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- [00:00]
Casey Grove
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.
- [00:19]
Larry Persily
The ultimate cost to complete is going to be something that is most likely not going to be made public.
- [00:25]
Casey Grove
The proposed gas line attracts new agreements, but a final construction decision and the cost are still unknown. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Thursday, September 25th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, hear from fans around the world about the Katmai tradition that puts eyes on Alaska.
- [00:44]
Larry Persily
That hit my algorithm and I just started joining every fat bear group that I could find on Facebook.
- [00:52]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [01:00]
Olivia Brancheau
Alaska Public Media is now partnering with an Alaskan auction service so a helpful local team can get the biggest return for the least hassle should you decide to donate your vehicle. Learn more@alaskapublic.org Vehicle Jimmy Kimmel Live is.
- [01:14]
Casey Grove
Back on ABC, but the Specter of retaliation against his network still looms. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says it was wrong for the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to say last week that his agency could take action against Kimmel, quote, the easy way or the hard?
- [01:30]
Olivia Brancheau
When you have the head of your regulatory agency weigh in, as the chairman did, in a way and with words that I could only interpret as threatening as a warning out there, I think it is not only highly unusual, I think it is highly inappropriate.
- [01:50]
Casey Grove
Murkowski spoke last week before ABC reversed course and restored the show to the airwaves. Kimmel is a frequent critic of President Trump. In an angry social media post Tuesday, Trump said he planned unspecified legal action to make ABC pay. For his part, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said recently that his words were not a threat. Murkowski, though, says Carr's statements were chilling and part of a pattern in the Trump administration.
- [02:16]
Olivia Brancheau
What we're seeing is that this is not just chilling in this space. We've seen it in other spaces. Look at the universities. You either reform your policies or I'm going to withhold grants. I'm going to withhold certain federal funding opportunities. So, yes, this is more than concerning.
- [02:41]
Casey Grove
As a senator, Murkowski says it's important for her to speak out and says it's not acceptable for the heads of federal agencies to talk like that. Senator Dan Sullivan did not respond to an interview request, but said through a spokesperson that he believes the FCC should not have threatened Kimmel. Alaska Congressman Nick Begich did not respond to an interview request or emailed questions on the topic. The Alaska LNG project netted two more agreements earlier this month during an energy conference in Italy. Both agreements are non binding, but proponents say it's proof of ongoing positive momentum. And as KDLL's Ashlyn O' Hara reports, the developments come as the company behind the project aim to decide whether to move forward or not by the end of the year.
- [03:33]
Adam Prestage
Adam Prestage remains optimistic about the Alaska LNG project's commercial viability. He's the project president under Glenfarn Group, which assumed majority ownership earlier this year.
- [03:45]
Larry Persily
We think it is a fantastic project from an infrastructure fundamental standpoint. Its commercial attributes we think make it a really attractive project and put it in a really advanced state.
- [03:59]
Adam Prestage
The idea of a natural gas pipeline between the North Slope and South Central has been tossed around for decades. If it's built, the three phase project would extract and treat natural gas on the North Slope, move it through an 800 mile long pipeline to South Central, and then liquefy it in Nikiski for export overseas. The project already has the necessary land and permits. What it needs now are customers and of course to be built. Since taking over, Glenfarn secured five non binding agreements with potential project customers. Two of those were signed earlier this month in Italy. One agreement is with Jirico, Japan's largest power generation company, to purchase a set amount of liquefied natural gas from the project over two decades. The other agreement outlines a strategic partnership with Posco International. The company is the sales representative of Posco Group, Korea's largest steel producer, and also imports liquefied natural gas. Prestage says he's aware of the skepticism around non binding contracts, but he says the scale and scope often require a drawn out negotiation process, sometimes up to one or two years.
- [05:08]
Larry Persily
They're enormous contracts and they don't just turn into binding agreements overnight.
- [05:12]
Adam Prestage
The agreements come as project owners prepare to make a final decision whether to move forward with development, a decision expected by the end of the year. Glenfarn has enlisted another firm to update the project's current cost estimate. Prestige says Glenfarn does not expect construction costs to be significantly more expensive than previous estimates, but they're keeping the final construction price tag a secret.
- [05:36]
Larry Persily
You wouldn't normally be publishing costs for a project for a private project kind of on a recurring rolling update. And so the ultimate cost to complete is going to be something that is most likely an option to be made public, glenbarn says.
- [05:52]
Adam Prestage
Construction costs are only one part of the equation. Prestage says steel tariffs and the cost of liquefied natural gas will ultimately dictate final project costs and Glenn Farn thinks it's commercially viable. Larry Persily is a former state revenue commissioner and federal coordinator of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects. He suspects Glenn Farnes decision won't sit well with Alaskans.
