West Coast states affected by debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan are about to receive an initial quarter million dollars each from a $5 million gift from Japan for cleanup.

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is distributing the money and will allocate the remainder on an as-needed basis.

The pool of funds has taken a hit, with NOAA using half a million dollars to remove a dock that washed ashore on a remote beach on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

The state of Alaska is preparing to ask for up to $750,000 in additional funds to help with clean up this summer. Unlike in other states, many of the beaches targeted for cleanup in the state are remote or difficult to access and there is a narrow window in which to conduct cleanup operations.

A new report from the FBI’s “Internet Crime Complaint Center” shows an increase in the number of cybercrimes in Alaska.

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Individual news 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 @aprn.

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Interior Rivers Begin To Break Up

Emily Schwing & Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

Break up is starting to happen on Interior rivers. The Yukon River ice began moving early this morning at Eagle. It jammed and caused some flooding of low lying homes and roads. Six homes and a handful of sheds have been hit by truck size chunks of ice. At least three homes have been picked up and moved off of their foundations. 15 miles downriver from Eagle a cabin and a summer home have been completely destroyed, sandwiched between enormous chunks of ice. The water levels receded quickly this morning and the immediate threat to homes appears to be over.

It’s the second largest flood on record after the devastating 2009 river break up. And the National Weather Service is worried snow melt in the mountains could increase the flooding potential again in the coming days.

National Weather Service hydrologist Ed Plumb says additional problems are expected as the break up front progresses downstream.

Plumb says colder air moving across the region will slow break up over the weekend, but an expected warm up into the 60’s next week could cause rapid melting and raise the potential for ice jams and flooding. There’s been ice jam flooding on the Tanana River at Salcha, pushing water into a flood prone neighborhood along the Old Richardson Highway.

State To Ask For $750,000 For Marine Debris Cleanup

The Associated Press

West Coast states affected by debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan are about to receive an initial quarter million dollars each from a $5 million gift from Japan for cleanup.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is distributing the money and will allocate the remainder on an as-needed basis.

The pool of funds has taken a hit, with NOAA using half a million dollars to remove a dock that washed ashore on a remote beach on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

The state of Alaska is preparing to ask for up to $750,000 in additional funds to help with clean up this summer. Unlike in other states, many of the beaches targeted for cleanup in the state are remote or difficult to access and there is a narrow window in which to conduct cleanup operations.

Wisconsin Man Hopes To Change Petition Rules

Alexandra Gutierrez, APRN – Juneau

There are a lot of rules if you want to gather signatures to get something on the ballot. You have to be at least 18. You can’t share your petition booklet with other people. And you have to be a resident of the state of Alaska. Now, a man from Wisconsin wants that last part of the law struck down, and he’s taking his case to court.

Cybercrimes Increase In Alaska And Nationwide

Mike Mason, KDLG – Dillingham

A new report from the FBI’s “Internet Crime Complaint Center” shows an increase in the number of cybercrimes in Alaska.

Feds Oppose Smaller Sealaska Land Bill

Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska – Juneau

A new, smaller Sealaska land-selection measure faces opposition from the federal government. The legislation would transfer 3,600 acres of the Tongass National Forest to the Southeast-based regional Native corporation.

Anchorage Residents Partake In Bike To Work Day

Evan Erickson & Annie Feidt, APRN – Anchorage

Bike to Work Day in Anchorage was soggy and cold this morning. But that didn’t stop hundreds of hearty Alaskans from participating.

Those who did hit the trail were rewarded with several “treat” stations at key bike commuter spots around the city. APRN intern Evan Erickson staked out a spot at the popular “bacon station” at the intersection of the Seward Highway and the Chester Creek Trail.

AK: Exploding History

Lauren Rosenthal, KUCB – Unalaska

It’s been more than 70 years since Unalaska came under attack during World War II. But you don’t have to look hard to find the remnants. The community is littered with old gunnery installations, battered quonset huts, and bunkers — some of which are being preserved for posterity.

