Alaska News January 28, 2018

By Tegan Hanlon: Alaska House leadership calls on lawmaker accused of hitting woman to resign
The leader of the Alaska House of Representatives is calling for Bethel Democratic Rep. Zach Fansler to resign after a newspaper reported he assaulted a woman.

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, asked for the resignation in a statement Saturday, minutes after the Juneau Empire published an article online that said local police and the Alaska Department of Law were investigating Fansler for allegedly hitting a woman and rupturing her eardrum.

 
 
 
 
By Victoria Taylor: UPDATE: 3 arrested after gunfire exchange in Northway Mall parking lot
According to MJ Thim, a public information officer for APD, said the preliminary investigation indicates a group of at least five men met in the parking lot in front of Shockwave Trampoline Parks. “They pulled out their weapons and started shooting at each other in a public parking lot to resolve their issue,” Thim said in a phone call with Channel 2.
 
 
 
 
By Victoria Taylor: Sting operation at Wasilla Fred Meyer store leads to 9 arrests
 
 
 
 
By Cameron Mackintosh: Need help filing taxes? Free tax preparation services available in Anchorage
Like last year, Americans will have two extra days to file their taxes in 2018 because the usual April 15 deadline happens to fall on a Sunday, and April 16 is Emancipation Day, which is a federal holiday. So the tax deadline this year falls on April 17.
 
 
 
 
Moms Everyday Alaska: Practical ways to save money
 
 
 
 

By Josephine Sedgwick: Snapshots From a Land of Endless Night
 
 
 
 

By Nancy Lord: 47 years apart, a mother and daughter’s Arctic memoirs complete each other
If Helmericks was the reckless mother committed to wild nature for building character and finding spiritual fulfillment, her daughter tempers that same love of nature with pragmatism. Aspen writes about her mother, “Wilderness remained her true love. The rest of us … were all secondary. This passion for the untamed natural world was her biggest gift she left me, though it took me years to forgive her.”

Trust the river, Aspen advises, although she didn’t always find it easy to do that. There will be surprises around every bend.