Sorted by date Results 701 - 725 of 797
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A new Alaska group hopes to overhaul the state’s oil and gas tax credit system through a ballot initiative called the Fair Share Act. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Tuesday that the group hopes to enact the proposal into law in 2020. The group includes former Democratic state Sen. Joe Paskvan, who previously served as Senate Resources Committee chair. Group steering committee member Robin Brena says the initiative would only apply to three of the state’s large oil fields. Brena says Prudhoe Bay, Alpine and K...
Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - A Petersburg man received 21 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release for a methamphetamine case. Assistant US Attorney Jack Schmidt said Randal Long, 55, pled guilty to drug charges at a hearing in Anchorage Friday. Long was arrested in 2017 by Petersburg Police after they found 126 grams of methamphetamines inside a trailer he was renovating. Authorities also seized $5,000 in suspected drug cash and various items of drug paraphernalia. The...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - An Alaska ferry system has released a new schedule that stops service to and from Kodiak Island in the winter, officials said. The Alaska Marine Highway System announced the schedule Thursday, but it does not list ferry operations between Jan. 11 to April 24, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday. Each year, transportation stops for a period of time for vessel examination and mechanical maintenance. But this year the ferries are in overhaul simultaneously because of a...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A race judge at an Alaska high school swim meet disqualified a state champion swimmer after concluding that that her team-issued swimsuit did not meet modesty requirements. The decision outraged a competing coach and the Anchorage School District announced it will review the decision that disqualified the 17-year-old Dimond High School swimmer from a heat victory at a meet Friday, Anchorage television station KTUU reported . “If we find that this was an error in judgment by an official, we are going to definitely ens...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Supporters of an effort to recall Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy submitted signatures to a state elections office Thursday, an early step in their push. The Recall Dunleavy group said it collected 49,006 signatures since launching Aug. 1, more than the 28,501 needed as part of the initial phase of the recall effort. The group has said it gathered additional signatures, in part, to compensate for any that might be disqualified. Supporters gathered in Anchorage in the parking lot...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin’s husband, commonly referred to as “Alaska’s first dude” when she was governor, appears to be seeking a divorce from his wife of 31 years. Paperwork believed to be from Todd Palin cited “incompatibility of temperament” in seeking to end his marriage to the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. The filing Friday in Anchorage Superior Court only identified the couple by initials. The initials, birthdates and wedding date match the Palins, as does the initials given for their only young child. The do...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A small Alaska apparel company is clashing with Starbucks over a trademark term the Seattle-based coffee giant says is too closely linked to its own branding. Starbucks wants the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject an application by Wasilla-based Mountains & Mermaids, the Anchorage Daily News reported . The Alaska company late last year applied to trademark the term “Siren’s Brew” for its products. It has branded its apparel with the image of a siren or mermaid holding a cup of coffee, and recently began using t...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska hunter is recovering from a mauling by a grizzly. Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain says the injured hunter was with a partner Friday in the Eureka area when they surprised a sow with two cubs. Eureka is about 110 miles (177 kilometers) northeast of Anchorage. The sow attacked and seriously injured one hunter. The second hunter shot and killed the bear. The hunters made it on their own to a cabin. A Lifemed Alaska helicopter flew to the cabin and transported the injured man to an Anchorage h...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska lawmakers and a Native corporation have joined the dispute over a Canadian company’s potential investment in a large copper and gold mining project. The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday that Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy wrote a July letter supporting investment in the Pebble Mine by Wheaton Precious Metals. Dunleavy’s letter came after groups opposed to Pebble wrote to Wheaton President Randy Smallwood discouraging its involvement. A group of 20 state lawmakers sent a letter Monday telling Smallwood that...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — Russian adventurer Anatoly Kazakevich sailed into town on a double-hulled inflatable sailboat Monday morning, completing the last leg of an 8,000-mile journey to Sitka from the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Kazakevich and his crew, which ranged between two and six members along the route, sailed the inflatable catamaran Iskatel across the North Pacific Ocean to Homer, Alaska, last year. After wintering in southcentral waters, the Iskatel (which means “searcher’’) brought Kazakevich to Sitka this week to mark the complet...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildlife troopers have confiscated catch from a fishing industry lobbyist suspected of fishing in closed waters, officials said. Bob Thorstenson Jr., 55, was commercial fishing Sunday when wildlife troopers cited him for fishing within 200 yards (183 meters) of a protected salmon stream near Sitka, CoastAlaska reported Thursday. The stream acts as a buffer to protect native pink salmon that have become vulnerable near freshwater streams because of drought conditions, said Eric Coonradt, a state Department of Fish a...
PALMER, Alaska (AP) — Dale Marshall of Anchorage broke his previous state record by nearly 600 pounds when the pumpkin he entered this year tipped the scale at 2,051 pounds during the Alaska State Fair weigh-off Tuesday. “It was mind blowing,” Marshall said. “I wasn’t even thinking 2,000 pounds. I thought it would weigh between 1,700 and 1,900 pounds using the tape measure method. In pumpkin growing land around the world that is an elite club to grow 2,000. Nobody has grown a pumpkin this size this far north in the world.” Marshall said he tho...
