KFSK Midday Magazine

A high-priority bill that would increase education funding took another step forward in the state legislature this week; Juneau officials may put city money towards hiring staff at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, following federal job cuts; and this year, sport fishermen in Southeast Alaska are getting a bag limit of one wild king salmon.

Ketchikan's high school principal joined other school district officials from across Alaska to testify before state lawmakers; education leaders from tribal organizations spoke against the dissolution of the federal Department of Education; and as Southcentral Alaska prepares for Mt. Spurr's likely eruption, officials say the impacts could reach as far as Southeast.

Alaska's U.S. Senators want to keep the U.S. Postal Service an independent agency and not privatize it; a Canadian company is starting studies to explore a possible new gold mine in Juneau; and 130 thousand treaty Chinook salmon will be available this year for all Southeast fisheries.

A Kodiak-based company may run Sitka's publicly-owned marine haul out; a Wrangell man is being charged with two felonies; and an executive order from President Trump is causing concern for voters in rural Alaska Native communities.

Plans for Chilkat Valley's first major timber harvest in decades have temporarily halted; HIV prevention organizations in Alaska worry about deadly consequences from losing federal funding; and the Alaska Legislature passed a bill designating March as Women's History Month in state law.

The state will share harvest data from the Sitka Sound Sac Roe herring fishery after all; the CDC is pulling millions of federal dollars that support public health programs in Alaska; and a look at a traveling art exhibit featuring Southeast Alaska artists.

The Alaska seafood industry says it's getting crushed by unfair trade; crews in Ketchikan are still dealing with a rockslide that cut off access to north of the island; and Petersburg Indian Association is hosting a job fair on March 28.

A look behind-the-scenes for Petersburg High School's upcoming spring play; Borough leaders in Ketchikan are leveraging the trade war with Canada to restore ferry service to British Columbia; and a conversation between Eric Stone and Casey Grove about cuts to the National Weather Service.

The state House passed a resolution recognizing Canada's sovereignty; a Fairbanks lawmaker wants to put the governor's mansion on Airbnb; and a look at a new kelp farming company in Ketchikan.

Sitka's commercial herring fishery is smaller this year; a draft plan for the state ferry system is open for public comment; and millions of federal dollars are at stake in Alaska if President Trump's order abolishing the U.S. Department of Education disrupts funding.