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Vandalism of houses of worship and other religious sites is now a felony, under a bill that was signed into law on Sept. 3 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The measure, House Bill 238, was signed in a ceremony at the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, a campus in Anchorage that is home to an Orthodox Jewish congregation, a preschool and a museum devoted to Alaska’s Jewish history. It was also the site of recent antisemitic vandalism, part of a national trend of increasing attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. Anchorage Rep. Andy Josephson, the b...
GCI notified Sitka customers by text message Sept. 16 that it had successfully restored cell phone and internet services which had been disrupted for more than two weeks by a fiber optic cable break on the bottom of Salisbury Sound. The break in the cable on Aug. 29 shut down GCI’s internet service and also affected texting and phone service. Company spokesman Josh Edge said Sept. 16 the cause of the break still wasn’t known. The undersea cable repair ship was headed back to its homeport of Victoria, British Columbia. The repair work started Se...
An Alaska law prohibiting anyone other than a licensed physician from performing abortions violates the state constitution’s equal protection and privacy guarantees, a state Superior Court judge ruled. There is “no medical reason” why abortions cannot be provided by advanced practice clinicians, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, said the Sept. 4 ruling issued by Superior Court Judge Josie Garton. Limiting abortion services to state-licensed physicians violates the equal protection guarantee because other pregn...
Alaska Airlines closed its $1 billion purchase of Hawaiian Airlines on Sept. 18, a day after the federal government removed the last major regulatory obstacle to the deal. Alaska will also assume about $900 million in Hawaiian debt. Alaska says it will keep Hawaiian as a separate brand, eliminating the need to repaint planes. To win approval from the Transportation Department, the airlines agreed to maintain current levels of service on key routes within Hawaii and between the island state and the U.S. mainland where they don't face much...
More Alaskans will be eligible for food stamps and access to health care for school-age children and young adults will increase under a new state law. Gov. Mike Dunleavy sponsored the original legislation, whose goal was to expand the services covered by Medicaid to include things like workforce development and food security. The bill takes advantage of a federal waiver that allows states to consider the underlying causes of ill health in granting benefits. The legislation was amended to include a proposal from Anchorage Rep. Genevieve Mina...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed a bill that would have made birth control more accessible to Alaska women. House Bill 17 would have allowed women to get a year’s worth of prescription birth control at once. Currently, most insurance providers in Alaska cover only up to 90 days’ worth of birth control pills at a time. At least 24 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted laws enshrining the 12-month rule. Proponents say it is particularly important for rural women who may not be able to visit a pharmacy every 90 days, and for victims of dom...
Three young humpback whales were found dead off the west coast of Prince of Wales Island in just two weeks at the end of August. One subadult female was found on Aug. 22 in waters south of El Capitan, while a subadult female and a young male were found in waters near Craig on Aug. 30 and Sept. 2, respectively. On Aug. 30, longtime Craig resident whale-watcher Kathy Peavey heard about one of the whales, the subadult female that was found dead in Squam Bay north of Craig, from Michelle Dutro, an Alaska State Sea Grant fellow who helps monitor...
As Alaskans from different organizations convened at the University of Alaska Anchorage to brainstorm ways to reverse the state’s continuing population outmigration, a leading state economist delivered some bad news. Dan Robinson, research chief at the Alaska Department of Labor, revealed that the latest data shows that Alaska has now had 12 consecutive years with more residents leaving than arriving. That is unprecedented, he said. “This is not normal for us. It hasn’t happened before,” Robinson said on Sept. 5 at the start of the two-day...
The Alaska Supreme Court on Sept. 12 affirmed the U.S. House candidacy of Eric Hafner, a Democrat imprisoned in New York state on a 20-year felony sentence. The court, in a split 4-1 decision, upheld Anchorage Superior Court Judge Ian Wheeles’ decision to dismiss a lawsuit by the Alaska Democratic Party that had challenged Hafner’s eligibility. The decision means Hafner will appear on the November U.S. House ballot alongside incumbent Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, Republican challenger Nick Begich, and Alaskan Independence Party challenger Joh...
Alaska’s governor has vetoed a bill intended to clarify the rental car tax collection process for Alaskans who put up their vehicles for rent on Turo and similar car-sharing applications. The Alaska Department of Revenue has said that Turo is subject to the state’s 10% sales tax on rental cars, the same as Avis, Hertz and other companies that own and rent cars. But Turo has argued that users, not the company itself, are liable for collecting the tax. The state unsuccessfully sued Turo six years ago in an attempt to find out how much tax rev...
In Sitka, some hospital surgeries are on hold. Many shops and restaurants are operating on a cash-only basis. Contact with the outside world comes mostly through satellites. A break in the sole cable that provides Sitka's internet and phone service has wreaked havoc on residents and businesses - and, at the same time, effectively launched a massive social and economic experiment: What happens for 8,000 people who have deeply integrated the internet into their lives, when the switch gets flipped...
Efforts were underway to find family belongings among the debris of damaged homes last week in the area hit by the landslide that flowed through a Ketchikan neighborhood on Aug. 25. "Each home scheduled for demolition had a list of family items that they requested contractors locate (if possible) during the process," according to the Ketchikan Emergency Operations Center announcement issued on Sept. 6. One of the homes involved belongs to Doug Trudeau, who requested that contractors look for...