The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is ending service to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, effective Oct. 1, 2019. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is requiring AMHS to secure a Canadian law enforcement presence to protect CBP’s personnel in Prince Rupert while inspection tasks are performed. All avenues for local law enforcement were pursued, but AMHS was not able to secure the staff necessary to fulfill this requirement. The new requirement specifies a Canadian law enforcement p...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A Coast Guardsman is charged with murder in the January death of a 19-year-old seaman who was found unresponsive along the shore of an Alaska island, Coast Guard officials said Thursday. Ethan Tucker was charged Wednesday with seven violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Charges include murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Ethan Kelch of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The charging document says Tucker showed a wanton disregard for human life when he caused blunt force trauma to Kelch’s head and pl...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — In a story Aug. 15 about Alaska salmon hatcheries, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Alaska salmon hatcheries release 1.8 billion pink salmon fry annually. Total Alaska hatchery releases of all salmon and rainbow trout in 2018 was 1.8 billion fish, with pink salmon accounting for more than 1.05 billion....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska authorities say two middle school students have been arrested after another student overheard their plans to carry out a school shooting, officials said. The Juneau Police Department arrested two 13-year-old students Thursday at Floyd Dryden Middle School after receiving a phone call from a parent of the classmate who overheard plans, the Juneau Empire reported Thursday. Police officers located the implicated students and held them in custody before school Thursday, authorities said. Following an investigation, t...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s governor has vetoed additional funding for the state’s ferry service that was placed in the budget by the Legislature, a report said. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed $5 million Monday that was added to the Alaska Marine Highway System budget by the Legislature, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The Legislature previously cut $43 million from the ferry system’s budget. A fiscal note attached by the governor’s office called the budget item “premature” ahead of a $250,000 study commissioned to reshape the ferry sys...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska health insurance officials have announced the state’s plan to weaken air ambulance membership plan regulations, officials said. The Alaska Division of Insurance will no longer review and pre-approve consumer membership plans, CoastAlaska reported Thursday. Health insurance does not cover the full cost of a flight, so there are three air ambulance companies that offer membership agreements, department officials said. Households pay a flat rate fee between $49 and $125, depending on the carrier, to ensure they are...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state says a second company will offer health insurance plans on Alaska’s individual marketplace next year. Division of Insurance Director Lori Wing-Heier says Moda Assurance Co. will join Premera in offering plans through the federally-facilitated marketplace. Moda was suspended briefly in 2016 from offering health insurance policies in Alaska over concerns with its financial condition. Moda left the Alaska individual marketplace beginning in 2017. Wing-Heier says an agreement between Moda and Delta Dental of Cal...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Add salmon to the list of species affected by Alaska’s blistering summer temperatures, including the hottest July on record. Dead salmon have shown up in river systems throughout Alaska, and the mortalities are probably connected to warm water or low river water levels, said Sam Rabung, director of commercial fisheries for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The department has not quantified past heat-related fish deaths because they tended to be sporadic and inconsistent, Rabung said. But department scientists thi...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska wildfire officials are reviewing their initial assessment of the cause of a weekend fire that burned at least 50 structures along the main highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The fire began Saturday in high wind and was initially attributed to a tree toppling onto a power line. The cause of the fire is now under investigation, Tim Mowry, spokesman for the Alaska Division of Forestry, said Tuesday. The fire covers 4.7 square miles (12.2 sq. kilometers). The number of people displaced by the fire and the n...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has been America’s canary in the coal mine for climate warming, and the yellow bird is swooning. July was Alaska’s warmest month ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Sea ice melted. Bering Sea fish swam in above-normal temperatures. So did children in the coastal town of Nome. Wildfire season started early and stayed late. Thousands of walruses thronged to shore. Unusual weather events like this could become more common with climate warming, said Brian Brettschneider, an assoc...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from the Russian Navy on the shores of western Alaska. Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter early this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref about 600 miles (966 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, television station KTUU reported. “I was just looking for firewood when I found the bottle,” Tyler Ivanoff said. “When I found the bottle, I had to use a screwdriver to get the message out.” Ivanoff shared his discovery on Facebook where Russian s...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A teenage deckhand, roused awake by water flooding his sleeping area aboard a fishing tender last summer in southwest Alaska, recalled taking a gulp of air as he cast about the vessel for an escape route as it was capsizing. The teen was rescued, as was the boat captain, but another crew member, the captain’s father, died when the Pacific Knight capsized near Dillingham on July 25, 2018. Details of the teen’s harrowing escape were recounted in a National Transportation Safety Board report on the incident released Thurs...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska group has filed an application with the state for a ballot initiative asking voters to increase taxes on the oil industry, a report said. The proposed Fair Share Act would alter the state’s 2014 oil-production tax, The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday. The measure could bring in about $1 billion in additional production taxes, the group said. “Alaskans should receive their fair share from the sale of our oil,” said initiative committee member Robin Brena. The application submitted Friday comes as Republi...
