Sorted by date Results 1472 - 1496 of 1731
The federal government will investigate its past oversight of Native American boarding schools and work to “uncover the truth about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences” of policies that over the decades forced hundreds of thousands of children from their families and communities, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced June 22. The unprecedented work will include compiling and reviewing records to identify past boarding schools, locate known and possible burial sites at or near those schools, and uncover the names and tri...
SEASIDE, Calif. (AP) — Mike Gravel, who served as a U.S. senator from Alaska 1969-1981 and who read the anti-Vietnam War Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record, has died. He was 91. Gravel died last Saturday, according to his daughter, Lynne Mosier. Gravel had been living in Seaside, California, and was in failing health, said Theodore W. Johnson, a former aide. Gravel’s two terms came during tumultuous years for Alaska when construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline was authorized and when Congress was deciding how to settle Ala...
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled June 25 that Alaska Native corporations should benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars in disputed coronavirus relief funds, rather than be denied access and the money instead spread among Native American tribes around the U.S. The justices ruled 6-3 in the case, which involved the massive pandemic relief package passed last year and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump. The $2.2 trillion legislation earmarked $8 billion for “Tribal governments” to cover expenses related to the pandemic. The f...
SEATTLE (AP) - The hottest day of an unprecedented and dangerous heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest on Monday, with temperatures obliterating records that had been set just the day before. Seattle hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit by evening. Portland reached 116 on Monday after hitting records of 108 on Saturday and 112 on Sunday. The temperatures were unheard of in a region better known for rain, and where June has historically been referred to as “Juneuary” for its cool drizzle. Seattle’s average high temperature in June is around 70, and few...
TORONTO (AP) – Canadian border restrictions on nonessential travel to and from the United States will be extended until at least July 21, officials said last Friday, as Canada works to get a higher percentage of its residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the move has been made in coordination with U.S. officials. There are growing calls in the U.S. to open the Canada-U.S. border for tourism and other travel considered nonessential, but less than 20% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. The yearlong b...
MIAMI (AP) - Royal Caribbean International is postponing for nearly a month one of the highly anticipated first sailings from the U.S. since the pandemic began because eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19, the company's CEO said. The brand new Odyssey of the Seas was to set sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 3, but is now postponed to July 31. Royal Caribbean International's CEO Michael Bayley said June 15 on Facebook that the decision had been made "out of an abundance of...
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on June 18 ruled for Florida in the state’s lawsuit challenging a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pandemic order imposing standards before cruise ships can resume sailing. U.S. District Court Judge Steven Merryday wrote in a 124-page decision that Florida would be harmed if the CDC order — which the state said effectively blocked most cruises — were to continue. The CDC order said ship operators can choose between running a test cruise to show they can effectively stop the spread...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A city-owned museum in Alabama will return works of art to Southeast Alaska Native tribes that requested the pieces four years ago, decades after the museum had purchased the items for its collection. A vote by the Birmingham City Council cleared the way for the Birmingham Museum of Art to return the items to the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The groups requested return of the art under a 1990 law that requires institutions which receive federal funds to return Native American cultural items to the respectiv...
The Coast Guard announced it has received permission from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to no longer enforce the mandate that requires anyone traveling on commercial vessels, including ferries and fishing boats, to wear a mask in outdoor areas. It will take some time for the CDC to formally revise the executive order and its mandates that initially required masking up outdoors on maritime vessels, Kodiak public radio station KMXT reported June 11. Until then, the CDC said it will not compel the Coast Guard and vessel operators...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Wildlife officials said two campers were attacked by a bear this weekend while they were sleeping in a tent in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Jeff Selinger said the campers were sleeping when the bear attacked Saturday around midnight. The campers had a bear horn and spray, but did not have enough time to use them. “There’s no indication that they did anything to prompt the attack or did anything wrong,” he said. “It’s one of those where you happen to be in the wrong place at...
JUNEAU (AP) - The federal government has announced plans to “repeal or replace” a decision by the Trump administration that intended to lift restrictions on logging and road building in Southeast Alaska. Conservationists cheered the announcement as a positive step, while Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy criticized it and vowed to use “every tool available to push back.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans were announced on a federal regulatory site with little detail last Friday. They were described as consistent with a January executive...
JUNEAU (AP) - A former Republican Alaska legislator was indicted on new felony charges alleging voter misconduct related to her 2018 election, according to an indictment released by the state Department of Law. Gabrielle LeDoux pleaded not guilty June 10, the department said. She represented an Anchorage House district at the time of the alleged criminal acts. LeDoux told the AP by text message she is “completely innocent of all charges. I have done absolutely nothing wrong. I look forward to clearing my name at trial.” The department, in Mar...
SEATTLE (AP) - Federal officials are proposing to curtail nontribal salmon fishing in the Pacific Northwest in especially bad years to help the area’s endangered killer whales. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division is taking public comment on the plan, which calls for restricting commercial and recreational salmon fishing when chinook salmon forecasts are especially low. The southern resident killer whales — the endangered orcas that spend much of their time in the waters between Washington state and Briti...
