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- [00:07]
Casey Grove
There are a lot of community needs and candidly, not all of the resources to do the things that we think the community wants. Anchorage struggles to find the funds to repair its performing arts center. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Wednesday, October 1st. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, more than a dozen Alaska Public Radio stations received funding to help keep the lights on this funding that.
- [00:34]
Lauren Adams
Has been earmarked for stations. They are truly some of the most vulnerable in our country at this moment.
- [00:40]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. A high profile lawsuit challenging a key part of Alaska's homeschool system moved ahead this week after an Anchorage judge denied a motion to dismiss the case. Alaska Public Media's Eric Stone reports.
- [00:59]
Eric Stone
The lawsuit centers on what are known as correspondent school allotments. Those are cash payments to families who homeschool their kids in the state's public correspondence school system. They're meant to pay for things like lessons and supplies. Some parents also use them to pay for private school tuition. A group of parents sued the state in 2023 saying the use of allotments on private school tuition violates the state constitution. Article 7 bars state spending quote, for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution. At first, a judge ruled the whole allotment system was unconstitutional. That was later reversed by the state Supreme Court, which sent it back to a lower court for a closer look at how school districts allow allotments to be spent. Then earlier this year, a group of correspondent school parents represented by the legal nonprofit Institute for Justice, asked the lower court judge to dismiss the case. They argued allotments are a direct benefit to correspondent school families, not private schools. But in an eight page order on Monday, Superior Court Judge Laura Hartz disagreed. She said the Supreme Court's decision requires a review of how allotments are actually spent in practice. The plaintiffs of the state and the school districts added to the case following the Supreme Court ruling. All argued against dismissing the case and said a final ruling would require more evidence. The ruling moves the case into the discovery phase, where attorneys for the parties will exchange evidence as they build a case for a possible trial. Reporting in Juneau, I'm Eric Stone.
- [02:16]
Casey Grove
This summer, Congress defunded public broadcasting. But this week, 14 public media stations in Alaska got some good news. The Interior Department has put them on the list to be funded through a program that supports tribal stations to make up for the money they're no longer getting from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Lauren Adams, general manager of KUCB in Unalaska got the email today with the exact figure.
- [02:39]
Lauren Adams
Let me just pull it open. The planned award amount is 282,728, so roughly the amount that we received in our CPP community service grant.
- [02:53]
Casey Grove
The money gets KUCB through the year, but it is a one time grant, so Adams still has a big challenge ahead. Meanwhile, national news stories about the plight of the little station in the Aleutians won the hearts of public radio supporters around the country. Adam says more than 100 people sent contributions from afar and the station gained roughly $25,000 in membership fees. She says she read the accompanying notes to her staff.
- [03:17]
Lauren Adams
A lot of the comments were really, really touching and just saying that the local work you do in your community makes a difference. Keep doing it. Keep up the good work. Really morale boosting.
- [03:31]
Casey Grove
It was a similar story for KYUK and Bethel. General Manager Kristen hall says contributions from afar helped cheer the staff even if they didn't approach the value of the federal funds the radio and TV station lost. The new Interior Department grants make KYUK whole at least for one year. Hall says they're a lifeline.
- [03:49]
Lauren Adams
This funding that has been earmarked for stations. They are truly some of the most vulnerable in our country at this moment.
- [03:56]
Casey Grove
KYUK and KUCB are not tribally owned, but they partnered with their local tribes to receive the grants. There's one more hurdle, though. Hall says she thinks her station won't actually get the money until the government shutdown ends. In Anchorage, the performing arts center is badly in need of repairs. The nonprofit that manages the city owned building is hoping to get more money from the municipality. Officials say the budget is tight, though. And on top of that, as Alaska Public Media's Hannah Flor reports, the pack is just one of several 1980s buildings all aging at the same time.
- [04:29]
Wendy Oden
Wendy Oden is in charge of events at the performing arts center. She says the pianos are a problem.
- [04:35]
Hannah Flor
We will be shuffling pianos constantly. I mean, it is going to be a shuffle all year long.
