Sorted by date Results 1296 - 1320 of 1731
JUNEAU (AP) — Most of the people whose deaths were caused by or associated with COVID-19 in Alaska between January 2020 through September 2021 had at least one underlying medical condition, the state health department reported Dec. 1. The department, in an epidemiology bulletin, said 658 deaths between Jan. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, were determined to be caused by or associated with COVID-19. Of the 551 individuals for which their past medical history was known, 529 “had at least one underlying medical condition associated with inc...
The Alaska Marine Highway System is looking for private companies to fill service gaps over the winter for small Northern Southeast communities. The LeConte is scheduled to go out of service in early January until the end of February for its annual overhaul and recertification. That would leave several communities without ferry service for two months. Mainline ferries are too large to serve the communities and the state’s smaller ships are unavailable. “The stars are not aligning for us to use one of our own vessels,” said Sam Dapcevich, a spo...
HAINES (AP) — Residents gathered in Haines to remember the two people killed by a landslide last year. The ceremony, held Saturday, honored kindergarten teacher Jenae Larson and David Simmons, who worked for the community’s economic development organization. Larson’s family is raising funds to build a school playground that will be named in her honor. Haines students are building benches in memory of both victims, whose bodies have not been recovered. Torrential rains last December prompted landslides in the community. The largest was estim...
Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises has entered the rankings of the best small-ship cruise lines in the world, as voted by the readership of a popular travel magazine. Travel+Leisure, with about 4.8 million readers, announced Alaskan Dream Cruises as one of the Top 10 small-ship cruise lines, from a survey conducted between Jan. 11 and May 10. Alaskan Dream Cruises placed 10th, and posted the award on Facebook. Alaskan Dream Cruises’ six vessels each carry between 10 and 76 passengers and make frequent summer stops in Wrangell. It’s the fir...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is suing the Alaska Redistricting Board over recently drawn legislative boundaries that it says dilutes the votes of borough residents. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 2, said Stacey Stone, borough attorney. It is the first lawsuit filed against the new boundaries for state House and Senate seats. The redistricting board adopted its maps Nov. 10, triggering a 30-day period in which challenges could be filed. The board was charged with rewriting Alaska’s political boundaries following the 2020 census. Unles...
Former Alaska Senate President Cathy Giessel plans to run for the state Senate next year. Giessel, an Anchorage Republican, announced her plans Dec. 1 in the newsletter she has regularly distributed since leaving office earlier this year. Giessel lost her primary last year to Republican Roger Holland, who went on to win the seat. Holland based much of his campaign on a pledge that Alaskans should receive a significantly larger Permanent Fund dividend along with retroactive payments, costing a total of several billion dollars, to make good on...
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The warming of the planet is taking a deadly toll on seabirds that are suffering population declines from starvation, inability to reproduce, heat waves and extreme weather. Climate-related losses have hit albatrosses off the Hawaiian islands, northern gannets near the British Isles and puffins off the Maine coast. Some birds are less able to build nests and raise young as sea levels rise, while others are unable to find fish to eat as the ocean heats up, researchers have...
Longtime Sitka troller James Moore has won recognition for his work in developing salmon hatcheries in Southeast, promoting a troll-fleet logbook program, and many other activities supporting Southeast fisheries. After five decades as a salmon troller in Southeast waters, advocating for the fishery all the while, Moore has been honored by the Alaska Trollers Association as a Friend of the Fleet. Moore attributed the accolade in part to his work in establishing the Chichagof-Baranof Aquaculture...
Jeff Wright's long road to recovery led him from addiction and a heart attack in his 50s to hiking trails around Sitka and competing in the New York City Marathon. A lifelong Sitkan, Wright, who is 60, said he ran the 26.2 mile race on Nov. 7 to demonstrate that it's possible to recover from a variety of health issues. He hopes his example inspires those recovering from heart attacks or addiction. "Being in recovery and showing people that you can do it coming back from a heart attack," he said....
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved the nomination of Charles "Chuck" Sams III as National Park Service director, which will make him the first Native American to lead the agency. The National Park Service oversees more than 131,000 square miles of parks, monuments, battlefields and other landmarks. It employs about 20,000 people in permanent, temporary and seasonal jobs, according to its website. In Alaska, the agency oversees 15 national parks, preserves, monuments and...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Dozens of West Point graduates have demanded that Rep. David Eastman, who represents Wasilla in the Alaska Legislature, resign from office over his ties to a right-wing extremist group, saying his affiliation has betrayed the values of the U.S. Military Academy that he attended. A letter signed by 69 fellow West Point graduates was published in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and called on Eastman to resign after his membership in the Oath Keepers became public, with another name added after publication. Eastman had p...
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A cruise ship that carried at least 17 passengers and crew members with breakthrough COVID-19 infections when it docked in New Orleans has set sail again with new passengers. Nine crew members and eight passengers were infected when the Norwegian Breakaway arrived last Sunday, a Louisiana Department of Health spokeswoman said Monday. None of the individuals had any symptoms, and only fully vaccinated people are allowed on board, Norwegian Cruise Line said. The cruise line said all passengers who boarded the Norwegian B...
