its Emergency Action Plan for the dam system. It would outline what the city needs to do in case of catastrophic failure — and the flooding that would follow.
And federal funds? The city is applying. In the meantime, it’s doing a survey to figure out which areas would be hard hit if the unthinkable were to happen.
Reporters follow Sen. Murkowski everywhere, including the train that runs under the Capitol. Photo: Liz Ruskin
The allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh may have sexually assaulted a girl in high school has created fresh uncertainty over whether the Senate will confirm him, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski is in the middle of it.
A scrum of reporters now forms around Murkowski whenever she appears in a Senate Hallway. On Tuesday, the swarm followed her onto the underground train that runs from the Capitol to the Senate office buildings. Reporters were pressing her to say what she thought of the plan to hold a hearing with only two witnesses: the nominee and the California professor accusing him, Christine Blasey Ford.
“The Democrats are saying it would be a sham hearing unless there’s an investigation and unless other witnesses are allowed to testify,” a Bloomberg reporter said.
“Oh, my goodness, my soul!” Murkowski lamented. “My goodness, my soul! Do you believe that?”
Murkowski defended the committee process and urged reporters not to discredit the hearing in advance. She recoiled at the suggestion of a “sham,” not necessarily at the idea of additional witnesses. At the time, she was under the impression investigators would interview Blasey Ford and that they would be part of the hearing, too.
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has said committee staff are investigating. It’s not the FBI investigation Blasey Ford is calling for.
Away from the crowd, Murkowski said what she wants is a fair hearing that respects both the accuser and the accused.
“The public needs to have the confidence that this allegation is being taken seriously,” she said.
Exactly what the procedure should be, Murkowski said she doesn’t know. She’s not on the Judiciary Committee, the panel holding the hearing.
The new uncertainty lessens the likelihood that any Senate Democrats will vote for Kavanaugh, so his fate appears once again to rest on the two Republican swing votes: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Murkowski. Every word they say on the subject, and their demeanor while saying it, is reported and analyzed.
For Murkowski, the accusation is one factor. Before it became public, several Alaska Native groups were already urging her to vote no, largely because of his take on Indian law.
Murkowski said she spoke to Kavanaugh about AFN’s concerns. She said she went point-by-point through their letter with him, and she said she’s satisfied with his answers.
She said she’s convinced he accepts the legal status of Alaska Natives.
The concern arises out of an email and an essay he wrote years ago suggesting federal programs aimed at Native Hawaiians may be unconstitutional.
Since her earliest days in the Senate, Murkowski has been a proponent of federal recognition for Native Hawaiians.
“But that is not something that Congress has ever passed into law, so you have a distinction there,” she said.
Murkowski said Alaska Natives feel a bond with their Hawaiian counterparts, but Alaska tribes have federal recognition so that puts them in a different legal category. She said she’s convinced Kavanaugh gets that.
So as of now, Murkowski is reserving judgment on the 36-year-old assault accusation and Kavanaugh’s views on the legal status of Alaska Natives do not seem to weigh heavily as she contemplates her big decision: to confirm, or not to confirm.
Liz Ruskin, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Washington D.C.
With new uncertainty over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Lisa Murkowski is again the focus of attention. As for his views on the legal status of Alaska Natives, she says they spoke and he allayed her concerns.
Man tied to Kotzebue girl’s death appears in court
Associated Press
An man linked to a missing 10-year-old Kotzebue girl’s death made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday.
Opponents pack Anchorage hearing on salmon habitat ballot measure
Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The state is holding a series of public hearings on a ballot initiative aimed at protecting salmon habitat before it appears on the November ballot.
After signs of concern, City of Wrangell says there’s no near threat to island’s dams
June Leffler, KSTK – Wrangell
Wrangell’s upper dam leaks. That in itself isn’t a new development or even dangerous. But there were signs it might be getting worse. So the city hired engineers to check it out.
A nationwide test of emergency alert systems that was scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed for about two weeks. Emergency management officials say that’s to avoid any confusion with the response to Hurricane Florence on the East Coast.
CBD drinks are getting more popular. But are they legal?
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
In Alaska, CBD is already showing up in drinks at cafes and in stores. But there are simmering disagreements about its legality.
