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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 US territories.
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It sounds like a freight train coming at your house all the time. It is grating on the nervous system.
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Hurricane force winds knock out power for thousands of Matsuburo residents. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Monday, December 8th. Good evening. I'm Wesley Early. Also tonight, new data shows high turnover for teachers and principals around the state.
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We're seeing just a fairly steady, consistent upward trend.
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Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
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Thousands of people in the Matanuska Susitna Borough are still without power after strong winds tore through the region over the weekend. National Weather Service meteorologist Carson Jones says the hurricane force gusts were caused by a clash of weather systems. A cool high pressure system over the Copper River Basin meeting a warmer low pressure system from the Gulf of Alaska.
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Essentially, it creates kind of this siphon effect where the really cold, dense air in the Copper river basin is funneled and channeled down the mountainous Gua Valley and it accelerates in what's called a katabatic wind. And it just, it sits there until the pattern changes and gusts. We are seeing anywhere from 40 to 100 miles an hour throughout the valley over the weekend and even this morning as well.
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The Matanuska Susitna Borough School District closed most schools today due to high winds and power outages and most of those schools will remain closed tomorrow. The weather service also extended its high wind warning to tomorrow after the winds die down. Jones says residents should be ready for a drop in temper so it'll change.
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From wind chill to actual chump temperature dropping. But I would expect that the lows are going to be below zero once the wind dies down.
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Reporter Amy Bouchat with the Matsu Sentinel has been tracking the impacts of the wind and joins us now. Hi, Amy.
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Hey, Wesley. How are you?
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I'm doing all right. So you of course, live in the mat Su can you describe what the winds were like over the weekend?
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The wind is hard to imagine if you've never experienced it, but let me take a crack at it. It's sounds like a freight train coming at your house all the time. It is grading on the nervous system and it often can make your house shake. If you have big windows, those might be rattling. When darkness falls, you cross your fingers and hope that you do not wake up in the morning to any destruction that you could not see overnight. And it's just, it's a real experience. In fact, my friend and I went out of Mat Su on Saturday out to Eagle river where there was no wind. And the sweet relief of that came back to just the hurricane force winds again and Saturday afternoon and we're newly reminded just how intense that can feel.
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Yeah. And today you actually spent the morning driving around the region. What impacts are you seeing on the ground?
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I did. I spent about an hour or so driving around the core area of Mat Su and what I saw was crews out fixing power lines, decimated fencing, was porta potties on their sides in places they do not belong, flipped over dumpsters, destroyed signs, destroyed building siding, shingles falling off trees, down on fences, and even a trailer flipped over on the side of the George Parks Highway.
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Wow. Is the full extent of the damage known at this point?
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No, it is not. And in fact, the winds are still going. And so I don't think that we will really see the full extent of this damage until after they stop and everyone has a chance to go home and really see what has happened. Because of course, so many people are without power that folks have maybe gone to a hotel or staying with friends who do have power or are at an emergency shelter set up by the American Red Cross.
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Yeah. And how many people are estimated to be without power? And are those outages concentrated to any certain areas?
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They're not. They are across the entirety of the Matsu core region. So as of mid Monday afternoon, and keep in mind, this number is constantly changing as crews bring outages back online and new outages occur. They had about 11,500 Matanuska Electric association members without power, 13 crews in the field working on those outages. At that time, about 2,500 of those were in what we're going to call the Wasilla core area, which includes where Fred Meyer is and where target is that I think actually has come online since they last reported that. And so like I said, it's constantly fluctuating. There are folks out in Big Lake that still have outages. There are folks in the Palmer, downtown Palmer core area that have been out for days. And in fact, there are a couple of thousand people who have had no power since at least Saturday morning.
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And you mentioned that the Red Cross stood up an emergency shelter at a Menard sports complex in Wasilla for those impacted by the outages. How many people are currently staying there and how long are officials anticipating it'll be needed?
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So borough emergency officials told me today that the shelter will stay open as long as it's needed. Which could be well after the winds die down when the power goes back on. People might find that their homes were have burst pipes, for example, and so they're going to keep that open as long as people need it. Volunteer Joanie Godsill, who has been volunteering at the shelter since it opened on Saturday and is actually commuting in from Eagle river to do that. She said they had 12 people stay over last night and dozens coming in and out over the course of today to warm up, charge their cell phones before going back home to check on whether they had power. And here's something interesting. Pets and crates are allowed at this emergency shelter and that's important to know because it's a change from previous emergency shelters hosted at the Menard when pets were not allowed at all. So they even right now have a separate room where the crated pets can stay with their owners if they want to have them in there instead of in the main area.
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All right. Well, Amy Bouchette is a reporter with the Matsu Sent Note. Thanks so much for joining us today.
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Yeah, thanks for having me.