- [06:15]
Larry Persily
I think keeping it secret, which is another way to say private, will just increase the skepticism among Alaskans who think this thing has been a multimillion dollar wasted effort over the years.
- [06:32]
Adam Prestage
And Persily is doubtful project costs will come in at previous estimates around $44 billion, pointing to rising labor costs and project overruns in other parts of the country.
- [06:42]
Larry Persily
It's really hard to believe that it is going to come in at that AGC estimate. Mega projects like this are notorious for going over budget.
- [06:53]
Adam Prestage
But Prestige says Glenfarn's team is up to the challenge.
- [06:56]
Larry Persily
We're very appreciative of the reception that we've gotten from Alaskans. We know that we're new in the states and we're going to continue working, working really hard to deliver this fantastic project for the state.
- [07:10]
Adam Prestage
Glenn Barn and the Alaska Gas Line Development Corporation will hold an open house next month at the Nikiski Recreation center to share project updates and meet with residents reporting in Kenai Ash. I'm Ashlyn o'. Hara.
- [07:23]
Casey Grove
Hurricane force winds are expected to hit central and southern southeast Alaska late tonight into Friday with gusts up to 80 miles an hour. Seas along the outer coast in the Gulf of Alaska could reach 35ft. Jeff Garman is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau. He says residents in the region should prepare these winds.
- [07:44]
Larry Persily
They will making landfall, they will do damage. They will push trees over and we could see some damage to structures especially for folks from Sitka south really ought to be paying very close attention to this.
- [07:57]
Casey Grove
The storm is supposed to make landfall along southern Baranoff island and Prince of Wales island tonight and then get stronger early Friday. Garmin says residents in other areas should.
- [08:08]
Larry Persily
Also stay alert because those winds extend well out to the east, well to the north, well to the south and west before that center of circulation comes in. So this is not just an immediate coastal threat for wind. Those winds will eventually move inland and the Inside Passage needs to be watching.
- [08:27]
Casey Grove
The windstorm is supposed to dissipate over the weekend and Monday could see a few peaks of sun Sunday.
- [08:33]
Larry Persily
Monday looks a lot more benign, but we're still going to have some weather around. We may get some breaks on Monday in the weather. So let's say the glass is half full for Monday.
- [08:43]
Casey Grove
The National Weather Service in Juneau is posting weather updates to their social media accounts, and local public radio stations are planning to have forecast updates still to come on Alaska News Nightly. Anchorage police say upcoming tech upgrades will make their responses more informed.
- [09:02]
Sean Case
They can come in with the right tools and the right level of response. It's going to cut down on us coming in too hot.
- [09:09]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us.
- [09:12]
Olivia Brancheau
Alaska Public Media is all about community. Wear your community on your sleeve with the purchase of branded clothes and collectibles from our online store. Visit Alaska Public.
- [09:25]
Casey Grove
The Exit Glacier Trail in Seward is closed until further notice after two people were attacked by a brown bear while hiking yesterday. Alaska State troopers say the hikers were roughly a quarter mile up the trail when the bear attacked. Both sustained non life threatening injuries after fighting it off. A local hospital reported the attack to troopers around 9pm Wildlife troopers were assessing the area this morning. They're asking the public to be vigilant outdoors and to avoid the area. Jeff Sellinger is a management coordinator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He says the department sent a biologist to Seward on Wednesday to search the site of the attack for DNA evidence, like fur that can be used to identify the animal.
- [10:06]
Larry Persily
One of the big things we try to determine and you know it's not always possible is whether it was a defensive attack by the bear, for example, a sow protecting cubs, or if it's a predatory attack where you know the bear is attacking the person looking at them as to consume them.
- [10:25]
Casey Grove
Sellinger says knowing what might have motivated the attack helps inform the way the department handles the bear. If it's caught in a defensive attack, Sellinger says, they'll usually put signs up in the area and warn people of a possibly violent animal. In rarer cases, they'll kill the bear. The Exit Glacier Trail is part of Kenai Fjords national park on the eastern Kenai Peninsula. The attack comes about a month after a woman in Kenai was mauled by a brown bear while jogging near her home. The woman was airlifted to an Anchorage hospital with serious injuries, according to an update shared this week to a GoFundMe page. The woman is back at home with family after sustaining broken ribs, a fractured scapula and hand and blindness in her left eye. As of today, the page had raised more than $100,000. Sellinger says it's a reminder that to live on the Kenai Peninsula is to live in bear country.
