Sorted by date Results 4108 - 4132 of 5587
JUNEAU (AP) — Those who had hoped to catch a ride on the Alaska ferry Columbia Tuesday should be able to depart sometime Friday. The ferry was supposed to make stops in Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Ketchikan and eventually Bellingham, Washington, but it never left port Tuesday. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesman Jeremy Woodrow called the three-day delay “unusual,” reported The Juneau Empire. “Usually it's just a few hours,” he said. “We're a little more confident with (today's departure).” Woodrow said a techni...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska's highest court ruled Friday that an initiative seeking to restrict large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region seriously impedes a regulatory process set out in state law and is unenforceable. The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling in litigation over the initiative passed by Lake and Peninsula Borough voters in 2011. The initiative was aimed at the Pebble mine project and the potential development of the massive gold and copper prospect near the headwaters of a world-class salmon fishery. It would have bar...
JUNEAU (AP) — Firefighters in Alaska rescued a Boy Scout after a 3,000-pound boulder tumbled onto him at a Juneau camp, pinning his legs. The Juneau Empire reports Capital City Fire/Rescue freed the boy Monday after an intensive rescue that took about two hours. The Ketchikan teen's name hasn't been released. The fire agency responded to Eagle Beach after camp leaders reported the emergency. The lead firefighter on the scene, Noah Jenkins, says the boy was on the beach when the rock loosened and fell on top of him. Boy Scout leaders were a...
JUNEAU (AP) — The state health department has hired a consultant to help recommend next steps as Gov. Bill Walker's administration plans to implement Medicaid expansion and looks to make further changes to the existing Medicaid program. The contract with Agnew::Beck Consulting LLC calls for a final report in January recommending alternative models of Medicaid expansion and options to help contain costs within the Medicaid program. The report will serve as a briefing document for the Legislature on reform opportunities and allow for the departme...
FAIRBANKS (AP) — The Fairbanks City Council has approved a proposed tax on marijuana retail sales that will now be up for debate among voters. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the council on Monday unanimously approved a 5 percent tax on marijuana sales. Fairbanks voters will decide in October whether to accept or reject the tax during Fairbanks' general election. The levy would apply to transfers of marijuana from any retail establishment to any person or entity, making the buyer responsible for the tax. Under the proposed tax, s...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — A 27-year-old Anchorage man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for a 2013 crime spree that left three people severely injured. Alejandro Aulman was sentenced Thursday for nine counts of assault, seven counts of robbery, three counts of burglary and one count of theft. He was handed an additional two years for breaking his probation conditions from separate cases, reported The Alaska Dispatch News. Aulman was already in jail when a grand jury handed up his list of charges. He had allegedly attacked a woman who accepted a...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Crews have started recovering the wreckage of a Cessna 207 that crashed Friday in a rugged area of southeast Alaska. Recovery efforts began Sunday with a helicopter flight to a wooded area west of Juneau, National Transportation Safety Board Alaska regional office chief Clint Johnson told the Alaska Dispatch News The Wings of Alaska flight crashed on the way from Juneau to the small community of Hoonah, killing 45-year-old pilot Fariah Peterson. Her body was recovered Saturday. The plane's four passengers were injured. They wer...
The United States Forest Service (USFS) announced the next step has been taken in a land deal with Alaska Mental Health Trust (AMHT), after signing an Agreement to Initiate on June 30. The agreement as currently envisioned could see the transfer of nearly 40,000 acres of state and federal lands between the two agencies. For AMHT, the deal will allow it to develop the lands’ timber and mineral resources. Founded by Congress in 1956, AMHT is a state corporation set up to assist the state in funding its mental health program. The trust manages l... Full story
Part of the local team, the Devil's Thumb Shooters, four Petersburg youth traveled to Wasilla for a state shooting competition June 11-13. Over 90 youth from across the state attended the meet, competing in three events: trap, skeet and clay shooting. Assistant Coach Marissa Collison said the state competition allowed the Petersburg team members to get more practice with skeet and clay shooting. Currently the team is only able to practice trap shooting at the range off Mitkof Highway.... Full story
Two Petersburg-based businesses have been chosen as semi-finalist in the annual Path to Prosperity (P2P) contest put on by a partnership between the Haa Aani Community Development Fund, Inc. and The Nature Conservancy. The annual contest is in its third year and aims to support businesses in Southeast with "innovative sustainability solutions" that will also benefit the local economy and community, according to Paul Hackenmueller, economic coordinator with Haa Aani. Two winners will be chosen... Full story
A limited number of Anan Wildlife Observatory permits will be made available at the Wrangell District Office. Visitors are required to obtain a permit to visit the observatory from July 5 through August 25. Earlier this spring the United States Forest Service began using the National Reservation System for those wishing to visit Anan, 30 miles to Wrangell’s southeast. To facilitate the transition to this new system, up to four permits per day will still be offered through the Wrangell District Office using a weekly lottery. To apply for one o...
Parks and Recreation Director Donnie Hayes said there’s been a string of vandalism this month at the ball field and Hungry Point Trail, which begins near the fields. “At the ball field itself, someone took a large rock to one of our porcelain sinks to the point of destroying that sink,” he said. The damage was discovered on July 4 when staff went to ensure the restrooms would be clean and ready for the crowd arriving at the ball field to watch fireworks. The incident likely happened at night on July 3 because, Hayes said, the restrooms are chec...
