The following summarize enforcement actions the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 office completed in January and February of 2020. The concluding legal document(s) typically provide details of the case and are included at the end of each summary.

Environmental News  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Dr. Anne Zink works from a yurt 40 miles north of Anchorage. She has the ear of the Republican governor and has helped keep the state's number of COVID-19 deaths the lowest in the nation.

The islands will keep rules in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Restaurant owner Roxy Taschuk wasn’t optimistic about the state of her industry when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Check back throughout the day for the latest on COVID-19 in Saskatoon and area.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Deanna about cruising to Alaska aboard a small boat from Cruise West In a nights ashore / days at sea program.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Sarah from Whitehorse in the Yukon about that corner of Canada with long winters but dramatic scenery. She tells of of Winter festivals like the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous as well as Summer festivals like Dawson City Music fest, Atlin Arts and Music Fest and the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival. We talk about sporting events like the 24 Hours of Light and Kluane to Chilkat (Haines to Haines) bike races because Sarah says you have to like the outdoors to come to the Yukon. Sarah also gives us some itineraries for road warriors like the Top of the World Highway to Dawson (and the Dempster Highway for the bold among you) and the Golden Circle route into Alaska. We walk the Chilkoot Trail but without the requirement to bring 1,000 pounds of supplies like in the Yukon gold rush. It is the beauty of Kluane National Park that you will remember but strangely enough it was something else that Sarah was looking at when she decided to move to the Yukon.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Joe Bickley of Alaska Backcountry Consulting about traveling to Alaska, particularly the interior and back country. Alaska is a bug state and Joe lives in the center of it near Fairbanks but at the northern end of the Alaskan road system. Joe gives us some directions on places to go to see Alaska’s vistas and encounter its wildlife. He takes us above the tree line at Denali National Park (aka Mt McKinley) which is not quite half the size of the state of Rhode Island. At that Denali is not even the largest National Park in Alaska. That honor goes to Wrangell-St. Elias. Alaska also has the largest National Forest which is Tongass National Forest. Joe takes us to one of his favorite spots off the Denali “highway”. He also directs us down to the Kenai Peninsula known for great fishing and also to the town of Homer with its artist culture. Learn what some Alaskans call those bells that a tenderfoot might wear to scare off bears.

Hear about travel to remote parts of Alaska as the Amateur Traveler talks again to Sherry Ott from ottsworld.com about travel to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in the east, above the Arctic Circle to Coldfoot Camp and far to the west to Nome Alaska.

Hear about Cruising Southeastern Alaska on Un-Cruise Adventures as the Amateur Traveler goes on a cruise where dressing for dinner and bingo are replaced with kayaking and bushwhacking.

Hear about travel to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula as the Amateur Traveler talks to tour guide Mareth Griffith about her adopted home. 

Hear about travel to Alaska's National Parks as the Amateur Traveler talks once again to Gary Arndt about his visits to each of the 8 National Parks in Alaska.

Hear about travel to Saskatchewan as the Amateur Traveler talks to Ashlyn George from thelostgirlsguide.com about her home province of Canada. 

U.S. Ed Secretary DeVos has approved plans for 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Still waiting: California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Utah.

President Donald Trump has tapped Mark Schultz, a deputy commissioner of education in Nebraska, to serve as commissioner of the rehabilitation services administration at the Education Department.

A Nebraska senator introduced a bill that would give teachers legal cover to physically restraint disruptive students, prompting a strong positive response from members of the state teachers' union.

Student Achievement (NAEP 2003)

Nebraska education officials were hoping the legislature would come through with funding for plans to improve and coordinate distance learning throughout the state.

State of the States: Education highlights from latest governor's address before the legislature.

Gov. Heineman is calling for a simplified student-measurement system, increased parental involvement, and more-rigorous academic standards to close the achievement gap and increase overall academic performance.

U.S. Ed Secretary DeVos has approved plans for 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Still waiting: California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Utah.

A school cook in Nebraska was canned after he mixed kangaroo meat into chili made for students.

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

Nebraska's education department released an interactive instructional materials map last week, showing what curricula districts have adopted for English-language arts, math, and K-8 science.

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

The Jets announced on Wednesday that they have signed Lamar Jackson, but no one start frantically wondering what they missed regarding the 2019 NFL MVP. The Lamar Jackson that the Jets signed is an undrafted defensive back from Nebraska rather than the Ravens quarterback. The Jets' Jackson was second-team All-Big Ten last season after recording [more]

That brings the number of states with approved plans to 44, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Still awaiting the OK: California, Florida, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Utah

In remote regions of rural Alaska, both schools and the students themselves have to work harder to put together an education that meets students' needs.

While thousands of students in wildfire-ravaged Northern California resumed classes last week, thousands of others in Alaska stayed home after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Nov. 30.

Victoria Petersen, of the Peninsula Clarion on the Kenai Peninsula, will report on the challenges of rural education, especially in a state as vast as Alaska.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who spent his career as a teacher, principal and superintendent of a rural Alaska district wants to now cut more than a third of the state's K-12 spending.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican who was elected partly because of his experience as a public school educator, proposed a budget this year that would slash more than a quarter of the state's $1.6 billion education budget.

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

An Alaskan high school exchange program works to promote understanding between the state's urban centers and its remote Native Villages and communities.

A group of high school students from Anchorage spent spring break at a remote Native Village as part of an unusual cultural exchange program in Alaska. See what they learned.

Alaskan schooling developed on many fronts. An illustrated timeline adds historical context for the growth of the state's education system, from the territory’s earliest Native inhabitants to today.

Recruiters already are offering bonuses, free housing, and airfare to entice teachers to their remote districts—and the competition is about to get worse.

When it comes to education, the 49th state faces its own challenges, some of which are unique to Alaska and some that it shares with other rural states. This series explores how cultural and geographic barriers, teacher shortages, historical developments, and more have shaped schooling in Alaska.

Rural schools everywhere struggle to maintain adequate buildings, but the quest for a new school has been especially long and fraught for this remote Old Believer village.

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.