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A magnitude 7 earthquake shook Juneau and other towns in Alaska's northern and central panhandle late Saturday morning, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. The quake happened at 11:41am and was centered roughly 55 miles north of Yakutat at a depth of about 3 miles. Residents from Juneau, Haines, Whitehorse and other southeast Alaska towns reported houses shaking briefly. There were no immediate reports of any damage. The National Weather Service Juneau says there is no tsunami danger from the earthquake. Meanwhile, teacher and principal turnover rates in Alaska have increased overall beyond levels preceding the COVID 19 pandemic. That's according to new data from the Institute of Social and Economic Research, or icer. And it comes as the state continues working on ways to improve teacher retention and recruitment in the state. Dana DeFeo is the director of the center for Alaska Education Policy Research, a clearinghouse for education related work with icer. She said at a State Board of Education meeting last week that the teacher and principal turnover rate has generally risen beyond rates seen before the COVID 19 pandemic.
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We're seeing just a fairly steady, consistent upward trend. And like I said, we're going to see this pattern no matter how we splice the data.
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In 2024, 17% of teachers and 27% of principals left their school districts while turnover decreased during the pandemic. The new data marks an overall increase since 2013. The research builds on previous work which studied turnover rates in 2019 and 2021. While principal turnover is generally higher than teacher turnover, DeFeo says the trend depends on the type of community.
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When we start to dig into the data, they show that educator turnover is not a monolith. It looks different. It looks different in different places. It looks different in different conte. And as we develop policies and as we develop programs to interrupt these patterns, it's kind of useful to look at the nuances of these data.
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For example, in 2024, principals left schools at a higher rate than teachers in communities outside of cities. But the opposite is true for urban schools, where about 30% of teachers left as opposed to 21% of principals. According to a University of Alaska report to the state Legislature, teacher turnover rates statewide sat above the national average between 2012 and 2021. High turnover is associated with negative student outco. The state has been working on improving teacher retention since at least 2020. That includes a teacher apprenticeship program at the University of Alaska Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses. University of Alaska Southeast also expects to begin a principal training program next fall. DeFeo said in an interview with KTOO on Thursday that her team plans on surveying teachers in February to see which factors play into their decisions to leave. What we can see pretty clearly is.
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Who stays and who goes. We can do that very accurately.
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What we don't know all the time is why, why they make those choices. Icer plans to publish a full report on turnover rates next spring.
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Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a new state run telehealth service aims to fill gaps in the state's behavioral healthcare system.
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In some areas, particularly the more rural areas, there's no providers at all.
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That's ahead. Stay with us.
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Federal fishery managers are keeping the Bering Sea pollock quota flat next year, even as they move to sharply reduce catch limits in the Gulf of Alaska. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council on Sunday recommended the 2026 Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands pollock catch limit at just under 1.4 million metric tons. That's the same as this year. Researchers told the council that the number of older fish is declining by about a third, but that younger fish entering the stock is high, according to survey data. Managers said that information, as well as the fleet's recent trouble fully harvesting the quota, justified holding the line. The council recommended steep cuts to Gulf of Alaska groundfish quotas, though the Gulf pollock harvest is dropping by almost a third next year and Pacific cod is being reduced by even more. That's due to new assessments that show weaker recruitment and continued low abundance in the Bering Sea the fleet has also faced rising pressure to reduce bycatch. While the council isn't picking up the contentious chum salmon debate until its next meeting in February, this month's meeting saw growing concern around herring bycatch. The council's recommendations for both the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska fisheries now head to the U.S. department of Commerce for final approval. The Bering Sea season's opening is scheduled for January 20th. Meanwhile, the state approved a contract last week agreeing to pay Juneau's new hydroelectric utility $1.3 million to power the controversial Cascade Point Ferry Terminal, a project that has yet to be finalized. That money will pay for a transformer and engineering for a submarine cable required to connect the Alaska Department of Transportation's proposed ferry terminal to a hydroelectric project that Juneau Hydropower plans to bring online in 2028. According to the contract, the state will pay Juneau Hydropower whether or not the ferry terminal project proceeds. Christopher Goins is the regional director at the department.
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If they live up to their part of the bargain, we would be responsible to pay for that, he says.
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One major reason the state signed this contract now is because the cost would rise if the department decides to electrify it later on after Juno Hydropower designs its system without this addition. Duff Mitchell is the managing director of Juno Hydropower. He says the other main reason is because the equipment takes a long time to get here. We're looking at between 52 weeks to over three years, depending on the manufacturer, he says. The transformer wouldn't be used for anything else. If the ferry terminal project doesn't get built, you know, if in fact it goes forward, then we would use it. Otherwise it will be sitting there waiting for the future. The state extended the public comment period on the proposed Cascade Point ferry terminal to January 9th.
