Dan Bross, KUAC - Fairbanks

University of Alaska health insurance premiums are going up. Employee health care paycheck deductions will roughly double as of July 1. The change amounts to $175 a month for a worker on the mid range coverage plan. Add a spouse and kids, and the premium will be over $490 a month. It’s the latest erosion of what used to be considered a Cadillac plan. UA spokeswoman Kate Ripley says the university is playing catch up after two years of flat employee rates.

A once endangered population of peregrine falcons that nests along the upper Yukon River appears to have stabilized. North American peregrines were decimated by the pesticide DDT, and listed as an endangered species, in the early 1970s. A long running study in the Yukon Charley National Preserve has documented 53 nesting pairs for the last 3 years and a 60 to 70 percent breeding success rate. Biologist Skip Ambrose, who’s studied Upper Yukon peregrines for decades, says the birds have come a long way.

Increased wild fire frequency threatens the survival of northern black spruce forests. That’s the finding of recently published research from the Yukon Territory. That’s the finding of recently published research from the Yukon Territory.

The Alaska Supreme Court issued a ruling late yesterday requiring the Alaska Redistricting Board to draw up a new voting district map for the state. An earlier generated map is the subject of a legal challenge by two Fairbanks area voters, who claim it disenfranchises them, and the Supreme Court review is the latest step in the case.

The first major group of Ft. Wainwright Stryker Brigade soldiers returned to Fairbanks yesterday following a year-long deployment to Afghanistan.

The state game board voted down a bear snaring proposal before adjourning from a week-long meeting in Fairbanks Friday. The state proposal, which would have allowed black bear trapping in areas of the interior, to reduce predation of moose, was unanimously rejected by the board.

The Board of Game has made changes to expand bear baiting in the interior. Bear baiting programs have primarily focused on black bears, but Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms says the board approved proposals that would allow hunters to kill grizzly bears at bait stations in game management units 20C, southwest of Fairbanks and 21 D near Galena.

More than 600 jobs would be lost at Eielson if the Air Force moves the base’s F-16 Fighter Squadron to Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage. An Air Force document released Tuesday identifies the job cuts that would effectively reduce Eielson’s current workforce 22 percent. Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek at the Pentagon says the cuts would affect military and civilian jobs.

A new service in Fairbanks will help prison inmates, their family and friends, stay batter connected. “Video Visiting” provides audio and video interface between a designated site in Fairbanks and a Colorado prison, where many Alaska inmates are serving time.

Another preliminary hearing has recommended court martial trials for Ft. Wainwright soldiers charged in connection with the death of a fellow Stryker Brigade soldier.

The Ft. Wainwright Stryker Brigade has facilitated the re-opening of a school in Afghanistan. Stryker Lieutenant Miles Dunning is in charge of overseeing humanitarian assistance projects for the infantry company that led the village school project near Sperwan Ghar, in southern Afghanistan.

Opponents of a bear snaring proposal have gathered over 3,000 signatures in an effort to get the state game board to drop it. The Department of Fish and Game proposal would allow the public to snare bears in a wide area of the state, primarily in the interior, as a way to reduce predation.

The World Ice Art Championships are underway in Fairbanks. It’s the first year at a new home for the annual carving competition and kid’s fun park. As KUAC’s Dan Bross reports, like the sculptures it’s venue for, the Ice Park is a work a progress.

Ultra energy efficient building is possible and makes sense. That’s the focus of a course called: “A 21st Century Sustainable Home” at University of Alaska Fairbanks this Saturday.

The National Park Service is considering allowing subsistence harvest of plant and animal parts like birch bark and shed antlers. It’s currently illegal to take such items from most parks.

Competitors in a human powered ultra-marathon on the Iditarod Trail have been slowed by heavy snow. A storm dumped more than two feet of snow just after the race started in Knik Sunday.

A Ft. Wainwright based soldier will face court martial in the death of a fellow Stryker Brigade member in Afghanistan. Charges against Sergeant Travis Carden, including maltreatment, assault and reckless endangerment, have been referred to court martial in connection with the death of Private Danny Chen last year.

A new laboratory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks enables realistic testing of power generations systems for Alaska villages. Alaska Center for Energy and Power Director Gwen Holdman says the 5,000 square foot lab can analyze both traditional diesel and alternative energy generation systems.

Representative Don Young says it will be tough to turn around the Air Force’s planned move of an F-16 fighter jet squadron from Eielson to Joint base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage.

A rocket was successfully launched from Poker Flat north of Fairbanks over the weekend. Saturday night’s flight was part of a multi-university project aimed at understanding the effect of the northern lights on global positioning system and other radio signals. Principle investigator Steve Powell of Cornell University says satellite data indicated an intense stream, of charged particles from the sun heading toward the earth, and the aurora did not disappoint.