More than two hundred people gathered for the annual Choose Respect Rally today on the capitol steps.

Juneau’s was just one of 143 such rallies happening across Alaska. Governor Parnell was in Palmer, and Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan led the capital city event.

It’s the Parnell’s administration goal to reduce sexual assault and domestic violence, support victims of abuse and to get as many people involved as possible in the choose Respect campaign.

“Three years later, how are we doing? Well, we certainly have not ended the epidemic of sexual assault and violence in the state of Alaska. But we knew this was going to be generational undertaking. So we’re making progress but it will take years. As for the second goal, giving voice and hope to those that have been abused. We think we’re getting pretty close. There is power and healing in doing this for our citizens.”

The Reverend Phil Campbell of Northern Lights United Church participated in the march.  The church works in in partnership with AWARE to reduce sexual violence.

“It is both to state the obvious and to name something too often unsaid– It is males that commit most the acts of sexual violence and abuse. As men we need to face this, to change what it means to be male, to disentangle it from some distorted notion of macho dominance and to declare our intention to part of the solution, rather than remaining part of the problem even if it is by our silence rather than active engagement.”

Congressmen Don Young also spoke to the crowd, highlighting the connection between alcohol and violence.

Juneau’s Choose Respect march ended at the future site of the downtown Walter Sobeloff Center, where the lack of respect for Native women in the Violence Against Women Act became the topic.

Congress recently reauthorized the federal law, called VAWA for short.  While it grants tribal courts jurisdiction over non-Natives in domestic violence crimes in Indian Country, in Alaska, that applies only to Metlakatla, the only Indian reservation in the state.  Many Native groups do not believe the act sufficiently protects Alaska Native women.

In an open letter to Governor Sean Parnell, a group of concerned citizens urge Parnell to work with Alaska’s congressional delegation to fix the law.

Jessie Reinhardt and Ishmael Hope were representing the group.

“We just wanted to make a direct, but still respectful and courteous statement, about just how Alaska Native women, Alaska Native Tribes should be included in the Violence Against Women Act.”

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski worked to insert language in the legislation to make sure Metlakatla would be treated like Lower 48 reservations.  Reinhardt says that doesn’t help other Alaska Native women.

“When VAWA was reauthorized, it excluded Alaska Native tribes from issuing Civil Protection Orders. And that’s really important in southeast as well as other villages throughout Alaska…Murkowski, unfortunately, went in and put language in the VAWA act that has the words “Indian Country.” So whenever you use those words you’re excluding Alaska tribes, except for Metlakatla. So most of Alaska tribes do not have Indian country.”

The letter says the new Violence Against Women Act “singles out Alaska Natives for discriminatory treatment” because of what the group calls the “Murkowski Fix.”

The group requests the state of Alaska work with Alaska tribes and the delegation for civil protections of Alaska Native women.

An Alaska sea otter pup has a new home at the Vancouver Aquarium. The yet-to-be named pup was found stranded on a road in Homer last October. Only 8 weeks old at the time, the pup needed intensive 24/7 care.

A crew of volunteers were unable to locate the pup’s mother, leading U.S. Fish and Wildife to authorize the rescue of the pup.

Dr. Tara Riemer Jones is the President of the Alaska SeaLife Center where the pup was rehabilitated:

“We had this otter for almost 6 months. For part of this time, staff at the Vancouver aquarium were invited up to help us care for this otter. For the most of the winter we had a couple staff members from the Vancouver Aquarium in Seward helping us with round the clock care. So for 6 months we had someone 24/7 with this otter making sure that it was eating properly and that it had everything that it needed.”

Jones says that otters aren’t a common patient for the center. Some years there have been 3 or 4 and other years there won’t be any at all. Since sea otters can give birth year round, pups can strand at any time.

“With some other animals that we respond to, like harbor seals we tend to get about 10 or 12 every summer that generally come in late May or early June and those are a little more like clockwork. But most of the other animals that we respond to is a little more random and we just don’t know what we’re going to get until we get the phone call.”

Jones says that the rescue and rehabilitation program for otters doesn’t receive any federal funds and is entirely supported by donations.

“We’re always looking for contributions to this program. It takes a lot of effort to raise a sea otter. They eat an awful lot. They eat a large portion of their bodyweight every day in food. And they eat very expensive food—shellfish. We very much thank the Vancouver Aquarium for providing staff time during the time that the animal was here”

The female otter was transferred to the Vancouver Aquarium last Friday where she now lives with a couple of other SeaLife Center alums, Tanu and Elfin.

“We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to the Alaska SeaLife Center and its I.Sea.U care team for their gracious hospitality over the past few months—it was a valuable learning opportunity to be able to exchange knowledge and best practices on animal care with their esteemed team,” says Brian Sheehan, Vancouver Aquarium curator of marine mammals in a press release.

