On the return of Fat Bear Week, and how ASD will spend millions in one-time funds

Mat-Su assembly bans voting machines for borough elections starting next year Email not displaying correctly? [View the web version]( [Anchorage Daily News]( Today's sponsor: [Today's sponsor: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport]( Support independent reporting on what Alaskans care about most. [Subscribe today.]( Good afternoon. It’s Wednesday, October 5. In today's newsletter: - The Anchorage School Board voted to spend most of a $96 million school bond debt reimbursement package on urgent capital and safety improvements at various schools. - Starting next year, the Mat-Su will prohibit vote tabulation machines in borough elections and will require hand counting at all 41 of its precincts, in a move spurred by claims of election fraud. - Alaska's favorite voting contest is back: Fat Bear Week begins today, and Katmai National Park and Preserve's biggest bruins will go head to head to be crowned the chubbiest champion. Four people rocketed off from the U.S. on Wednesday headed to the International Space Station. Among them was Marine Col. Nicole Mann, the [first Native American woman]( to fly into space. She and astronauts from NASA and Japan and a Russian cosmonaut are replacing a U.S.-Italian crew aboard the station. “I am very proud to represent Native Americans and my heritage,” Mann said before the flight. 🌥️ Anchorage weather It's mostly cloudy with a high of 61 degrees today, and there's a slight chance of rain later tonight. Thursday will be partly sunny with a high near 60 degrees. Here’s what else is making headlines in Alaska today. — Megan Pacer, mpacer@adn.com [Anchorage School Board allocates almost $60 million in one-time state funding]( [Anchorage School Board allocates almost $60 million in one-time state funding]( The school board allocated most of the funding from the Alaska Legislature to capital projects, security enhancements and urgent needs like leaky roofs and failing boilers. But the board delayed voting on whether to spend the remaining $37 million to rebuild Inlet View Elementary School. [Read More]( [Mat-Su assembly bans voting machines for borough elections starting next year]( [Mat-Su assembly bans voting machines for borough elections starting next year]( In what is apparently a first for Alaska, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly passed an ordinance this week that will prohibit the use of voting tabulation machines for borough elections, starting next year. The decision was spurred by claims of election fraud that officials say are false. [Read More]( [Fat Bear Week is on: Here’s a guide to Katmai’s bulky bruins and how to vote for your favorite]( [Fat Bear Week is on: Here’s a guide to Katmai’s bulky bruins and how to vote for your favorite]( The annual weeklong competition from Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve is a celebration of a summer’s worth of hard work, a hat tip to a healthy ecosystem and a collection of survival stories. With voting already open, here's a look at [the first-day matchups](. [Read More]( ADVERTISEMENT [Walker and Gara again question Dunleavy’s absence at Kodiak fisheries debate]( [Walker and Gara again question Dunleavy’s absence at Kodiak fisheries debate]( Republican incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy was in Nome surveying storm damage while two of his challengers answered questions about the commercial fishing industry this week at a Kodiak forum. Even before the storm, the Kodiak debate was not one of the five Dunleavy had confirmed he would join. [Read More]( [Convicted rapist sentenced to 50 years for 2015 attack on woman after he escaped Anchorage jail]( [Convicted rapist sentenced to 50 years for 2015 attack on woman after he escaped Anchorage jail]( Kevin Tuckfield, a convicted rapist who roamed Anchorage after escaping from jail in 2015, was sentenced to 50 years in prison this week for the robbery and attempted kidnapping of a woman he attacked while he was on the lam. 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