300 Villages: Tuluksak

This week, we’re going to Tuluksak, a community of almost 400 people near the Kuskokwim River. George Lamont is a resident of Tuluksak.

Bike to Work Day in Anchorage was soggy and cold this morning. But that didn’t stop hundreds of hearty Alaskans from participating.

Those who did hit the trail were rewarded with several “treat” stations at key bike commuter spots around the city. APRN intern Evan Erickson staked out a spot at the popular “bacon station” at the intersection of the Seward Highway and the Chester Creek Trail.

Memorial Day is upon us, and with it, huge minus tides in lower Cook Inlet. Excellent clam tides are hitting at the same time as the starting weekend of the summer season. But razor clams have been scarce of late. We’ll have a researcher trying to find out why, as well talking about how to pursue razors, and going after steamers and butters, too. Biology, food safety, digging, camping, cooking. You’ll even hear some secret recipes on the next Outdoor Explorer.

• Tide tables for Clam Gulch from Alaska Outdoor Journal
• Clam identification guide from Alaska SeaGrant (pdf)
• Fact sheet on Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (pdf)
• Ray RaLonde on-line book on PSP from Alaska SeaGrant
• VIMEO: APU Razor Clam Survery 2013
• KBBI: Razor Clam Decline Still a Mystery to Scientists (14 May 2013)
• KBBI Coffeetable: Kenai Peninsula Razor Clams (15 May 2013)
• APRN: Students At Alaska Pacific University Research Big Fisheries Questions (25 April 2013)

Clam washed up on shore in Ninilchik 2010.

HOST: Charles Wohlforth

GUESTS:

• Dr. Bradley Harris, assistant professor, APU
• Michael Brubaker, director of Community Envronment and Health, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium

LIVE BROADCAST: Thursday May 23, 2013. 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm AKT

REPEAT BROADCAST:  Thursday May 23, 2013. 7:00 – 8:00 pm AKT

CALENDAR EVENTS:

• Free archery instruction (May – July Anchorage)
• Seward Halibut Tournment (June 1 – 30)
• Alaska Downhill Bike Park (Opens July 4 Girdwood)
• Seldovia Human Powered Fishing Derby (May 25 & 26)

SUBSCRIBE: Receive Outdoor Explorer automatically every week via

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Go to OutdoorExplorer.org

Facebook: Outdoor Explorer : Please share your clam recipes! (comments may be read on-air)

Audio will be posted following radio broadcast

This week, we’re going to Tuluksak, a community of almost 400 people near the Kuskokwim River. George Lamont is a resident of Tuluksak.

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Photo from NOAA.

“I’m George Lamont and I live in Tuluksak. We’re about 30 miles away from the Kobuk Mountains. We live in a vegetated area…quite flat…about a mile and a half away from the Kuskokwim River up a river called the Tuluksak River.

Right now, there’s a possibility of another flood since 2009, I think.

The conditions are quite bad right now since the snow has been melting, we have a  lot of puddles and we have no road maintenance or anything like that. We have no water and sewer. We still live off what they call a ‘honey bucket,’ and we still have to pack our own water.

Electricity is around 65 cents per kilowatt-hour. And our fuel prices, well, last time I heard, it was $10 a gallon and then it went down to $9.50 a gallon.

People mostly play bingo and most of the time there’s what they call ‘fiddling.’ And what fiddling is, is they have a band in the meeting – the group meeting – most of the people in the village go to that fiddling and plus there’s some basketball games

It’s pretty hard living out here in this remote village here.”

Bryce Johnson, Asst. Bureau Commander, Salt Lake City Police Dept, has accepted the job as Juneau Police Chief. (Photo by Rosemarie Alexander)

Salt Lake City Police Assistant Bureau Commander Bryce Johnson has been selected to head the Juneau Police Department.

City Manager Kim Kiefer announced Johnson’s hire Wednesday afternoon.  He was one of three finalists for the job, who visited Juneau last month.  They went through what’s known as an assessment center process, where they encountered situations like those they will deal with as chief.  They were rated by criminal justice and public safety officials as well as the city manager.

