Sorted by date Results 4004 - 4028 of 8149
JUNEAU (AP) - A plan by the governor to close six Division of Motor Vehicles offices and contract with private companies to provide services has been met with resistance from the state Legislature. Under the proposal, the state would save money but the public would have to pay extra fees charged by the private companies for licenses and registrations. The plan by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration to close the offices in Haines, Eagle River, Tok, Homer, Delta Junction and Valdez would save about $500,000 a year in operating costs, according t...
ANCHORAGE (AP) – A Wasilla construction worker faces federal charges in the January breach of the U.S. Capitol. Aaron James Mileur, 41, was arrested March 16 by the FBI on charges of knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds. The charges stemming from the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol are misdemeanors. The case had been sealed until his arrest. He made an initial appearance March 16 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, where federal prosecutors did not ask t...
PALMER — Health officials in Anchorage say they’re worried about a COVID-19 transmission source that could delay efforts to move past the pandemic’s human toll and crippling economic effects. That source is the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the government-wary neighbor to the north where some residents balk at public health recommendations for mask-wearing and vaccination. “The large number of people who travel between the two communities daily makes high levels of disease transmission ... a concern,” Anchorage health officials warned in a rece...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A new federal law will require operators of recreational boats less than 26 feet in length to use an engine cut-off switch with a safety link that attaches the operator to the control device to shut off the engine if the operator is knocked from the helm. The new law applies only to boats built beginning in January 2020. Boats with the primary helm inside an enclosed cabin are exempt from the new law. The U.S. Coast Guard said it receives reports every year about recreational vessel operators who fall off of or are suddenly...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska lawmakers have advanced a bill that would double the state’s motor fuel tax, which has not changed since 1970 and is the lowest in the U.S. The bill passed in the House Transportation Committee on March 16 and moves next to the House Finance Committee for review. If it can pass the full House, it would go to the Senate, which approved a similar bill last year that failed to win passage in the House. The bill would double the state’s gas tax to 16 cents per gallon. Most of the $34 million a year in additional revenue wou...
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) - An electoral reform that has taken root in the iconoclastic states of Maine and Alaska could be gaining traction nationwide. Ranked-choice voting, a concept that was relegated to theoretical discussions among policy wonks for decades, is now being promoted by advocates in other states, building on last year's successful initiative campaign in Alaska - though the Alaska victory was tight, with a 3,778-vote victory out of 345,000 ballots cast. A major push is under way in...
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is withdrawing its planned nomination of Elizabeth Klein to become deputy secretary at the Interior Department amid opposition from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Klein, who worked at Interior during the Obama administration, was among five women named by then-President-elect Joe Biden to serve as deputy Interior secretaries. But she was never formally nominated by the president and now won’t be, a White House spokesman said Tuesday. Klein’s withdrawal was first reported by Politico. Instead, Biden is exp...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy wants to create a new state ferry system advisory board with one state official and 10 public members to replace an existing advisory panel, similar to a separate proposal from coastal lawmakers. The difference being that the legislative proposal would protect board members from dismissal by a governor, while under Dunleavy's bill the members would "serve at the pleasure" of the governor. The governor would appoint the entire board under Dunleavy's bill, while the Legislature...
SEARHC had more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine than people registered to get the shot as of Tuesday, and is looking for younger people to sign up. While the state just last week dropped its restrictions on who could receive a vaccination, opening the program to anyone 16 and older, SEARHC, which serves Wrangell and almost 20 other Southeast communities, has offered the shots to the general public the past several weeks. "Through efficient processes and steady allotments of vaccines, SEARHC staff...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The Alaska Republican Party, which already had censured Sen. Lisa Murkowski for voting to convict former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, now doesn’t want her to identity as a GOP candidate in next year’s election, a member of the party’s State Central Committee said Tuesday. “The party does not want Lisa Murkowski to be a Republican candidate,” said Tuckerman Babcock, immediate past chairman of the state party. The senator is up for reelection next year. The vote to censure Murkowski was 53-17 at a Saturday...
Faced with a choice of spending $30.53 million to replace the Public Safety Building or a renovation estimated at $12.87 million, the city administration is recommending the less costly project for the 34-year-old, two-story wood building. Even at the lower cost, the city does not have the money and will continue to look for funding. The borough assembly met with the assessment team March 11 to discuss the building's problems and options. The engineers assessed the building last September to...
Though Eagle River Republican Sen. Lora Reinbold made peace with legislative leadership and wore a face mask for the Senate floor session on Monday, Wasilla Republican Rep. Christopher Kurka removed his mask during the House floor session and was asked to leave the room. "Let's end this charade," Kurka said. "COVID-19 is here to stay. No measures we take are going to stop it, no matter how repressive a course, or unconstitutional." The freshman legislator expressed doubt that the federal Centers...
After spending almost $1.1 million to keep the vessels out of service to save money and safely tied up the past several years, the state last week sold its two fast ferries - built at a combined cost of $68 million less than 20 years ago - for just over $5 million. Mediterranean-based catamaran operator Trasmapi had offered about $4.6 million for the Fairweather and Chenega. The company serves the Spanish island of Ibiza, about 70 miles off the coast. The state was able to negotiate the final...
