Villages

by The Associated Press Tuesday, August 03, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- More than 70 Coast Guard, Army National Guard, Air National Guard and U.S. Public Health Services personnel are being deployed to Kotzebue. They are beginning a 10-day initiative to provide medical care and boating safety awareness and other community services to northern Alaska communities. The operation kicks off Tuesday with a team consisting of medical, veterinarian, optometry and water safety outreach personnel visiting the community of Point Hope.

Channel 2’s Jackie Bartz revisits this year’s increased wolf activity in rural Alaska, after wolves near Chignik Lake killed teacher Candice Berner in March and state officials shot several wolves near Port Heiden earlier this month.

by Mary Pemberton The Associated Press Friday, January 15, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Two Alaska Native villages near the world's largest zinc mine are challenging the mine's water discharge permit, saying it is a license to pollute. The Native villages of Kivalina and Point Hope are appealing the Red Dog Mine permit certified by the state and issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency. Village residents say the permit is putting their health at risk.

Myron Naneng is President of the Association of Village Council Presidents, a tribal consortium representing 56 villages in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. He is of Cup'ik and Yup'ik heritage and is originally from Hooper Bay. He is also president and chairman of the Sea Lion Native Corporation, an ANCSA Village Corporation for Village of Hooper Bay. 

by The Associated Press Monday, April 12, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A study has linked the lack of indoor plumbing in Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages to higher rates of pneumonia and other diseases in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found disease rates three times higher in villages without running water for flushing toilets and washing hands.

by The Associated Press Monday, April 5, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Alaskans who want to build a road to Nome will face one less obstacle if they can ever come up with the money for the massive project. The Tanana Chiefs Conference board of directors, representing many of the villages in the path of a proposed road, has approved a resolution to support the project. A decade ago, the group strongly opposed a road. President Jerry Isaac of Tanacross, which has road access, tells the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that tough economic times and high fuel costs figured into the change.

by Channel 2 News staff Sunday, May 16, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A new reading program sponsored by an Alaska Native corporation is giving children in rural villages free books. The Kuskokwim Corp. has launched the Imagination Library reading program in its villages. The national program, started by singer Dolly Parton, mails a high-quality book each month to children living in rural villages. The children receive books from birth to the age of 5. "Our board of directors thinks it's so important that our students are being educated, and we know how important it is for young kids, especially at this age level, to be read to," said Kuskokwim President and CEO Maver Carey.

A bipartisan group of 12 House lawmakers is making up the 2013 Legislature's version of the Bush Caucus. The group is chaired this year by Rep. Bryce Edgmon (D-Dillingham), who replaces retired Rep. Reggie Joule. "We have our work cut out for us, as we always have," Joule said. "Sort of as a smaller subset of the Legislature, we do our best to band together and put our energy toward promoting the issues. " Although the issues are different in rural Alaska from the rest of the state, oil tax reform is something most of the caucus within the 40-seat House sees eye-to-eye on with the rest of the Legislature.

Alaska Native and rural communities across the state shared a special relationship with former Sen. Ted Stevens. Like many Alaskans, they're still trying to make sense of his loss -- but they say they're grateful for the many opportunities he left behind. It was Stevens’ landmark work on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act that set up Native corporations across the state. Leaders say it initiated a future of jobs and services, which is a work in progress. Alaska Natives have been crafting artwork for centuries, but it was not until Stevens came along that the work became truly valuable.

ProPublica, a New York based non-profit news organization, has released another report on Alaska Native corporations. This one points out the disparities between communities served by Native corporations in the government contracting business. ProPublica has been investigating allegations that Native corporations take unfair advantage of the Small Business Administration's 8(a) contracting program, designed to help minority-owned businesses. In a report published on Thursday, March 17, ProPublica looked at shareholders in two Alaska Native communities -- and the drastic difference in dividends they earn, despite the fact that both communities are served by corporations which take part in government contracting.

