Newscast – Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019

In this newscast:

  • The Alaska House chose Nome Democratic Representative Neal Foster as its temporary speaker today, then swore in Rep. Sharon Jackson. No other action was taken on the third day of the session.
  • Despite the partial government shutdown, some U.S. Forest Service staffers are still working on a plan for a large timber sale in Southeast Alaska. Those who oppose the logging are worried their concerns aren’t visible enough during the shutdown.
  • A new Blood Bank of Alaska location celebrated its grand opening today in Juneau. It’s the first permanent center in the region in years.
  • Sen. Murkowski, Rep. Don Young, and Alaska’s attorney general filed briefs calling on a federal appeals court to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act.
  • The U.S. Postal Service has scrapped a pilot program that was supposed to make bypass mail and non-priority mail deliveries to the North Slope hubs of Deadhorse and Utqiagvik. It’s unclear why the program was canceled.

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