- [04:40]
Wendy Oden
It's not really the pianos. It's finding a place to put them. They would normally live in the basement, but sometimes the freight elevator just stops working so Odin squirrels them away. On the main floor there's kind of.
- [04:52]
Hannah Flor
An alcove that we are calling piano storage. I can put two pianos there. One will stay in the pit.
- [04:57]
Wendy Oden
The elevator is just one of many issues at the pack. There's also water in all sorts of places it shouldn't be. Theater seats that no longer attach to the floor, an electrical system that won't run the whole building. Lighting that won't light the whole stage. The list goes on. Those in charge say there just isn't enough money coming in anymore to maintain and operate the building. And that doesn't even take into account bigger capital projects like replacing the H VAC system and the roof. There are so many repairs needed at the institution. That brings luds of people downtown for theater and music and comedy and dance.
- [05:32]
Hannah Flor
There comes a time where you can't extend any longer. You know, the anti wrinkle cream stops working.
- [05:40]
Wendy Oden
That's Cody Costello. She's president of the Alaska center for the Performing Arts, the nonprofit that runs the pac. It's a little complicated the way funding works. Money comes in from donations, fundraisers and alcohol sales, plus ticket fees. Though attendance still hasn't rebounded from pre pandemic levels. And then a big chunk of the budget, about half, comes from the Muni. That's because the city actually owns the building and then pays the nonprofit to manage and operate it. This year, the nonprofit is renegotiating its contract with the city for the first time in a decade. And they're asking for a lot more money to address the building's many needs. About $4 million, well over double what it's gotten in the past. Costello says she's not ready to think about the worst case scenario. What if they can't afford to make the fixes?
- [06:25]
Hannah Flor
You know, it is what keeps me up at night. All these things keep me up at night.
- [06:29]
Wendy Oden
But she says it's the people she works with that keep her going, and they keep the building going. Finding ways to make sure it's safe and functioning, ready for shows.
- [06:38]
Hannah Flor
I have the scrappiest team on the planet. I mean, they're incredible. I don't know how they do it, but they're like sleuths and they find this stuff and make it happen. To extend the life of things in a safe way.
- [06:56]
Wendy Oden
Bill Falzi is with the mayor's office. He says the pack is great for the city's economy. Every time there's an event that brings so many people to nearby businesses. Plus, it's just part of what makes downtown Anchorage the place it is. So the PAC is a priority for the administration, but there's a problem. It's just one of many Muni owned buildings around the city built in the 80s with state oil money. You'd recognize others on the list like the Solomon arena and the Lussac Library. He says they're all aging at the same time, and there was never a long term plan for how to maintain them.
- [07:29]
Casey Grove
It was for certain a blessing at the time. It does create a challenge.
- [07:33]
Wendy Oden
Now, he says it's likely that voters will eventually have to decide whether they want to help pay for major repairs and other capital projects through bond propositions. The city is preparing proposals for the PAC for the next election. The PAC's management fee is a different story. That's part of the city's annual budget. The mayor's office hasn't finalized that yet, but Falzy says the nonprofit likely won't get the $4 million it asked for.
- [07:57]
Casey Grove
There are a lot of community needs and candidly, not all of the resources to do the things that we think the community wants. And so that means that we are having to make some difficult trade offs or to pull some rabbits out of hats.
- [08:11]
Wendy Oden
And he says instead of signing a contract for 10 years like they normally would, they're talking about 18 months. He he's not sure what solutions they'll find in that time, but he is sure of one thing.
- [08:22]
Casey Grove
We're not going to let the performing arts center fail. I mean, the performing arts center is going to remain open.
- [08:26]
Hannah Flor
At the top of the arbor over here you have all of those wire.
- [08:29]
Wendy Oden
Wendy Oden is standing backstage at the Atwood Theater looking up at the rigging.
- [08:33]
Hannah Flor
Attaches to what we call a hand line.
- [08:35]
Wendy Oden
She says sometimes the work can be really hard, long hours and things always going wrong.
