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- [00:00]
Narrator/Announcer
Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states and two U.S. territories.
- [00:19]
Wesley Early
Is there a problem? I think that we all acknowledge there is. Is this a solution? I think it is. Is it the perfect solution? No, it's not. The state House passes legislation to tighten residency requirements for hunting and fishing licenses from Alaska Public Media. Statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Friday, January 30th. Good evening. I'm Wesley Early. Also tonight, leaders from the North Slope village of Newicksit sued the federal government over changes to the Willow project.
- [00:43]
Rebecca Hyemchut
We're fighting to protect the area and think about the caribou.
- [00:48]
Wesley Early
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [00:59]
Liz Ruskin
The PFD application is open. Just a small amount of your PFD will help share local news and stories about Alaskans with Alaskans across this great state. When you choose Alaska Public Media through.
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Wesley Early
Pick click give The US Senate today passed a bill funding the Departments of Defense, Health, labor and Transportation, among others. But tonight at 8, Alaska time, funding will lapse for much of the government. Alaska Public Media Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin has more on yet another impending federal government shutdown.
- [01:32]
Liz Ruskin
It took a day longer than expected, but the Senate passed a major funding bill with both Alaska senators voting yes. That sends it to the House, but House members don't return to the Capitol until Monday. The shutdown or lapse in funding could last just one weekday. That would be minimal compared to the 43 day shutdown in 2025, the longest in US history. Still, the Office of and Budget says it will follow its usual shutdown practices. That means unless they're told otherwise, all federal employees who would normally report to work on Monday should still go. It's standard practice on the first weekday after a funding lapse for federal workers to be on duty to launch the orderly shutdown procedures. Then, if the shutdown continues, agencies are expected to notify their employees if they are essential and have to come to work or if they will be put put on furlough. This time, the impact on Alaskans will be more limited than the shutdown last fall because Congress has already funded many of the departments for the rest of the fiscal year. Those include NOAA and the Departments of Commerce, Interior, justice and Veterans Affairs. Democrats held up a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. They demanded reforms to curb the kind of harsh immigration enforcement tactics deployed in Minneapolis where agents shot and killed U.S. citizens. Now, Congress and the White House have two weeks to reach an agreement on what those reforms will be Both of Alaska's senators say they support some types of reform. Reporting from the U.S. capitol, I'm Liz Ruskin.
- [03:18]
Wesley Early
The Alaska House of Representatives passed a bill today that would tighten residency requirements for Alaskans buying hunting or fishing licenses. House Bill 93 aims to ensure that only people who spend enough time each year in Alaska to qualify for a permanent fund dividend can can buy resident licenses. Those tend to cost less money and offer higher bag limits than non resident licenses. State law currently limits resident licenses to people who are physically present in Alaska with no plans to leave, do not claim residency in another state, and have maintained a home in the state for 12 consecutive months. But it does not require that resident hunters actually live in the state for a full year. Representative Rebecca Hymn Shoot, a Sitka independent who sponsored the bill, says that definition leaves a big loophole.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
The last point means that we allow someone who rents a room in a home from friends or someone who has a liveaboard boat that's on a trailer but actually is in the state for less than a month, less than two months, potentially less than a week, to hunt and fish and enjoy the higher bag limits that are reserved for residents who are here year round shoveling snow, volunteering in their communities, and putting their kids in our schools.
- [04:30]
Wesley Early
Hyemchut's bill seeks to close that loophole. Alaskans would have to be physically present in the state for at least 180 days each year to get resident licenses. There would still be numerous exemptions, including for military service members, students and others allowed to be outside the state and are still eligible for permanent fund dividends. People who do not qualify for a resident license would have the option to buy a non resident license instead. A wide range of fish and game advisory committees, tribes and local governments spread across the state backed the bill. Some 12 House Republicans opposed the bill, including Big Lake Republican Representative Kevin McCabe. He says he's concerned the bill would exclude some Alaskans from the benefits of a resident license.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
What about those pilots that have vacation homes elsewhere that would like to go spend two months in Hawaii, say, and then they have to fly out of state for 15 days a month?
