Allison Warden is an Inupiaq performance artist and rapper, whose passion is helping young people explore their own culture… and find their voices and their place in the world.   She doesn’t pretend to speak for all Inupiaq – she says they’re not all as weird as she is.

• www.aku-matu.com
• YouTube: Alison Warden
• YouTube: Aku-Matu

BROADCAST: Monday, June 17, at 1:00pm & 8:00pm

SUBSCRIBE: Get A Closer Look updates automatically — via e-mail, RSS or podcasts

L-R Tamar Shai and Jill Sowerwine in A Gulag Mouse

Founders/producers Jill Sowerwine and Arlitia Jones drop by Stage Talk to talk about TossPot Productions and what plans they have for presenting new, challenging and exciting works to Alaskan audiences.

• TossPot Productions Facebook
• Out North Residency

HOSTS:

• Jean Paal, theater critic
• Steve Hunt, theater critic, director, playwright

GUEST: 

• Jill Sowerwine, Founder/Producer TossPot Productions
• Arlitia Jones, Founder/Producer TossPot Productions

ORIGINAL BROADCAST: Friday June 14, 2013 at 2:45 p.m.

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• E-mail
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STAGE TALK ARCHIVE

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This week’s headlines up for discussion include:

• APD policy change on vehicles as weapons
• BP and others plan for North Slope
• Immigration bill heats up in Senate
• Governor Parnell signs $425 million bill to finance gas liquification plant
• The Seaalska Bill is back and facing objections to making it law
• Substantial flood damage in Galena forces resident to flee
•  Six month anniversary of Newtown shootings, Senator Begich’s continue to face criticism for voting against Obama’s gun control bill
• Alaska celebrates 100 years of aviation
• Tourism predictions for 2013
• Arne Fuglvog released from jail for fishing violations, returns as lobbyist

HOST: Michael Carey

GUESTS:

• Lori Townsend, APRN - Anchorage
• Tim Bradner, Alaska Journal of Commerce
• Peter Granitz, APRN - Washington D.C.

KSKA (FM 91.1) BROADCAST: Friday, June 14 at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 15 at 6:00 p.m.

Alaska Public Television BROADCAST: Friday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, June 15 at 5:00 p.m.

SUBSCRIBE: Get Alaska Edition updates automatically — via e-mail, RSS or podcasts

ALASKA EDITION ARCHIVE

Due date approaches for agreement on Alaska LNG project The clock is ticking for Alaska's major oil companies and a Canadian pipeline builder to produce an agreement to spend hundreds of millions of dollars this summer advancing the latest megaproject to market the state's massive conventional natural gas reserves.June 13, 2013

Photos: A perfect night for Alaska baseball

The Alaska Baseball League, one of the oldest sporting traditions in the state, has returned for 2013 with college stars at the plate. So far, knock on wood, the weather has been amazing.

June 13, 2013

Energy diversity is key to combating power poverty in Alaska OPINION: Susitna-Watana Dam will be an essential component of a diversified energy portfolio that will insulate Alaskans from market vagaries.June 13, 2013

Alaska Airlines to scale back flights to Nome, Kotzebue Alaska Airlines flights between Anchorage and Nome and Anchorage and Kotzebue will go from three daily flights to two starting Aug. 25.June 13, 2013

This Weekend: Fests, stocks and lots and lots of colored chalk Jazz in Spenard, people-watching in Chicken, wordsmithing on the Kenai, color running with Pride: all the ingredients for an Alaska weekend worth remembering, before it's even begun.June 13, 2013

Anchorage bookkeeper embezzles $90K from nonprofit An Anchorage bookkeeper who worked for a nonprofit that supports people with disabilities was charged with multiple felonies after she allegedly embezzled more than $90,000. The woman used the money for an Old Navy credit card and a Las Vagas vacation. June 13, 2013

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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Anti-Referendum Groups Get Pass On Financial Disclosures
By Alexandra Gutierrez, APRN – Juneau

Ballot propositions can be expensive fights, with hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars spent. The Alaska Public Offices Commission, or APOC, is the group that tracks all that money.

