Rain for 10th straight day: Another wet day in Anchorage gives Alaska's biggest city its 10th straight day of measurable precipitation – just the 37th time that has happened since weather records began being kept in 1917, according to Alaska Climate Info. It's been a damp month, but Anchorage's wettest September came in 2004 with 7.35 inches. Three of the four wettest Septembers came in the last decade. So far this month, 2.88 inches has fallen. Since June 1, nearly 12 inches has come down – more than 54 percent above the average. How unusual is 10 straight days of measurable precipitation? Here are some National Weather Service stations with at least 50 years of records that have never hit it: Albuquerque (9), Austin (9), Chicago (9), Kansas City (8), Las Vegas (6), Los Angeles (9), Phoenix (9), Washington, D.C. (9), Yuma (4).
Victim identified in fatal Anchorage collision: Anchorage police have identified the pedestrian killed in a Wednesday morning vehicle collision as 43-year-old Craig McCarty. McCarty's family has been notified, police said. Police continue their investigation into the collision and no citations have been issued. A southbound portion of Muldoon Road in East Anchorage was closed Wednesday morning due to the fatal accident. Anchorage Police Department spokesperson Jennifer Castro said a Honda Accord hit an adult male pedestrian, McCarty, while he crossed Muldoon, reportedly outside of a crosswalk, just before 7 a.m. The driver stayed on scene and cooperated with police, she said.
Eagle River man, Alaska Airlines pilot, killed near Bulchitna Lake: Alaska State Troopers say they're investigating the death of an Eagle River man in what is believed to be an accidental shooting. The incident, which was reported to troopers on Monday shortly after noon, occurred near Bulchitna Lake, south of the village of Skwenta. The community of 33 is 70 air miles northwest of Anchorage. Troopers flew to the secluded lake in a float plane and began their investigation. That revealed a firearm inside the cabin was discharged, and Stephen H. Hager, of Eagle River, was "struck and killed by the round while outside the cabin." Hager was taken to the State Medical Examiner Office for an autopsy. Troopers say the investigation is ongoing. Hager was a commercial pilot who flew for Alaska Airlines for 24 years, according to company spokesperson Bobbie Egan. "Steve was an excellent pilot and an esteemed coworker and we at Alaska Airlines are saddened by his untimely and sudden death. We are here to support his family as they grieve the loss of a beloved husband, father and son," the airline said in a written statement.
Linc gets green light for Cook Inlet exploration: Linc Energy Operations Inc. has received permission to drill up to five exploration holes as deep as 3,500 feet on the west side of Cook Inlet as part of the Australian company's underground coal gasification development plans for Southcentral Alaska. The Alaska Division of Mining, Land and Water on Sept. 12 approved an exploration permit for nearly 107,500 acres of land within the Tyonek and Kenai exploration area owned by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. The area, 7 miles north of Tyonek, is mostly used for subsistence activities, the company told the state in a permit application filed earlier this year. Linc plans to use a combination of helicopter support and existing roads, except one proposed well will require the construction of a 2,000-foot gravel road. Linc will be required to reclaim drill sites, and all holes not retained as monitoring wells be sealed. The state is requiring a $95,372.53 reclamation bond. Underground coal gasification -- underway in other countries but not here -- works by pumping compressed air into a coal seam to trigger combustion that brings methane to the surface. Along with the UCG prospect, Linc also has an oil drilling program at the Umiat field on the North Slope.
Scottish vote reverberates through secessionist movements -- including in Alaska: Is the movement for independence in Scotland -- which culminated in today's vote in which Scots decide whether or not to leave the United Kingdom -- galvanizing separatist movements in the United States? A piece from Business Insider that takes up that question is inconclusive. Business Insider spoke with Lynette Clark, chair of the Alaskan Independence Party, who said that she and other AIP members have been following the buildup to the Scottish vote with interest, but also that "the vote hasn't necessarily sparked a larger conversation about independence in Alaska." (The AIP fielded a Senate candidate for this fall's election, former state legislator Vic Kohring, but Kohring dropped out of the race after the primary saying he didn't want to draw conservative votes away from Republican candidate Dan Sullivan.) BI also talked to Cascadia Now, another separatists group focused on the Pacific Northwest, including much of Southeast Alaska. Like Clark, they welcomed the Scottish vote. But in a Slate piece -- which focuses more on movements in Vermont and Texas than Alaska -- David Weigel observes that U.S. separatists movements tend not to reflect long-lived cultural divides. Rather, they grow in popularity when they respond to contemporary political frustrations: "The Alaskan Independence Party has performed most strongly when voters have been angriest with the feds. Cascadia Now, a campaign to create a new country from the greenest parts of the Pacific coast, has attracted the most attention when it's looked like Republicans were going to ruin everything for Greater Portlandia."
Brazil buying more Alaska seafood: Beginning in 2011, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute began targeting Brazil as a market for Alaska seafood, and those efforts seem to be paying off, reports seafood industry site Undercurrent News. The site reports that direct imports from Alaska to South America's largest economy went from 31 metric tons in 2011 to 607 in 2013, and according to the estimate of one sales official with Ocean Beauty, that company alone expects to send 2,000 tons to Brazil by year's end (up from 100 tons). Those numbers are still a drop in the bucket compared to Alaska's total seafood exports (which had nearly reached 1 million tons by July), but the growth could be an encouraging sign: "As Brazil has become a hot destination for many industries looking to tap emerging market growth, a burgeoning middle class is helping boost demand for seafood," Undercurrent writes. "A more affluent middle class increasingly wants seafood that is promoted as sustainable and healthy, and Alaskan fish could meet that demand."
Alaska bookstores named among West's best: Two Alaska bookstores makes High Country News' informal list of the best bookstores in the West. The magazine, which focuses on environment and land use issues in the West singled out Homer's Old Inlet Bookshop and Juneau's Observatory Books for their list. Of the former, HCN wrote, "Visitors to Alaska's most liberal locale usually visit the touristy Homer Spit or the not-very-walkable downtown. The Old Inlet Bookshop, part of a cabin that doubles as a café and B&B, is located in neither place. Instead, it sits at the end of a dirt road near a broad sandy beach and a bird refuge." Of the latter: "An antiquarian bookstore tucked into a back alley in the rainiest state capital in the country? A proprietor named Dee Longenbaugh who specializes in hunting down and studying old maps? Yes, please."