The Vancouver Aquarium is having a Twitter Contest for naming the new pup by choosing one of three names chosen by the Ocean Sciences Club. The club—made up of middle school students from Seward—picked Susitna, Katmai and Glacier as options.

People can vote on a name by following @vancouveraqua and tweeting their vote using #otterlove. Tweet your vote by March 31 to be counted.

One job is not enough for minimum wage earners who rent in Alaska.

A new study from the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows that Alaska is one of the top ten most expensive states for renters.

The NLIHC estimates the housing wage for Alaska to be $21.37. That’s the “full-time hourly wage that a household must earn to afford a decent apartment at the HUD estimated Fair Market Rent (FMR), while spending no more than 30% of income on housing costs,” according to NLIHC.

The fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Alaska is $1,111 which means a renter has to earn a little under $4,000 a month in order to not spend more than 30% on housing.

At $7.75 an hour, someone earning only minimum wage would have to work 110 hours per week all year long to afford the average fair market rent.

The average renter in Alaska is estimated to earn $16.26 an hour. But even at that rate, 40 hours a week aren’t enough. A renter would still have to work 53 hours a week to make rent and not go over the 30% threshold or have another earner in the house.

The report also estimates that approximately half of renters are unable to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent in Alaska.

In Juneau the average rent is closer to $1,300 a month.

NLIHC estimates the average renter in Juneau makes $12.77 an hour. The rent that is affordable at that wage is only $664 a month, a hard number to find in Juneau’s tight housing market.

According to a report by the Juneau Economic Development Council last November, roughly 1,800 renters are paying more than 30% of their income on rent. Most of those households make less than $50,000 each year. The report highlights the need for additional rental housing.

Alaska is the 9^th most expensive state for renters while Hawaii tops the list with a housing wage of $32.14. However, the data show there is no state in which a minimum wage earner can afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent.

View the data for Alaska. (All information from NLIHC)

The NLIHC used data from the U.S. Census American Community Surveys (2007-2011)

Juneau’s Twin Lakes are slowly receding and will remain dry through April to control the invasive weed milfoil.

CBJ Parks and Landscape Superintendent George Schaaf says the gates under Egan Drive were opened about 4:30 Tuesday morning.

 “We do it at negative tide so there is plenty of pressure for the water to get out of the lakes,” Schaaf says, “and then when they get refilled we  do it when we’re having really big tides so that we can get the lakes as full as possible.”

Draining the lakes and filling them with salt water reduces milfoil growth without using herbicides.

State Fish and Game Biologist Brian Glynn says Northern Water Milfoil is common in Alaska.  He says Twin Lakes conditions are ripe for a health supply of organic matter.

“You know you get warm water conditions there (and) aquatic plant growth. These species in particular do very well in those conditions.  Then you get a bit of a positive feedback loop in that as they decompose in the fall, they provide fertilizer for subsequent year’s growth,” Glynn says.

Fish and Game has been stocking Twin Lakes with king salmon for more than 20 years, Glynn says, “and as the weed problem developed, that started cutting into that sport fishing opportunity, especially along the shoreline where anglers want to fish.  It got to the point where you were guaranteed reeling in weeds as opposed to maybe catching one of the hatchery king salmon.”

Glynn says once refilled the popular Twin Lakes will be restocked with about 10,000 little salmon, just in time for Family Fishing Day.

Rare meteor explodes over Russia

Early Friday monring a meteor estimated to be about 10 tons, entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over Russia’s Ural mountains. The event was well documented by dashboard cameras.

Storified by Heather Bryant· Sun, Feb 17 2013 16:51:33

When you think of cities with a lot of restaurant options places like Seattle, San Francisco, New York or New Orleans often come to mind.

However, a new study says that Juneau tops the list in terms of the most restaurants per capita in the U.S.

Juneau boasts 112 restaurants, which means there are 36 restaurants for every 10,000 people in the Capital City.

NPD group is an industry market research firm that did the study. According to their press release, the number of restaurants nationwide increased by 4,442 between the fall of 2011 and fall 2012.

They say the total number of restaurants in the U.S. is now 616,008. Their survey includes restaurants that were open as of Sept. 30, 2012.

Approximately 55 percent of the restaurants counted in the survey were independently owned.

Juneau, is followed by Salisbury, Maryland and Bend, Oregon then Panama City, Florida and New York City for the top five most “restaurant-crazy cities,” according to the Huffington Post.

Anchorage was number 7 on the list with 1,012 restaurants which equals roughly 24 restaurants per 10,000 people.