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Wesley Early
But the bill had broad support and passed with a bipartisan two thirds majority in favor. Here's Representative Dan Sadler, an Eagle River Republican who caucuses with the minority. Is there a problem? I think that we all acknowledge there is. Is this a solution? I think it is. Is it the perfect solution? No, it's not. But we don't deal in perfect and ideal. We do what's Best and what we can do. The bill now heads to the Senate, which passed a similar bill in 2024. Leaders of the North Slope village of Newixit sued the U.S. department of Interior this week for canceling a key subsistence protection for the Willow project. Alyona Knightsen reports for the Alaska desk.
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Alena Knighton
About a year ago, the U.S. bureau of Land Management issued an agreement with New Exit leaders that prohibited oil and gas development around Teshakbuk Lake, which is located in the northeastern corner of the Natural Petroleum Reserve, Alaska. The goal was to mitigate the harm that the ConocoPhillips Willow project would have on caribou, a crucial subsistence resource for New Exit residents. But last month, the Department of the Interior, which oversees blm, canceled that agreement, saying it wasn't properly issued in the first place. In turn, Newexit's leadership filed a lawsuit in the U.S. district Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that the cancellation.
- [06:44]
Rebecca Hyemchut
Was illegal, were fighting to protect the area and think about the caribou.
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Alena Knighton
George Tukak Saylak is the president of newexit's Kupik Corporation. He says the cancellation was disappointing and damaged the trust of New Exit residents.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
By pulling Matt right away up, I mean, it's just like they're throwing us away. I mean, not listening to the community.
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Alena Knighton
Department of Interior officials declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. When BLM approved the controversial Willow project in 2023, one condition was mitigating the harm on Teshukpuk Lake, a key habitat for the Teshikpuk caribou herd. And BLM signed a right of way agreement with newexit to meet that condition. That conservation measure was backed by the law that directs the Department of Interior to conduct oil and gas leasing in the reserve. The law also requires maximum protection for Teshakbuk Lake and other significant subsistence areas. Silek, with Kupik Corporation, says that New Exit residents are careful when they consider development projects so close to their home. But the promise of additional protections for caribou helped more residents to get on board with Willow.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
We will support development in our area as long as we kind of work together to balance, such as what we're doing here, with a right of way.
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Alena Knighton
But the Department of Interior said that the federal law does not authorize such conservation measures when it canceled the right of way agreement. The department also said in its cancellation letter that right of way agreements are usually used to allow oil and gas activities, not prohibit them, and that the primary goal of the law regulating the reserve is to support oil and gas leasing, while subsistence protections come second. The department indicated that they expect to hold lease sales this winter, which may include the area around Teshkapook Lake. New exit leadership says they might consider legal avenues like seeking injunctive relief to protect the area, but no decision has been made yet. In Anchorage, I am Alena Knighton.
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Wesley Early
Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, the last musher to finish the Kuskokwim 300 reflects on his rookie race.
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Charlie Chingliak
I was just sitting there for a while thinking, and I didn't come this far to like give up.
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Wesley Early
That's ahead. Stay with us.
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Samantha Watson
I'm Shelby Herbert, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media and kuac, where I work in Fairbanks and other public radio stations in Anchorage, Haines and the illusions it allows us to connect to the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the Morning News Alaska News Nightly or online@alaskapublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [09:41]
Wesley Early
A Kotzebue man found in a remote cabin Tuesday suffering from extreme hypothermia, later died from his injuries. According to Alaska State Troopers, 61 year old Clifford Melton left Kotzebue on Monday, headed for the northwest Arctic community of Buckland, about 70 miles away. Search and rescue teams from Buckland and Kotzebue responded after reports that Melton was overdue. Troopers located Melton about 35 miles from Kotzebue in an abandoned cabin and used a small plane with skis to transport him to Kotzebue and then Anchorage, where he died from his injuries. A Trooper spokesperson said in an email that Melton routinely traveled from Kotzebue to Buckland and that his snow machine likely ran out of gas. Anchorage saw a record amount of snow in January, but that doesn't necessarily mean you need to shovel your roof just yet. Greg Soleil is in charge of building code for the municipality, and he says the snow load on roofs in the Anchorage area is about halfway to capacity. He says it's all about the weight of the snow. The municipality just took a measurement on Wednesday.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
We basically just have a device that is one square foot in area. We then shove that into the snow that's on the roof and then slip something underneath it, pull it up and then dump that into a sack and then weigh that.