- [11:16]
Larry Persily
Being able to use all your senses and you know it doesn't mean you have to be on high alert all the time and you know, just there's going to be a bear around every corner, you know, not that at all. Get out and enjoy the outdoors, but be prepared.
- [11:29]
Casey Grove
Sellinger says department staff never found the brown bear from the Kenai attack, despite an extensive search of the area and the use of drones and thermal imaging equipment.
- [11:45]
Larry Persily
Foreign.
- [11:51]
Casey Grove
Police are soon getting $12 million in technology upgrades, including new drones, license plate readers and better security camera coordination. Police say the new equipment will boost public safety and help de escalate dangerous situations. But as Alaska Public Media's Wesley early reports, some worry about how it will impact residents privacy.
- [12:11]
Wesley Early
Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case says the slate of upgrades coming to his department are exciting.
- [12:16]
Sean Case
This puts Anchorage when it comes to our ability to respond to crime, respond to community problems, respond to the needs that we've been hearing about for a number of years in a category that's at the top around the country.
- [12:34]
Wesley Early
The assembly approved a five year, roughly $12 million contract with Axon Enterprise to supply the new technology, the same company that supplies officers body cameras. Most of the cost will be paid for by the annual tax levy Anchorage voters approved in 2021 to fund the body cameras, Case says, with any amount not covered by the tax coming out of APD's wider budget. Case says one of the big new tools the department will now have is called the Real Time Crime Center, a hub connecting many cameras to a centralized network. Those cameras will include body cameras, traffic cameras and he hopes, potentially hundreds of home and business security cameras if residents agree to share access.
- [13:12]
Sean Case
Once we have access to their feeds, they control what we get access to. It can be 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can be some cameras, not all the cameras. Their retention schedule is completely in control of them.
- [13:25]
Wesley Early
Police will also soon get updated drones that can launch remotely and will provide a public dashboard of what crimes were responded to and flight paths. Case says the goal is to have the drones arrive at high pressure situations before officers in order to give them a better sense of what to expect.
- [13:41]
Sean Case
They can come in with the right tools and the right level of response. It's going to cut down on us coming in too hot because we just have better information. So it's part of the overall de escalation kind of ecosystem, if you will.
- [13:55]
Wesley Early
Kay says the police are also updating their outdated Tasers.
- [13:59]
Sean Case
The current Tasers that we have can't buy them anymore, can't get replacement parts. Its older technology. We only have about a 20 to 25% success rate with our Tasers which means that officers are a little more hesitant to use them, particularly when you have a weapon involved, he says.
- [14:18]
Wesley Early
The new Tasers have nearly double the range as the current ones and are better at getting through multiple layers of clothing, an issue Case says is particularly prevalent in Alaska. Other upgrades include adding license plate readers to police vehicle dash cams and a service that allows retailers who catch shoplifters to more easily share that information with the police. Case describes the suite of upgrades as modernizing the department while also cutting down on use of deadly force by officers. They come after a tenuous time for the department. Since Case's promotion to chief last July, officers have shot nine people, killing five of them. One of them was a teenage girl who was holding a knife before she was killed. That prompted Mayor Suzanne LaFrance to announce a slate of reforms aimed at reducing use of force, and Case says the technology upgrades are part of that effort.
- [15:04]
Sean Case
You know, a year plus ago when we talked about having some of these goals, that wasn't just something we said to get through a crisis like we meant it, we mean it. We're putting forth a lot of energy and time.
- [15:15]
Wesley Early
However, at least one member of the assembly is concerned with how the upgrades were presented. Assembly Chair Chris Constant was the sole no vote on the contract that approved the technology purchase. He says for over a year the assembly has been trying to get information from the city on its privacy policies around traffic camera footage, and he says he expects that a policy for how the new technology would impact privacy would be even more complicated.
- [15:37]
Larry Persily
If it's that much work to get a policy for traffic cameras, which are static and right above every intersection and not following people around from intersection to intersection, then these policies are more intricate and challenging, in particular as relates to people's privacy.
- [15:54]
Wesley Early
Despite his vote, Constance says he has faith that the LaFrance administration and the police will adequately protect Anchorage residents and their privacy in their forthcoming policies surrounding the new cameras. Reporting in Anchorage, I'm Wesley early.
- [16:09]
Casey Grove
Traveling to St. Paul island in the middle of the Bering Sea has never been easy, but this summer was particularly tough. The community lost its main air carrier and it has struggled to find a replacement. Since early August, the tribal government has been organizing charter flights. Now a regional airline is vying to serve as St. Paul's long term solution, and it claims its flights will cost travelers a fraction of what the last company charged. The Alaska Desk's Theo Greenlee traveled to St. Paul and has this report.
