Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 107
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Initial unemployment claims in Alaska are down slightly from a historic high, but they are about 12 times what is typical for this time of year amid the economic fallout from coronavirus concerns, according to a state official and government figures Thursday. Initial claims for the most recent reporting week totaled 12,007, said Lennon Weller, actuary for the state’s unemployment insurance system. That compares with 14,590 claims the prior week, which the state labor department said far exceeded anything in Alaska’s histor...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the state will work with communities, industry leaders and others as it makes decisions on how to proceed in reopening sectors of the economy impacted by the coronavirus. Dunleavy said key to this will be monitoring case numbers. As of Tuesday, Alaska had reported 285 total cases of COVID-19, and nine deaths related to the coronavirus. The health of Alaskans will be a top consideration, Dunleavy said, adding he doesn’t “want anyone to get the wrong idea that we’re going to put the economy ahe...
For the month of February, Petersburg Medical Center saw its net operating revenue and total operating expenses come in over what was budgeted, according to PMC financial statements presented at the PMC Board of Directors meeting last Thursday. The net operating revenue was at $1,571,660 at the end of February, which was 12 percent above the budgeted $1,391,250 for the month. While the total operating expenses also came in over budget, February's revenue was able to offset the difference. PMC...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved a declaration of disaster emergency at Monday's assembly meeting in response to the COVID-19 outbreak across the country and state. Additionally, the assembly approved an emergency ordinance that would allow the assembly to declare a quorum by calling into an assembly meeting instead of being present. By declaring a disaster emergency, the borough is putting itself in position to better receive state and federal emergency funding should the borough requir...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A new federal law is set to increase the national age limit for tobacco and e-cigarette purchases to 21, which will require Alaska to meet a standard that has already been established in Anchorage. Alaska law currently allows anyone 19 and older to buy tobacco, although Anchorage took legal steps four months ago to raise the age limit to 21, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. Unless the Alaska Legislatures changes state laws, the new federal law will force an...
About 20 residents gathered on the evening of Dec. 18 at Buschmann Park to mark the United States House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Donald Trump. The group is also committed to reaching out to Sen. Dan Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski to encourage the two senators to act as impartial jurors when the articles of impeachment reach the United States Senate, according to Assembly Member Chelsea Tremblay, one of the organizers of the event. "Speaking for myself, I was relieved to...
The federal government’s plan to raze more roads through the Tongass National Forest is facing strong headwinds from fishermen, Native groups and coastal communities throughout Southeast Alaska. Over 220 Southeast Alaskan fishermen signed a letter to the Trump Administration last week opposing the abrupt push to exempt the Tongass National Forest from a roadless rule in place for over a decade. The exemption would release more than 9 million acres from protection and open nearly 200,000 acres to logging. The U.S. Forest Service made the a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday voiced his opposition to a push in Alaska aimed at recalling Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, with a decision expected soon on whether the effort will advance. Trump tweeted that Democrats are treating Dunleavy unfairly and trying to recall him because of an agenda that Trump said includes jobs, energy and the economy. Claire Pywell, who manages the Recall Dunleavy campaign, said the effort is not partisan and the group is being mischaracterized. “Yes, it is charged. Yes, it is political,...
They are certainly cute but the voracious appetites of sea otters continue to cause horrendous damage to some of Southeast Alaska’s most lucrative fisheries. How best to curtail those impacts will be the focus of a day long stakeholders meeting set for November 6 in Juneau. “All of the people who have anything to do with the otters hopefully will all be in the same room at the same time,” said Phil Doherty, co-director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association (SARDFA) based in Ketchikan. A 2011 report by the McDowell Group...
Underwater and out of sight are the makings of a major Alaska industry with two anchor crops that clean the planet while pumping out lots of cash: shellfish and seaweed. Alaskans have now applied for over 2,000 acres of new or expanding undersea farms, double the footprint from two years ago, ranging in size from .02 acres at Halibut Cove to nearly 300 acres at Craig. Nearly 60 percent of the newest applicants plan to grow kelp with the remainder growing a mix of kelp and/or Pacific oysters, said Cynthia Pring-Ham, aquatic farming coordinator a...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has awarded a contract to study whether the state can become the first in the nation to change its Medicaid program into a block grant system. Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday that the state Department of Health and Social Services issued a notice May 29 of its intent to award the contract to analyze the prospect of implementing block grants for federal Medicaid payments, work requirements for Medicaid enrollees, and shifting some Alaska Medicaid recipients to private insurance. The $100,000 c...
Petersburg families affected by the 35-day long government shutdown are receiving continued financial support from local organization despite the government reopening on Friday after President Donald Trump signed a bill temporarily opening the Federal Government for three weeks. The Petersburg Chamber of Commerce will be discussing what dollar amount they want to put on their gift cards that will be given to affected families at their meeting today. Lee’s Clothing is distributing $50 gift certificates to affected families to be used in the c...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state agency plans to swap land in southeast Alaska for federal land that can be developed for timber sales. The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority board on Thursday approved a land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service that will trade 18,000 acres (7,284 hectares) of trust lands for 20,000 acres (8,094 hectares) of federal land, the Juneau Empire reported. The trust lands are scattered throughout southeast Alaska and the exact amount to be traded must be worked out. Wyn Menefee, director of the trust authority land o...