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Wesley Early
Since the 60s, municipal code has required roofs in the Anchorage bowl to withstand 40 pounds of snow per square foot of roof. Soleil says right now the city is at about 20, and in the past few years, Anchorage has recorded 24 commercial roof collapses, almost all with the same style of wooden trusses. Soleil says there have been no reported residential roof failures. He says homes are generally at much lower risk because of how they're built.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
You know, residential construction, there's interior walls, you know, that are also load bearing, so that reduces the spans. There's more steeper pits generally, so they shed snow.
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Wesley Early
Soleil says city officials will put out warnings if the snow load gets close to the max. Concerned residents can also keep an eye on total snowfall in the area. Right now, the City's at about 57 inches. If Anchorage gets up to 90 to 100 inches of snow, it might be a good time to clear your roof. There can also be warning signs inside your home.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
There are other things that you can look for, like windows and doors that might be sticking or jamming, not opening correctly the way they usually do, cracks in the drywall, that sort of thing.
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Wesley Early
The National Weather Service is forecasting a slight chance of rain and snow showers in the Anchorage area this evening. Meanwhile, salmon bycatch has been a flashpoint for years now. The group that oversees Alaska's federal fishing grounds is finally expected to make a decision regarding chum bycatch in the trawl fishery at its upcoming February meeting. KUCB's Theo Greenlee reports that Unalaska leaders worried the decision could threaten the pollock industry that underpins the island's economy.
- [12:48]
Narrator/Announcer
The Unalaska City Council took up the issue of salmon bycatch at its two January meetings, ultimately agreeing to support industry run bycatch avoidance programs. City fisheries consultant Frank Kelty warned council members that proposed limits could have major consequences for the community.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
This is one of the most important items in the last few years.
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Narrator/Announcer
Regulators are weighing whether to impose stricter limits on chum salmon bycatch in the pollock fishery. The decision will be made next month by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees federal fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. Kelty told council members that the pollock bee season, which accounts for about 60% of the annual pollock harvest, is particularly at risk. He pointed to one proposal that would cap incidental catch of chum at 100,000 fish. Kelty said under that scenario, the pollock bee season would have shut down early in 11 of the past 12 years. That, he said, would ripple through on Alaska's economy, affecting processors, harvesters, city revenues and support businesses.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
As you know, the politics of bycatch have been front and center in the state for many years.
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Narrator/Announcer
Trawl boats use large nets to scoop up a specific species of fish, but they often catch other types of fish called bycatch. It's been a hot button issue for decades and taken on new urgency as salmon returns to western Alaska rivers have collapsed in recent years. Runs on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers have reached crisis levels, forcing repeated closures of subsistence fisheries that that native communities depend on for food. At the same time, the Bering Sea pollock fleet continues to catch and often discard chum salmon as bycatch. In some years, the fleet has caught more chum salmon than subsistence users along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers are allowed to harvest, fueling anger and frustration. But genetic testing indicates that only a portion of chum salmon caught as bycatch originates from those western Alaska rivers, while most comes from hatchery fish from Asia or stocks from outside the region, including the Gulf of Alaska and Pacific Northwest. Still, communities in western Alaska have argued that controlling bycatch is the simplest fix for a complex problem. Kelty says it's important to have Unalaska's interests represented at the fishery meeting, where a large number of interest groups are expected to testify.
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Rebecca Hyemchut
We're going to have a large amount of testimony at the North Pacific Council from many groups in western Alaska that would like to see strict alternatives placed on the pollock fishery, and I'm very concerned about that.
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Narrator/Announcer
Caitlin Yeager is the executive director of the At Sea Processors association, an industry group that represents the catcher processor fleet in the Bering Sea. She told on Alaska City Council members that the fleet is already making strides to reduce bycatch in areas where west Alaska chum bycatch is likely and that hard caps on trawlers would be disastrous for processing communities like Unalaska.
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Samantha Watson
And that means that vessels are tied up at the dock.
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Liz Ruskin
Our processing lines are empty, you have.
