Alaska

An earthquake occurred in the North Pacific on Friday morning, but there were no damage or injuries initially reported. No tsunami warning was issued from the 7.0 magnitude temblor.

According to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, the earthquake occurred at 8:25 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time. It was centered about 70 miles southeast of Adak and 65 miles southwest of Atka village at a depth of about 20 miles.

Center officials say in a bulletin issued Friday morning that there is no tsunami danger for coastal areas of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California.

Apollo Medi Trans, a popular medevac insurance company, has its state license back.

But it’s not quite ready to sign up new customers or renew policies.

Fairbanks-based Apollo failed to renew its license earlier this year. That meant it could not operate legally in Alaska.

State Insurance Division Director Bret Kolb says that license was approved August 23rd.

“There’s nothing from the state’s perspective and from the perspective of appropriate licensure, there’s nothing standing in the way of them doing business,” Kolb says.

Apollo charges $125 a year for nationwide air and ground medical evacuation insurance. Its policies have been popular in Alaska because an air ambulance flight can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Apollo Chief Financial Officer Robert Bonestroo says the company is close to resuming business.

“We’re a brokerage firm. We have a license as a brokerage firm. The company that actually backs the insurance product is Unified Life. So what has to happen before we are able to sell again is we have to get appointed by Unified Life once again,” Bonestroo says.

He says that should happen within about two weeks.

Bonestroo says failing to renew the state license was an administrative mistake.

“We just kind of missed it coming up this year. And so what ended up happening is we had sold policies for a certain period of time after we weren’t licensed and that was what really drug it out quite a long ways,” he says.

The state fined Apollo $5,000 for violating Alaska’s insurance laws.

The company will have to pay a suspended $15,000 fine if it violates those laws during the next five years.

Airlift Northwest, which offers medevac flights, also operates a medevac insurance program in Alaska.

The state Transportation Department wants feedback on its plan for next summer’s ferry sailings.

The draft schedule continues the ferry Matanuska on a route from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to northern Southeast.

The Malaspina will cover the Juneau-Haines-Skagway route most days.

The fast ferry Fairweather will sail four days a week to Sitka in the early summer, then increase to six days a week. It will also serve Petersburg once a week.

The Columbia and the Kennicott will each sail to Bellingham once a week. The Kennicott’s run will continue across the Gulf of Alaska.

Other details are available online.

A public-comment teleconference will be held Sept. 11th at the system’s Ketchikan headquarters. Comments will be taken in person and via teleconference.

Meanwhile, the state’s Marine Transportation Advisory Board is meeting this week on the Fairweather and at Sitka’s Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Board members will get updates on the design for the Alaska Class Ferry dayboat shuttle. Two ships will be built for the Juneau-Haines-Skagway route.

They will also address the process for replacing the ferry Tustumena, which serves Homer, Kodiak and other parts of Southwest Alaska. It’s been laid up for repairs this summer.

The Tlingit-Haida Central Council’s Head Start program serves more than 250 Southeast Alaska preschoolers. But they’ll have less time in the classroom this year due to budget cuts tied to sequestration. We took a  this look at the program and the impacts of lower funding.

Savann Guthrie, her husband Alex and their three kids have all been part of Petersburg’s Head Start program, run by Tlingit-Haida, for years.

“My first little girl craved socialization. We couldn’t give her enough of it and so for her I thought it would be a real good place to get to socialize,” she says

Guthrie started taking her daughter just two days a week. Soon, both of them, and later, the other Guthrie kids, became regulars.

“You were encouraged to come in and sit down and hang out if you wanted to all day, encouraged to come to lunch, and bring your other younger kids, and sit and have lunch and socialize and hang out. So I really liked that aspect,” Guthrie says.

Family contact is a key part of Head Start, a federal preschool education and screening program that began in the mid-‘60s. Along with working with kids, it helps parents learn more about caring for young children, and preparing them for school.

But there will be less of that this year.

Sequestration’s across-the-board, 5.3 percent cut means Tlingit-Haida’s Head Start programs will begin three weeks late.

That affects about 260 children at 15 centers in nine cities: Angoon, Craig, Klawock, Saxman, Hoonah, Petersburg, Wrangell, Juneau and Sitka.

Haines, Kake, Hydaburg and Ketchikan also have Head Start classrooms. They’re run by the Anchorage-based Rural Alaska Community Action Program. Officials could not be reached by our deadline for comment on how they’re handling the budget cuts.

Former Tlingit-Haida Head Start teacher Karen McCullough of Petersburg supervises the council’s program in southern Southeast.

“All the research has shown that socializing children, getting them used to routines, getting them used to playing with other children, and relating with other adults … increases their language base, (which) really helps children when they enter into the public school system,” McCullough says.

Head Start also provides preschoolers with breakfast and lunch, and teaches them basic hygiene, such as brushing their teeth.

Some don’t get that at home.

Tlingit-Haida Regional Program Director Albert Rinehart says staffers are also trained to spot physical or behavioral problems best addressed at an early age.

“We help identify any potential issues that might hold them up later on with their schooling – hearing tests, eye tests and other, more severe types of disabilities,” Rinehart says.

The budget cuts will reduce classroom days by close to 10 percent. It will also lower hours – and pay – for the region’s 55 staffers.

Tlingit-Haida Head Start usually begins classes in early September, about the same time older children head to school. McCullough says the three-week delay could force some parents to choose another place.

“There are also other preschool programs and parents who are looking for places for children start to worry when school starts up in the fall. And so, Head Start may not be their first consideration because of that,” McCullough says.

