Alaska News Daily Brief, Friday, November 13

Alaska News for Friday, November thirteenth. Today's brief reaches Kodiak patients who rely on aging hospital boilers, Southeast households facing a likely warm winter, North Slope lease bidders, and Houston neighbors of state land.

0:16New Nov. 12 results put Kreiss-Tomkins just over 50% in Alaska governor's race

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is now just past 50 percent in the governor's race. New results the state released Thursday evening put the Democrat at 50.05 percent of first-choice votes. That's 125 votes more than half, out of 252,140 counted. In Alaska, voters rank their picks, and first-choice votes are the top pick on each ballot. Under state law, a candidate with more than half of those when counting ends wins outright, with no ranked-choice rounds. Republican Bernadette Wilson's ticket has 28.7 percent. Thursday's update added about 5,700 ballots, nearly three-quarters of them from Southeast. Kreiss-Tomkins won about 68 percent of those new votes. But about 32,000 accepted ballots weren't in the results yet, by Alaska News' count. More than half of them are from Anchorage, Eagle River and Chugiak. Kreiss-Tomkins can lose a little ground and still hold a majority, as long as he gets about 49.6 percent of the ballots still to be counted. In Wednesday's update, which was mostly Mat-Su absentee ballots, he got 45 percent. In the Senate race, Democrat Mary Peltola's lead over Republican Senator Dan Sullivan grew to 5,800 votes. If no one tops 50 percent, a ranked-choice count, where the count runs in rounds, is set for November 18th. Absentee ballots from inside the country can still arrive through Friday, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Overseas ballots have until November 18th.

1:52Kodiak asks state for $10 million to replace hospital's half-century-old boilers

In Kodiak, the borough is asking the state for 10 million dollars to replace the boilers and sterilizers at the hospital. The borough warns that if any one piece fails, the hospital could have to suspend services. The boilers are more than 50 years old. They burn oil to heat Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center and to make its hot water. That hot water feeds a steam generator, and the steam is what the sterilizers use to clean hospital equipment. The steam generator and sterilizers break down often. A borough record says that has at times limited when the operating room could be used. The price has climbed. A 2023 borough record put the project at 1 million dollars. A year later, the estimate was 10 million. No money has been secured. It's one of several equipment problems at the hospital, which the borough owns and Providence runs. In October, the Assembly approved 4.2 million dollars to replace the failing chiller that cools the building. The borough's state and federal wish lists were up at an Assembly work session Thursday.

3:06El Nino could become the strongest on record, pointing Alaska toward a warmer winter

Federal forecasters said Thursday that El Niño could become the strongest on record. They give it about a 60 percent chance of passing every El Niño since nineteen fifty. In winter, El Niño tends to push the storm track south of most of mainland Alaska. The usual result is a warmer, drier winter. The outlook favors warmer-than-normal weather in eastern Alaska through January, with the best odds in Southeast. It also leans drier across much of the mainland. Anchorage has already felt the long fall. The first hard freeze didn't come until October 22nd, the second-latest in more than 70 years. The temperature still hasn't dropped to 20 degrees. Snow is harder to call. Anchorage has had less than an inch this season. Bettles, meanwhile, had its snowiest October on record. There's been talk this week of the polar vortex breaking down. The winds circling the Arctic did reverse on November 11th. But the reversal was weak and lasted one day. Forecasters expect above-normal temperatures across most of Alaska through November 25th. The Aleutians could run near or slightly below normal. The federal weather agency updates its winter outlook November 19th.

4:19Anchorage Assembly chair readies a plan to replace Zac Johnson if his ticket wins

Around the state, briefly. The Anchorage Assembly chair is penciling in a December meeting to replace Assembly member Zac Johnson. That's in case Johnson, who is Kreiss-Tomkins's running mate, becomes lieutenant governor, and the count so far leans their ticket's way.

4:37Anchorage plans to use landfill gas to evaporate the liquid that seeps from its trash

Anchorage wants to burn gas from rotting trash at its landfill. The heat would evaporate the liquid that seeps out of the trash. The Assembly is being asked to pay 98,010 dollars for design advice.

4:50Microsoft Outlook outage drags into Alaska's afternoon as fixes fall short

Microsoft's Outlook and Teams outage dragged into Alaska's afternoon Thursday. Microsoft said its first fixes didn't bring the relief the company expected.

4:59Soldotna council takes up $961,000 grant to plan K-Beach Road signal and crossing

Soldotna's council was scheduled to hear Thursday from the public on a 961,000 dollar federal grant. The money would pay to plan a traffic signal and a crosswalk where Arena Avenue meets K-Beach Road.

5:11Federal forecasters expect Alaska oil production to climb 13% next year

The federal Energy Information Administration expects Alaska oil production to jump 13 percent in twenty twenty-seven. That would mean 505,000 barrels a day, the most since twenty fourteen. Two new North Slope projects, Pikka and Nuna, drive the gain.

5:28State email problems delay paperwork deadline in North Slope oil lease sales

State email trouble pushed back the deadline for oil lease bids on the North Slope, the Beaufort Sea and the Foothills. Bids are now due at 2 in the afternoon on November 18th. Nearly 8 million acres are up, after the minimum bid rose to 35 dollars an acre.

5:43Kodiak mayor breaks council tie to advance sale of city lot for shops and apartments

Kodiak Mayor Terry Haines broke a 3-3 council tie to move forward a 200,000 dollar sale of a city lot near the airport. The lot would be developed for shops and apartments.

5:54Houston's data center moratorium can't reach land the state gave AIDEA, officials say

In Houston, the city's pause on new data centers stops at the city limits. The state is giving 6,800 acres to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and the deputy mayor says that land starts about half a mile past those limits.

6:09State plans to replace worn-out docking structures at Auke Bay ferry terminal

In Juneau, the state wants to replace rotting, corroded docking structures at the Auke Bay ferry terminal. Red king crab habitat in the area has already moved the project's dump site.

6:19Wrap-up

Beyond the brief this morning: school leaders and homeschool parents pressing Alaska's education task force from different sides, and Calista paying to keep Typhoon Halong recovery jobs going after state funding ran out. That's all for this edition of the Alaska News daily brief. The full stories, and more, are at Alaska News dot com. And that's the way it is, Friday, November thirteenth, twenty twenty-six.