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The state launched a new telehealth service for Alaskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities last month. It provides 24. 7 access to behavioral health services for those who qualify on Medicaid. Pamela Burton works for the Alaska Division of Senior and Disability Services. She says this program will help fill a gap in services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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The availability of providers, specifically behavioral health clinicians that have experience and training in working with an individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities is really slim in the state and in some areas, particularly the more rural areas, there's no providers at all, burton says.
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The behavioral health providers are from outside Alaska. The service will offer counseling, crisis intervention or triage and long term behavioral health support. Clinicians can also refer patients to outside support as needed. Burton says the resource will be especially helpful for people who have both intellectual or developmental disabilities and behavioral health diagnoses.
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Those individuals do tend to have a higher rate of crises, emergency room visits and hospitalizations. And then in Alaska, those barriers are further compounded by geography, she says.
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The idea for this support came from learning about how similar programs have been used in other states and how successful.
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It'S been in really helping to reduce or prevent a crisis situation before it gets to that point, reduce emergency room utilization and hospitalizations, burton says.
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The program is free for Alaskans with intellectual and developmental disabilities who qualify under Medicaid. Eligible Alaskans can sign up at the website for the state's Division of Senior and Disability Services.
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Meanwhile, Haines is among about 20 Alaska communities that have received federal funding to study local transportation safety and forge a plan to improve it. As Avery Elfelt reports for the Alaska Desk, residents have until the end of this month to submit feedback on the final plan and Future projects.
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The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law included $5 billion to help local and tribal governments prevent roadway deaths and injuries. Communities around the state have received chunks of that funding, including Hanes. In 2023, the Hanesboro and Chilkoot Indian association applied for funding and were later jointly awarded nearly $200,000. Southeast Alaska based civil engineering firm Pro HNS has been tapped to carry out the project. Right now, the company is in a data gathering phase, project engineer Ethan Rommling says that entails gathering publicly available data on crashes and accidents and and soliciting community feedback.
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What are the concerns of the community? Where are people seeing issues? What what the people want to see changed?
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Community members can submit feedback by way of a survey through the end of December. The survey can be completed online or picked up in person at the local library, school and various other locations. Borough planner Chen Wu says they've already received more than 200 responses and that people seem highly engaged. The aim is to pinpoint which roads and intersections need attention. From there, WOU says the contractor will create an action plan which will be used to seek additional dollars to fund future projects.
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If we are lucky to be selected for the next phase of implementation grant we're going to have more resources to improve the street, improve the construction or improve the design.
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Alaska Municipal League Executive Director Nils Andreasen says his organization is working with other communities that have received fund overall. Andresen says Alaska has accessed an impressive amount of funding through the Biden era.
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Infrastructure legislation, and every dollar that's coming from the federal or state level is reducing the burden on local taxpayers for having to make similar kinds of investments.
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Road safety issues may seem glaringly obvious at the local level, Andreasen adds, but it takes a lot of money to actually study and address them. Ideally, he says, every local government in Alaska would have a safety action plan of this nature. Reporting in Haines, I'm Avery elfield.
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More than 30 people weighed in on the Anchorage mayor's proposed 3% sales tax during last week's assembly meeting, most of them opposed. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance is hoping that the assembly will approve sending her proposal to city voters. Her administration estimates her tax would generate between 150 and $180 million annually, and that money would get divided between three areas public safety and capital projects, childcare and housing and property tax relief. Theo Ransome was one of those opposed to the proposal. He says that Anchorage wouldn't shoulder the tax on its own. It would also impact residents from rural areas who buy things in the state's biggest city. For many village residents, Anchorage is not a place of convenience. It is a lifeline, and a sales tax makes that lifeline more expensive. Jason Norris told the assembly he supports the sales tax. He says the state used to fund 30% of Anchorage's budget, but it's closer to 1% now. If we're going to maintain our infrastructure, much less expand it, and if we're going to maintain services, the money has to come from somewhere and it's certainly not coming from the state. And that doesn't look to be changing anytime soon. The assembly ultimately voted to continue the public hearing and postpone voting on putting the tax on the ballot to a meeting on January 13th.
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The Alaska State Troopers are returning to television with a new show set to air in January. The self titled documentary series follows troopers responding to calls across the state, including cities in the interior and villages in rural Alaska. Austin McDaniel is a spokesman for the troopers. He says the state won't be compensated for participating in the show and instead views it as a recruiting tool. He says the return is also in response to calls to station more troopers in underserved commun. He says the old series that began airing in 2009 drummed up thousands of job applications for the state run police force each year, but that number has dwindled since the show ended in 2015.
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Today we receive hundreds. So we're hoping just because around 1% are successful in making it to become a state trooper, we're hoping to increase the number of qualified applicants that are interested in becoming state troopers.