- [16:38]
Theo Greenlee
The two computer monitors on Danielle Lestenkoff's desk are filled with Spreadsheets. A flight tracking website is open in the browser and a solar powered wind chime jingles nearby. For the past two months or so, she and a co worker in Anchorage have been chartering flights for the community through Security Aviation and reselling individual seats aboard its eight passenger Learjet.
- [17:01]
Adam Prestage
We purchase the charters, they tell us which dates they have available, you know, the cost of each one. We're stuck paying the bill on that if they're not full.
- [17:09]
Theo Greenlee
So you and your counterpart in Anchorage, the two of you are essentially running a homegrown grassroots airline. Essentially. Is that fair to say or is that.
- [17:21]
Adam Prestage
Yeah, that's pretty accurate.
- [17:23]
Theo Greenlee
Lestenkopf works for the aleut community of St. Paul island, the tribal government. Normally she's a manager in the Department of Business and Economic Development, but since August she's been pressed into airline duty. Olga Zaharoff works the other side of the system in Anchorage.
- [17:41]
Adam Prestage
She's literally driven and found people who were like, lost and couldn't make their way there just to make sure they made it on the plane. I mean, just right now, I got a new order for a ticket, so you'll see.
- [17:53]
Theo Greenlee
These tickets cost passengers $1,300. That's one way to Anchorage, about $500 more than before the community's federally subsidized airline folded. Raven Alaska had been the only airline with regularly scheduled flights between St. Paul and Anchorage. Raven announced earlier this year that it would stop flying in October, but it pulled out even sooner than expected and then went out of business.
- [18:19]
Casey Grove
It just affects everything top to bottom right.
- [18:21]
Theo Greenlee
Tribal Council president John Wayne Melavedoff says air service is critical.
- [18:27]
Casey Grove
Air service to St Paul is very important to us out here. Everything from quality of life to having stocked shelves in the store, being able to leave for medical appointments, for work.
- [18:40]
Theo Greenlee
In small markets that can't sustain regular scheduled air service. The U.S. department of Transportation offers exclusive contracts to air carriers to earn a modest profit selling tickets at federally subsidized prices. That's through its Essential Air Service program. Only one airline originally bid to take over St. Paul's Essential Air Service contract, Kenai Aviation. Local leaders asked the company to improve its offer, like by putting a bathroom on board the six seater it proposed for the roughly three hour trip. The four community leadership groups in St. Paul, that's the city, the tribal government, the Native Village Corporation and St. Paul's Labor Group told DOT that Kenai simply wouldn't be able to make those accommodations and revoked their support. Federal law requires the department to give substantial weight to the local community's views when it picks a contractor. The department agreed that Kenai's proposal was inconsistent with St. Paul's prior service and put out an expedited request for new proposals. Kenai Aviation did not respond to several requests for comment. By the September 8 deadline, Security Aviation and regional carrier Aleutian Airways submitted bids. Aleutian is offering larger Saab 2000 planes. Its proposal says tickets would only cost $400 one way, about half of what Raven charged. Community leaders are unanimous in their support. Dozens of St. Paul residents have also submitted public comments in favor of Aleutian. At a Labor Day cookout, longtime tribal council member Richard Zaharoff looked up as a plane flew overhead.
- [20:25]
Larry Persily
Transportation's been very tough for a community.
- [20:28]
Casey Grove
That Raven has bellied up and created.
- [20:31]
Theo Greenlee
A lot of havoc for a community.
- [20:33]
Larry Persily
For people and traveling for business and just getting in and out for medical.
- [20:38]
Theo Greenlee
It's unclear when the Department of Transportation will pick a carrier and when island residents can expect regular service to come back. The department did not respond timely to requests for comment.
- [20:51]
Larry Persily
You know, 10 grand in ticket with.
- [20:53]
Theo Greenlee
Reporting from St. Paul, I'm Theo Greenlee.
- [20:56]
Larry Persily
You go to Europe for less than that.
- [20:59]
Casey Grove
Bears in Katmai national park and Preserve have spent months bulking up, and right now people from around the world are voting for their favorite to be the chubby Champion of Fat Bear Week. As Alaska Public Media's Ava White reports, these big bears have some even bigger fans.
- [21:13]
Olivia Brancheau
Olivia Brancheau got the notification while writing an essay at her college in Rome, Italy. The alert said. Time to be real. She had two minutes to snap a dual camera photo front and back simultaneously to share with her friends on the social app.
- [21:27]
Adam Prestage
I was feeling kind of homesick, so I was looking at the Fat Bear Week live cam and the notification went off. I was like, I need to show my friends on Bereal the Fat Bears.
