Alaska News Nightly: Tues., June 6, 2017

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

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Governor asks lawmakers to come up with their own compromise to state budget woes, if they don’t like his plan.

Governor Bill Walker told lawmakers opposed to his compromise proposal to resolve the state’s budget crisis that they should produce their own compromise ideas.

Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Public Media – Juneau

President Trumps wants to privatize Air Traffic Controllers

President Trump announced this week he wants to privatize the FAA’s air traffic control operations, in part to speed up modernization. Trump focused on airline service. Alaska Public Media Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin asks what privatizing might mean for general aviation.

Liz Ruskin/AKPM – Washington, D.C.

Denali climber rescued from crevasse after 14 hours

A Denali climber was rescued yesterday [Mon., June 1] after spending 14 hours deeply wedged inside a crevasse.  National Park Service spokeswoman Maureen Gaultieri reports that 38 year old Martin Takak, of Slovakia, fell, un-roped, into the crevasse while descending the peak before 1:30 AM Monday.

Dan Bross/KUAC – Fairbanks

AHTNA land deal

The state and an Alaska Native regional corporation hope to finalize a settlement later this summer in a long-running land access dispute.

AP – Juneau

NTSB Says pilot shut down engine moments before crash near Haines

The surviving passenger of a fatal plane crash near Haines in May, told investigators that the pilot purposely stopped one engine to demonstrate how to re-start it in flight. That is one detail in a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board this week. KHNS’s Emily Files has more on the crash that killed two people and injured another.

Emily Files/KHNS – Haines

Fish and Game wants to know how you feel about wildlife

Colorado State University is conducting a survey of Alaska residents to measure their attitudes towards wildlife. It is part of a nationwide study that began in 2005.

Mark Burch is a Wildlife Biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He says Alaska residents’ views differ –from those of people who live in other states.

Allison Mollenkamp/KDLG – Dillingham

Two Anchorage Teachers share a classroom, but one may not be back after getting pink slip from school district

Two hundred twenty five teachers received layoff notices this year from the Anchorage School District. And until lawmakers in Juneau settle on education funding levels for the coming school year, those educators remain in limbo. Alaska Public Media’s Josh Edge caught up with a pair of teachers who work in the same classroom…one of whom received a pink slip, and one who did not.

Josh Edge/AKPM – Anchorage

Climate change affecting berry production on Kodiak

A scientist predicts climate change could have far-reaching effects on berry production on Kodiak Island. Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge wildlife biologist Bill Pyle just wrapped up a two-year pilot study on the Island. The study helps cement the monitoring methods scientists will use to study berry growth, including time-lapse cameras.
KMXT’s Kayla Desroches has more.

Kayla Desroches/KMXT – Kodiak

Ask-a-Climatologist: In Alaska, fire conditions can change in an instant

Wildfire season is off to a slow start in Alaska. But that could change very quickly because predicting how severe a wildfire season will be in the state is tricky. Alaska’s Energy Desk is checking in with climatologist Brian Brettschneider each week as part of the segment, Ask a Climatologist. He told editor Annie Feidt that over the entire season, which runs through the end of July, no wildfire forecast is useful for Alaska.

Annie Feidt/Alaska’s Energy Desk/AKPM – Anchorage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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