Kiefer says the raters felt confident Johnson had the necessary experience and attributes to lead the 90-person department.   She says he also was favored by Juneau Police Department staff.

Kiefer says Johnson was offered the position several weeks ago, but the announcement could not be made until background checks were complete.

Johnson has worked his way through the ranks at Salt Lake PD over the last 20 years, and says he is looking forward to the challenge of being a police chief in what he calls a “neat department.”

He says JPD is intriguing because of Juneau’s isolation.

“For a department that size, it has so many different things going on,  from its own tactical SWAT team, its own explosive ordinance unit, its own dispatch center.  Even though it’s smaller it still has all the same functions and that’s really one of the things that drew me to Juneau, because you got functions that other departments of that size just don’t have,” he said in a telephone interview with KTOO on Wednesday.

In addition to his police work, Johnson has been a Reserve Intelligence Specialist for the U. S. Naval Reserve, and taught criminal justice and law enforcement at Salt Lake City high schools.  Johnson earned a bachelors’ degree in political science from the University of Utah and a Masters of Public Administration from Brigham Young University.

Johnson will be in Juneau next week to work with Chief Greg Browning, who is retiring at the end of the month. Johnson takes over the post on June 3rd.

The 57-year-old Browning came to the department 13 years ago from Amarillo, Texas, where he’d been on the police force for more than 20 years.  He started in Juneau as assistant chief and took over as chief in 2006.  Browning has said Juneau has been the “highlight of his career.”

JPD Assistant Chief Page Decker is also retiring at the end of the month.

Permaculture image by Ewig Lernender, from Wikimedia Commons.

No, that’s not meant as a cruel joke. Spring has been cool and summer warmth is slow to arrive.  Still, our long days will make for good growing – soon. And if you’re behind, you can catch up.

This week on Hometown Alaska, we’ve invited garden experts to the studio mic to tell us what’s new in garden plants, culture and attitudes.

We’ll have two guests from the Alaska Permaculture Guild, a relatively young organization that links permaculture enthusiasts around the state through a blog and virtual bulletin board for members to share tips, news and successes. One goal of the show is to understand what permaculture is and how Alaskans are practicing it in their gardens.

We’ll also have well-known horticulture agent Julie Riley from the Cooperative Extension Service. Julie says she always asks new students in her CES classes what they want to learn. This year’s common answer is “I want to grow food.” Not vegetables or flowers or landscaping – food. She thinks that’s interesting, and may point to a new attitude toward the value and purpose of gardening.

So join us with your questions about what grows well in Alaska and how to do it. Learn more about permaculture, and explain to Julie what this new passion for “growing food” is all about.

GUESTS:

In the studio

• Cindee Karns, Alaska Permaculture in Eagle River
• Leah Wagner, Alaska Permaculture in Palmer
• Julie Riley, Horticulture Agent, Cooperative Extension Service

LINKS:

• Alaska Permaculture, an online community
• UAF Cooperative Extension Service, home of Master Gardener classes

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752  (statewide) during the live broadcast (2:00 – 3:00pm)
• Send e-mail to hometown@alaskapublic.org before, during or after the live broadcast (e-mails may be read on air)
• Post your comment or question below (comments may be read on air)

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

LIVE BROADCAST: Wednesday, May 22, 2013. 2:00 – 3:00 pm (Alaska time)

REPEAT BROADCAST: Wednesday, May 22, 2013. 7:00 – 8:00 pm (Alaska time)

SUBSCRIBE: Get Hometown, Alaska updates automatically — via email, RSS or podcasts

HOMETOWN ALASKA ARCHIVE

Photo from Ground Truth Trekking.

Step by step an Alaska couple and their two children are making their way along the coast of Cook Inlet, from Seldovia, up and down Turnagain and Knik Arms, and down the west side.  Reaching Anchorage, they’re connecting with you, on the next  Talk of Alaska.

