Signature Gathering: A Budding Business
If you want to get a proposition on the ballot, you're given a pretty gargantuan task. So instead of relying on volunteers, most initiative sponsors bring in professionals. Paid petitioners working for the marijuana have recently hit Southeast Alaska to help guarantee their question will get a vote.
Y-K Delta’s First Nursing Home Opens In Bethel
The Yukon-Kukoskwim Delta is the size of Ohio and includes over 50 villages. The region’s hub, Bethel, has over 6,000 residents. Until now, families who had an elder they couldn’t care for at home went to Anchorage, 400 miles away by airplane. That is until the first elder’s home opened up after a decade of planning.
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Unions Criticize Lack Of Pre-Hire Labor Agreement For Juneau Dock Project
Juneau labor unions are criticizing a recent CBJ Docks and Harbors Department decision to bid a contract for two new floating cruise ship berths without a Project Labor Agreement.
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Forest Service To Tweak Tongass Management Plan
The U.S. Forest Service has decided to make changes in its Tongass land management plan. That means users and interest groups will get to submit suggestions on road-building, logging, stream restoration and habitat protection.
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SEARHC Medevacs Turned Over To Private Company
Guardian Flight takes over all SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium medevacs on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Alaska Loses 600 Teachers, Staff Over Past 3 Years
Alaska's largest school districts lost over 600 teachers and staff over the past three years. That's the conclusion of a report produced by the Legislature's research department.
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Tourism Industry Leaders To Meet In Sitka
Leaders of Alaska’s visitors’ industry will gather in Sitka next week. More than 400 excursion operators, tourism managers and cruise officials are expected to attend the Alaska Travel Industry Association’s conference.
Court OKs AML-Northland Services Shipping Merger
An Anchorage superior court judge has approved a deal allowing Lynden Inc. to buy out its shipping competitor, Northland Services.
Salvage Crews Move Sunken Tender Lone Star
The salmon tender Lone Star is still submerged in at the mouth of the Igushik river near Dillingham, but salvage crews have successfully moved it. The Coast Guard says that Resolve-Magone crews on Monday pulled the vessel 200 feet to the east shore of the river.
New Youth Environmentalists Hail from all Parts of Alaska
Alaska Youth for Environmental Action have appointed new Youth Organizers for the 2013-14 year.
The 16 students are from all over the state and have a deep passion for keeping Alaska's environment healthy.
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F-16s Will Remain At Eielson Air Force Base
The Air Force’s proposal to relocate a squadron of F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base south to Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson has been scrapped. Members of Alaska’s congressional delegation received the news midday Wednesday.
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New F-35 Fighter Jets May Be Based At Eielson
The Air Force’s decision to retain an F-16 squadron at Eielson F-16 could bode well for it basing a squadron of the new F-35 fighter jet. Eielson is one of two bases in the Pacific region under consideration for getting the new stealth aircraft.
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State’s National Parks Close Due To Shutdown
The shutdown of much of the federal government has closed National Parks. In Interior and Northern Alaska, that means just a few staff remaining on to carry out essential work.
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Municipal Elections Held Across State
Municipalities across the state held elections Tuesday. Homer’s ban on lightweight plastic shopping bags went into effect January 1st but nine months later, the ban appears to be history. Homer residents voted to repeal the ban in yesterday’s municipal election.
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Circle Still Recovering From Spring Floods
Circle has made progress rebuilding after this past spring’s break up flood. Yukon River water and ice damaged homes, other buildings and roads in May. The state reports that sink holes have been filled. Village corporation president Charles John says the clinic is being operated out of trailers brought in this summer, and he’s one of three who’ve had new homes put up.
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Solace International Helping Syrian Refugees
An Alaska based non-profit that does international aid work is running a school for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Nate York is Executive Director of Solace International. He founded the small organization after the September 11th attacks and started building girls schools in Afghanistan. Now the non-profit works on a wide range of small projects in South and Central America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
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High Web Traffic Cripples Federal Health Insurance Marketplaces
A day after the launch of Alaska’s health insurance marketplace, it’s still impossible to sign up for plans on the website. The federal government says higher than expected web traffic has hampered all of the federally run marketplace sites, like the one in Alaska. They are working to add more server capacity to address the problem.
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Arctic Agriculture Conference Draws Researchers
Researchers from circumpolar countries are meeting in Girdwood this week for an agricultural conference sponsored in part by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. Food policy and food safety are increasingly urgent issues in Arctic nations, and many of those represented at the conference have come up with innovative programs to encourage local production and distribution.
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Despite Shutdown, Alaska WIC Recipients Should Still Get Food Aid
Even though the federal government is shut down, poor women and children can still get food vouchers through the State of Alaska. The Women, Infants, and Children Supplement Nutrition -- or "WIC" -- program should be able to operate until the end of the month, according to the Alaska Department of Health.
Mat-Su District 1 Race Too Close To Call
Voter turnout in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough was thin on Tuesday, but the handful of voters that did show up at the polls upset the status quo for what has been until now a pro-development Borough Assembly.