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A group seeking to decriminalize Alaskans’ use of certain medicinal mushrooms and other psychedelics can start collecting signatures to try to put the question before voters. Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees the Alaska Division of Elections, said Thursday she has certified a statewide initiative application that proposes legal but regulated use of certain natural medicines for therapeutic and traditional purposes. The sponsors may now start gathering the petition signatures they need to place their initiative on a statewide ballot. The p... Full story
Early Sunday morning, Sasha Calvey awoke to a roar. "I look out of the tent, and then I see a massive wave coming, like, inches away," Calvey said. Calvey was camped with two friends, Billy White and Nick Heilgeist, on Harbor Island, an uninhabited islet in Holkham Bay. It's at the convergence of two of Southeast Alaska's most-visited fjords, Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm. Calvey, White and Heilgeist had spent the past 78 days kayaking the Inside Passage from Washington. The three hoped to spend th... Full story
A Juneau jury convicted 21-year-old John Bisset of Petersburg of two counts of sexual assault in the first degree on July 29 at the Dimond Courthouse. The verdict followed a two-week-long trial presided over by Superior Court Judge Amy Mead. Jurors acquitted Bisset of two other counts of sexual assault. The case goes back four years, when Bisset was 18 years old and the victim was 14. The case was investigated by the Petersburg Police Department and prosecuted by the state. The trial was...
When the peak of the annual glacial outburst flood hit early Wednesday morning in Juneau, newly installed flood barriers stacked along the Mendenhall River largely prevented flooding of the nearby residential area. The flooding reached a record-breaking 16.65 feet at 7:15 a.m., but nearby homes, businesses and three schools were mostly spared. On Wednesday afternoon, Juneau officials announced the flood threat was over. Officials reported there were no rescues overnight or emergency evacuations... Full story
The Alaska Legislature, meeting in special session, has overridden Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of more than $50 million in public school funding. The vote was 45-14. At least 45 of 60 legislators are needed to override an Alaska governor’s budget veto. The override eliminates a 5.6% year-over-year cut to public school funding, leaving districts with a small funding increase. Since July 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year, oil prices have significantly exceeded the state’s spring forecast, and if that trend continues, the state would have mo... Full story
In a new administrative action, Gov. Mike Dunleavy is ordering “efficiency reviews” of state agencies and asking departments to use artificial intelligence software as part of an effort to identify budget cuts. The reviews will take place annually, according to Dunleavy’s new administrative order, published Monday, and would become part of the state’s annual budget process. The reviews will initially focus on “grants to non-State of Alaska entities” and “accounts payable,” according to a copy of the text available online. The reviews are int... Full story
King salmon fishing is back on for nonresident sport anglers in Southeast Alaska, effective Monday, Aug. 4, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has announced. Chinook retention has been closed since July 7 for nonresidents fishing in Southeast. Fish and Game said at the beginning of July that it would be putting an indefinite pause on out-of-state residents’ harvest because the sport sector was on track to exceed the regionwide sport harvest target for Chinook. The July 7 closure was geared at providing uninterrupted harvest opportunity f...
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced his policy priorities for the Alaska State Legislature for when they reconvene for a special session scheduled to start on Saturday. On Monday, the governor called for legislators to address what he called "Alaska's chronic education outcome crisis" and to reconsider his executive order they had previously voted down, creating a new Department of Agriculture that he said would strengthen food security in Alaska. Separately, the Alaska State Legislature... Full story
The administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy has signed a $28.5 million contract for work on a new ferry terminal north of Juneau, days after an oversight board said the state had not proved that the project is economically viable. Dunleavy administration officials say the new terminal at Cascade Point, located 30 miles north of an existing terminal in Auke Bay, will cut ferry time from Juneau to Haines and Skagway by two hours. But the chair of the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board — which was created by Dunleavy four years ago — says the...
The regional authority that distributes hydroelectric power to Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan has approved a $12 million contract with a Washington state company to build a third turbine for Tyee Lake to meet growing demand for electricity. The total budget for the project, which includes concrete work at the power station, installation and other expenses, comes to an estimated $24 million. The Southeast Alaska Power Agency hopes construction work at the site can start next year, with the new turbine generating electricity by mid-2027,...
