Alaska and Hawaii

"HILO, Hawaii – Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi has declared a state of emergency over a dengue fever outbreak on the island of Hawaii, commonly called the Big Island."

"Is this where North Pacific humpback whales practice their songs?"

"Alaska Inuit hunter John Goodwin for decades has hunted oogruk, the bearded seal, a marine mammal prized for its meat, oil and hide.

The largest of Alaska's ice seals uses sea ice to rest and birth pups, and after the long winter, when ice breaks into floes, there's a window of opportunity for Goodwin to leave his home in Kotzebue and motor his boat between ice panels, shoot seals and butcher them before they migrate north through the Bering Strait.

"A newly discovered fungus is killing a tree that's critical to Hawaii's water supply, endangered native birds and Hawaiian cultural traditions like hula."

"A study of yellow cedars in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve suggests that climate change calls for new models of conservation and preservation."

"The state and federal governments have decided not to pursue $92 million in additional damages from Exxon Mobil Corp., citing the recovery of ducks and sea otters in Alaska's Prince William Sound following a devastating oil spill more than two decades ago."

"One of the most eroded Native Alaskan villages on the state’s coast is being considered as a possible national model for moving entire communities whose futures are threatened by natural disasters escalated by climate change."

"Federal scientists may have found a link between the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and a decline of herring and pink salmon populations in Prince William Sound."

"JUNEAU -- The new boom industry in Skagway is tourism, providing the bulk of the jobs and at the height of the summer, regularly giving the big cruise port the lowest unemployment rate in the state."

"Residents of a Native village threatened by erosion were thankful Wednesday for President Barack Obama's attention to their plight, saying they hope his visit to Alaska will help them secure funding to build a critical evacuation road to drier ground."