Sorted by date Results 1224 - 1248 of 1739
A bill overhauling Alaska’s alcohol laws passed out of the Senate without opposition on Feb. 8, heading to the House where amendments are expected. The bill creates new license types for businesses that sell alcohol such as breweries and wineries and extends the activities those businesses can engage in. Tasting rooms at breweries and distilleries could, if the bill passes, stay open two hours later, closing at 10 p.m., and the businesses could hold classes or fundraising events. Senate Bill 9 is the result of nine years of effort by S...
WILLIAMS LAKE, British Columbia (AP) — A First Nation in Canada says a preliminary geophysical investigation has identified 93 possible burial sites around the site of a church-run boarding school. Chief Willie Sellars of the Williams Lake First Nation said Jan. 25 that excavation would be needed to confirm the presence of human remains and much more work is needed to make final determinations. From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools as an e...
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The descendants of Native American tribes on the Northern California coast are reclaiming a bit of their heritage that includes ancient redwoods which have stood since their ancestors walked the land. Save the Redwoods League announced Jan. 25 that it is transferring more than 500 acres on the Lost Coast to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council. The group of 10 tribes that have inhabited the area for thousands of years will be responsible for protecting the land called...
Tokyo Summer Olympics swim team gold medalist Lydia Jacoby, a 17-year-old Seward High School senior, was in Sitka last month, sharing stories, offering advice - and talking about her goggles. She also talked of criticism directed at her on social media and mental health. "During the mixed-medley (relay) my goggles fell off my face and were in my mouth," she said. "I couldn't breathe for the whole race, and that's something that you think once you get to the Olympics you'll kind of be past that,...
The first sentence was incomplete in the Feb. 2 Sentinel news report on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s lawsuit against The York Times. The first sentence should have read: “Unvaccinated former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 24, forcing postponement of the trial in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times....
For the third year in a row, lawmakers are considering legislation that would impose a tax on e-cigarettes, such as vaping devices, intended to make it more expensive and harder on young people to buy the products. “This bill is about protecting our children from becoming addicted to nicotine,” the bill’s sponsor, Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens, said in presenting his legislation to the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 2. In addition to imposing a tax on vaping devices and liquids and other e-cigarette products, the bill, if approved by legislators a...
The state has contracted with an Anchorage-based search firm to help recruit and fill almost 50 job openings with the Alaska Marine Highway System, ranging from several onshore management positions to onboard crew. Alaska Executive Search was the only bidder for the contract, said Sam Dapcevich, Transportation Department spokesman. The contract is not to exceed $250,000. The state will pay the company an hourly rate for its work on the year-long recruitment and hiring effort — ranging from $65 to $105 an hour, depending on the contractor p...
The Alaska Marine Highway System has activated the dormant state ferry Tazlina for more than 30 sailings from Juneau to northern Southeast communities in February and March, filling in service gaps to Haines, Skagway, Hoonah, Angoon and Gustavus. Given the shortage of regular ferry service across Southeast, there had been strong public pressure on the state to activate the Tazlina, a $60 million ship built in 2019 but largely unused to save money. Bringing the 300-passenger Tazlina into service required putting together a crew for the...
A Sitka businessman indicted more than two years ago on charges that he stole electricity for his multiple properties has pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay restitution to the city utility of almost $150,000, plus interest. Richard A. Forst, 59, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft of property or services and a misdemeanor of criminal mischief. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 31. Superior Court Judge Jude Pate placed Forst on probation for two years. The judge also fined him $5,000 and ordered Forst to perform 80 hours of community work...
Alaska House leaders last Friday backed away from a proposal to strip committee assignments from Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman, a member of the far-right organization Oath Keepers. For now, they plan to hold at least one hearing on the group. House Majority Leader Chris Tuck said members had been prepared earlier this week to vote on the proposal but said it was "questionable" whether the votes were there to remove Eastman from committees. Tuck described as informational the planned hear...
JUNEAU (AP) — The state agreed to pay almost half-a-million dollars in public funds to settle with two psychiatrists who won their lawsuit against Gov. Mike Dunleavy when a federal judge ruled last fall they were wrongfully fired after “political” demands that violated their First Amendment rights. Under the agreement, announced Feb. 2, the state agreed to pay Anthony Blanford $220,000 and John Bellville $275,000, reflecting lost wages, damages and attorneys’ fees. The agreement says the payments are subject to legislative approval. Both wo...
Alaska truck drivers have rallied in support of their counterparts in Canada who oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates. More than 100 truck drivers on Sunday drove the 10 miles from Anchorage to Eagle River to support truckers in Canada who have been loudly protesting in Ottawa against the mandates. Truck drivers and other service providers since Jan. 15 can only enter Canada if they are fully vaccinated. A week later, the U.S. started requiring vaccinations from essential non-resident travelers at highway border crossings, including truckers. “We h...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A Homer man whose home was mistakenly raided by FBI agents searching for a laptop stolen from the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has been chosen as the running mate for conservative Alaska Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Kurka. Paul Hueper, 59, wearing a T-shirt that said, “We the People are Pissed,” was introduced as the lieutenant governor candidate by Kurka at a rally Jan. 31 in Wasilla. Kurka, a freshman in the Alaska House, said he chose a running mate that has the same vision he has, and...