JUNEAU (AP) — A conservative Republican freshman state legislator announced plans Monday to run for governor, joining a field that includes Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, former independent Gov. Bill Walker and former Anchorage Democratic state lawmaker Les Gara. Rep. Christopher Kurka, of Wasilla, announced his plans in a video on social media in which he levied criticisms at Dunleavy. “The dirty little secret of Juneau and Washington, D.C., is that while most conservative officials talk tough about Republican ideals, very few have the int...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A man charged with threatening the lives of Alaska’s two U.S. senators has pleaded not guilty, and the judge decided that he will remain in custody. Jason Weiner, an attorney for Jay Allen Johnson, entered the plea on his client’s behalf during Johnson’s arraignment in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks on Nov. 22. Johnson at the hearing greeted U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Oravec by saying: “Good morning, Happy Thanksgiving, and I’m sorry I’m here today.” Johnson, from the small Interior community of Delta Junction, was i...
The 2022 pink salmon harvest in Southeast is forecast at about half the 10-year average but better than 2020, the brood year for next summer’s returns. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and federal fisheries officials have forecast next year’s pink harvest at 16 million fish in Southeast. The 10-year average is 34 million pink salmon, with 2020 a very weak year at 8 million pinks harvested — the sixth-worst year since 1962. This year’s returns were excellent, at 48 million pinks, surpassing pre-season forecasts. Trawl surveys collect...
After 20 years, Southeast communities, the state and federal government are still debating whether road building should be banned in most of the Tongass National Forest. The Department of Agriculture is accepting public comments through Jan. 24 on a proposed rule change to restore roadless protections to much of the Tongass. The nationwide roadless rule was implemented in 2001 under President Bill Clinton; subject to two decades of litigation and political maneuvering that failed to upend the rule in the Tongass; then overturned in late 2020...
A federal judge on Monday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states, including Alaska, that had brought the first legal challenge against the requirement. The court order said the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid had no clear authority from Congress to enact the vaccine mandate for providers participating in the two government health care programs for the elderly, disabled and poor. The injunction does not apply to several hospitals across A...
A new state advisory board intended to provide more public input over operations and investment decisions for the Alaska Marine Highway System is starting to gather up its members, with five of the nine positions filled. None of the board members named so far are from southern Southeast Alaska. The Legislature this year approved the new panel’s composition and advisory responsibilities to replace a board structure under an 18-year-old law that had been criticized as ineffective and often ignored by state officials. House Speaker Louise S...
Tribes nationwide will receive an infusion of federal money from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to expand broadband coverage, fix roads and address water and sanitation needs. The measure does not allocate funds to individual tribes on a per-capita basis as did the 2020 CARES Act or 2021 American Rescue Plan. Much of the overall infrastructure funding will be distributed as competitive grants through federal agencies. Funds also will be directed to the states, with lawmakers making the decisions on which projects to undertake. The...
JUNEAU (AP) — A fast-growing area north of Anchorage known as a hotbed of conservatism gained the most population since the 2010 Census but will keep the same number of House seats in the Legislature under a new map of state political boundaries that some critics say shortchanges the area. Census data showed the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which is about the size of West Virginia and includes Palmer and former Gov. Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, had 18,086 more people last year than in 2010, the biggest jump for any borough or Census are...
The Petersburg borough assembly last week adopted a new emergency ordinance requiring face masks in indoor public places amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in the community the past couple of weeks. The assembly, however, deleted from the draft ordinance a proposed $50 non-compliance fine for individuals and $100 fine for business and property owners. The ordinance adopted by the assembly Nov. 17 replaced an emergency ordinance adopted Nov. 5, which also did not include any specific enforcement measures for non-compliance. The public health...
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A coalition of 10 states, including Alaska, sued the federal government on Nov. 10 to block a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers, adding to resistance by Republican-led states against the pandemic policies of President Joe Biden’s administration. It’s the third such lawsuit Alaska has joined against vaccination rules. The latest lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missouri contends that the vaccine requirement threatens the jobs of millions of health care workers and could “exacerbate an alarming sho...
A divided Alaska Redistricting Board voted last week on a final map that could give one of the more conservative areas of the state, Eagle River, a second seat in the state Senate. All three board members appointed by Republican elected officials supported the map. The two who were not appointed by Republicans opposed the map. In addition to redrawing the boundaries for the state’s 40 House seats, the board had to decide the pairings of two House districts each to create 20 Senate seats. It was those Senate district boundaries that prompted l...
The Ketchikan city council has decided to use the community’s $2 million gift from Norwegian Cruise Line to help cover lost revenue in the town’s ailing port fund. The city finance director reported to the council that port revenues fell by more than 99% when cruise ships stopped calling in 2020 — from more than $10 million in 2019 to roughly $82,000 in 2020. And it wasn’t much better this year: Revenue is expected to come in at about $1.35 million, as a limited number of ships operated in the shortened visitor season. Without an immediate cash...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska doctors plan to ask the State Medical Board to investigate concerns about the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments by other physicians. Merijeanne Moore, a private practice psychiatrist, said she drafted the letter out of concern over an event about COVID-19 treatments that featured prominent vaccine skeptics in Anchorage last month. Moore said last Saturday that nearly 100 doctors had signed the letter and more could before she plans to submit the letter this week. “We are writing out of con...