- [08:41]
Hannah Flor
And then we get to see the show and it works and it's magic and the audience loves it and you're just like, okay, that's why I do this job right there.
- [08:50]
Wendy Oden
She says she loves the building and what it represents to the community. Everyone who works here does. In Anchorage, I'm Hannah Fluor.
- [09:01]
Casey Grove
Still to come on Alaska News nightly, volunteers in Juneau provide free meals to homeless residents.
- [09:07]
Hannah Flor
A lot of churches jumped right in to help and it's gotten more and.
- [09:11]
Lauren Adams
More people every week.
- [09:13]
Hannah Flor
So it's been busy.
- [09:14]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us. A Pennsylvania man allegedly used the stolen identities of seven Alaskans in an attempt to steal their permanent fund dividends. In 2022, 33 year old Adapoju Babatunde Salako got control of seven My Alaska accounts, which are used to file for the PFD, and changed the routing information from their bank accounts to accounts he controlled. That's according to a charging document and a plea agreement which Solaco has signed, both filed in federal court Tuesday. The charges say Solaco also used what's called a virtual private network to make it appear as though six of the seven online PFD applications had come from Alaska. But one application came from an Internet Protocol address in Philadelphia, which Salico had used to log into his own personal email account. The alleged wire fraud occurred in January and February of 2022. Prosecutors say the state of Alaska determined that all seven of the PFD applications were fraudulent and denied them. If Solaco had been successful, he would have gotten nearly $23,000, according to the plea agreement. As for the 2025 permanent fund dividend, eligible Alaskans are set to receive $1,000 payments. Starting to Communities in southeast Alaska braced for hurricane force winds forecasted last Friday, and while much of the Panhandle avoided catastrophic damage, some residents are still cleaning up the mess, KFSK's Olivia Rose reports.
- [10:49]
Olivia Rose
In Petersburg, the National Weather Service observed wind speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour during the storm. While not quite hurricane force winds, the gusts still packed a punch in the town of 3,400.
- [11:02]
Lauren Adams
Let's just say it sounded like the world was ending.
- [11:06]
Olivia Rose
Petersburg resident Jen Hess lives about nine miles south of town in a waterfront home. She says she felt like a sitting duck during the storm, watching several trees fall around her road, taking the power supply down with them. She was waiting for power to return to her home when she heard cracking and her house rocked on its pilings.
- [11:25]
Lauren Adams
It shook the house very violently. Stuff fell off the walls and so I ran outside to look and see what had happened and that's when I big tree on the house. It was about 2ft wide. One of the branches, you know, pretty much harpooned the roof and put a big hole in it, hess says.
- [11:44]
Olivia Rose
Luckily it didn't do a lot of damage, but they did have to patch up a 6 inch hole in the roof. Her neighbors used their crane to help remove the tree when the storm passed the next day, residents recreating on City Creek Trail by Sandy beach found a cluster of fallen trees had smashed into part of the waterfront boardwalk, severely damaging it. The trees were eventually cleared off the boardwalk, but the section will be closed off while repairs are done. Uphill at the town's borough owned ball field, the wind caused a dugout to completely collapse and the structure next to it is leaning significantly. Access to the area has been taped off and the borough and its partners involved at the ball field haven't yet sorted out how the damage will get addressed. Stephanie Payne works for the Parks and Recreation Department. She says even though it's not baseball season, repairs should start before winter comes and the ground freezes.
- [12:39]
Lauren Adams
Goodness knows this may not be our last storm this winter. So it's something that might need to start to happen soon, sooner than later.
- [12:46]
Olivia Rose
Although the jury is still out on what needs to be done, she says the Petersburg community has a knack for helping out in times of need.
- [12:53]
Lauren Adams
People will jump in on that kind of stuff. The ball field's important.
- [12:56]
Olivia Rose
The weather service's wind sensor at Petersburg's airport detected a 30 mile per hour gust around 3pm which was when the dugout collapsed. Greg Spahn is a meteorologist with the weather service in Juneau. He says the sensor's uphill location is fairly sheltered from the wind. Meanwhile, much of the town is not.
