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While planning and hoping for as much as $2 billion to replace its shrinking fleet of older ships over the next 20 years, the Alaska Marine Highway System also is looking at smaller things it can do to improve service in the near term. That will include Wi-Fi service on the ships; possibly more offerings or expanded bars; maybe even putting gift shops on the vessels. Federal money will pay for installing Wi-Fi. Increased bar service and possible gift shops will depend on whether the state ferry system can cover the costs, said Sam Dapcevich,...
The differences between Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola and her Republican challenger Nick Begich were on full display last Monday during the final planned debate of Alaska’s U.S. House race. Begich, a businessman who lost twice to Peltola in 2022, is again vying for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat against Peltola, a former state lawmaker who won the seat in 2022 after leading for several years an intertribal fish commission. The outcome of the race could have far-reaching impacts in determining control of a closely divided chamber, dra...
WASHINGTON — With less than a week before the polls close on Nov. 5, the U.S. Justice Department Wednesday reiterated its efforts to protect voters’ access to the ballot box through its civil rights, national security and criminal divisions. “Protecting the right to vote, prosecuting election crimes, and securing our elections are all essential to maintaining the confidence of all Americans in our democratic system of government,” the Justice Department said in a press release. The Justice Department said that any complaints relating to viol... Full story
A major copper-and-gold mining project in the rugged mountains of northwestern British Columbia — upstream from a Southeast Alaska fishing town — is poised for a boost from the Canadian government. Canada's department of natural resources last month announced that it plans to inject about $15 million U.S. into a massive copper and gold development just 25 miles from the Alaska border. The project is perched above tributaries of the Stikine River — a major salmon-bearing waterway that flows... Full story
Alaskans will vote Nov. 5 on a ballot measure that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027 and require that workers get paid for up to seven sick days a year. To backers who collected signatures to put the question before voters, Ballot Measure 1 is about fairness for workers and overall state economic vitality. But opponents in business groups warn that the measure, if passed, would bring dire consequences. To Sarah Oates, CHARR’s president, the consequences of Ballot Measure 1 would be bad. “This is going to kill small... Full story
On a Thursday morning in Petersburg High School's room 206, algebra II students sit around the edge of the classroom, forming a big U. Their teacher, Megan Smith, asks them if it's possible to take the square root of a negative fraction. "Noooooooo" they chorus, "No solution!" Together they work through a series of problems. Then, even though class is only halfway over, she tells them to get started on their homework. She turns to four students who had been ignoring the lesson, curled over...
Travis Kukull receives a lot of messages from friends, family, and randos up and down the Upper Lynn Canal every year around this time. “People text me pictures of things all the time.” They take pictures of fungi and send them to Kukull’s phone to see if they’re edible. But Kukull is the first to admit he doesn’t know everything and that he’s not a scientist. “I’m just a chef, but I am a mushroom nerd,” he said. It’s true – Kukull has been a chef for 25 years. Right now, he owns Malo Nista Catering in Haines. But his fungal fascination reigns...
The number of jobs in Southeast Alaska continued its post-pandemic recovery last year. Yet, employers remain worried about filling job vacancies amid declining — and aging — population numbers. “While jobs continue to grow in 2024, so do concerns about the lack of a sufficient workforce in the region,” according to the annual Southeast Alaska by the Numbers report. “Compared to 2010, when the population was nearly identically sized, the region now has 1,700 more jobs and 5,600 fewer workforce-aged residents,” said the report, prepared by...
HAINES - A small crowd gathered Saturday night watching as a fire ate through the building that houses Haines' Quick Shop, Outfitter Liquor, Outfitter Sporting Goods, Mike's Bikes & Boards, and four apartments. No one reported any injuries and, at first, it seemed as though Haines Volunteer Firefighters were going to be able to contain flames. But as the fire got larger and more involved, the crowd swelled. Dozens sat in the small boat harbor parking lot or along Front Street, watching as the...
Voters in Alaska's capital city have rejected a resident-written ballot proposition that would have banned large cruise ships on Saturdays and the Fourth of July.Tuesday was municipal election day for most of Alaska's cities and boroughs, and in preliminary results in Juneau, about 60% of participating voters sided against the "ship-free Saturdays" initiative. Some ballots have yet to be counted but are not expected to change the result. Elsewhere across the state, municipal elections saw... Full story
Opponents of the planned Donlin Gold mine in Western Alaska won a key victory on Monday when a federal judge ruled that regulators who granted a permit needed to build the project failed to properly consider the risks of a catastrophic release of mine waste. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason agreed with tribal government plaintiffs that argued the environmental study that led to federal permitting for the Donlin mine illegally omitted analysis of the impacts of a major tailings dam failure. “I think it’s a major victory for the tri...
This year's Permanent Fund dividend, plus a one-time energy rebate bonus, will be a combined $1,702 per recipient, the Alaska Department of Revenue announced Thursday. The amount is slightly higher than previous estimates from the spring, in part because the number of recipients is lower than expected. The payments will be direct-deposited into Alaskans' bank accounts starting Oct. 3. Paper checks, for those Alaskans who requested them, will be mailed later in October. This year's combined... Full story
Alaska had the biggest decline in average life expectancy of all U.S. states in 2021, a year when health outcomes were heavily influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent national report. Alaska’s life expectancy in 2021 was 74.5 years, down from the average of 76.6 years in 2020, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, U.S. life expectancy declined by 0.6 years in that time, mostly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and increases in drug overdose deaths and other unintentional i...
