It's less smoky than yesterday but smoke from two Southcentral Alaska wildfires is expected to return when the wind shifts over the weekend. Water-scooping aircraft is being deployed today to protect Kasilof from the Funny River fire on the Kenai Peninsula, which has grown to 63,000 acres, and is 3.5 miles from a Kasilof subdivision. On the west side of Cook Inlet, the Tyonek fire has grown to 1,800 acres. Firefighters have completed dozer lines removing potential fuel sources around the Beluga power plant, which supplies electricity to half of Anchorage.
The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee has approved the Alaska Safe Families and Villages bill, which would encourage the state of Alaska and tribes to sign agreements on tribal enforcement of misdemeanor state laws dealing with substance abuse and violence. The bill now goes to the full Senate.
The Tanana Chiefs Conference and Association of Village Council Presidents are creating a Yukon River Fish Commission to develop a 2015 fisheries management plan for the river. They're calling for a moratorium on all Chinook salmon fishing except for customary and traditional funeral potlatches.
A U.S. Senate panel voted to require labeling for genetically modified salmon if it's approved for sale in this country.