A fire destroyed most of the remaining buildings in the abandoned village of Belkofski, on the Alaska Peninsula, village officials said Tuesday. Makrina Mack, the Vice President of Belkofski Corp., says the corporation became aware that a fire had happened in the village on Saturday, April 27. Belkofski's last permanent residents left the village in 1982, Mack said. Mack said all the remaining buildings except the school had been destroyed by the fire. The corporation has been able to fly over the village to assess the damage, but has not been able to get to the village, accessible only by boat, to do a ground assessment or determine how the fire started.

A 5-year-old Mountain Village girl died Monday afternoon in a shooting by her older brother, according to Alaska State Troopers. A Tuesday AST dispatch says troopers from St. Mary's responded at about 2:20 p.m. Monday to the shooting. “Investigation revealed that an 8-year-old boy was playing with a Ruger 10/22 (rifle) that he had used the day before to go hunting, when he shot his 5-year-old sister, killing her,” troopers wrote. AST spokesperson Megan Peters says troopers can't or won't release many details about the shooting, which remains under investigation.

STORY UPDATED AT 4:06 p.m. 4/7/13: Anchorage police have identified the suspect and victim in a stabbing murder in East Anchorage. 22-year-old  Duol John Chuol allegedly stabbed 24-year-old  Mabil Kayier Duir in the upper body and neck area behind the Value Village at 5437 East Northern Lights Blvd around 7:15 p.m. Saturday, according to the Anchorage Police Department. Duir was taken to a local hospital for multiple stab wounds and died 45 minutes later just before 8 p.m. Chuol ran from the scene and witnesses pointed APD in the right direction and police found him hiding among vehicles near Sunflower St and Northern Lights.

A former president of the Alaska Native village of Tatitlek was arrested Wednesday for allegedly misappropriating more than $200,000 of village funds for personal use by herself and her brother. According to U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler's office, a grand jury named Anchorage woman 45-year-old Lori Clum -- known as Lori “Sue” Johnson before her marriage -- in three counts of a four-count Thursday indictment for theft from an Indian tribal organization. Clum's brother, 47-year-old James Kramer of Valdez, was named in the indictment's fourth count.

A bipartisan group of 12 House lawmakers is making up the 2013 Legislature's version of the Bush Caucus. The group is chaired this year by Rep. Bryce Edgmon (D-Dillingham), who replaces retired Rep. Reggie Joule. "We have our work cut out for us, as we always have," Joule said. "Sort of as a smaller subset of the Legislature, we do our best to band together and put our energy toward promoting the issues. " Although the issues are different in rural Alaska from the rest of the state, oil tax reform is something most of the caucus within the 40-seat House sees eye-to-eye on with the rest of the Legislature.

Operation Santa Claus visited the remote Alaska community of Venetie on Saturday. The Alaska National Guard brought Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and holiday gifts to the village as part of Operation Santa Claus. This is the National Guard's 56th year of performing Operation Santa Claus. Venetie is just one of the several villages Operation Santa Claus will visit this year, Operation Santa Claus will bring Christmas spirit and holiday presents to four other remote communities.

Every holiday season, pastry chef Joe Hickel carefully assembles the most intricate details of a gingerbread masterpiece, an edible village that attracts a lot of attention at the Hotel Captain Cook. "The most obvious question is 'how long does it take?' and 'when did you start it?', said Hickel. "It's a lot of labor, its about 130 hours to put it up here. " Hickel begins the project in the fall and gradually, the winter wonderland grows. After 34 years of building the miniature village, Hickel knows the importance of working gingerly.

Charles Parker is President and CEO of Alaska Village Initiatives, which represents more than 50,000 Rural Alaskans.  AVI promotes the economic well-being of Rural Alaskans through economic development, assistance, networking, advocacy and education. Parker is an Inupiat raised in Nome, with family in Point Hope and Kotzebue.

Meera Kohler is president and CEO of the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, which serves more than 7,000 electricity customers. Lawmakers and utility regulators call on Kohler for her expertise on a wide range of energy issues such as Power Cost Equalization.