In response to their high suicide rate, Mountain Village marches for hope
Teresa Cotsirilos, KYUK – Bethel
In villages with high suicide rates, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta residents are grappling with a healthcare system that isn’t equipped to help them. So communities like Mountain Village are combining traditional knowledge and western counseling to build support systems of their own.
Roger Jenkins testifies on the salmon habitat ballot measure to a packed room at the Alaska Legislative Information Offices in Anchorage. (Photo by Joey Mendolia/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
A ballot initiative aimed at protecting salmon habitat is facing stiff opposition from industry groups, unions and Native corporations in Alaska. That opposition was on full display at an Anchorage hearing on the measure held this week.
Before the hearing, about a dozen demonstrators gathered to chant and wave signs saying “Vote No on 1” on a nearby street corner. The demonstration was organized by Stand for Alaska, a group formed to oppose the measure. Supporters of the ballot measure, which would toughen the state’s permitting requirements for projects built in salmon habitat, also showed up to demonstrate ahead of the hearing.
Inside, the hearing room was packed, with attendees lining the walls and spilling out into the hallway. Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, who oversees the Alaska Division of Elections, presided over the hearing.
“Time will be very tight,” Mallott said in his opening remarks. “With the number of folks that have signed up, it looks like we will be hard-pressed to hear everyone.”
The first speaker was Stephanie Quinn-Davidson, one of the measure’s sponsors and head of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. She argued that as companies pursue more large mines and oil developments in Alaska, the state needs to protect salmon runs from impacts seen in the Lower 48.
“We have the opportunity to finally get it right here in Alaska. My hope for our future is that we can learn from our past and choose a different path forward,” Quinn-Davidson said.
Doyon President and CEO Aaron Schutt delivered the opposition’s official response.
“This not only threatens our jobs and our economy, it threatens our rights as property owners,” Schutt said.
After that, there was a long string of testimony echoing Schutt’s arguments against the measure. Alaskans working for mining, oil, other resource development companies and those that support them turned out in force. That included Jim Hill.
“It’s a development killer,” Hill said.
There was also testimony from groups that advocate for industry like the Resource Development Council, the Alaska Miners Association and the Alaska Oil and Gas Association — all against the ballot measure.
Eventually, a handful of initiative supporters had their turn, including Georgeanna Heaverley, a commercial fisherman in Cook Inlet, who argued the ballot measure will ensure resource development is done responsibly.
“We are willing to do what it takes to protect what we love so that our future grandchildren — and their grandchildren — know what it’s like to stand on the aluminum deck of a boat and pick salmon from a net and provide the world a sustainable food,” Heaverley said.
As he began his testimony, ballot initiative supporter Charles Treinan remarked on the imbalance at the hearing.
“I was feeling pretty lonely as a proponent of the initiative until I heard a few of my fellow proponents here,” Treinan said.
Of the over 60 people who testified during the two-hour hearing, most were against it.
When it comes to campaign fundraising, there’s an even bigger imbalance. Yes for Salmon, the official group campaigning for the initiative, has raised just over $1 million, with support from environmental groups like Cook Inletkeeper and the Portland-based Wild Salmon Center. Stand for Alaska has raised over $7 million, with major recent contributions from ExxonMobil and mining companies Coeur Alaska and Hecla.
Austin Schwartz is one of the co-owners of Uncle LeRoy’s Coffee in Anchorage, a cafe that serves CBD as a supplement in some of its drinks (Photo: Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media, Anchorage)
This week, Coca-Cola Co. announced it is exploring options for selling drinks containing a cannabis-based product generally referred to as CBD. Cannabidiol, a mild derivative from the Cannabis sativa plant that has no intoxicating effects, and is championed as a natural remedy for all kinds of ailments.
In Alaska, CBD is already showing up in drinks at cafes and in stores. But there are simmering disagreements about its legality.
Behind the counter at Uncle LeRoy’s Coffee in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood, 22-year-old barista Madison McEnaney is assembling a special house drink.
“It’s got agave and vanilla syrup as a sweetener,” McEnaney said as she combined ingredients. “Then we’re gonna do almond milk with two shots of espresso, shaken and poured over ice.”
