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Grants totaling $12.4 million for Southeast Alaska projects ranging from a greenhouse in Yakutat to workforce development in forestry-related fields in Hydaburg were announced Sept. 6 by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the final portion of $25 million in Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy Investment Projects announced this year. Vilsack, in an online news conference with Alaska Native and other regional leaders, said the awards are intended to maximize the area’s sustainability and self-reliance through its n...
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, one of four candidates for Alaska governor, was asked to resign as mayor after an investigation determined a harassment complaint against him was credible. Pierce, a Republican, announced on Aug. 26 that he would resign as mayor at the end of September to focus on his gubernatorial campaign. He has refused to discuss reports that his resignation was motivated by a harassment complaint filed by a borough employee. Members of the Kenai Borough Assembly, who were briefed about the complaint on Aug. 23,...
In their first time sharing a debate stage, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka presented their visions for representing Alaska as Republicans. And the differences were just as pronounced in style as they were in policy. Murkowski highlighted her 20-year tenure as a moderate dedicated to advancing resource development while maximizing federal funding for Alaska. For Tshibaka, it was a vision of resisting the Biden administration’s energy policies and federal largesse, epitomized by this year’s inf...
In Chris Bye’s preferred campaign photo, the Libertarian U.S. House candidate is ripping open his dress shirt to reveal a T-shirt that says, “Do Good Recklessly.” After fourth-place finisher Republican Tara Sweeney abruptly withdrew from Alaska’s November U.S. House race, Bye, who placed fifth in the Aug. 16 primary, moved into the state’s top-four ranked-choice election. That puts him alongside Democrat Mary Peltola and Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III in the race for a two-year term in the House. Bye, a fishing guide from Fair...
A couple armed with bug nets wading through roadside fireweed were searching for bumblebees in the Chilkat Valley north of Haines earlier this month as part of a research effort to see if the Western Bumblebee’s range includes Alaska. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists are considering proposing that the species be added to the endangered species list. “It’s disappeared over a big chunk of its former range which stretched from California out to some of the western states and all the way up into British Columbia at about 55 degrees north...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly, which is creating a task force to look for solutions to the housing shortage in the community, held a work session Aug. 29 to get a better understanding of the challenges in developing or purchasing homes. Assembly Member Dave Kensinger spoke on changing the zoning codes to make building affordable houses possible, and shared his concern that people cannot move to Petersburg if they do not have a place to live. Some of the potential changes to the zoning codes discussed included allowing the development of more...
With Sitka’s largest-ever tourist season underway – with as many as 400,000 cruise ship passengers this summer – a consultant visited town last month and suggested possible improvements to visitor experiences. A crosswalk at a busy downtown street, more signs and more outdoor seating, and brighter paint colors on buildings would help, he said. Representing an organization called the Destination Development Association, Roger Brooks travels the globe assessing popular tourism sites and reporting his findings to the locals. Brooks was in Sitka...
A shipment of heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $488,000 was seized by law enforcement in a case that resulted in the arrest of a Ketchikan man on felony drug charges. “It's a lot as far as quantity,” Ketchikan Police Lt. Andy Berntson said about the amount of drugs during an Aug. 31 press conference about the case. “It's a lot anywhere, but (in) Ketchikan, it’s very significant.” Larry P. Mardsen, 40, was taken into custody by Ketchikan Police Department officers on Aug. 29 and charged with one count eac...
There is only one species of abalone native to Alaska waters, and a new project is underway to try find ways to boost its depleted numbers. An Alaska Abalone Recovery Working Group is brainstorming ideas for strengthening the state’s vulnerable population of pinto abalones, also known as Northern abalones or, to the Indigenous peoples of the region, Gunxaa and Gúlaa. The working group includes representatives from state and federal agencies, tribal governments and others, including support from Alaska Sea Grant, a program based at the Un...
THE DALLES, Oregon (AP) - Wilbur Slockish Jr. has been shot at, had rocks hurled at him. He hid underground for months, and then spent 20 months serving time in federal prisons across the country - all of that for fishing in the Columbia River. But Slockish, a traditional river chief of the Klickitat Band of the Yakama Nation, would endure it all again to protect his right of access to the river and the fish that his people believe were bestowed to them by the Creator. "It's a sacred covenant,"...
Whether Alaskans and the other 434 members of the U.S. House will be addressing Rep. Sarah Palin or Rep. Mary Peltola likely will be announced late Wednesday. State elections officials plan to announce that day the final vote tally and election winner under Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system — it’s the deadline for any absentee ballots from overseas to arrive and be added to the count. In-person voting for the election was held Aug. 16. With a near-final ballot count released last Friday evening, more than 190,000 votes had been cast...
After opening its successful Icy Strait Point development to cruise ships 18 years ago, the village corporation for Hoonah is expanding its interests in tourism, particularly new cruise ship terminals. Huna Totem Corp. last week said it will work to develop a new cruise terminal in Juneau, following announcements earlier this summer that it will develop a cruise ship destination in Klawock, on Prince of Wales Island, and one in Whittier, on Prince William Sound, which is just a short train ride or drive to Anchorage. The corporation’s first d...