- [21:39]
Olivia Brancheau
It resulted in a selfie and a photo of a burly brown bear in the water, captioned in all caps. Look how fat the bears are. I'm so homesick. She grew up in Anchorage but has lived abroad since graduating high school in 2021. Each year, she follows Fat Bear Week from over 5,000 miles away because it reminds her of home. She's one of over a million people from around the globe who turn into Alaska's widely popular Fat Bear Week every fall, celebrating how chubby the bears have gotten in preparation for months of hibernation. 12 bears enter this year's bracket, and voters will determine which is the fattest of them all. But Rancho actually doesn't vote on the bears because she can't pick a favorite.
- [22:19]
Adam Prestage
I don't have a bracket because I feel like it's a disservice to the fatness of the other bears. So I never vote. I am just happy that the bears are being fed.
- [22:30]
Olivia Brancheau
Katmai bears feast on the world's largest sockeye salmon run, and it's how they pack on hundreds of pounds each summer. Rancho says as an Alaskan, the competition gives her a sense of pride.
- [22:41]
Adam Prestage
It unites us as a state, gives us something to rally behind.
- [22:45]
Olivia Brancheau
But it's not just Alaskans who have their eyes hooked on the bears. Robin Keegan is an elementary school reading specialist in Richmond, Virginia who has followed Fat Bear Week for about five years. Her school is celebrating in a few weeks and they'll go all out with students measuring themselves besides a life size brown bear cutout and playing cornhole. But instead of beanbags, they'll use stuffed salmon.
- [23:07]
Adam Prestage
Every day I announce over the intercom who won the fat bear thing and and they cheer. You can hear them all cheering when the bears win. And the teachers run the explore.org website in the morning and in the evening before they go home so they can see see them.
- [23:23]
Olivia Brancheau
She even started a Facebook group called Fat Bear Week for Educators as a hub for teachers to share educational activities and resources centered around the competition. The group has over 900 members who exchange creative ways to bring bears into their classrooms. Keegan says students love it at her school. The competition is also an opportunity for the K to learn about the differences between their state's smaller black bears and Katmai's massive brown bears, and it helps them make a connection to the larger world around them.
- [23:53]
Adam Prestage
I work in a population where our students have limited access to those outdoor spaces and for them to like imagine that there's these spaces that are open where things are allowed to be wild is fascinating. To watch them realize that that they exist not in a zoo, but in this space.
- [24:15]
Olivia Brancheau
Keegan is a finalist for a grant for teachers to learn and travel. She wrote her proposal to visit Katmai, which is on her bucket list. It's also on the bucket list of Jeff Hartley, who works at a church in northwestern Arkansas. Hartley came across Fat Bear Week on social media almost 10 years ago and has been a devoted follower of the event since. Here he is by Zoom. He's wearing a Fat Bear Week hat and a T shirt and says he has a couple more in his closet.
- [24:41]
Larry Persily
Bears, especially the brown bears up there, are just awesome. To me that hit my algorithm and I just started joining as every fat bear group that I could find on Facebook.
- [24:53]
Olivia Brancheau
Each year, Hartley says he prints the bracket and passes them out to his congregation to fill out. Whoever has the most accurate bracket wins a bear themed prize. Once it was a gift card to a local restaurant called the Black Bear Diner. He says the fans of Fat Bear Week are a community.
- [25:09]
Larry Persily
It's a place to get together with people all over the world, different backgrounds, but we all love fat bears. We all love rooting for the bears, cheering them on. We mourn when the bears pass away or if they don't show up, and we get invested in these bears.
- [25:26]
Olivia Brancheau
Hartley says he's rooting for 32 chunk. He's one of the largest bears at Brooks river, weighing in at £1,200 plus. He is described by the park as a determined and adaptable bear. Chunk was also last year's runner up, but Hartley thinks this could be his year.
- [25:42]
Larry Persily
The real edge that he has is now he's got the story he came to the falls with a broken jaw and beat the odds and still wound up being not just a, you know, fattening up enough to to hibernate, but being one of the dominant bores.
- [25:58]
Olivia Brancheau
There are still a few days left in the competition and there can only be one weighty winner. So make sure you vote online and explore.org before polls close on Tuesday at 5pm Alaska time in Anchorage. I'm Ava White.
- [26:23]
Casey Grove
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. ashlyn O' Hara in Kenai, Angela Denny in Petersburg, Wesley early and Ava White in Anchorage, and Theo Greenlee in St. Paul. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde. Madeline Rose is our producer, and I'm Casey Grove. Good night.