The Alaska Mental Health Board and Advisory Boards on Alcohol and Substance abuse are holding a quarterly meeting in Talkeetna this week, and on Tuesday Evening they are hosting a community potluck to engage residents about behavioral health.

Kate Burkhart is the Executive Director of the Alaska Mental Health Board. She says that in order for the combined Boards to do their job of providing planning and coordination of behavioral health services for the state of Alaska, they get out into communities as often as possible.

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The culvert added near the Montana Creek bridge on Yoder Road after the weekend closure failed to prevent another washout on the road.

Video and photos by Yoder Road resident Robert Ambrose.

Yoder Road washout 10-8

Yoder Road near bridge 10-08 IMG_0813

Yoder Road 2nd culvert 10-8 IMG_0815

Yoder Road was passable Sunday by driving through water, and a work crew was adding a second culvert to Yoder Road after these photos were taken.

unofficial camping area-photo by Robert Ambrose

Looking toward Spur Road from new culvert-photo by Robert Ambrose

Notice to Yoder Road residents: Local fire department personnel report that Yoder Road has washed out in several places today.

The Mental Health Board and the Alcohol and Addiction Substance Abuse Advisory Boards will meet in Talkeetna  over three days to gather input from citizens, officials and community members about how the system works, and how it can be improved. KTNA’s Lorien Nettleton has more:

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The State of Alaska is making disaster assistance centers available to flood-affected individuals to apply for assistance grants in several areas throughout the Mat Su Borough in the coming week. In Talkeetna, residents can submit applications to begin the application process for grants to recover losses from the flood, on Monday and Tuesday at the Upper Susitna Senior Center.

The Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has identified 13-hundred structures affected by Septembers flood disaster. As homeowners continue to slog through paperwork for disaster claims, FEMA has stepped in to join the state’s recovery efforts. (more…)

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Beer brewers from around the state and pacific northwest will be represented at the first-annual Talkeetna Brewfest on Friday night at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar. Hosted by the award-winning Denali Brewing Company and the Northern Susitna Institute, a broad selection of suds will be available for sampling starting at six.

The event will offer a dizzying array of brewed options in four-ounce servings, while generating some funds for the Northern Susitna Institute.

Sassan Mossanen, one of the owners of Denali Brewing Company, helped organize the Brewfest, after the original idea came around several years ago. After being forced to re-schedule the event due to flooding in Talkeetna on the original date, he says its a high honor and a good cause.

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As a preview of what is in store this Friday night, Mossanen offered this mouth-watering summary of some of the beers scheduled to be poured at the festival:

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No town is too small for a symphony, and every fall in Talkeetna, a wide range of people pick up  a wide range of instruments to begin rehearsing through the dark, quiet months, creating a community of music. KTNA’s Lorien Nettleton has more:

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by Melis Coady

On Wednesday night 30 people gathered at the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar to watch the 2012 presidential candidates debate about domestic issues. The debate, streamed in high definition, elicited laughs and mixed reactions from the crowd as they heard Governor Mitt Romney battle President Obama over America’s sluggish economy, the merits of Obamacare, education reform and the nations energy policy. After the event, viewers overall were pleased that the candidates were civil, issue focused, and more clear about explaining differences in their policies. Many people in this area live without television or have data rate plans too slow to watch video footage of the candidates on the Internet. It was a great opportunity to see the candidates face to face on the big screen. (more…)