For the past two months, Maditha Kröger, a project manager from Germany has been paddling solo through the Inside Passage from Washington State toward Skagway aboard a 17-foot sea kayak named Prudence. Along the way Kröger stopped in Petersburg for a few days rest and shared a glimpse of her adventure with the Pilot before paddling on. Two years ago, after kayaking with friends in British Columbia, Kröger discovered the book "Inside" by Susan Marie Conrad, a memoir about a solo Inside Pa... Full story
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has canceled a broadly supported bill proposed by a legislative task force and intended to help commercial fishers in Alaska. The governor issued his veto of Senate Bill 156 on Wednesday, marking his seventh veto of a policy bill this year. Legislators will have an opportunity to call for an override vote on most of those vetoes when they meet Aug. 2 for a special legislative session. SB 156, which was inspired by policies drafted by a joint House-Senate task force intended to evaluate the state’s commercial fishing industry,... Full story
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Forrest Dunbar will be able to attend the Aug. 2 special session of the Alaska Legislature, he said late Tuesday in a post on Facebook. Dunbar, a member of the National Guard, is deployed to Poland on active-duty service but received a federal waiver that will allow him to return to Alaska for legislative work. Dunbar’s attendance is critical for lawmakers who hope to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to veto millions of dollars in public school funding from this year’s state operating budget. Despite his atten... Full story
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday night moved one step closer to canceling $9 billion in previously approved funding for several foreign aid programs and public broadcasting after GOP leaders addressed some objections. Nearly all the chamber’s Republicans voted to begin debate on the bill, though Maine’s Susan Collins, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski opposed the procedural step along with every Democrat. The 51-50 vote marked a significant moment for President Donald Trump’s rescissions request, which faced more... Full story
On July 1, Alaska’s new sick-leave and minimum wage increase law took effect. Approved by voters in November, it states that someone working at a business with 15 or more employees will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 per year, unless the employer voluntarily increases that limit. Someone working at a business with fewer than 15 employees earns sick leave at the same rate, but the maximum per year is 40 hours. The law also raised the state’s minimum wage to $13 per hour. The minimum wage ris... Full story
Nonresident anglers fishing in state and federal waters can’t retain any Chinook salmon that they catch in Southeast Alaska between July 7 and when the season ends Sept. 30, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Monday. The department projects that the sport sector, including both residents and nonresidents, would exceed this year’s sport harvest target by about 5,000 Chinook if no action were taken to curb the nonresident catch, ADF&G Sitka area management biologist Troy Tydingco said in a phone call with the Sentinel on Tue...
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a proclamation for a special session on Wednesday, calling Legislators back to Juneau in August to pass legislation on education reform and his executive order creating a new Department of Agriculture. The special session also means that lawmakers cannot wait until January to vote on overrides to the governor’s budget vetoes and his vetoes on several policy bills. They must vote in the first five days of the special session. That’s significant, because 45 votes are needed to override a budget veto, and whi... Full story
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee says he will revamp his controversial proposal to require the sales of vast acres of federal lands in the West so it can be included in Senate Republicans' sweeping tax and spending cut package. Lee will be seeking approval for his revised plan from the Senate parliamentarian, who will decide if the provision complies with the chamber's strict rules for the fast-track procedure Republicans are using to pass their bill. An earlier version of Lee's plan was dropped from the... Full story
The U.S. Forest Service will seek to repeal a rule that has effectively blocked the logging of almost a third of America's national forests, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told a meeting of Western governors on Monday in New Mexico. The "Roadless Rule" has blocked the construction of new roads in wild areas of most states' national forests since 2001, when it was imposed in the closing days of President Bill Clinton's presidency. "In this administration, we are taking a look under the... Full story
The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on June 18 to resume the federal Secure Rural Schools program, which sent millions of dollars to small Alaska schools each year until Congress failed to reauthorize it in 2023. Congress passed the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act in 2000, which launched the program as a way to help logging towns cope with the loss of revenue caused by a slowdown in logging on nearby federal land. In 2023, it directed more than $250 million to... Full story
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has opened public comment on a proposal that would reduce municipal governments' ability to assist local public schools. The draft regulation, published Friday, would state that services - such as parking-lot plowing, or the use of public pools or libraries for school functions - would count toward the maximum limit of local aid that school districts may receive from the local government. The education department said it proposed the... Full story
A U.S. Senate committee has proposed selling more than 3 million acres of public lands in Alaska and several other Western states to support new housing development. The idea has alarmed conservation groups and others in Alaska who fear portions of, say, the Chugach or Tongass national forests, and other treasured areas would be auctioned off to developers. The proposed language in the budget reconciliation bill was released last week by the Republican leader of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The...
Visitors to the U.S. Forest Service Anan Wildlife Observatory are limited July 5 to Aug. 25, with 60 permits each day set aside for guided tours, while four other slots each day are designated for last-minute, independent visitors. "These permits are for people with their own means of transportation (without a hired service) and must be requested in person at the Wrangell Ranger District, up to one week in advance," the Forest Service reminded the public in an announcement on June 13....
The public advisory board for the Alaska Marine Highway System has recommended that the state call an end to the Matanuska's 53-year career in the fleet. The final decision whether to sell the unseaworthy ferry rests with the governor and his Department of Transportation commissioner. "There is currently no set timeline for action," said Sam Dapcevich, the department's spokesman. The 408-foot-long, 499-passenger ferry has been out of service since the fall of 2022, when it went into the...
Alaska is required by law to fund public education equitably across all school districts through its Base Student Allocation formula. Each student generates a set amount of state funding, with adjustments for factors like special needs, district size, and geographic isolation. The federal government also sends Alaska over $100 million annually in “impact aid” – money meant to compensate certain school districts for lost property tax revenue from federal and Alaska Native lands that cannot be ta...