It’s the kind of decadent coffee drink one might splurge on as a treat. And for an extra $2, McEnaney tops it off with 10 milligrams of clear CBD oil from a small glass bottle.
“One dropper full essentially,” she said casually with a squeeze of her fingertips.
Uncle LeRoy’s sells CBD as an add-on in coffee and what they call “wellness drinks,” non-alcoholic cocktails of seltzer infused with ingredients like ginger root or apple-cider vinegar. The cafe is well placed to capitalize on popular health trends: squeezed between a salad joint and a yoga studio. Across the street is a newly opened Kombucha taproom.
Madison McEnaney talks with customers at LeRoy’s Coffee, a cafe that serves CBD-infused drinks in Anchorage (Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media, Anchorage)
CBD was barely on people’s radar five years ago. Now, there’s no shortage of blog posts, promotional videos and local news stories extolling its benefits as a remedy for epilepsy, pain, anxiety and insomnia.
Like other supplements and vitamins, these claims are anecdotal, rarely verified and not based on clinical trials. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to larger CBD producing companies untested claims in promotional material.
“The FDA has grown increasingly concerned at the proliferation of products claiming to treat or cure serious diseases like cancer,” the notice read.
Austin Schwartz is one of the co-owners of Uncle LeRoy’s, a business that started more than four years ago selling coffee out of a bus. When the cafe opened several months ago, Schwartz decided that having CBD on the menu was a good way to give customers something you would not find in most other coffee houses in Anchorage.
“I like that it does offer something a little bit different, it’s something new,” Schwartz said.
His business is hardly the only one selling CBD in Anchorage and beyond. Not only can you get it in coffee drinks, but at garden stores, at health and supplement shops — even as a topical cream at Walmart. Last year, according to the Hemp Business Journal, CBD sales in the U.S. were worth $190 million.
Schwartz uses a CBD oil made in Colorado, and is assured that there’s no legal or regulatory rules he’s breaking by selling it to customers.
“We’ve spoken to a few different distributors and it’s something that doesn’t require a different type of business license or regulation,” Schwartz said.
The business has never been approached by state enforcement officers or police about selling CBD.
But whether or not these kinds of CBD sales are legal in Alaska depends on who you ask.
For one thing, according to the U.S. Postal Service, you are not supposed to send CBD into Alaska through the mail.
Alternatively, you could buy in-state products. Except that “there is no industrial hemp that is actually legally produced in Alaska right now from which to extract CBD to sell legally in the state,” according to Erika McConnell, head of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office.
One might expect that as the state’s top official over marijuana policy McConnell would have authority over CBD. After all, it is extracted from the same essential plant that produces the buds, edibles and concentrates for sale in retail pot stores.
Wrong.
As a result of Senate Bill 6, which passed in the Legislature during the last session, there are now separate definitions for marijuana and hemp under Alaska law. Marijuana is defined as those parts of the Cannabis sativa plant with enough THC — the active ingredient in cannabis products — to have a psychoactive impact. Hemp is defined as those strains and pieces of the same plant with 0.3 percent or less THC. Essentially, it cannot make one feel high, but still has many of the other components unique to Cannabis sativa. AMCO is in charge of regulating marijuana. Under Senate Bill 6, industrial hemp products are supposed to be overseen by the Department of Natural Resources.
But it is not quite that simple. As laid out in S.B. 6, hemp in Alaska is supposed to be grown under a pilot program outlined under the Agriculture Act of 2014, the latest version of the federal farm bill. McConnell’s argument is that because Alaska has not set up that pilot program, the CBD that is showing up in stores and cafes cannot have been produced locally. So it’s not legal. But with a muddled understanding, scant resources and a low prioritization for relevant agencies, the law is not being enforced, according to McConnell.
McConnell also worries that there is no one watching out for quality standards over a little understood substance being sold for a wild variety of reasons.
“There’s just a lot of unknowns about these particular products, so I think we’re just in a buyer beware type situation,” McConnell said.
AMCO is not the only government entity with concerns. Through an email, Lorinda Lhotka with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, which runs a food safety program, wrote “there are no lawfully approved sources of CBD” available in Alaska. As a result, the substance cannot be “sold or used in permitted food establishments.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said that under the Controlled Substances Act its still illegal to send marijuana extracts through the federal mail, even between states that have legal cannabis laws.