- [13:16]
Lauren Adams
That 30 mile per hour wind gusts at the airport should not be discounted because that's pretty good indicator that Petersburg itself and areas around it were experiencing some extremely impressive wind speeds. When your most protected locations you have are blowing like there's no tomorrow, that's usually a bad sign for everyone else, he noted.
- [13:33]
Olivia Rose
Other parts of the Panhandle had wind gusts in excess of 70 mph and gusts above 60 mph. On Prince of Wales island, residents in Craig and Heidelberg say the storm didn't cause any significant damage, but it was a bit different further north.
- [13:50]
Casey Grove
It's going to be a storm to remember.
- [13:53]
Olivia Rose
Don Hernandez has lived in point Baker for 40 years. It's a small community on the northern tip of Prince of Wales island, where big bodies of water converge. He says this storm was one of the strongest he's experienced.
- [14:07]
Casey Grove
I think that this is probably some of the highest seas I've ever seen out there in Sumner Strait. It was very impressive, he says.
- [14:15]
Olivia Rose
There were some near misses from trees coming down. His son's truck got smashed, though. No serious damage to buildings, just messes to clean and hazardous trees to deal with. But Hernandez says the storms seem more intense in recent years.
- [14:30]
Casey Grove
You'd expect, you know, a certain number of storms during the fall. Seems like you always get a bad one. But I mean, we've had two major blows here in the last two weeks and it's only September. That's kind of not normal.
- [14:46]
Olivia Rose
And the weather service agrees, telling folks in an update during the storm that it's not typical for this time of year and stronger than normal In Petersburg, I'm Olivia Rose.
- [14:57]
Casey Grove
When Juneau's homeless shelter limited day services this summer, a group of churches mobilized to fill the gap by distributing hot meals from a food truck downtown. KTO's Yvonne Crumry stopped by the truck to see what they were Serving.
- [15:10]
Hannah Flor
Standing outside a white food truck, nine year old Katrina Ita Oto hands out Styrofoam boxes of hot food to the people lined up in the rain in the parking lot of Juno's Salvation Army. Tonight's menu is a classic breakfast for dinner. She asks how many dinners each person wants and shouts the order back to her fellow volunteers in the truck. Most ask for more than one for other people they're camping with. Katrina is there with her youth group from Aldersgate United Methodist Church. She says she doesn't mind spending her Friday evening in the pouring rain.
- [15:48]
Casey Grove
It's because I want to help people just get some food so they can eat.
- [15:52]
Hannah Flor
14 year old exenia Fumaila is another youth group volunteer. She puts some French toast in a to go box. Exenia says it means a lot to her to be able to help. I'm just really happy that people are.
- [16:03]
Hannah Weaver
Being able to get meals when they're able to seeing that smile on their face.
- [16:09]
Hannah Flor
In August, the Glory hall reduced its day services due to what staff say is an unsafe environment on the streets around the shelter. The city's winter warming shelter opens in mid October. It offers food in the mornings and evenings. But until then, the city's unhoused population has limited options for finding a warm meal. So kids like Katrina and Xenia, along with volunteers from several other churches, stepped in. Before the GLOI hall reduced its services, several churches distributed meals every Tuesday in the Mendenhall Valley. Now more churches are joining in. They've brought their operation downtown and serve food three times a week inside the truck. Melanie Venables directs the youth chefs as they make and distribute about 100 meals over the course of the evening. Our youth group does all the cooking and the serving. She says community members have really responded to the food distribution. That includes those who need food and those who want to help. A lot of churches jumped right in to help and it's gotten more and.
- [17:02]
Lauren Adams
More people every week.
- [17:04]
Hannah Flor
So it's been, yeah, busy. Harold Lloyd Hassel is one of those people. He says he's been coming to this food distribution when it's open as he navigates living outside.
- [17:13]
Casey Grove
I've never been accustomed to being jobless or homeless in Juneau.