KENAI (AP) - A Seward City Council member has apologized for making an antisemitic comment during a council work session last week. Council member Sharyl Seese said she was “embarrassed” and “very sorry” for the comments made June 7, the Peninsula Clarion reported. The council was discussing possible negotiations over the price of a building. “Maybe we can Jew them down,” Seese said, according to a YouTube stream of the work session, as reported in the Anchorage Daily News. Council members nervously laughed at the comment and the mayor adjou...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska Wildlife Troopers do not intend to issue a citation to a man who was seen lifting a baby moose over a guardrail in Southcentral Alaska, though it is illegal to “handle any wild animal in a similar fashion,’’ an Alaska State Troopers spokesperson said June 10. An Anchorage man, Joe Tate, was driving home June 3 from a fishing trip with friends when saw a line of cars and a moose on the highway about 20 miles south of Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula. Tate said a mother moose was pacing in the road, and a young calf strug...
An agreement between an Alaska Native village corporation and conservationists would restrict development on lands in the Bristol Bay region where the Pebble Mine developer has proposed a road, a move that could create another obstacle for the project. The Conservation Fund said June 8 it has launched a fundraising campaign to buy the land easements on more than 44,000 acres from the Pedro Bay Corp. for $18.3 million. Terms call for the money to be raised by the end of 2022, said Ann Simonelli, a spokesperson for the Virginia-based...
JUNEAU (AP) - A proposed 500-mile hiking trail from Southcentral Alaska to Fairbanks aimed at drawing more adventurers to the state has garnered support from the governor, tourism officials and others, and it could get a funding boost to help begin stitching it together. The state budget, under debate this month in a special legislative session, includes $13.2 million toward beginning to build the Alaska Long Trail, similar in concept to grand treks such as the Pacific Crest Trail or Appalachian Trail, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Funds...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Officials in Anchorage have reported that the city’s sewer system is clogging up because people are flushing wipes and other items — a problem worsened by the pandemic as people continue to spend more time at home. Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility spokesperson Sandy Baker said up to 6,000 pounds of wipes entered the sewer system daily since the coronavirus pandemic started. “We saw a small uptick in wipes when the pandemic started,” Baker said last month. “But this is a year-round problem for us.” The wipes combine wit...
The Petersburg borough is offering $10,000 in prizes during June to encourage residents who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 to get the shot. The Sleeves Up Petersburg drawing is sponsored by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, with money distributed through the Alaska Chamber of Commerce. It’s part of a campaign to increase the state’s vaccination rate by 25%. “That’s the drive from the start, to increase our vaccination rate and get out of this pandemic,” said Petersburg Incident Commander Karl Hagerman. “Let’s ge...
MIAMI (AP) - Royal Caribbean International said it will require vaccinations for passengers 16 and older on cruises to Alaska, and that crew members on all of its ships will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before it restarts cruise operations __next month to Alaska and from ports in Texas and Florida. The vaccination requirement will be expanded to cover Alaska-bound passengers 12 and over starting Aug. 1. Royal Caribbean is the latest of most other major cruise operators to Alaska - in...
JUNEAU (AP) – The state of Alaska has begun offering free COVID-19 vaccines at airports, a move that was planned a month ago for the start of the summer travel season as an additional enticement for visitors to come to Alaska. The state health department said vaccine eligibility was expanded June 1 to include anyone in Alaska who is at least 12 years old, including visitors from other states or countries. In addition to airport vaccination sites in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, the state has opened up all its other sites around the state for...
WASILLA (AP) - An Alaska bride-to-be mailed out her wedding invitations last month and eagerly waited for friends and family to respond. And kept waiting. ``We were kind of wondering why we weren’t receiving any RSVPs, but we really didn’t think much of it,’’ Crystle Lewis, of Wasilla, told news station Anchorage KTUU-TV. It turns out, they had incorrect postage on their invitations. Their style of invitation, with a wax seal on the back of the envelope, required extra postage. A notice had been sent to the post office box on the return...
Upright pianos in Skagway bars dating from the Gold Rush. Grand pianos worth tens of thousands of dollars in Anchorage and Sitka. Bob Hope's piano while he was on a USO tour in Alaska. Plus private, church and school pianos in Wrangell. Virgel Hale has tuned them all in his 51-year career traveling around Alaska. But now, at age 81, he's retiring, and will be staying home with his wife, Patsy, who has health problems, in Mountain Grove, Missouri, closer to kids and grandkids. "I hate to call it...
A former co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives, former board president of the Sealaska Corp. and a retired Democratic state legislator died last Friday at his home in Angoon. Albert Kookesh was 72. Kookesh was fighting prostate cancer. Alaska public radio reported that after being treated at a hospital, he made the decision to return to his home village on the coast of Admiralty Island. In remembrances posted online and shared on social media, he was praised for his work with Southeast Alaska’s regional Native corporation, his efforts t...
The Southeast Alaska Power Agency plans to begin an eight-day process July 1 of removing a damaged submarine electrical cable and replacing it with a new line between Woronkofski and Vank islands, SEAPA CEO Trey Acteson told the Petersburg borough assembly May 17. Crews will lay about 3.5 miles of new cable. The manufacturing and installation of the cable is estimated to cost about $13.4 million, Acteson said SEAPA board member Bob Lynn told the assembly at an earlier meeting that the regional power agency would likely need to raise its rates t...