But Garrett Graff disagrees. He is an attorney with the Colorado-based Hoban Law Group, and handles cannabis issues in multiple states. According to Graff, much of the guidance about CBD from regulatory and enforcement agencies is outdated since a federal court ruling in April.
“The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals explicitly found that the farm bill preempts or supersedes the Controlled Substances Act,” Graff said in a phone interview.
According to Graff, the courts found if a state has a rule about industrial hemp, then that takes precedent over the older Controlled Substances Act. In his interpretation of the ruling, even though CBD might technically be a controlled substance under the earlier law, for states like Alaska that are abiding by the newer farm bill provisions there is no legal problem. That extends to transport and commerce.
“Practically speaking, as an emerging industry, there’s plenty of confusion,” Graff conceded.
Amid competing interpretations, confusion is something everybody agrees on.
McConnell was candid that regulation and enforcement of CBD is something every state with a legal cannabis framework is presently grappling with. DEC, DNR and AMCO are all currently discussing the matter with the Department of Law.
A nationwide test of emergency alert systems that was scheduled for today has been postponed for about two weeks. Emergency management officials say that’s to avoid any confusion with the response to Hurricane Florence on the East Coast.
This test is unique in that it will be the first to send alerts to nearly every cellphone in the country. It will also include the usual broadcast alerts commonly heard on radio and seen on TV.
The Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management says the test has been rescheduled to Wednesday, October 3rd.
The test is aimed at improving the ways Alaskans are warned about disasters and identifying any flaws in that complicated system. And, specific to Alaska, it also follows a January earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska and subsequent fears of a tsunami that exposed problems in how alerts messages are distributed.
A dawn redwood or metasequoia grows in the Hoyt Arboretum in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Aaron Bolton, KBBI News)
Could climate change take forests back in time? Kenai Peninsula residents and scientists see evidence that warmer weather is bringing back at least one tree that hasn’t populated Alaska for millions of years.
Across the street from Homer’s Pratt Museum, there’s a small tree growing on the side of the road. You’d probably miss it if it wasn’t for the wooden placard proclaiming it a “metasequoia.”
“Just for your listeners, right now it looks 11 inches high,” Geoff Cobal said as he stood next to the tree off Bartlett street.
Cobal planted the sapling about three years ago. It’s also known as a dawn redwood and can grow to be 100 feet tall.
“But it looks like it might be 1 inch higher then when I planted it. Well, it looks like it’s about the same height as when I planted it. So, it’s not like doing great,” Cobal said as he laughed.
The metasequoia looks like what it is: a relative of the California redwood. More than 50 million years ago, they were a common sight here and across North America. Then they vanished.
In fact, they were believed extinct. We only knew about them from 150-million-year-old fossils. Then in the 1940s, a small population was discovered in a remote valley in China.
They were planted across the United States, including Alaska, in the decades that followed. Cobal wanted to see if they could hack it in Homer, just like they did millions of years ago.
“Our bluffs were certainly warmer than they are now. Although, this metasequoia is now living here,” Cobal noted.
Are climate conditions becoming more like they were millions of years ago? Cobal wanted to find out and ordered 30 trees. He gave them to friends, but only a few have survived. So Homer isn’t quite like it was when dinosaurs roamed.
But it is moving in that direction. In recent years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture bestowed Homer with a “warmer plant hardiness” designation. You can see proof of that in Homer ecologist Kyra Wagner’s backyard.
“We have several of those apple trees are now considered to be normal,” Wagner said as she pointed to a few trees from her deck. “Norland, parkland, considered to be completely hardy and fine to be growing in this climate that we have here now – 30 to 50 years ago, that wouldn’t of been the case.”
Several residents living on Kachemak Bay have attempted to grow metasequoias and other tree species, even a pear tree. The idea is that they could one day grow into forests if existing tree species are unable to handle the larger populations of spruce bark beetles and European spruce aphids that will most likely come with warmer temperatures.