- [17:17]
Hannah Flor
He says that especially on a cold and wet day like today, a warm meal is more than just food.
- [17:23]
Casey Grove
It means a great deal considering that some of the organizations that, you know, we're around aren't around to help, such as like Glory hall and some other places. But it's good to pull together when it does.
- [17:38]
Hannah Flor
And as she hands up more boxes in the pouring rain, Katrina says any kids who want to volunteer like she is should try it.
- [17:45]
Casey Grove
Just don't be scared. Just have fun.
- [17:47]
Hannah Flor
The food truck serves hot meals in the Salvation army parking lot, Mondays at lunchtime and Wednesdays and Fridays at 6 to 7pm until the warming shelter opens on October 15th in Juneau. I'm Yvonne Crumry.
- [18:00]
Casey Grove
Fat Bear Week has a new champion, and of course his name is Chunk. He's an over 1200 pound bear who beat the odds to pack on the pounds at Katmai national park and Preserve. Jeff Hartley in Arkansas is a huge fan of Chunk, and he says he's not surprised that his favorite bear also stole the hearts of voters. I mean, fat bear Tuesday is always a great day, but today for Chunk faithfuls like me, it's just, it's just really special to see the bear that, that you've like. I mean, I'm, I love this bear. I guess this is what you feel like when your team wins the Super Bowl. Park officials announced Chunk's victory last night after the final face off between him and number 856, a bear the park describes as a male in his mid-20s with, quote, an assertive disposition equal to his size. Chunk beat him easily, though, by over 30,000 votes, securing his first win after two years as the runner up. Katmai park ranger Sarah Bruce says she thinks fans connected more with Chunk's story this year. He's easy to recognize. He has dark brown fur, a scar across his muzzle, and most notably a broken jaw. Bruce has staff worried about the injury, that it would hinder him, but it didn't.
- [19:09]
Lauren Adams
He's a very resilient bear and he kind of adapted to a new eating style with his jaw broken. So I think he just has really great stories to tell. And I think folks really cling on to what they can learn from the bears through their resilience, through their perseverance and their boldness.
- [19:29]
Casey Grove
The bracket drew over 1.6 million votes from around the world, which Bruce says is the most votes in the competition's more than 10 year history. Seward residents are trying to determine a path forward for their aging electric utility again. City officials and representatives from other South Central energy cooperatives came together to discuss that issue at a town hall on Monday. Taylor Crocker supervises utility operations. He says he was interested in reviving the topic after hearing concerns from ratepayers about a lack of transparency during the last attempt to sell the city owned utility. They don't know what's going on with the utility. They don't know why the rates are the way they are.
- [20:13]
Lauren Adams
And so I just thought, well, why.
- [20:14]
Casey Grove
Don'T we start having community meetings and just talk about this stuff and just figure out what the community voters narrowly killed an effort to sell the city's electric utility to Homer Electric association during a special election two years ago. Rates went up after the sale failed. Seward officials have long said moving away from a city run electric utility could save customers money and make service more reliable. Aging utility infrastructure is a key reason costs are so high. Seward's utility director Brian Hickey sees three paths forward for the utility status quo operations, sale to another utility or creation of a new Seward utility cooperative. So I think the current situation is probably not sustainable. I think the choice the community has is to try to go back to the status quo, but fund it and operate it in a way that gets the stuff done that needs to get done, which frankly hasn't been happening for a long time. Hickey says the city plans to hold more meetings next year and says anyone with thoughts or input should reach out to the city's electric department. In southeast Alaska, several small town newspapers run on Girl Power. The printing press at the Petersburg Pilot is one of only a handful in the country operated by a woman, and it has been for decades. Even the printing press itself is called she as a tribute to its late operator, KFSK's Hannah Weaver reports.
- [21:40]
Hannah Weaver
Inside the ink stained walls of the Petersburg Pilot's press room, press operator Ola Richards is preparing to print high hundreds of newspapers. She makes a wish.
- [21:50]
Hannah Flor
She will behave today. She'll be nice to us.