Here's your chance to get rid of the old computers, monitors and printers stacked in the corner. The Wrangell Cooperative Association's Indian General Assistance Program will host a free e-waste drop-off 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the carving shed on Front Street. All electronic devices with "a brain and a cord," according to a flyer for the event, can be brought in for proper disposal. There are some items the program will not accept, according to Kim Wickman, with the WCA. This includes...
According to unofficial election results, three incumbents were reelected to the Wrangell Cooperative Association tribal council last week and one new candidate was chosen by voters. Tribal citizens chose four out of five candidates to join the council for two-year terms. Turnout for the March 10 election was 128 voters, the WCA reported, compared to 90 in the last election in November. The winners are Luella Knapp (110 votes), Michelle Jenkins (86 votes), Richard Oliver (85 votes) and Jason...
The City and Borough of Wrangell will apply for $125,000 in COVID-19 grant funding from the state Department of Health and Social Services, after the assembly approved the action at a special meeting March 11. The funding is for "COVID-19 testing and vaccination enhancement," according to the meeting's agenda packet. While the city does not have a specific plan for how to use the funding, it needed to act quickly to get its application in by the March 15 deadline, Borough Manager Lisa Von...
After an extended period of lay leadership, Island of Faith Lutheran Church has welcomed its new pastor, Sue Bahleda. She and her husband, Bill, arrived in Wrangell about a month ago and have settled into their new roles in the community. "This church was looking for a pastor, I was contacted, and we did the search process together," she said. "It's called 'calling.' They called me to this church then." Bahleda comes to Island of Faith with years of experience behind the pulpit and in Southeast...
Almost 100 Wrangell households have applied for financial aid to help pay their rent and/or utilities under a state-managed program funded with federal pandemic-relief dollars. The program closed to applications on March 5, with 97 submitted by Wrangell residents among almost 30,000 applications turned in from across the state. The applications from Wrangell represent about 10% of the community's total number of households, according to U.S. Census data. The Alaska Housing Finance Corp. is...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Four additional cases of a coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil have been found in Alaska, state health officials said. Two of the cases were from Anchorage and two from Eagle River, health officials announced March 10. One case of the variant had previously been detected in Alaska, but officials last month said additional cases were likely given the person in that case had not recently traveled outside Alaska and did not have a clear source of infection. As of March 9, 15 cases of the variant had been reported in the...
JUNEAU (AP) – A Petersburg woman who was adopted found her biological brother through the genetic testing company 23andMe. Sara Hadad-Dembs received a Facebook message recently from a man in Illinois that read, “Hi, I know this is super out of the blue, but I think I’m your brother,” the Juneau Empire reported March 4. Hadad-Dembs had received a 23andMe test kit from her adoptive brother in 2019. The man who ended up being her birth brother received a DNA test kit as a birthday present about a year later. In December, Hadad-Dembs receive...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has begun to raffle permits for some of its most desirable hunts to help raise money toward covering a nearly $2 million revenue loss due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s called “Alaska’s Super Seven Big Game Raffle.” The permits will allow buyers to hunt species such as brown bears, caribou or musk ox. One of the seven hunts is in Southeast Alaska — the Revilla (Revillagigedo) Island mountain goat hunt — and the rest are in the Interior or Aleutian Islands. “We saw close to $2 million re...
JUNEAU (AP) - The governor sent a one-sentence letter to legislative leaders last week, notifying lawmakers that he has withdrawn his request to split the Department of Health and Social Services into two departments. Multiple groups had questioned the split, including tribal organizations, advocates for foster children and the largest state employee union. And a lawyer for the Legislature said portions of the executive order that would have split the department appeared to conflict with state law and faced potential legal challenges,...
JUNEAU (AP) – The Sealaska Heritage Institute and luxury department store Neiman Marcus have settled a lawsuit over the sale of a coat with a copyrighted, geometric design borrowed from Indigenous culture. The Southeast Natives cultural organization said in a statement March 3 that both sides, including 10 other named defendants besides Neiman Marcus, agreed to terms "to resolve all disputes between them under U.S. and Tlingit law," Juneau public radio station KTOO reported. The institute is the...
A new case of COVID-19 was announced in Wrangell on Wednesday night , but the residency of the new case was not reported. According to the city, the patient has been notified and is in isolation. The initial interview of the patient had not been conducted as of 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. This case is one of two currently active in the community, and the only one whose residency is currently unknown. Of the 35 cases Wrangell has seen since the start of the pandemic, 24 have been locals, eight non-locals, and two residents who were not in town at the...
Seal oil has been a staple in the diet of Alaska’s Inupiat for generations. The oil — ever-present in households dotting Alaska coastlines — is used mainly as a dipping sauce for fish, caribou and musk ox. It’s also used to flavor stews and even eaten alone. But when Inupiat elders entered nursing homes, they were cut off from the comfort food. State regulations didn’t allow seal oil because it’s among traditionally prepared Alaska Native foods that have been associated with the state’s high rate of botulism, which can cause illness or de...