Native Corporation 8A Contracting Declines
By Joaqlin Estus, KNBA – Anchorage

Alaska Native corporations say they’re feeling the impacts of Congressional scrutiny and new rules for federal contracts. Previously the corporations, Native American tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations could enter noncompetitive federal contracts of any amount, and the corporations were getting contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Clean Up Begins On Cargo Ship In Valdez With Leaky Containers
By Tony Gorman, KCHU – Valdez

Crews have begun cleaning and decontaminating a cargo ship that has been docked in the Port of Valdez for almost two weeks after leaking containers were discovered onboard. The BBC Arizona’s cargo was offloaded into a decontamination area earlier this week. Coast Guard spokesperson Lieutenant Allie Ferko says all 28 containers will be removed whether they are leaking or not…

Hot Weather Settles Over Most Of The State

Hot and dry weather has settled over most of the state. National Weather Service meteorologist Shaun Baines in Anchorage says while temperatures are high in the region, they won’t break records.

Anchorage Police Target Distracted Drivers
By Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage

Anchorage Law Enforcement is cracking down on distracted driving, just as a national study highlights the problem. KSKA’s Daysha Eaton reports.

The Veniaminof Volcano Is Erupting
By Mike Mason, KDLG – Dillingham

The Veniaminof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula is apparently erupting. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the story.

Fish Tech Degree Program Starts Up In Sitka

Starting this fall, the University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka campus will be inheriting a new degree program. The UAS Fisheries Technology Program will be coming to Sitka from Ketchikan.

Native Speakers Inspire Change
By Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

Interior Alaska Native leaders shared stories of hardship and messages of hope during addresses at a conference in Fairbanks yesterday. The annual Rural Providers Conference is aimed at eliminating alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual abuse and suicide through traditional and modern means.

Alaska Author Tackles Arctic Gardening
By Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage

Seth Kantner is known to many Alaskans as the award winning author of the novel Ordinary Wolves and a collection called Shopping for Porcupine.

Kiana woman named new VP of AFN Maude Blair, formerly with NANA Development Corp., is the new vice president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, one of the most powerful voices in the Alaska Native community.June 13, 2013

Ballot propositions can be expensive fights, with hundreds of thousands — and even millions — of dollars spent. The Alaska Public Offices Commission, or APOC, is the group that tracks all that money. Yesterday, they ruled that groups can campaign for or against a pending referendum without declaring their expenditures, as long as they aren’t sponsoring it. APRN’s Alexandra Gutierrez reports.

The differences between a referendum and an initiative are pretty technical. A referendum allows voters to strike down legislation, while an initiative allows them to draft their own policy. But in the end, they’re both items that appear on the ballot that allow citizens to shape the law themselves. And so, they were mostly treated the same under law.

Here’s Thomas Lucas, an attorney with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

“It used to be that for referendums, initiatives, and recalls, the same reporting requirements applied to a group that was sponsoring any one of those.”

That changed in 2010, when the legislature changed the law so that people fighting an initiative would have to declare things like their expenditures and who was giving them money even during the signature gathering phase. They didn’t make a similar change for referenda.

“It does seem to be that the two groups are treated differently for no apparent reason.”

That’s Pat Lavin. He’s one of the organizers of a referendum to repeal legislation lowering taxes on oil companies. They’re still collecting signatures, but if they get enough, it’ll be the first referendum on the ballot in over a dozen years.

The oil tax cut is expected to be at least $3 billion over the next five years. Given the high stakes, two industry-supported groups are already campaigning against the referendum. Lavin thinks it’s unfair that they don’t need to do any financial disclosures. He describes it in David and Goliath terms, where a citizens movement has to play by stricter rules.

“The other side, they don’t need to. So, it’s definitely an uneven playing field in terms of who’s required to report at all.”

While referendum opponents get some advantage from the discrepancy in the rules, it still caught them by surprise. Renee Limoge is the treasurer of We Are Alaska, an anti-referendum group backed by the Alaska Support Industry Alliance.

“Honestly, we had never looked at the statutes for referendums until this happened. Everybody was really unclear on what was going to happen, including APOC.”

So, We Are Alaska asked for an opinion from APOC on how they should proceed. In an order issued on Wednesday, APOC concluded that the law doesn’t require them to file regular reports until the referendum is certified by the Division of Elections. Until then, they can spend money opposing the repeal without declaring it.

Limoge says she’s glad to have some clarity on the matter, but that We Are Alaska plans to submit financial reports anyway.

“We are going to file the reports, even though we are not required to, because we do believe that the public has a right to know who is behind this activity. We certainly have nothing to hide in that regard.”

We Are Alaska plans to start submitting reports in July, when the repeal movement hits the deadline for the signature-gathering phase of the referendum process.