British Columbia may be able to move ahead with cleanup of the abandoned Tulsequah Chief mine just a few miles from the Taku River that flows into Alaska waters. Cleanup of the property just under 20 miles from the Canada-U.S. border, about 40 miles from Juneau, has been held up while the mine’s bankrupt owner, Chieftain Metals, of Ontario, was in receivership proceedings in court. This month’s end of the receivership wipes away any legal holdups that have prevented the provincial government from taking action. The only statement made by the...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — An Alaska state corporation is the only remaining oil-and-gas leaseholder in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after a second private company gave up its lease in the controversial area. Other than the state putting down millions of dollars in hopes that drillers might someday want to look for oil in ANWR, only two private companies submitted winnings bids in the 2021 lease, and now both have given up on the prospects and returned their leases. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said Knik Arm Services, a small real estate a...
More than 50 years after many Alaska Natives were unable to apply for their rightful 160 acres of land because they were fighting in Vietnam, a solution is now in place that overcomes laws and regulations that stifled their efforts for decades. About 27 million acres of public land in Alaska managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management are being made available, with details and applications available online, according to an order filed Aug. 15 in the Federal Register. The parcels are mostly in the Northwest, Southwest and Interior regions...
Five dogs born in Haines in February were confirmed this month to be part wolf, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Carl Koch. The state last month sent samples from six suspected wolfdogs to the University of California Davis for genetic testing. State wildlife managers have received results from five of the samples so far. Some of the owners and the state suspected the animals were wolf hybrids after one registered as 50% wolf on a DNA home test. “Some of (dogs) were described as difficult to manage by their o...
The percentage of Alaska children who are up to date on their routine vaccinations has fallen considerably since the beginning of the pandemic, prompting concern among health experts about the return of certain serious illnesses that had been all but eradicated in the U.S. until recently. Although there have been no outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses — including measles, mumps or polio — identified in Alaska so far, recent flare-ups of those diseases in the Lower 48 and multiple countries are part of a disturbing trend that epidemiologi...
A legal dispute that began when Gov. Mike Dunleavy took office in 2018 will not be resolved before this year’s gubernatorial election. Last week, a federal judge set a 2023 timeline for a trial to determine financial damages in a case involving Libby Bakalar, one of four state employees who sued Dunleavy, his former chief of staff Tuckerman Babcock and the state after being illegally fired when Dunleavy took office. Babcock is now a candidate for state Senate and Dunleavy is running for reelection. The state has settled with three of the p...
Throughout rural Alaska, the summer’s fuel barges arrived with loads of diesel, heating fuel and a big bill for cities and boroughs. Away from Alaska’s road system and along western and northern coasts that freeze in winter, fuel arrives by barge or plane once, twice or a handful of times per year. This year, those deliveries are coming with prices near record highs. While consumers are paying at the pump directly, there is the growing potential for a second financial hit as towns, villages, cities and boroughs absorb high fuel costs in the...
Over a five-year period, 867 Alaska sea lions, seals, whales and small marine mammals like dolphins died or were gravely injured from interactions with humans, according to a report newly released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report, required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, lists documented cases of human-inflicted harm from 2016 to 2020 to mammal species managed by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. The vast majority of cases involve entanglements in fishing gear or marine debris, and Steller sea l...
ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER (AP) - James Kiona stands on a rocky ledge overlooking Lyle Falls where the water froths and rushes through steep canyon walls just before merging with the Columbia River. His silvery ponytail flutters in the wind, and a string of eagle claws adorns his neck. Kiona has fished for Chinook salmon for decades on his family's scaffold at the edge of the falls, using a dip net suspended from a 33-foot pole. "Fishing is an art and a spiritual practice," says Kiona, a Yakama...
Bear activity has been increasing in Juneau in August, said wildlife officials, and some of the bruins are looking in parked cars to grab some food. Carl Koch, assistant area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said the department is monitoring two black bears in the Mendenhall Valley area that have learned how to open car doors, and have caused “fairly significant damage” to at least three vehicles in the past few weeks. Another bear occurrence was posted on the Juneau Community Collective Facebook page, sho...
The Ketchikan City Council on Aug. 18 voted to adopt a seasonal sales tax rate structure. The current 4% rate within the city limits will increase to 5.5% from April 1 through Sept. 30, and will drop to 3% from Oct. 1 through March 31 each year. The change will take effect April 1, 2023. The city sales tax rate currently is 4% year-round, and is added to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough tax rate of 2.5% on each sale. According to a memo written by City Finance Director Michelle Johansen, the annual increase in revenue expected with the changes is...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Two oil and gas companies have announced plans to invest $2.6 billion into developing a major oil field on Alaska’s North Slope. Australia-based Santos and Spain-based Repsol made the announcement, which was lauded by Alaska political leaders as positive news for state revenues and jobs. Santos, which has a 51% stake in the Pikka project, said Aug. 16 that its investment will be $1.3 billion. Santos last year acquired Oil Search of Papua New Guinea, which had been working for several years to advance the project. Santos, in...
As election day results came in late night Aug. 16 and into early the next morning, Alaska’s senior U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s slight lead over Trump-backed Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka widened. By the afternoon of Aug. 17, with 395 of 402 precincts reporting, the trend continued and Murkowski was ahead 68,800 to 61,994. Democratic Party-endorsed candidate Patricia Chesbro held the third spot with just over 6% of the votes, at 9,620, and self-proclaimed “hard right” Republican Buzz Kelley rounded out the final four with 2.22%, or 3,45...