As a tribal program, Tlingit-Haida Head Start gives a preference for Native preschoolers. It also favors low-income children, though others, such as the Guthries, still get in.

Rinehart says he polled staff about the best way to address the budget cut.

“We provided options from a shorter work week to ending the school year earlier or starting the next school year later. And our survey overwhelmingly showed support for a later start-up,” Rinehart says.

Officials say flat funding doesn’t keep up with inflation. A number of grants are no longer available, and that’s hurt the program too.

Back at the Guthrie house, Savann is thinking about sequestration’s impacts.

“Any time you’re cutting the money, who you’re really hurting are the people and the families and the kids who need it the most,” she says.

Her husband and children are Tlingit and Tsimshian and she says her family has enjoyed the cultural aspects of the program.

And she encourages other parents to think about joining too.

“It doesn’t matter what your race is and where you come from, it’s a great place for kids. And it’s a great place for them to learn basic skills from brushing their teeth to how to say please and thank you. It’s a great experience and the staff does a really good job,” she says.

Tlingit-Haida Head Start classrooms open for students on Sept. 23.

Peter Nestler has been hooked on jumping rope since second grade, when he saw an exhibition at Glacier Valley Elementary School.

In third grade, he joined the Juneau Jumpers. By the time he finished high school, he had helped his team win seven world championships.

Now 33 and living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Nestler has come full circle. He’ll perform his world class rope and unicycle skills for a new generation at Glacier Valley on Friday.

“It’s where I learned to jump rope,” he said. “I was on the team there, pretty much my entire learning curve was at Glacier Valley. So it’s kind of neat, and I was thinking about where to do these records. And I was like, you know, it would be kind of cool to have one where I actually started.”

During the show, the Ketchikan native hopes to set a new world record for most bum skips in 30 seconds.

That’s right, bum skips. Nestler explains:

“Basically, you’re seated with your feet out in front of you, and you’re jumping while you’re sitting down,” he said. “For this particular record … you hold both handles in one hand, so the rope’s basically cut in half. And then you spin the rope so it’s making kind of like a helicopter motion, but it’s going, it’s staying on the ground and you’re jumping over that with every jump.”

The current record is 82, according to the Guinness World Records press office.

He already holds the record for most rope skips on a unicycle in one minute: 237. Nestler hopes to set a total of 11 new world records this year, three of them in Juneau in the next six days.

Unicycle Skipping World Record from Peter Nestler on Vimeo.

And yes, this is his day job. He’s been professionally unicycling, jumping rope, and spreading a kid friendly motivational message around the world since 2002.

“A lot of people look at people like me that are professional or really good at something and they just think, ‘Oh, you know, he’s just born that way,'” Nestler said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, no.’ I’m definitely one of the people, I don’t pick stuff up quickly, but I work very, very hard, and the reason I’m good at stuff is I practice more than anybody else at something.”

Separately, he performs for churches and youth ministries with a faith-based message. He said his faith and relationship with God has helped him get where he is today.

He’ll perform next Wednesday at the Hub, an after school program at the Juneau Christian Center. There, he hopes to beat the record for the most rope skips while juggling a soccer ball in one minute. That’s 31.

He’ll also try to for the speed record for running a mile on one foot while jumping rope. The time to beat is 34 minutes, 1 second.

Constant conditioning and performing hundreds of shows a year inevitably leads to aches and pains. Add the grueling travel schedule, and he’s questioned his career.

“You definitely have those moments where you’re thinking, ‘Well, is this really the kind of job you want?'”

So far, the answer has been yes.

“But at the end, when you get out and you’re performing, you just kind of see the look on these kids’ faces,” he said. “They see me out there jumpin’, and you kind of see sometimes, those light bulbs kick off behind their heads. It’s like, you know, this really is what I like to do and I love the opportunity to do it,” he said.

Check back Friday for the latest on Peter Nestler’s world record attempt.

Glacier Bay Lodge will stay open, at least for another 2 years.

Several weeks of negotiations between National Park Service and the current concessionaires ended yesterday. This resulted in a 2-year extension of the contract held by Aramark and Huna Totem Corporation.

“That will keep the Glacier Bay Lodge open, keep the day tour boat running, as well as other services that they provide in the park, such as the restaurant and the gift shop,” explains John Quinley, spokesman for the National Park Service in Anchorage.

He says the extension begins in January 2014. Before it runs out, NPS plans to put out a new prospectus.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve received no bids on its previous proposal for a new 10-year concession contract in January.

Based on conversations with Aramark and other companies about why they didn’t bid, Quinley says reasons include costs of operation and maintenance.

“We’re going to be relooking at those numbers and seeing if there are maintenance tasks that perhaps were overstated, if there were things that would better belong on the park service’s side of the ledger, ways to get that work done less expensively perhaps. So we have a lot of work to do to rebuild a prospectus that will get some bidders,” he says.

Glacier Bay Lodge contains 56 rooms, which accounts for about half the lodging available in all of nearby Gustavus, a town of 450 residents.

JoAnn Lesh is president of the Gustavus Visitors Association and owns Gustavus Inn with her husband Dave. She and the association have been working on keeping the lodge open since the end of March.

“Everyone said it couldn’t be done,” she says. “I’m very excited that we will get a chance to have two years of stability for our economy here in Gustavus.”

Lesh says the association is holding a luncheon tomorrow at Glacier Bay Lodge to celebrate.