With repair of the damaged GCI fiber optic cable expected sometime in the next week, a lot of Sitkans are relying on Starlink thanks to help from the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Sitka lost internet service Aug. 29 when an undersea cable broke. “Our teams have successfully restored basic mobile voice and text services using alternative technology,” GCI reported Sept. 3. “However, customers are unable to use mobile data, internet and UConn TV services.” The telecommunications provider said a fiber repair...
Ketchikan’s police chief has resigned under an agreement that dismisses criminal charges against him stemming from a 2022 off-duty altercation in a restaurant that injured another man. Jeffrey Walls, 48, signed the agreement with state prosecutors on Aug. 27. He stepped down as chief effective Sept. 10. Walls was hired as Ketchikan police chief in 2021. Before that, he worked at the New Orleans Police Department for 24 years. He was accused of injuring a man during an encounter at the Salmon Falls resort restaurant in September 2022. Walls a...
Private contractors, state and municipal crews worked long days last week to restore power, remove downed trees and clear truckloads of mud and debris that flowed down the hillside above Ketchikan. Crews focused on reopening streets and drains in case more heavy rain falls on the community. "We want to approach it methodically and make sure we do it safely ... there is a phasing-in of people moving back to their homes," City of Ketchikan Public Works Director Seth Brakke said Aug. 30. "There's...
GCI said Saturday that a ship is coming from Seattle to make repairs to a damaged section of undersea fiber optic cable that has caused the loss of GCI cell phone and internet service in Sitka. Service, which was cut Thursday, Aug. 29, is not expected to be back up until next week. GCI said the repair ship is expected to be at the site of the undersea cable break, about 30 miles from Sitka, by Friday, Sept. 6, and that repairs could take three to seven days. In the meantime, the public is getting help from Starlink satellite communication...
A state geologist walking the landslide area on Sunday morning heard whimpering noises from a collapsed home. He called Ketchikan firefighters, who responded and pulled out two dogs from the debris, reuniting them with their owners. "After an emotional week of recovering from the aftermath of the Third Avenue landslide, Ketchikan - and most specifically, James and Bill Montiver - got some very good news," the city's emergency operations center announced on Sunday. "During the landslide the Monti...
Disposing of large, derelict vessels abandoned in Petersburg’s harbors comes at a cost. The borough assembly has authorized the transfer of $240,000 from the harbor department reserves to the derelict boat disposal budget category to pay for disposal of two large derelict boats. The assembly also amended the code to make clear that boat owners are responsible for disposal costs. “It’s incredibly expensive,” Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said at the Aug. 19 assembly meeting. “Literally, to take two boats apart and scrap them and handle an...
Turnout in this year’s state primary election is on pace to be the third lowest in the past 50 years, according to preliminary figures published Aug. 27 by the Alaska Division of Elections. Through that evening, 106,208 votes had been counted from just over 17.5% of all registered voters. The turnout rate in Wrangell was similar. Four years ago, Alaskans approved a new elections system that includes an open primary election in which candidates from all parties compete in the same race for each statewide office. The top four vote-getters a...
A decade after sea star wasting disease arrived in Sitka Sound, researchers are investigating the relationship between sea urchins, kelp forests and sunflower stars. Scientists still don’t know much about the disease, which causes several species of sea stars, such as sunflower stars, to lose their limbs before dissolving. “Sea star” is the name marine scientists now use with reference to the five-limbed marine invertebrate instead of the common term “starfish,” because it is not actually a fish. Around Sitka, sea star wasting disease i...
Workers breached the final dams on a key section of the Klamath River on Aug. 28, clearing the way for salmon to swim freely through a major watershed near the California-Oregon border for the first time in more than a century as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history nears completion. Crews used excavators to remove rock dams that have been diverting water upstream of two dams, Iron Gate and Copco No. 1, both of which were already almost completely removed. With each scoop, more and more river water was able to flow through the...
BOONE, N.C. — Excavators claw at the remains of Shulls Mill Dam on the Watauga River, pulling concrete apart piece by piece and gradually opening a waterway kept in check for nearly two centuries. Removal of this privately owned hydropower dam in western North Carolina will be a boon for rafters, kayakers and tubers by allowing the river to flow freely for nearly 80 miles. But maybe the biggest beneficiary will be a strange, ancient creature known as the eastern hellbender salamander. Sometimes called a snot otter or Allegheny alligator, i...
A landslide tore down a slope about a mile north of downtown Ketchikan, killing one person and injuring three on Sunday. The landslide hit around 4 p.m., and a mandatory evacuation order remained in place Monday for homes on several streets in the slide area near the waterfront. A dozen people stayed at an emergency shelter established at Ketchikan High School on Sunday night, emergency officials said. Others stayed with family or friends. Schools were closed Monday, which would have been the...
Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is withdrawing from the race for the state’s lone U.S. House seat, she announced via social media on Friday, just three days after the primary election. With most of the votes counted, Dahlstrom is expected to finish third in the state’s top-four primary election, behind Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola and fellow Republican challenger Nick Begich. In a prepared statement published, Dahlstrom said she wanted to see Peltola voted out of office but “at this time, the best thing I can do to see that goal reali...
A ballot measure that could repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice election system is headed to a vote in November, the Alaska Supreme Court confirmed Thursday, Aug. 22. In a brief order, the court’s five members upheld a lower court decision that certified Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the laws that created the state’s ranked-choice general election and open primary election system. The order came shortly after justices heard oral arguments in an appeal claiming that the Alaska Division of Elections improperly certified the measure. “Toda...