Listen Now

Alaska Native corporations say they’re feeling the impacts of Congressional scrutiny and new rules for federal contracts. Previously the corporations, Native American tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations could enter noncompetitive federal contracts of any amount, and the corporations were getting contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Listen Now

Crews have begun cleaning and decontaminating a cargo ship that has been docked in the Port of Valdez for almost two weeks after leaking containers were discovered onboard. The BBC Arizona’s cargo was offloaded into a decontamination area earlier this week. Coast Guard spokesperson Lieutenant Allie Ferko says all 28 containers will be removed whether they are leaking or not…

Listen Now

Hot and dry weather has settled over most of the state

National Weather Service meteorologist Shaun Baines in Anchorage says while temperatures are high in the region, they won’t break records:

“Over southcentral, we’re looking for hot temperatures this time of year, but not necessarily records.”

The record high temperature in Anchorage is 86 degrees, recorded on June 25th 1953. The forecasted high is 85 degrees for several days next week. But Baines is relatively confident no records will fall, because records are measure at the National Weather Service office in the Southwest part of the city:

“We’re going to be much warmer on the east side of town than on the west side of town.”

One of the reasons for all this heat, Baines says, is a phenomenon along the coast called “offshore flow” that keeps the ocean breeze from cooling us off:

“…afternoon and evening.”

Hot weather is also in the forecast for interior Alaska. Bob Fisher is a meterologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks

“…even longer than that.”

Fisher says interior temperatures are forecasted to range between 85 and 90 degrees. A brief break in the heat is possible in the eastern interior Sunday night and Monday, as a cold front may briefly dip down from the arctic coast. The hot weather, and some thunderstorms, will increase the fire danger over much of the state, but the National Weather Service isn’t predicting the high winds necessary to rapidly spread wild fires.

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Anchorage Law Enforcement is cracking down on distracted driving, just as a national study highlights the problem. KSKA’s Daysha Eaton reports.
We’ve all been there – stopped at at red light — whether you’re the one texting and then sitting there blocking traffic when the light turns green … or the person stuck in traffic behind them.

 

“A lotta people do it usually during stop lights when they’re vehicle is stopped which is still not a good idea, cause then the light turns green, they’re still sitting their at the intersection and they’re honking at em.”

That’s legal but dangerous says, Anchorage Police Department Officer Patrick Martin, who works in the APD’s traffic unit. He sees all kinds of distracted driving, but he says a lot of it involves cell phones

“I see a lot of talking on the phones. I see a lotta people lookin at their phones — it looks like they’re texting and driving and then they’ll put it up to their ear. You’ll see people manipulating the phones with their thumbs like they are texting and driving and then they realize someone’s looking at ‘em so they’ll put it down in their lap like they’re not doing anything.”

A law explicitly banning texting & driving in Alaska went into effect in 2012, but there are no other limits on using cell phones while driving in the state. Martin recently attended a distracted driver training seminar put on by the Alaska Peace Officers Association. The training came on the heels of the first fatal texting-and-driving case in the state since the law was enacted. Earlier this month an Anchorage teenager was arraigned on charges of manslaughter and felony texting-while-driving. He’s accused of texting behind the wheel, running a red light and killing a 27-year-old woman in midtown earlier this year. Martin says the APD is cracking down on distracted driving.

“Daysha: Is it fair to say that you’re increasingly cracking down on this? Martin: We are looking for it. We’re out their actively searching out the people who are driving and texting and we’re out there trying to make a more profound effect to keep our roads safer.”

Earlier this week a study commissioned the American Automobile Association and University of Utah Researchers sounded the alarm about voice controlled technology for text messages, emails and phone calls, saying it is more distracting than listening to the radio or talking with passengers. Officer Martin says voice controlled technology is a growing problem in Anchorage traffic cases as well. Prosecutors says they’ve filed more than 30 texting-while-driving cases in the past year.

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The Veniaminof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula is apparently erupting. KDLG’s Mike Mason has the story.

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Starting this fall, the University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka campus will be inheriting a new degree program. The UAS Fisheries Technology Program will be coming to Sitka from Ketchikan.

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Travis Cole and his tree painting. Credit Dan Bross / KUAC

Interior Alaska Native leaders shared stories of hardship and messages of hope during addresses at a conference in Fairbanks yesterday. The annual Rural Providers Conference is aimed at eliminating alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual abuse and suicide through traditional and modern means.

 Listen Now

Seth Kantner is known to many Alaskans as the award winning author of the novel Ordinary Wolves and a collection called Shopping for Porcupine. But in addition to writing, commercial fishing and professional photography, he’s also an arctic gardener. He says for nearly two decades, he has enjoyed spending time each spring flying seedlings, seeds and fertilizer to eager village gardeners in communities along the Kobuk river.

Listen Now