Officials with the U.S. Postal Service intercepted a threatening envelope sent to the Alaska Division of Elections on Tuesday, one of a number of similar packages sent to elections officials in other states, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced. Dahlstrom, who oversees elections work in the state, said in a written statement that the Postal Service notified the division that it had been targeted and that postal inspectors had seized a suspicious envelope and its contents for further investigation. Further details about the Alaska-bound envelope... Full story
State health officials have recorded 234 cases this year of whooping cough — also known as pertussis — through Sept. 9, more than were reported over the past seven years combined. About three-quarters of this year’s cases came in the past three months. Of the statewide total, SEARHC reports 11 in Southeast from June through early September, Lyndsey Y. Schaefer, communications director for the health care provider, said in an emailed statement Sept. 12. Privacy rules prevent SEARHC from disclosing the communities with whooping cough cases...
The Southeast Alaska sport fishery is on track to exceed its king salmon allocation for the summer by 14,000 fish, prompting the state to close the region to sportfishing for kings. The closure went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26. “King salmon may not be retained or possessed, and any king salmon caught must be released immediately and returned to the water unharmed,” according to the Department of Fish and Game announcement late Friday, Aug. 23. The king salmon sport fishery will reopen on Oct. 1 for the winter season. “While the (...
A ballot measure that could repeal Alaska’s ranked choice election system is headed to a vote in November, the Alaska Supreme Court confirmed Thursday. In a brief order, the court’s five members upheld a lower court decision that certified Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the laws that created the state’s ranked choice general election and open primary election. The order came shortly after justices heard oral arguments in an appeal claiming that the Alaska Division of Elections improperly certified the measure. “Today the Court quickly... Full story
Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is withdrawing from the race for the state's lone U.S. House seat, she announced Friday via social media. With most votes counted, Dahlstrom is expected to finish third in the state's top-four primary election, behind Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola and fellow Republican challenger Nick Begich. Her withdrawal means the expected No. 4 finisher, Republican Matt Salisbury, will likely advance to the general election alongside Begich and Peltola, as would... Full story
A three-judge panel at 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower-court decision that could have temporarily halted troll fishing for salmon in Southeast Alaska. The appellate court decision, announced Friday, clears the way for the region’s troll fishery to continue. It had been threatened by a lawsuit from the Washington-based Wild Fish Conservancy, an environmental group. The group filed suit in 2020, arguing that National Marine Fisheries Service rules applied to the fishery were inadequate when it came to protecting endangere... Full story
Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola received more than half of the votes in primary results released Tuesday night, well ahead of Republican challengers, businessman Nick Begich III and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. With 387 of 403 precincts reporting through 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the incumbent Peltola had received 50.4% of the votes counted. She was running well ahead of her 36.8% share of the vote in the 2022 primary, which was held the same day as the special election she won to fill the seat left vacant by the death of 49-year Congressman Don... Full story
Applications for a federal energy efficiency grant for small businesses are open through the end of September, and Rural Alaska Community Action Program, an Anchorage-based non-profit, can help applicants, RurAL CAP Energy Development Specialist Shae Bowman told listeners at Wednesday’s virtual Sitka Chamber of Commerce meeting. The grant in question is the Rural Energy for America Program, REAP, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and aimed at rural communities. The grant offers assistance for the installation of renewable e...
Local trollers and regional fisheries advocates expressed relief today following Friday’s 9th Circuit Court decision to overturn a U.S. District Court ruling that threatened to shut down Southeast Chinook troll fisheries. “Great news,” Alaska Trollers Association president Matt Donohoe said in a brief text while out fishing. “I’m really grateful that the 9th Circuit understood that WFC’s serial litigation was absurd and ruled in Alaska’s favor.” Jeff Farvour, a Sitka based commercial fisherman and board member of the Sitka-based Ala...
Up to $83 million in federal funds have been approved for small business loans to be offered through a consortium of Alaska tribes. Announced last Tuesday, the funds are part of the U.S. Treasury’s broader effort to support tribal economies, with up to $415 million being funneled into developing the economies of 220 tribes, according to a Treasury news release. Of that group, 125 tribes make up the consortium from Alaska. “These funds will serve some of the most rural populations in the United States, creating jobs and expanding capital acc... Full story
At the height of the food stamp backlog last November, pro bono attorneys and other volunteers at Alaska Legal Services got more than 600 requests in one month from Alaskans seeking a fair hearing to get their overdue food benefits. So the 97 requests that came in this July didn’t feel like anything the group couldn’t handle, said Leigh Dickey, the nonprofit’s advocacy director. But the number is still alarming, she said, and it’s double last month’s requests. Dickey said the state’s Division of Public Assistance is still dogged by the same pr... Full story
Forty-three people spent the night in Juneau's emergency shelter at Floyd Dryden Middle School on Monday night as a record-high flood from the Mendenhall Glacier inundated homes. Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the total number of people who evacuated their homes is likely several times that; shelters are usually a last resort for people who cannot stay with family, friends or in a hotel. "You can imagine how hard it would be to wake up with water in your house, not expecting there to be... Full story