- [21:54]
Hannah Weaver
The she Richard's is talking about, that's Tasha, a metal printing press machine the size of a school bus. It's named after the previous press operator, Tasha Proust, who died in 2023.
- [22:07]
Casey Grove
She has always been she and now she has actual name. And I think if Tasha knew if she was still with us she would.
- [22:18]
Hannah Flor
Think that it's really funny.
- [22:20]
Hannah Weaver
Bruce started work at the Petersburg Pilot shortly after the press machine arrived in the 90s. Her daughter Indigo Hanahan, remembers how proud her mom was of working her way up to become press operator.
- [22:32]
Hannah Flor
It was just part of something in life that she loved. She loved her job, she loved her family, she loved people. She wanted to keep working in the Pilot, but at some point she just got too weak, which is when Ola took over.
- [22:45]
Hannah Weaver
Proust passed down her knowledge to Richards, who was working as the press assistant at the Time now. Women have helmed the Petersburg press for over two decades, and that's rare. According to Impressions Worldwide, which sells the machines, only a handful of women run printing presses in the entire country. Richard says dealing with the machine requires a lot of patience, and it's nearly 60 years old and can act like it. Hanahan says her mom would tell stories about the trickier press runs.
- [23:15]
Lauren Adams
She would tell me when it made.
- [23:16]
Hannah Flor
Her cry out of frustration.
- [23:19]
Hannah Weaver
After her mom died, Hanahan briefly worked at the Pilot as a press assistant. She says the distinct smell, the must, from loads of newsprint and ink is the same as when she and her family used to live above the Pilot.
- [23:32]
Hannah Flor
So when I first went back there to help out, it like, hit me.
- [23:36]
Lauren Adams
Like a ton of bricks, like my childhood.
- [23:39]
Hannah Weaver
But the job ultimately wasn't for her.
- [23:41]
Hannah Flor
I was impressed that my mom could. I'm impressed that Ola can. For me, it was way too loud. I can't think, let alone, like, work on a machine with that much noise.
- [23:57]
Hannah Weaver
A third of the nation's print newspapers have shut down in the past two decades, but print is still popular in southeast Alaska. In addition to their weekly run of the Pilot, Petersburg's crew is also responsible for printing two other regional publications. Today, Richards is printing the latest edition of the Wrangell Sentinel. She presses a button the size of a golf ball, and Tasha starts up. A roll of paper, as heavy as a polar bear starts moving through the press units at the end of the. Inside the machine, freshly inked newspapers fold and drop onto a conveyor belt. Richards rushes around to different parts of the machine, twisting little black knobs.
- [24:37]
Hannah Flor
So I'm adjusting ink right now.
- [24:40]
Casey Grove
The page was a little. It was a little too heavy on the bottom on front page.
- [24:45]
Hannah Flor
So I'm turning down the ink.
- [24:48]
Hannah Weaver
Richard says the machine has many good years left, leaving an opportunity for others to continue the legacy.
- [24:55]
Hannah Flor
And I really would love to meet some young person who is kind of like, oh, yeah, I want to learn.
- [25:03]
Casey Grove
I want to take over one day.
- [25:05]
Hannah Flor
Maybe there's a brave, brave, crazy person like me.
- [25:10]
Hannah Weaver
It's a relatively smooth press run today, but sometimes Tasha just doesn't cooperate when that happens. Hanahan says that's because my mom's bored in heaven.
- [25:21]
Wendy Oden
I'm trying to make trouble.
- [25:24]
Hannah Weaver
Though the machine can be persnickety, Tasha prints thousands of newspapers every week supporting local news across the region. In Petersburg, I'm Hannah Weaver.
- [25:47]
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 Eric Stone and Yvonne Crumry in Juneau, Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. hannah Flor and Ava White in Anchorage, Olivia Rose and Hannah Weaver in Petersburg, and Ashlyn o' Hara in Kenai. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde. Annie Feit produced tonight's show. And I'm Casey Grove.
- [26:16]
Lauren Adams
Sam.