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Samantha Watson
Fewer deliveries, and this is an echoing shockwave throughout the community.
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Narrator/Announcer
Yeager said the At Sea Processors association favors targeted tools like time and area closures and real time genetic testing or over hard caps. That's another suite of proposals under consideration by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
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Samantha Watson
We need to maintain a degree of flexibility to adapt and continue these improvements without shutting down the fishery and shutting down coastal economies with it.
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Narrator/Announcer
The Unalaska City Council ultimately passed a resolution that supports bycatch rules that don't shut down the fishery. The city will file its public testimony with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council ahead of the February meeting. Reporting from Portland, Oregon, I'm Theo Greenlee.
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Wesley Early
December's winter storms in southeast Alaska damaged structures, including grow tunnels at a small scale farm in Wrangell. The business is one of a few growers in Wrangell who supply the community with fresh produce and flowers. KSTK's Colette Czarnicki visited Ocean View Gardens to see exactly how much damage this winter caused them. Hello.
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Colette Czarnicki
Duane Ballou is giving me a tour of his farm. He's one of the owners of Ocean View Gardens. We're looking at four of the farm's grow tunnels, mostly with torn plastic hanging on the sides and no plastic on top. Dented and disjointed metal keep the structure of one tunnel standing. A couple months ago, there was no wreckage until the snow started falling.
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Duane Ballou
One thing we will not grow this year, obviously, is corn on the cob, because you do need the, you know, the height in there. So there will be no corn this year on the cob.
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Colette Czarnicki
Ice crystals are everywhere on the ground, on the structures and on plants. The property is right next to the ocean and shows all the mountainous islands scattered in the archipelago.
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Duane Ballou
Now the sun is just tall enough. It actually is going over the, reaching over the top of this mountain. Today it'll get a little bit higher and it actually, we start warming up here pretty quick.
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Colette Czarnicki
That will be good for the plants covered in frost and ice. Ballou says he missed the winter storm that damaged the tunnels. He and his wife were on a trip in New Hampshire and they found out about the damage from a text on December 10th.
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Duane Ballou
That small one over there, that one I was in the middle of building and that one there, it crushed completely to the ground.
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Colette Czarnicki
He says there were three layers of ice on the structures, along with a lot of snow weight from the storm. Since they're considered temporary buildings, insurance does not cover the damage, which he says cost the company tens of thousands of dollars.
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Duane Ballou
It's bad, but you evolve and go move forward. It's just a little bit of a setback, I think, out of it. We will actually have nicer tunnels to work in. They will be taller and we'll move forward.
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Colette Czarnicki
Because of the damage, Ballou expects they'll have a different growing year. He says many of the plants will be grown outside and they'll build much smaller hoop tunnels as they plant. That should protect and support them this season.
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Duane Ballou
Things might be a little later for everyone. We'll see how things go. But using the hoop tunnels, you can pretty much mimic the, the large tunnels. It'll just be a little bit more work on our part.
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Colette Czarnicki
He's not too worried since there's still other tunnels and a heated greenhouse that's holding strong.
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Duane Ballou
Let's see if it's froze.
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Wesley Early
Nope.
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Duane Ballou
So this is our purchased greenhouse that we used last year. This has been up a little over a year now. None of the spring crops will be interrupted. The hanging baskets and all the trays of flowers and everything go in this one and that one there I have. The materials will be here. In fact, they might already be here for that one. So that one's going to be erected here in the next three or four weeks.
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Colette Czarnicki
Belew says even with the damage, they're expanding their business. They'll have about 650 hanging baskets, vegetable starts and more than 200 trees and shrubs. A lot of Ringolites look forward to the hanging baskets and since a supplier down south stopped providing them, doesn't seem.
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Duane Ballou
Like anyone else has really filled that gap except for us, he says.
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Colette Czarnicki
They plan to also sell in neighboring Petersburg next season too. In Wrangle, I'm Colette Czarnicki.
- [21:07]
Wesley Early
The Kuskokwim 300 Red Lantern Award given to the last place finisher is meant to honor perseverance in the sled dog sport. It's a word fitting for the story of a 17 year old musher's first ever 300 mile race. KYUK's Samantha Watson reports.