HOST: Steve Heimel

GUESTS: 

• Bretwood Higman,  Ground Truth Trekking
• Erin McKittrick, Ground Truth Trekking
• Callers Statewide

PARTICIPATE:

• Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
• Send e-mail to talk [at] alaskapublic [dot] org (comments may be read on air)
• Call 550-8422 in Anchorage or 1-800-478-8255 if you’re outside Anchorage during the live broadcast

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.

SUBSCRIBE: Get Talk of Alaska updates automatically by e-mail, RSS or podcast.

TALK OF ALASKA ARCHIVE

Ashton Reyes

Sentencing is scheduled for May 31st in King County Superior Court for a Seattle-area man convicted of the 2012 murder of 22-year-old Ashton Reyes of Juneau.

A King County jury earlier this month found Jacob Andrew Mommer guilty of first degree murder and second degree assault, while armed with a deadly weapon.

“Under Washington law we can add a firearm enhancement, which is what we did and that’s what the jury came back with on both the assault as well as the murder charge,” said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County prosecutors’ office.

Donohoe said Mommer’s sentence does not allow parole.

“His standard sentence range for both charges, which include the firearm allegations, is 357 to 443 months in prison, which is about 30 to 37 years,” he said. 

Reyes was shot on Jan. 3, 2012 in a Subway parking lot at 9305 Rainier Avenue South, during what police described as a drug sale.

Court documents indicate Mommer and another individual allegedly attempted to rob Reyes and her boyfriend, Jason Rose, who were sitting in her car.  Police said Rose had arranged to meet Mommer  to sell him an ounce of marijuana.

Rose told police and said he testified during the trial that he and Reyes were ambushed as Mommer and the other man robbed them at gunpoint.  Rose said he gave them Reyes’ purse and left the vehicle then gunfire erupted.  He was struck in the buttocks as he fled across the street.  Police found Reyes sprawled across the front seat of her car with a gunshot wound to her torso.  She died a short time later at Harborview Medical Center.

Police said Reyes was not a participant in the crimes.

Mommer is 20 years old.  He is being held on $1-million bail in the King County Jail until his sentencing, according to the prosecuting attorney’s office.

Donohoe said the second man allegedly involved in the incident has not been identified and the investigation continues.

Reyes was a 2008 graduate of Juneau’s Yaakoosge’ Daakahidi Alternative High School, and daughter of Rick Reyes of Juneau and Terri Reyes of Oregon.

In November 2011, Ashton Reyes graduated from Everett Community College and was a registered dental assistant.

It’s been more than 70 years since Unalaska came under attack during World War II, but you don’t have to look hard to find the remnants. The community is littered with old gunnery installations, battered Quonset huts and bunkers – some of which are being preserved for posterity.

But there’s history, and then there’s hazard, and the shells and bombs that keep washing up on Unalaska’s shores fall somewhere in between.

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Photo by Unalaska Fire Chief Abner Hoage.

Out on a quiet beach at the edge of the island, Unalaska’s shooting range is where local gun owners go for target practice.

But the team of Army and Air Force munitions experts that have converged on the range aren’t here to practice anything.

They’ve flown in just to examine a mysterious shell that may date back to World War II.

“Let’s go ahead and take a couple minutes and try to get a quick ID,” Air Force Sgt. Luke Mefford said.

He’s the head of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

The EOD team has come out to Unalaska, Adak and other Aleutian communities over the years to identify and safely destroy leftover munitions from the war.

Usually, these items get picked up beachcombers or fishermen. Even though they’ve have been swimming in salt water for decades, that doesn’t mean these they’re inert.

Army Sgt. Joe Potocki explains:

Potocki: “Some old explosives use, like, nitroglycerin which is highly sensitive. Being so old, not in the state it’s supposed to be in? You mess around with it, it could definitely go off.”

Rosenthal: “That’s scary!”

Potocki: “It is. That’s why we’re around – it’s why we’ve got a job.”

The job that brought them to Unalaska this time was an effort at historical preservation – gone wrong.

The Ounalashka Corporation runs the World War II museum. Their manager, Dave Gregory, says he was out at lunch one day when an employee of a local fish plant dropped off a donation.

