Recent News

President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to find new ocean expanses in the Atlantic and the Arctic for offshore drilling isn’t likely to reach its goals anytime soon but instead, will kick off a yearslong review and legal battle.

Trump signed the order Friday aimed at dismantling a component of former President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy.

“This executive order starts the process of opening offshore areas to job-creating energy exploration,” he said, adding it would create jobs and help wean dependence on foreign oil.

Nonetheless, U.S. oil imports have declined in recent years as domestic production has boomed. And experts question Trump’s authority to reverse established restrictions, saying the question likely will be decided in the courts.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A Palmer man and woman investigated for drug dealing after a teenager died of an overdose at their home will serve federal prison terms.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason on Thursday sentenced 41-year-old Tod Rodolph to 12 years in prison and fined him $30,000. Gleason sentenced 36-year-old Jessica Hopkins to six years, six months in prison.

The Drug Enforcement Administration launched an investigation in January 2016 after a 17-year-old boy died of a methamphetamine overdose at their home.

Prosecutors say other teens woke up Rodolph when the boy was stricken but that Rodolph did not call for medical help or drive the boy to a hospital because he did not want police contact.

Prosecutors say evidence did not indicate that Rodolph or Hopkins supplied the methamphetamine that killed the boy.

KENAI, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s commercial sockeye salmon outlook this year is predicting Upper Cook Inlet fishermen will have their lowest harvest in the past 15 years.

The Peninsula Clarion reported earlier this week that the outlook predicts a total run of 4 million fish to all stream systems in the inlet.

Commercial fishermen are projected to harvest about 1.7 million fish.

The outlook shows Kenai River predictions are not matching the levels reached throughout the past 10 years. The river is projected to see 2.2 million fish, which is nearly 40 percent below its 10-year average of 3.6 million.

Last year’s total harvest by all groups was about 3.3 million fish. The outlook prediction had been 5.3 million.

KENAI, Alaska (AP) — A heavily trafficked stretch of the Kenai River’s southern bank is getting repaired in time for the sockeye salmon season thanks to a $37,500 grant from the federal government.

The Peninsula Clarion reports the crumbling riverbank behind the Donald E. Gilman River Center in Soldotna has been depositing silt into the water. The erosion can have an impact on salmon, which depend on sufficient bank vegetation and gravel beds in the river for habitat.

The riverbank restoration project was funded by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant and a matching contribution from the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly for a combined total of $75,000.

The borough hopes to finish the work by June 30, before anglers head out for the peak of the sockeye salmon run in July.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say a grocery store employee in Anchorage was shot and wounded as he tried to keep a group of teens from trashing the inside of the store.

Officers had responded Saturday morning after police say the teens were fighting inside the store, breaking merchandise and urinating in the aisles.

Police say the employee approached the group and asked them to leave before one of the teens pulled out a gun and shot the employee.

The employee was hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life threatening.

Police did not say whether they made any arrests.

The shooting remains under investigation.

TALKEETNA, Alaska (AP) — A minor earthquake has hit central Alaska, near the town of Talkeetna.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the magnitude-2.9 earthquake hit 14 miles southeast of Talkeetna, which has a population of about 900, at 12:13 a.m. Saturday. The earthquake had a depth of 28 miles (44 kilometers.)

There are no reports of injuries or damage.

Also Saturday, a minor earthquake rattled homes in northwestern Colorado.

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations reports the magnitude 3.7 quake hit just before noon Saturday. The epicenter was 2.5 miles northwest of Rangely, a town of about 2,000 people 10 miles from the Utah line.