Sorted by date Results 1595 - 1619 of 1769
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Eight Alaska youths have developed a serious inflammatory syndrome from previous coronavirus infections, state health officials said in a report. The report, released March 26, said some of the eight youths ended up in the pediatric intensive-care unit with severe complications. The condition they developed is called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. The syndrome can lead to inflamed organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since...
JUNEAU (AP) - Sentencing has been set for June for a man who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the beating death of his wife during a 2017 family cruise to Alaska. Kenneth Manzanares, who is from Utah, signed a plea agreement in the case in January 2020. Sentencing was initially set for last May but was pushed back and this week was scheduled to be held in Juneau’s federal court on June 3 and 4. The case was handled by federal authorities because the death took place in waters outside the state’s jurisdiction before the cruise ship rea...
JUNEAU (AP) - A judge has dismissed two election-tampering charges against a former Alaska legislator as falling outside a statute of limitations, but eight charges remain against Gabrielle LeDoux. Last March, the state charged LeDoux, an Anchorage Republican, and two other people with violating state law during LeDoux’s 2018 and 2014 state House campaigns. LeDoux faced charges of voter misconduct and unlawful interference with voting. District Court Judge Michael Franciosi in January dismissed two misdemeanor counts against LeDoux related t...
Legislators started the session in January amid a shortage of revenues and debate whether the state could even afford a dividend this fall unless it exceeded its annual limited draw from the Permanent Fund. Significantly higher oil prices and more than $1 billion from this month's federal pandemic aid package may fix both problems, though only temporarily. The Alaska Department of Revenue told legislators last week that higher oil prices could produce an additional $790 million in revenues this...
GCI, the largest telecommunications provider in the state, is planning to move all of its call-center operations out of Alaska and will contract with a third-party vendor to provide the service from the Philippines. The move will start this summer, according to a report in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Saturday. The company, which provides cable television, internet, cell and wired telephone services in Alaska, has had a hard time filling its call-center jobs, said Heather Handyside, vice...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Wrangell's 34th case of COVID-19 was reported Tuesday afternoon. The city reported this latest case is a Wrangell local, who had not recently traveled. The person is not exhibiting any symptoms, the city said, and is in isolation. The city also reported that Public Health has completed its initial contact tracing interview with the individual. The case is the only one active of the 34 infections reported since the pandemic started. Of those, 24 cases were identified as Wrangell residents and...
Water quality samples taken in front of Wrangell Island last summer passed the test. The samples collected at six sites were tested by state researchers for fecal coliform and other bacteria, ammonia and various metals. All tested within safe water quality standards-but the same cannot be said for all Southeast communities. Two water samples taken near Petersburg, in the Wrangell Narrows, exceeded the standard for fecal coliform. The state Department of Environmental Conservation will return to...
Alaska officials and authorities in British Columbia announced they have completed and will not continue data collection on three transboundary watersheds, including the Stikine River, despite concerns from fishing and tribal interests that the effort does not go far enough. The work stemmed from concerns about possible damage that mining activity in Canada could inflict on waters that cross into Alaska. A 22-page final report released Feb. 25 culminated two years of data collected from water, sediment and fish tissue from the three waterways:...
JUNEAU (AP) - Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said he is feeling better after contracting the coronavirus last month. Though his voice still gets slightly hoarse if he talks for too long, his other symptoms are now mild, he said Friday. He had a bad headache, fever, chills and body aches for a several days, said the governor, who finished his isolation period Saturday. There have been more than 56,000 coronavirus cases and 301 virus-related deaths in Alaska as of March 5, according to data from the state Department of Health and Social Services. The...
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Anchorage will lift its coronavirus-related capacity restrictions on many businesses and will ease limits on other places where people gather under a new emergency order set to take effect March 8. City officials announced the changes March 4, saying retailers, bars, restaurants and other businesses will have their capacity restrictions eliminated. Requirements for wearing masks and maintaining distance will remain in effect. Businesses must operate in ways that allow consumers to stay six feet apart from people outside of...