“It was about – oh, what – 20 inches long, six inches at the base. And then it kind of tapered down. Kind of a greenish, dirty color I guess,” Gregory said.

Gregory is no stranger to ordnance. He says the museum does like to collect small pieces, to put in its displays. They add some color.

Photo by Unalaska Fire Chief Abner Hoage.

This shell was different, though. It was heavier and bigger than anything Gregory had seen, it didn’t seem like a good thing to keep around. So he called his friends at public safety. They took custody of the shell, and contacted the EOD team for disposal.

In Unalaska, the team is coping with miserable weather. They take turns snapping photos on the windy, snowy beach. One by one, they dart into a running fire truck for warmth while they consult munitions manuals.

Finally, Sgt. Mefford walks up. They have an ID.

“It’s an artillery round, more than likely fired from a naval ship out in the water somewhere,” Mefford said. “Either for target practice, depending on the exact time period, it may have been used against enemy actions.”

Mefford says he can’t share any more information than that, because the rest is classified.

“I can’t really give you specifics on it, just due to our disclosure rules on it,” he said.

The team wastes no time setting up the blast site.

“Are we gonna have enough antenna to get up on top of this, Scotty?,” Mefford asked.

“Yeah we should, because those caps,” Scott Rice, from the U.S. Air Force, said.

They pack the shell in a hole, and cover it with about 6 pounds of C4, a plastic explosive. They poke in some blasting caps, which are tuned into a remote control.

Once it’s set up, we’re directed to take cover several hundred yards away, behind two gravel berms. We’re waiting for the remote control to warm up, when the team asks me if I want to be the one to set off the explosives.

Rosenthal: “Can I?”

Rice: “Yeah, absolutely! It’ll be ready to go in about 30 seconds.”

Mefford: “We’re not doing it yet. We’re gonna let him set his camera up and then give him the go-ahead.”

While we wait for fire chief Abner Hoage to set up his video camera, I get some basic instructions.

Rice: “Alright, so when we get ready to fire this thing, under this cover is one fire button. You just get ready to press and hold one of them, and then press and hold the other. There will be a two second delay and the shot will go off.”

Potocki: “Do you want to tell her what she has to yell?”

Rice: “Ha, oh yeah. Before you set that off, you have to yell fire in the hole three times as loud as you can. Once forward, once off to your left, once off to your right.”

Air Force Sgt. Scott Rice and I trade. He takes my microphone and recorder, and I take his remote detonator.

Without further ado:

Rosenthal: “FIRE IN THE HOLE, FIRE IN THE HOLE, FIRE IN THE HOLE.”

Rice: “Hold it up nice and high! There you go.”

BLAST

Rosenthal: “Oh whoa! That is a giant plume of smoke. Whoa. That’s a rush.”

Bits of shrapnel rain through the air – some of them even flying past the berms, carried by the high winds.

Once the dust settles, the team tells me they like to let visitors detonate the explosives when they’re working in the field.

Rosenthal: “Well, thanks for letting me do that, it was really fun.”

Rice: “Alright, we’re good to go. We can go and check it out.”

All that’s left of the shell, is a 4-foot round hole. They measure it and pack up their equipment pretty fast.

Rice: “Alright well, that’s fun.”

Mefford: “That’s Jenga.”

JBER Pilot: “I know the aftermath isn’t as exciting. There’s a hole in the ground!”

The team heads back to the Unalaska fire house for a quick debrief. I ask if any of them thought about the history of the shell before they blew it up, and they say they did.

Mefford: “It’s just neat to come across something your granddad or great-uncle or whatever might have shot 70 years ago.”

Christopher McDonald, US Army: “Probably looked a lot better, though.”

Mefford: “Yeah, probably shinier back then.”

The EOD team is pretty sure that ordnance will keep washing up in Unalaska for a while.

That’s why, when it it’s time for the team to fly back to their base in Anchorage, saying “see you later” seems like a more appropriate than saying, “goodbye.”