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According to a press release from the network airing the show A and E. The series will include multi agency criminal takedowns and life savings, search and rescue missions. McDaniel says the hope is to give Alaskans a better understanding of how troopers spend their days.
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We hope Alaskans will see that it'll be a point of pride for the work that their law enforcement officers do to keep them safe every day.
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The new season of Alaska State Troopers begins airing on A and E on January 7th of next year. Older seasons of the show will also be available on demand through the A and E app.
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Winter is in full swing in Anchorage, though hopes of fluffy snowfall have been dashed with warmer temperatures leading to icy roads and slushy conditions. As part of our Ask a Climatologist segment, National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider says this November was warmer than normal. And despite the current cold snap, that trend is likely to continue.
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October normally gets about 5 inches of snow, at least here in Anchorage. And this year we didn't really have any. I think we may have had 1/10 of an inch. Now historically, October snow is what I call novelty snow. You know, falls, but it doesn't usually stick around. We usually have a warm spell and historically for Anchorage, the onset date from our continuous winter snowpack. So like where it doesn't go away is November 8th and this year it started on November 7th. So we were right online with when we, we should get our kind of our winter snowpack.
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And what's the longer term outlook for this winter? You know, does it look like we're heading into a repeat of last year where it was warmer than normal with very little snow during sort of the, the heart of winter?
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Yeah, last winter was really, really unusual. At least here in Anchorage. We went.
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November, December, January and February with almost no snow. Four months really the heart of the winter with no snow. But we had had a lot of snow in October and then we had a lot of snow in March and even April. And so the totality of the winter was we were a little bit below normal, but nothing remarkable. But the snow that did fall was in the part of the season where it melts pretty quick. So it wasn't here for the, for the dark cold season. As far as this winter, the we are, we're in our La Nina winter for the second year in a row. That does tip the scale toward a little bit colder and a little bit snowier for South Central. So that's kind of our, our best guess. But there's other indications in the climate system that would tend to push us away from being cold and snowy. So, so it's really a lot of uncertainty. And you know, the safe bet is it's probably going to be at or warmer than normal and near normal precipitation.
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So this month started off with icy conditions in South Central leading to road accidents and school closures. There was even a mat su bus that overturned while they were taking kids to school. As Alaska continues to warm because of climate change, do you see these types of icy conditions to be more common?
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Well, I think there's two ways to think about it. One is the overall warming temperatures. And so, you know, what used to be a 31 degree storm now might be a 33 or 34 degree storm. And that's going to in many cases transition that rain, that's, I'm sorry, that snow over to rain. The other ingredient in that is our Chinook events. And so a lot of times our icy conditions, in fact, most of the time our icy conditions are a result of, of a Chinook bringing in warm air and kind of melting the snow and then it refreezing. And historically that's probably when at least my recollection is ASD cancels school more times than not is for those kind of Chinook melting events, not freezing rain events like we've had here during the last week. So we should expect more of the freezing rain events. We should probably expect a similar number of Chinook events moving forward.
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And a big question every year for many people in the area, but when does it look like there's going to be a lot of snow in the near future?
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Well, the immediate near future. You know, we might get an inch or two of snow tonight as we're recording this, but over the next two weeks or so it's actually looking quite dry. And the reason for that is we are expecting kind of an extended cold snap. And there's always a chance that there could be a little storm system that slips in during the cold snap. But for the most part, when we do have those long extended cold snaps, they're pretty dry. And so I shouldn't get people's hopes up that we might have a lot of snow coming here in the next two weeks.
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What's causing this cold snap and how long do you think it's going to stick around?
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Much of the month of November we've had kind of high pressure sitting over the state and that made the state pretty warm. But that high pressure is going to redevelop more toward the Bering Sea and the in the eastern part of Siberia. And the flow around that will bring in air from the north and that'll allow what we call an Arctic trough to drop in from the north. And that's a very cold air mass mass and a very cold flow. And it's coming from seas that are frozen over and there's just not much moisture in it. And so the combination of those two, the northerly flow and the fact that it's coming over basically an area with, with a lid on it where no moisture can get in is going to bring a cold and b drier conditions. And that should probably last for, for a while. You know, in, in the winter when we get these, it's not uncommon for them to last several weeks in a row. You know, right now it's hard to predict things more than about two weeks, but all the guidance says we should be pretty chilly below normal for the next several weeks in a row.
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That was National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider for ASK A Climatologist.
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Foreign.
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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. Weird reports tonight from Clarice Larson, Jamie Deep and Alex Solomon in Juneau, Theo Greenlee in Alaska, Rachel Cassandra in Anchorage, Avery Elphelt in Haines, and Ben Townsend in no Home. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us at news at alaskapublic. Org. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Madeline Rose is our producer. And I'm Wesley Early. Good night.
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This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.