• Alaska will be able to evaluate schools next year based on state standards rather than federal standards;
• Shell rig manager says second tug could have prevented grounding of the Kulluk;
• Video contest held by Drew’s Foundation hopes to spread message that life is worth living;
• New volunteer organization is hosting its first cultural event in Nome tomorrow.

The free sessions are a welcoming, supportive space for pregnant women. Labor and delivery nurses and childbirth educators talk about whatever the women want to know–from breastfeeding strategies, to maximizing comfort during labor, to preparing your birth bag, and more.

Listen here:

• Locally sourced geothermal energy looks to be potential option for Nome’s high energy costs;
• Kuskokwim fishermen trials wrapped up yesterday at Bethel Court House;
• Governor Sean Parnell has signed state budgets totaling $13.2 billion;
• There’s a new resource for pregnant women in the Nome area.

This week on Sounding Board (Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 10am), we’re talking about testing in schools.

• Why are children given standardized tests?
• What do you think about them? What do the test results tell us?
• Are we testing for the right things?
• What does Alaska’s recent waiver from parts of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mean? What do you think about NCLB?
• How can we reduce anxiety around testing?
• How can we help students retain information over the summer vacation?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

• Kuskokwim fishermen trial resumed Monday in Bethel;
• Alaska unveils plan to determine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s oil and gas potential;
• Obama administration approves Alaska’s request for No Child Left Behind waiver;
• Alaska volcano eruption prompting regional airlines to cancel flights to nearby communities;
• Kenai couple has only winning ticket in this year’s Nenana Ice Classic.

• Searchers in Northwest Alaska continue to look for two missing since Wednesday;
• State emergency workers report major flooding in community of Circle;
• Arctic Council recognizes need for Arctic oil spill preparation;
• Longterm unemployed in Alaska about to see reduction in unemployment benefits;
• Nome’s Kendra Nichols-Takak is recipient of 2013 Rasmussen Foundation emerging artist award;
• Pavlof Volcano continues to erupt on Alaska Peninsula.

In Friday’s news:

• Arctic Council grants observer status to six non-Arctic nations;
• Winter weather hanging on as summer approaches (see graph below);
• Nome officials promoting boat, bike and firearm safety and more at tomorrow’s Safety Fair.

Pacific Decadal Oscillation
(pattern of ocean temperatures and winds)

Kawerak is compiling traditional knowledge of walrus and seal habitats. The Social Sciences division is partnering with OCEANA, an environmental non-profit, to develop an atlas of the region’s seal and walrus habitats—a communications tool for tribes that want to participate in the policy making process.

Lily Ray Gadamus, a social scientist at Kawerak, and her assistant, Freida Moon-Kimotkoak, hope the atlas will help tribes work with policymakers when they want to comment on shipping routes or proposed developments.

Listen here:

• More money needed for Richard Foster building in Nome;
• Wasted carcasses of musk oxen near Kotzebue forces closure of subsistence hunt this year;
• Grassroots campaign gathering signatures for referendum to repeal Senate Bill 21;
• Nome senior Dominique Hall signs letter of intent to play basketball at NW Indian College.

• U.S. Senate expected to pass sweeping bill today authorizing dozens of water projects;
• Norton Sound winter commercial king crab fishery closing for season today;
• Eleven new students will be attending Anvil City Science Academy in Nome next year;
• Scientists say small lava flows have been detected on two restless volcanoes in Alaska.