Sorted by date Results 651 - 675 of 797
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Last December, poor weather scrambled Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s inaugural plans, a bumpy start to a turbulent year marked by budget disputes and a recall threat. Dunleavy told The Associated Press recently he hopes to move past the rancor. Whether he can repair strained relationships with legislators and calm the public anger over cuts that fueled the recall push will be telling. Courts will decide whether the recall effort advances. The Republican, who marks a year in office Tuesday, defended the cuts as a tough decisio...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Cub Scout Pack 10 came face-to-face with nature in the Harborview Elementary School cafeteria. After creating bird-enrichment toys, the Scouts met Juneau Raptor Center education ambassador birds Phil and Justice, a “very social” gyrfalcon and fish-head-loving bald eagle, on Nov. 22. Scouts like 8-year-old Oliver Robertson and 9-year-old Joseph Race kept their eyes trained on the birds, speaking up whenever one made sudden movement or sounds. “He’s trying to say something,” one Scout said in earnest after Phil squawked. T...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The committee that will plan Alaska’s redistricting that occurs every 10 years is set to begin meeting, officials said. The state’s Redistricting Planning Committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting Wednesday in Anchorage, KTOO-FM reported Monday. Redistricting involves redrawing Alaska’s legislative districts to align with figures from the federal census, which also occurs once every decade, officials said. Final decisions about where district lines are drawn will be made by a separate redistricting board authori...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A southeast Alaska commercial fisherman convicted of fishing in a state research area has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined more than $35,000. Alaska State Troopers say 45-year-old Jonathan McGraw Jr. of Naukati Bay pleaded guilty last week to fishing in closed waters of Whale Pass and providing false information on a fish ticket. Both are misdemeanors. Wildlife troopers determined that McGraw in late 2017 and early 2018 harvested sea cucumbers in the research area where commercial diving is never p...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Free to a good home: One newspaper. Not a single edition of a paper but the entire newspaper. Publisher Larry Persily is willing to give away The Skagway News to the right person or couple who are willing to move to Skagway, Alaska, a cruise ship town that once boasted four newspapers during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush days. "The only way this paper has a long-term future, and anything that I've ever seen that works with small town weeklies or bi-weeklies is...
After thorough inspections of the 45-year-old M/V LeConte and the 44-year-old M/V Aurora, the Alaska Marine Highway System is moving forward with repairs for the LeConte. Engineers inspecting the ships determined that both will require extensive steel replacement. The Aurora will require 20% more steel to be replaced and locations are more challenging because of associated electric, plumbing, and hydraulic lines. Repair work on the Aurora will be more expensive and will take longer. Estimates fo...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal board has approved changing the name of a Southeast Alaska bay following a petition from tribal leaders over its association with military aggression, officials said. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved changing the name of Saginaw Bay to Skanax Bay last week, CoastAlaska reported. The Alaska House of Representatives and Alaska Historical Commission endorsed the name change earlier this year. The change was requested by the Organized Village of Kake, the area’s tribal government. “As a clan we never...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The flight crew of a plane that crashed in a remote Alaska community last month, fatally injuring a man, abandoned an initial landing attempt and faced stronger winds on their second try before the plane went off the runway, according to a federal report released Friday. The investigative update from the National Transportation Safety Board said the captain indicated he had accumulated about 20,000 total flight hours, 101 hours of which were in the Saab 2000, the type of plane involved in the October crash in the remote A...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has the nation’s highest rate of sexual assault and violent crime has increased in the state, a new FBI report said. The 2018 statistical analysis from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program said Alaska did not conform to a general national decline in violent crime, Alaska Public Media reported. The annual report uses statistics from law enforcement agencies to provide an analysis of crime at the national, state and municipal levels. Alaska saw an 11% increase in the number of sexual assaults reported to la...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A group seeking changes to Alaska’s oil tax credit system has filed a lawsuit against state officials over language describing its initiative. KTVA-TV reported Sunday that Vote Yes for Alaska’s Fair Share filed a complaint in Anchorage Superior Court Nov. 14 against Republican Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer and the state Division of Elections. The group’s members say the state is not receiving an equitable share of oil proceeds largely because of a per-barrel deduction for oil companies it believes is overly generous while t...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Department of Transportation is considering how to act on a study addressing issues within the Alaska Marine Highway System, including an aging fleet and decreased ridership, officials said. The study conducted by research firm Northern Economics evaluated 11 options for overhauling the network of vessels that moves people, vehicles and goods, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday. The ferry system reaches 35 communities spread over more than 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) from the Aleutian I...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state plans to resume some level of service to several communities that had runs disrupted or canceled due to repair needs with other vessels. The ferry system says the day-boat Tazlina will be brought out of layup and begin operating Thursday. The system says the Tazlina will “provide as much service to the northern Panhandle as regulations will allow” through Jan. 5 and call on Haines, Skagway, Gustavus and Hoonah. Service could be extended to Angoon, too, if a dock issue is resolved. Service was reduced or cance...