Associated Press

FAIRBANKS — University of Alaska’s first all-gender restroom has opened at the Fairbanks campus’ engineering building.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Monday that the restroom is open to all people regardless of gender identity. It features private, lockable stalls in an inclusive and genderless manner.

University spokeswoman Marmian Grimes said inclusive restrooms have been in the works for a while.

Jenny Campbell, director of design and construction for the University of Alaska Facility Services, said the idea came to life when the Department of Education published its 2016 “Dear Colleague” letter outlining the need for Title IX compliance in campuses across the country.

Campbell said the restroom is modeled after European restrooms, with stall walls going from floor to ceiling.

Campbell said that student input has been overwhelmingly positive.

ANCHORAGE — Alaska authorities say the synthetic opioid fentanyl is an escalating problem in the remote state, and it’s leading to a significant increase in deaths.

Alaska State Trooper Capt. Michael Duxbury said at a news briefing Tuesday that the dangerous black market drug is “by far the biggest concern” in the opioid crisis.

Alaska chief medical officer Jay Butler says 2017 statistics have not been finalized, but there were at least two dozen fentanyl-related deaths, compared with five or six deaths the previous year.

Duxbury says Alaska is a destination state, with opioids like heroin and other illegal drugs manufactured elsewhere and brought to the state by gangs and Mexican drug cartels.

Duxbury says dealing with the state’s opioid crisis presents challenges amid state budget cuts and trooper staff shortages.

MADISON, N.C. — Remington, the gunmaker beset by falling sales and lawsuits tied to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, has reached a financing deal that would allow it to continue operating as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The maker of the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used in the Connecticut shooting that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead in 2012, said Monday that the agreement with lenders will reduce its debt by about $700 million and add about $145 million in new capital.

The company will attempt to file a prepackaged reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.

Remington Outdoor Co., based in Madison, North Carolina, said that business won’t be disrupted as it restructures its finances.

ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. has reported strong returns and a total value of $64 billion in the first half of the 2018 fiscal year.

The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports that the fund corporation announced the numbers on Monday, highlighting returns of 8.45 percent.

The report was released as domestic markets continued to be down for the second consecutive day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Monday at 24,345, down more than 7 percent from Friday.

The public equities portion of the Fund’s investments produced an 11.9 percent return and outperformed the corporation’s investment benchmark between July 1, 2017, and Jan. 1.

The Fund has more than doubled in overall asset value since ending the 2009 year at $29.9 billion following the market crash that spurred the Great Recession.

ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has reported a spill at the Valdez Marine Terminal.

KTVA-TV reports that the department says the spill appears to be less than 200 gallons of crude oil from the Alaska North Slope. The spill was discovered Saturday morning by a worker during routine rounds.

The department says oil reached the water but no sheen on water was observed.

The cause of the spill is under investigation. The department says the oil might have leaked from loading arms into containment. The department says there’s no impact to the trans-Alaska pipeline.

The department will continue to monitor and clean the area.
Skimming vessels have been deployed to the spill site.

ANCHORAGE — Alaska State Troopers have arrested a man suspected in a 2016 shooting death on the Alaska Peninsula.

According to troopers, Ole Shangin, 32, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of Joseph Peterson, who was shot and killed in Ivanof Bay.

An Anchorage court issued an arrest warrant for Shangin on Jan. 25. Troopers in King Salmon on Wednesday traveled to Perryville, found Shangin and arrested him.

He’s being held without bail at the Anchorage jail. Online court records do not list his attorney.

Peterson was 31 when he died on July 17, 2016.

Troopers responding to a report of a shooting found Peterson dead at a home in Ivanof Bay, a village about 500 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Only seven people were recorded living there in the 2010 census.