Fishermen in Alaska who own catch shares of halibut, sablefish and Bering Sea crab will pay more to the federal government to cover 2018 management and enforcement costs for those fisheries. For halibut and sablefish (black cod) the annual fee, which is capped at three percent, is based on dock prices from the March start of the fisheries through September and averaged across the state. For this year, bills went out to 1,834 holders of halibut and sablefish shares, down by 60 from last year. Their tab ticked up from 2.2 percent to 2.8 percent...
Hundreds of boats are gearing up for the January start of some of Alaska’s largest fisheries in waters managed by the federal government from three to 200 miles offshore. Meanwhile, the government shut down over Donald Trump’s demand for nearly $6 billion in funding for a border wall of “artistically designed steel slats” has sent hundreds of thousands of workers home. Nine of the government’s 15 federal departments and several agencies were shuttered at midnight on December 21 and there is no end in sight. That includes the Commerce Department...
Protein Noodles by Trident Seafoods took top honors at the 26th annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood, winning first place in the retail category and the Seattle People’s Choice award. The winners were announced last week at Pacific Marine Expo. The refrigerated noodles are made from pollock surimi and touted as a high protein, gluten free alternative to traditional pastas. “All pastas are wheat based and they don’t contain any protein and there’s not a lot of nutritional value,” said John Salle, Trident’s senior vice president of marketing, innova...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Federal regulators are preparing an environmental review for a possible offshore lease sale in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea and environmental groups are calling foul. The legality of Arctic Ocean offshore lease sales is the subject of a federal lawsuit. Environmental groups say it’s irresponsible to plan lease sales ahead of a ruling. “Rather than moving ahead with expending large amounts of governmental resources for analyses and holding public hearings for a lease sale the court may decide is illegal, the Trump Adminis...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – President Donald Trump recently signed into law a bill that lawmakers have called a point of unity among Republicans and Democrats. The Ketchikan Daily News reports the Save our Seas Act, which Trump signed Thursday, reauthorizes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program through 2022. The program works to reduce debris through research, prevention and reduction. The Save our Seas legislation keeps the program going by continuing to authorize $10 million per year for the next five yea...
Alaskans will celebrate Alaska Wild Salmon Day on August 10, but plans also are underway for a much bigger celebration: the International Year of the Salmon set to officially begin in 2019. The theme is “Salmon and people in a changing world” and a key focus will be a winter salmon study in the deepest regions of the Gulf of Alaska. Both are sponsored in part by the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), which for 25 years has promoted research collaboration among scientists in its five member countries – Canada, Russian, Japan...
Alaska appears to be an exception in terms of gender parity at all levels of its seafood industry. Women comprise roughly half of the world’s seafood industry work force, yet a report released last week revealed that 61 percent of women around the globe feel they face unfair gender biases from slime lines to businesses to company boardrooms. The women’s overall responses cited biases in recruitment and hiring, in working conditions and inflexible scheduling. The findings were based on 700 responses gathered in an online survey from Sep...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is moving toward oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, fulfilling a longtime Republican priority that most Democrats fiercely oppose. A notice being published Friday in the Federal Register starts a 60-day review to sell oil and gas leases in the remote refuge, one of the most pristine areas in the United States and home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other species. President Donald Trump has said he “really didn’t care” about opening a portion of the refug...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska regulators, once on the cusp of allowing on-site use of marijuana at authorized retail stores, plan to take another run at the issue this week. The Marijuana Control Board is scheduled to discuss proposed rules for allowing on-site consumption, but whether the board will reach a final conclusion isn’t clear. The board is down one member; Travis Welch resigned less than two months after his appointment to the public safety seat after being dismissed from his job as a police chief. The board’s director has recommended...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Taking a cue from the fight over immigration, some states that have legalized marijuana are considering providing so-called sanctuary status for licensed pot businesses, hoping to protect the fledgling industry from a shift in federal enforcement policy. Just hours after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Jan. 4 that federal prosecutors would be free to crack down on marijuana operations as they see fit, Jesse Arreguin, the mayor in Berkeley, California, summoned city councilman Ben Bartlett to his office w...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said violence in video games and movies should be discussed as part of a larger debate on gun violence and suggested Monday that states should decide whether school teachers should be armed. Meanwhile, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, who was in Washington, D.C. for a gathering of the nation’s governors, told The Associated Press something must be done in response to the violence. But he said he wants to speak with advisers from within his administration and possibly also hear from outside voices before tak...
After deliberation on Saturday the Alaska Board of Fisheries rejected a proposal to scrap the Southeast Alaska management plan for Dungeness crab fisheries. The BoF is currently convened in Sitka for its meeting on the region’s shellfish and finfish regulation change proposals. It meets every three years, the last one being held in Wrangell in January 2015. Starting its shellfish meeting on January 11, members took testimony for 155 different proposals related to crab, shrimp and other miscellaneous shellfish. A late comer to this year’s sla...
