Associated Press

FAIRBANKS — Alaska Native organizations are calling on an Interior Alaska state fair board to address issues of minority treatment and cultural insensitivity after a performance by two rappers was cut short and the men were ordered to leave the fairgrounds.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the groups told the Tanana Valley State Fair board in a letter that they won’t support the fair until the issues are addressed.

Natasha Singh with the Tanana Chiefs Conference said the organizations are encouraging the board to apologize to rappers Julian Lillie and Michael Cofey, who are known by their stage names as Bishop Slice and Starbuks.

The fair said the men, who are Alaska Native and black, were ordered to leave mid-performance because their music contained inappropriate lyrics.

The fair apologized in a statement for the incident and to “those who may have been offended.”

The Native groups said the action wasn’t sincere.

JUNEAU — Costs for Alaska’s expanded Medicaid program have exceeded first-year estimates by roughly $30 million so far, leaving some concerned about the impact the program may have on the state budget once the federal government stops covering the entire tab.

Gov. Bill Walker expanded Medicaid to provide coverage to thousands more lower-income Alaskans, with enrollment beginning last September. So far, more than 20,000 people have signed up.

The federal government is expected to cover the health care expenses for the expansion enrollees through December; then, the state will start chipping in. Alaska’s health department has said it expects the state’s share would be offset by savings realized from moving more people to Medicaid.

The reason for the higher-than-expected costs, though, wasn’t immediately clear. Deputy state health commissioner Jon Sherwood said department officials planned to analyze that.

State Rep. Dan Saddler says the costs seen so far are concerning.

SITKA — Sitka officials are working on public safety issues after finding one area of the city is at risk for a landslide.

The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports that a Seattle-based geotechnical consulting firm released a report Monday that some areas of Sitka, including an elementary school, may contain landslide hazard zones.

City staff has asked the firm, Shannon & Wilson, for a proposal for a more detailed study of the areas as well as the area above Sitka High School, including possible mitigation steps.

Last year Sitka suffered a massive landslide that left three people dead and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of property damage.

ANCHORAGE — Alaska’s rural communities are set to receive $27 million in federal funds to help improve sanitation.

KTUU-TV reports that the funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program announced Tuesday will support water, sewer and solid waste projects. The money will also be used to improve technical assistance and training, preliminary engineering and planning and solid waste management.

The village of Eek in southwestern Alaska will receive $5.9 million for a water and sewer project. Western Alaska’s Unalakleet is getting $6.6 million for a water source and transmission project, while Saxman, in southeast Alaska, has been awarded $3.2 million to improve its wastewater system.

Officials say the state is required to match one-third of the $27 million awarded by the federal government.

Alaska State Troopers say all five people aboard two small planes died in a midair collision in the western part of the state.

Troopers say the crash occurred northwest of the village of Russian Mission. Troopers say responders at the scene have confirmed there were no survivors on either of the planes.

Alaska National Guard officials say the collision occurred just before 11 a.m. Wednesday.

Officials say the planes involved in the crash are a Hageland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan carrying three people and a Renfro’s Alaskan Adventures Piper PA-18 super cub with two people aboard.

Representatives of Hageland, which is operated by Ravn, Alaska, did not immediately respond with comment. A Renfro employee said the company was not immediately releasing information.

ANCHORAGE — John Schaeffer Jr., an Inupiat Eskimo elder and tribal leader in northwest Alaska, has died. He was 77.

Schaeffer was the first president and CEO of the NANA Regional Corp.

NANA Chief Operating Officer Lori Henry says Schaeffer died Aug. 25 in Kotzebue, his hometown. He will be buried in Kotzebue on Wednesday following a memorial service at the high school gym.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

Schaeffer joined the Alaska Army National Guard’s Eskimo Scout battalion in 1957, serving as the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard starting in the mid-1980s until 1991. Guard officials say he was among the leaders in the state’s response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Earlier this month, Schaeffer attended a dedication of a Guard hangar named after him in Kotzebue.