WASHINGTON (AP) — West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday endorsed Republican colleague Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, for reelection, crossing party lines to back the incumbent who faces a primary challenger supported by former President Donald Trump. The lawmaker said he has teamed well with Murkowski in the 50-50 Senate to build bipartisan support for legislation such as President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law. He said Alaska and the Senate are well-served with her in office. “It’s hypocritical to basically work with a person...
MIAMI (AP) - Negotiators from the U.S., China and 13 other governments failed to take action to protect threatened squid stocks on the high seas off South America amid a recent surge in activity by China's distant fishing fleet of more than 700 ships targeting squid in 2020. The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization, or SPRFMO, is charged with ensuring the conservation and sustainable fishing off the west coast of South America. At the SPRFMO's annual meeting that ended Jan....
A bill that would restore the state licensing fee on sportfishing guides and operators — which expired in 2018 — is slowly working its way through the Legislature. An amendment in the House last year to charge nonresidents twice the annual fee as Alaska residents has raised some questions and concerns, most recently at a Senate committee hearing on the bill. Restoring the licensing fee would raise an estimated $420,000 a year for fisheries data management work. Meanwhile, a separate bill to bring back a longstanding surcharge on all spo...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in seeking to block the U.S. Department of Defense from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for National Guard members who are under state command. The Pentagon has required COVID-19 vaccination for all service members, including the National Guard and Reserve. Attorneys for the two governors, in an amended lawsuit dated Jan. 25, say that when National Guard members are serving the state, the federal government has no command authority. The lawsuit claims the mandate is an u...
Alaska elections will be held for the first time this year under a unique new system that scraps party primaries and uses ranked-choice voting in general elections. The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the system, narrowly approved by voters in 2020. It calls for an open primary in which all candidates for each race appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation, followed by ranked voting in the general election. No other state conducts its elections with this combination, which appli...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The state Supreme Court on Friday narrowly upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by 16 young Alaskans who claimed the long-term effects of climate change will devastate Alaska and interfere with their fundamental constitutional rights. The lawsuit against the state argued that Alaska’s legislative and executive branches had not taken steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The lower court dismissed the case in 2018, saying these questions were better left to the other branches of government. The plaintiffs in the case are no...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska Legislature last Thursday rejected a proposal that called for higher annual salaries for lawmakers but an even larger reduction and restrictions on the daily allowance they could receive for living expenses during sessions in Juneau. The net would have been a significant reduction in pay. Action came quickly: The bill to reject the salary commission’s recommendations was introduced in the Senate on Jan. 25, passed unanimously by that chamber on Jan. 26, and passed 37-0 in the House on Jan. 27. The bill next goes to Gov...
NEW YORK (AP) — Unvaccinated former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 24, forcing postponement of the trial in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times. While waiting for the trial to start, Palin on Jan. 26 went back to a New York City restaurant where she had eaten the week before in violation of the city’s dining mandate requiring people to show proof of vaccination. Palin ate outdoors at the restaurant Jan. 26 on her second trip, contrary to the city’s health and safety measures calling for positive cases...
JUNEAU (AP) — A state legislative committee is hiring a law firm to investigate the controversial firing of the head of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. Angela Rodell was fired by the corporation board in December, after the $82 billion savings account had recorded its best year ever for investment returns. Rodell, who had been the corporation’s CEO since late 2015, has said she believes her firing was “political retribution” for advocating against exceeding draw limits set on the earnings of the Permanent Fund. The governor the past couple...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Supporters of a proposed initiative that seeks to formalize government-to-government relationships between the state and federally recognized tribes in Alaska have submitted signatures aimed at getting the measure on this year’s ballot. The campaign behind the measure needed to gather 36,140 signatures from across the state. It submitted 56,200 signatures to the state Division of Elections last month, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The division must review and verify the signatures, and the campaign will be notified wit...
Tourism-dependent Skagway has started using one-quarter of the $2 million gift it received last year from Norwegian Cruise Line to pay out unemployment benefits to eligible residents. The first round of aid went out this month, totaling $112,500, the maximum monthly payout authorized by the borough assembly. The borough received 75 applications for December’s jobless aid, paid out in January, Borough Clerk Steve Burnham Jr. said Jan. 26. The next round of applications, for January’s unemployment, are due Feb. 7. Though the program set a max...
JUNEAU (AP) — The Alaska House tabled action Monday on a proposal to remove from all legislative committees Wasilla Rep. David Eastman, a member of the Oath Keepers far-right organization. The House Committee on Committees voted 5-2 to remove Eastman from his committee assignments, said Joe Plesha, communications director for the House's bipartisan majority. The committee meeting was not widely publicized beforehand, and Eastman expressed concern with the lack of transparency around the decision. The matter was tabled on the House floor f...