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Samantha Watson
Charlie Chingliak needed special permission to run the K300 alongside the adults. Those adults are mostly professionals, Iditarod champs who run dogs full time or as part of sled dog tour businesses. And they're mostly not from the YK Delta. But Chingliak is growing up just upriver from the start line. He's a high school student from Akiachuk who fits the sport in around homework and basketball practice.
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Charlie Chingliak
I had a game at seven, missed out to come to the banquet.
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Samantha Watson
It was the Teenager's first ever 300 mile race and it was grueling. By the time he left the final checkpoint, Chingliak hadn't slept in nearly three days.
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Charlie Chingliak
Yeah, I had a seat, so I was just sitting on the seat like I tied a rope around my hand so if I fall off I can just drag me.
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Samantha Watson
But he kept going, and as most of the teams passed the finish line, a lot of people tuned in online to track Chingliac's progress through a GPS Tracker on the K300 website. But about 13 miles from the finish line, that GPS tracker stopped moving and.
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Charlie Chingliak
Out of nowhere behind ak, he chucked one dog just like it was done. I was tired.
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Samantha Watson
Also, Charlie and his dog hit a wall. While he was stopped there, trying to figure out what to do, Chingliak got a text from champion and Bethel musher Pete Kaiser, who had crossed the finish line hours earlier and won the race. Kaiser asked him about the dog and gave him some advice. The veteran masher told him, when you can't keep going and you don't want to scratch, there's a third option. You can take a break.
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Charlie Chingliak
Yeah, they were telling me to take my time. And so I was just sitting there for a while thinking, and I didn't come this far to, like, give up.
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Samantha Watson
Chingliak says he fed his dogs and decided to camp out on the trail. He huddled on the sled, curled up in his sleeping bag, Alone on the tundra in near zero temps, the young musher got his first sleep of the race. Charlie's family was parked on the ice road watching for him. His dad, Jeff Chingliak, says about four hours after Charlie's tracker had stopped, he checked again.
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Charlie Chingliak
I checked. It was moving.
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Samantha Watson
He looked off into the distance and there was Charlie's headlight moving closer.
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Charlie Chingliak
My wife woke up and she's like.
- [24:04]
Wesley Early
What are you doing?
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Charlie Chingliak
I was like, look to your side. Oh, is that Charlie?
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Samantha Watson
Letting the dogs rest had worked.
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Charlie Chingliak
That dog just got up and started moving around, started being himself. And that's when I knew it was ready to get up and finish.
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Samantha Watson
His dad says all of a sudden, the world came back into motion. He says a line of cars appeared behind him coming from Akiachuk. Apparently, other people from home had been staying up watching the track. At the finish line, it is two in the morning, and yet a line of trucks is parked along the chute and a small crowd has formed. Among them are Charlie's family. But he's also met by all these YK Delta mushers. Charlie's dad said it surprised even him. He thought everybody would be sleeping so emotional.
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Charlie Chingliak
I was just trying not to. Try not to cry, you know, it was just happy, happy tears.
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Samantha Watson
It's a moment bursting with glory. But for Charlie, it was about his team.
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Charlie Chingliak
I'm very proud of those dogs. I was like, just happy to finish and pack the dogs up and go home and sleep.
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Samantha Watson
At the mushers banquet, Chingliak is named rookie of the Year. He is also given the Red Lantern award. In sled dog race tradition, it's given to the last place finisher in honor of the perseverance it takes to see a race through.
- [25:44]
Wesley Early
Taking home $3,600. The only rookie in this year's race.
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Samantha Watson
The pride in the room is palpable.
- [25:50]
Wesley Early
From accu, Chuck Charlie Chingliag.
- [25:58]
Samantha Watson
In bethel. I'm samantha watson.
- [26:12]
Wesley Early
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online@alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. eric Stone in Juneau, Alena Nen and Hannah Flor in Anchorage, Desiree Hagen in Kotzebue, Theo Greenlee in Portland, Oregon Colette Zarnicki in Rangel and Samantha Watson in Bethel. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us@newsalaskapublic.org Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kirsten Dobro is our producer. And I'm Wesley Early. Have a great weekend. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.