“If the spruce are not able to keep it going and our forests are going to be shifting, bringing in plants that we can eat from, that are edible, plants that are beautiful and productive and economically viable here is completely a good attempt to not recolonize, but assisted migration,” Wagner explained. “Get these things up here that may over centuries move up here, but climate change is happening so fast now.”
Ed Berg is a retired botanist and a former research scientist with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and he thinks that while the metasequoia isn’t thriving in Homer just yet, it could one day be a reasonable candidate.
“It would have lumber potential, certainly firewood potential. It grows very rapidly,” Berg said. “In planting something like this, we may be at the border shall we say of its temperature range, and that just means selective breeding is needed.”
But don’t expect forests of metasequoias on the Kenai Peninsula any time soon. So says
Hans Rinke, a state forester who manages around 80,000 acres on the peninsula.
“I think in the ornamental setting where people have a yard and want to experiment with some plantings on their own and have some interesting trees in their yard that are not spruce are birch, I think we’ll see more of that,” Rinke said.
There’s uncertainty what climate change will mean for Alaska’s forests. But as temperatures rise it could be, at least in some cases, a deja vu for plants not seen in the modern era.
Gov. Bill Walker (right) and Lt. Gov Byron Mallott announced the don’t want to see Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. (2016 photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov Byron Mallott on Thursday announced they oppose the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
They cited Kavanaugh’s record or presumed positions on health care, labor law and laws important to Alaska Natives.
And, they noted in their written statement, “violence against women in Alaska is an epidemic.” They referred to the sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh and said they couldn’t condone his confirmation while so many questions remain unanswered. (Kavanaugh vigorously disputes the allegation.)
Governors, of course, have no direct say in confirming U.S. Supreme Court justices. But the announcement adds heft to the Kavanaugh opposition in Alaska, and Kavanaugh’s detractors hope it will influence Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican swing vote.
Murkowski, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, separately spoke to Kavanaugh after the Alaska Federation of Natives raised concerns about him. Both senators say they’re convinced Kavanaugh does not intend to undermine the legal status of Alaska Natives or the laws and programs that help them.
Walker, an independent, and Mallott, a Democrat, are running for re-election, but this announcement came from their state offices, not their campaign.
Democratic challenger Mark Begich previously announced his opposition to Kavanaugh. Republican candidate Mike Dunleavy announced his support for Kavanaugh in July.
The Association of Village Council Presidents is now among the Native groups opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The group says its board sent a letter to Sen. Murkowski stating its solidarity with AFN.
The governor and lieutenant governor cite Kavanaugh’s legal views and the 36-year-old sexual assault allegation against the nominee, which Kavanaugh vigorously denies.
Alaska getting more than $10M to fight opioid problem
Associated Press
Officials say Alaska is receiving more than $10 million to help fight its opioid problem.
This solar farm is built on oil industry money and some recycled drilling pipe
Nathaniel Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
Alaska’s first commercial scale solar farm is about to come online. Its builders say they want to move the world toward cleaner energy sources.
Three hackers get light sentences after working with the FBI
Associated Press
Three computer hackers whose “botnet” known as Mirai virtually paralyzed chunks of the Internet in 2016 have received light sentences after helping the FBI with cybercrime and cybersecurity.
City of Sitka denies allegations in police whistleblower suit
Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka
The City of Sitka is denying all allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the police department last month.
Stand for Alaska files campaign complaint against salmon ballot backers
Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The group “Stand for Alaska — Vote No on One” is accusing organizations behind the salmon habitat ballot initiative of misleading voters and “flouting Alaska’s campaign finance laws.”
Bethel’s ‘Yes for Local Option’ campaign begins to mobilize
Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel
In less than two weeks, Bethel residents will head to the polls to vote on representatives for Bethel City Council.
State workgroup recommends more vitamin D for Alaskan children, pregnant women
Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham
The Alaska Vitamin D Workgroup recently formulated Alaska-specific vitamin D supplement recommendations. It recommends clinicians in the 49th state consider prescribing double the nationally recommended amount for breastfed infants.
Homer residents experiment with a tree from Alaska’s prehistoric past
Aaron Bolton, KBBI – Homer
Could climate change take forests back in time? Kenai Peninsula residents and scientists see evidence that warmer weather is bringing back at least one tree that hasn’t populated Alaska for millions of years.
