For years, a group of Japanese school children between ages 11 and 19 have come to Alaska to spend a week camping on the Ruth Glacier. KTNA’s Lorien Nettleton spoke with Brian McCullough about the 20th anniversary of the Aurora Club.

Famed wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino first brought children from Japan to the Ruth glacier 20 years ago. Flown in by Eric Denkewalter and Jay Hudson, the group camped in the amphitheater, spent days enjoying the cold weather, and stayed up all night photographing the aurora. After leading 5 annual trips to Alaska accompanied by schoolkids, Hoshino was killed by a grizzly while photographing bears in Kamchatka in 1996. Each year, a new group of youths come to Alaska to honor Hoshino’s memory and to experience for themselves some of the wild beauty that he became so immersed in. Read More »

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In this week’s Earth and Beyond program, KTNA volunteer Dan Harrell encourages listeners to run, bike or ski on the freeze-thaw hardened snowmobile trails in the area to explore places not otherwise easily visited. He introduces the terms “couch injury” and  “health junkie” and reports on this year’s Oosik, and a recent poker ski. Audio is 9:10.

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You can listen online again. Thank you, Mike Figley!

A resolution asking the the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to reduce chinook salmon bycatch  is on Governor Sean Parnell’s desk waiting for a signature.

The Resolution asks that Trawl fisheries in the Gulf set new limits on chinook bycatch, and the bering sea pollock fishery to reduce its bycatch by at least half.

Legislators also asked that edible bycatch be shared with Alaska residents.

Memorial Services will be held this weekend for the Alaska State Trooper, the Rescue Helicopter Pilot, and the civilian they rescued, all of whom lost their lives when Helo-1 went down near Larsen Lake last weekend. Read More »

Alaska’s Senate Finance Committee released their 1.9-billion-dollar capital budget on Wednesday, and there’s very little in it for the Northern Susitna Valley. Most of the infrastructure money in the Matanuska Susitna borough is headed for the population centers of Palmer and Wasilla, leaving the Talkeetna and Trapper Creek areas without much to look forward to in the way of buildings or grants. Read More »

KTNA is celebrating 20 years broadcasting to the Upper Susitna Valley by bringing you audio broadcast during the past two decades. We’re sharing the past with you every Friday at 12:35 on 88.9 FM.

This week, some creative audio from volunteers. First, Gordy Vernon, with a segment from a series of his writing that we called “An Alaskan Gone South”, aired in 2008:

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    Audio is 4 min 12 sec

One reel of tape in a box contained the audio of a Cheez Whizzz program from 1999. Back then, a handful of volunteers got together each week for a program of humor and entertainment, a lot of it improvised. Here’s a taste of it….the Sri Lanka car commercial, from Cheez Whizzz.  You’ll hear the voices of Jack Fickel, Chris Houlette, Stuart Carnegie, and Tony Crocetto.

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    Audio is 2 minutes

A traffic stop on the Parks highway Thursday led to a discovery of marijuana grow operations in Anchorage and Talkeetna. According to Troopers report, Adrienne Schenfele was stopped just after midnight for a speeding violation on Thursday morning, and troopers found 11 ounces of marijuana packaged for distribution. Investigators obtained search warrants for two residences owned by Schenfele, in Talkeetna and in Anchorage. The the search warrants were served at approximately 4:30 Thursday afternoon. Investigators found commercial marijuana grows at both locations. In Anchorage, Investigators dismantled a marijuana grow consisting of 36 live plants with a dry weight of 7 pounds of marijuana. Approximately $20,000 worth of grow equipment was seized. The residence in Anchorage also contained a hashish production operation and approximately 1/2 gallon of hashish oil. In Talkeetna, Investigators dismantled a marijuana grow consisting of 51 live plants with a dry weight of 9 pounds of marijuana.
Under Alaska law, possession of more than an ounce of Marijuana with intent to distribute is a felony. If the marijuana is for personal use, more than 4 ounces is a felony.
Schenfele was arrested and was remanded into Mat Su Pre Trial, where bail was set at $2,500.

Iceland and Alaska share a lot more than just a northerly latitude, and lately the two regions have been exploring those relationships. In our last story “Iceland and Alaska,” KTNA’s Melis Coady interviewed Talkeetna Roadhouse’s Trisha Costello about her recent 5-day tour as a delegate of Alaska’s Tourism industry.

In this segment of the two-part series, Melis explores lessons learned from the organizer of last year’s Arctic Energy Tour to Iceland.

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