Anchorage Daily News: Despite his serious coronavirus infection, Don Young still doesn’t support mask mandates or hunkering down. “Young, first elected in 1973, said ‘many’ members of his campaign staff also have been infected with the coronavirus, though he did not provide an exact number and his office would not comment, citing privacy concerns. He added that his wife has tested positive but is not symptomatic. Young said he does not know how or when he contracted the virus. But he continued to hold in-person fundraising events during the campaign season and did not require attendees to wear masks or to socially distance.”
Alaska
KTOO: Sealaska Heritage Institute awarded federal grant to publish Tlingit, Haida archives for language revitalization project
KTOO: Sealaska Heritage Institute awarded federal grant to publish Tlingit, Haida archives for language revitalization project. “Late Tlingit scholars Nora Ḵeixwnéi Marks and Richard Xwaayeenák̲ Dauenhauer once dedicated the first volume of their book ‘Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature’ to Tlingit orators. They co-edited the four-volume series and were two-time winners of the American Book Award. The couple carried the knowledge of Southeast Alaska’s Native languages into the 21st century. Recently, the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Sealaska Heritage Institute a two-year grant to process and digitally publish a massive collection of Tlingit and Haida documents archived by the late scholars.”
New York Times: Worried About Covid-19 in the Winter? Alaska Provides a Cautionary Tale
New York Times: Worried About Covid-19 in the Winter? Alaska Provides a Cautionary Tale. “At a time when cases across the United States are rising and people are growing fatigued by months of restrictions, Alaska’s struggles provide an early warning that winter could bring the most devastating phase of the pandemic. ‘We’ve been markedly concerned about what the fall and winter will look like, and I think it’s playing out that it’s highly concerning,’ said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer.”
Show us the money: Interactive website lets citizens and candidates build real budgets (Anchorage Daily News)
Anchorage Daily News: Show us the money: Interactive website lets citizens and candidates build real budgets. “The website, which is the only one of its kind in Alaska that we know of, works like this: Visitors read basic descriptions of different budget categories, and choose what actions to take. They can cut spending, add new revenue, increase current taxes, and any combination of the above. As they make choices, the website updates the budget gap in real-time.”
NOAA Climate Program Office: Alaska RISA launches Alaska Statewide Temperature Index Tool
NOAA Climate Program Office: Alaska RISA launches Alaska Statewide Temperature Index Tool. “Built in collaboration with the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning, the new tool uses a statewide temperature index developed by ACCAP Climate Specialist Rick Thoman, and NOAA Climatologist Brian Brettschneider. The index uses daily temperature data from 25 Automated Surface Observation System stations maintained by the National Weather Service. Daily indices can then be compared to a baseline of average temperature data from 1981 to 2010. The project team hopes that this tool can help clarify the complex topic of Alaska temperature.”
Alaska Department of Public Safety: Trooper Recruitment Advertisement Censored by Google/YouTube
Alaska Department of Public Safety: Trooper Recruitment Advertisement Censored by Google/YouTube. “This week, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) was notified that Google/YouTube canceled authorization of pay-per-click advertisement of a recently, nationally distributed recruitment video advertisement for the Alaska State Troopers. The action was taken as it was interpreted to be political and potentially an election advertisement because of Governor Mike Dunleavy’s comments supporting law enforcement and encouraging people to apply to the DPS ranks.”
Courthouse News Service: Alaska Native Corporations Owed Share of Covid-19 Emergency Aid, Judge Rules
Courthouse News Service: Alaska Native Corporations Owed Share of Covid-19 Emergency Aid, Judge Rules. “Corporations operating for-profit and providing health care to Alaskan Natives deserve a share of the $8 billion Congress set aside for tribal governments during the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in Washington ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta had originally blocked the Treasury Department from sending money out to the Alaska Native Corporations after twelve tribes fired off lawsuits arguing the private organizations do not operate as tribal governments.”
USGS: New Land Cover Maps Depict 15 Years of Alaska Change
USGS: New Land Cover Maps Depict 15 Years of Alaska Change. “The Alaska data amount to the most up-to-date and comprehensive land cover map ever produced for the largest U.S. state in the Union, offering critical insight into some of North America’s most rapidly- and dramatically-changing landscapes…. As with NLCD 2016’s CONUS data products, the Alaska land cover maps depict 15 years of change, from 2001-2016.”
Alaska Native News: Museum Leads Effort to Preserve Alutiiq Family Photos
Alaska Native News: Museum Leads Effort to Preserve Alutiiq Family Photos. “To assist Alutiiq families with the preservation of their paper photographs the Alutiiq Museum is leading a Community Photo Archive project. In the coming months, museum staff members will work with tribal councils and community members to identify Alutiiq family photos, scan the images, and create digital copies to their owners. Staff members will invite families to deposit digital copies with the museum, but sharing is not a requirement for participation. This one-year effort is funded by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs with assistance from the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak.”
KTVA: Bill would make state finances accessible online
KTVA: Bill would make state finances accessible online. “New legislation introduced in Juneau could make state finances more transparent for the public by establishing an online checkbook. Senate Bill 180, sponsored by Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, would establish a searchable online database for all the state expenditures and revenue.”
KTVA: New database lists all Alaskans known missing since 1960
KTVA: New database lists all Alaskans known missing since 1960. “The Alaska Department of Public Safety has completed a project to list online everyone known to be missing in Alaska from 1960 to Dec. 1, 2019. There are 1,240 names.”
KTVA: New online tool helps Alaskan families stay on top of students’ education
KTVA: New online tool helps Alaskan families stay on top of students’ education. “The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has come out with a new data portal to give families information about their child’s school.”
University of Alaska Fairbanks: New tsunami map tool empowers Alaskans to plan for the worst
University of Alaska Fairbanks: New tsunami map tool empowers Alaskans to plan for the worst. “The Alaska Earthquake Center’s new Alaska Tsunami Hazard Map Tool will help people plan for the worst. The tool, which went live this month, is an online map portal that displays potential tsunami hazard zones for settlements across Alaska.”
KNOM: Alaska Native Voices from WWII Are Focus of Historical Project
KNOM: Alaska Native Voices from WWII Are Focus of Historical Project. “IN AUGUST, the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development recognized forty Native leaders around the country for their ’40 Under 40 Awards,’ including Dr. Holly Miowak Guise, an Inupiaq woman raised in Anchorage and Unalakleet. The center recognizes Indigenous leaders across the U.S. for making significant impacts in business or their community. KNOM’s Emily Hofstaedter spoke with Dr. Guise about how she’s working to bring the history of Alaska Natives in World War II to a wider audience.” This is an audio interview but it has a lot of excerpts.
Alaska Native News: National Science Foundation Supports Additional Alutiiq Language Research
Alaska Native News: National Science Foundation Supports Additional Alutiiq Language Research. “With a $56,462 grant from the National Science Foundation (award #1360839), the Alutiiq Museum will extend its Naken–Natmen (Where From–Where To) language project for an additional year. First funded in 2014, the multi-year project improved access to Alutiiq language resources by developing an online archive of Alutiiq recordings, creating an Alutiiq speaker registry, and planning future language documentation projects. Now, a supplemental grant will allow the museum to study rare examples of written Alutiiq preserved in historic texts.”