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told a Christian broadcaster she learned her husband was seeking a divorce in an email from his attorney. The revelation came in an interview released Tuesday with James Dobson, founder of the Family Talk Christian ministry. He said the interview had been conducted previously. Palin said she received an email June 19 from the attorney, almost three months before Todd Palin filed for divorce on his birthday in September. She described the filing that came shortly after their 31st wedding a...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Nearly $150 million was spent on mineral exploration for primarily large mine opportunities in Alaska last year, officials said. That figure is up from just more than $50 million in spending three and four years ago, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday. Mineral exploration spending reached a peak of $350 million per year in the late 2000s, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. There were 18 large exploration projects across the state for “every metal under the sun,” said Curt Freem...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed creating critical habitat sites to protect humpback whales that will extend to waters off Alaska, officials said. The habitats are focused on the feeding areas of groups of humpback whales and include the area off Juneau, The Juneau Empire reported Sunday. A critical habitat does not establish a sanctuary or preserve, said Lisa Manning, an official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the fisheries service. Manning conducted a public p...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state has suffered recent blows in lawsuits driven by opinions issued by Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson, with one legislative critic saying Clarkson is providing ideological opinions. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat, also called Clarkson an activist attorney general. But Michael Geraghty, a former attorney general, said he wouldn’t second-guess Clarkson or another attorney general and notes lower-court decisions can be reversed. On Thursday, a judge in Juneau sided with lawmakers in an edu...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday voiced his opposition to a push in Alaska aimed at recalling Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, with a decision expected soon on whether the effort will advance. Trump tweeted that Democrats are treating Dunleavy unfairly and trying to recall him because of an agenda that Trump said includes jobs, energy and the economy. Claire Pywell, who manages the Recall Dunleavy campaign, said the effort is not partisan and the group is being mischaracterized. “Yes, it is charged. Yes, it is political,...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — Attorneys in Alaska have filed a class-action lawsuit that seeks to reverse a recent rate increase in a group of state-owned homes providing assisted living care. News organizations reported the lawsuit filed in Ketchikan Superior Court Monday asks a judge to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against rate increases at Pioneer Homes. The lawsuit names the state of Alaska, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Alaska Department of Health and Social Services officials as defendants. The Sept. 1 rate changes i...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An emergency has been declared by officials in an Alaska city involving a lack of air service following a fatal plane crash that led to the suspension of regular flights. The Unalaska City Council also passed a resolution Tuesday that states the city wants to start organizing charter flights and selling seats at the basic cost, the Anchorage Daily News reported . The council approved funding for up to three weeks or until the return of regular flights. To organize the charter flights, the city would need a waiver of p...
JUNEAU – Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) was recently informed that the M/V LeConte is in need of more extensive repairs than originally anticipated. AMHS budgeted $1.2 million for overhaul of the 45-year-old LeConte, but after an extensive survey of the steel hull, it was determined that considerable repair work is needed. The additional repairs are estimated to cost $4 million. Repair work has temporarily stopped on the LeConte. On Nov. 4, AMHS will bring the M/V Aurora into the Vigor shipyard dry-dock in Ketchikan for annual overhaul and...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The rate of fatal airplane crashes in Alaska is higher than the national average, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB has preliminary reports for 10 fatal plane wrecks in Alaska for the 2019 calendar year. The figure does not include an Oct. 17 crash in Unalaska, which does not yet have a federal report, The Juneau Empire reported Sunday. Alaska had nine fatal plane accidents last year, eight in 2017, 12 in 2016, and 11 in 2015, the newspaper reported. The NTSB website indicates 5.4% of the 2...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A study by a military behavioral health team has failed to pinpoint definitive reasons for soldier suicides at Fort Wainwright, but it found possible risk factors. A report obtained by KTVF-TV outlines steps taken by the team that responded to the post after U.S. Rep. Don Young asked for medical professionals to examine the situation. The review took place between March and September. Since May 2018, nine Fort Wainwright soldiers have died in cases not attributed to accident or other known cause. Four have been c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Backers of a proposed ballot measure calling for ranked-choice voting in statewide elections should be allowed to begin signature gathering, a judge has decided. The state plans to appeal the ruling. Superior Court Judge Yvonne Lamoureux in Anchorage found the application should have been certified and that the Division of Elections should let supporters begin gathering signatures to try to qualify the measure for the ballot, reported the Anchorage Daily News. Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, following advice from Attorney General K...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended its deadline to review numerous comments submitted for a draft environmental review of the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay region. Assistant Secretary of the Army R.D. James extended Thursday's deadline to Feb. 28 to consider comments, including those from the Environmental Protection Agency and to draft a preliminary final environmental impact statement. In a letter to the EPA, James says the corps, the EPA and others will meet soon to resolve outstanding i...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Opponents of oil drilling in America's largest wildlife refuge have a message for oil drillers and the people who finance them: Don't become the company known for the demise of America's polar bears. The Department of the Interior hopes to conduct a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by the end of the year but environmental groups say they will challenge those plans in federal court and the court of public opinion. “We will not tolerate the administration's brazen attempt to paper over the impacts of thi...