A new three-year contract was approved for Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) CEO Liz Woodyard. Woodward has been the CEO at the hospital since 2011, and this is her second contract. She hails originally from Minneapolis, Minn. Before moving to Petersburg, she worked as the CEO of Banner Lassen in Susanville, Calif and the Chief Nursing Officer at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in Fairbanks. Woodyar's new contract took effect at the beginning of this month. It includes a $200,000 annual salary with...
Mechanical and electrical problems plagued the Rainforest Islander ferry on its way to Ketchikan from the boat yard in Bellingham, Wash. “We had mechanical and electrical problems at the start of the boat’s delivery trip from Anacortes, Washington to Ketchikan,” said North End Ferry Authority Manager Kent Miller. Miller said the vessel was docked in Nanaimo, BC for emergency repairs before heading back to the boatyard in Bellingham where it arrived Sunday. “We’re going to have those (emergency) repairs further checked out, and then we’ve got...
Early birds and night owls may have noticed a lack of power during the early morning hours Monday, after service for Wrangell, Petersburg and Ketchikan went down for several hours. The grid went down at 2:48 a.m. after a mature bald eagle ran afoul of a section of line near Ketchikan’s Herring Cove. “We’re very apologetic, especially when we cause problems in our neighboring communities,” said Andy Donato, manager of Ketchikan Public Utilities’ electric division. By 5:32 a.m., Tyee Lake Hydroelectric was back online and most of Ketchikan...
KETCHIKAN (AP) — Alaska State Troopers are asking for help in their investigation of the death of a woman found floating off Ketchikan. The body of 34-year-old Angeline Tanya Dundas was recovered Thursday in Tongass Narrows about a quarter-mile from the Coast Guard Base in Ketchikan. Troopers say they took a call on the body at about 1 a.m. Troopers and Coast Guard personnel recovered the body. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the cause of death....
JUNEAU (AP) — A spokeswoman for Gov. Bill Walker says Walker is expected to announce this week how he will move forward on Medicaid expansion in Alaska. Spokeswoman Katie Marquette says Walker has been weighing his options, including whether to move forward on expansion through legislation or unilaterally. Walker campaigned on expanding Medicaid coverage. For states that opt in, the federal government is to pay 100 percent of health care costs for newly eligible recipients through 2016, stepping down to 90 percent by 2020. In May, during the f...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Experts say this year’s Bristol Bay sockeye harvest will be less than half the record-breaking boom recorded last year. Commercial harvest forecasts had put the catch this year at 37.6 million fish. As the season’s halfway point passed, that number fell by over 17 million sockeye, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported. Experts are saying a late run is unlikely. “My perspective is that the run is below forecast,’’ said Travis Elison, the management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Dillingham office. “That...
JUNEAU (AP) — Juneau police say foul play is not suspected in the death of a 51-year-old Kake woman. Police in a web posting say the body of Macaria Wallace was found Tuesday morning under the Gold Creek Bridge. Police were alerted about 6:30 a.m. about a person under the bridge who was not breathing. Responding officers and medics declared Wallace dead at the scene. The police investigation continues....
JUNEAU (AP) — While environmentalists are quick to complain about cruise ships dumping waste in the ocean, officials say Alaska ferries have even more lenient rules for treating wastewater. State ferries use water treatment systems that were standard in the 1970s, state Department of Environmental Conservation cruise ship program specialist Ed White said. Eight of the 11 state-owned ferries use chlorine to kill bacteria and then grind waste before discharging that slurry with used water from sinks, toilets and showers, White told the Juneau E...
JUNEAU (AP) — The University of Alaska plans to eliminate or suspend a number of majors this year to deal with an ongoing budgetary squeeze on the state’s public universities. The university system has slated 31 academic programs for removal, including 21 at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Juneau Empire reported. “Sometimes having three of something isn’t as good as having one strong something,’’ UA president candidate Jim Johnsen told the Juneau Empire. The university system has $15 million less to work with this fiscal year. The legis...
JUNEAU (AP) — A trade association has been created to promote the nascent legal marijuana business in Alaska. Four of the five board members of the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association held a news conference Thursday in Anchorage to discuss the group’s formation; the event was teleconferenced. State records show the group received status as a nonprofit corporation in late April. The goal was to announce shortly after that, but those involved have been busy working at the local level to help set up the industry, board member and vice president...
Rates for the Petersburg EMS ambulance service will soon be increased to help the service keep pace with rising costs, though a proposal considered by the Assembly at Monday’s regular meeting was tabled to allow more time for EMS Director Sandy Dixson to pull together information about the cost of running the local service. Currently, there is a flat rate of $300 charged for the service. That fee hasn’t been increased since 2002 and Dixson pointed out that comparable communities in Sou... Full story
Organizers are gearing up for the second annual Paddle Battle in the Narrows to be held next Saturday, July 18. The event is a fundraiser for the Petersburg Medical Center Foundation, and this year's proceeds will go toward renovating the shower and tub room used by residents in Long Term Care. "The residents that live here, this is their home and it's (the shower room) not been updated in many, many years and it's showing signs of wear and tear," said Director of Nursing Jennifer Bryner. All... Full story
The Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) has cancelled the scheduled summer sailings of the M/V LeConte that would have utilized the South Mitkof ferry terminal due to maintenance-related delays of the Alaska Marine Highway System's (AMHS) vessels. Once a month sailings from May to September between Juneau, South Mitkof and Coffman Cove were planned to show the terminal was being used for its intended purpose and to avoid possible penalties or having to pay back federal funds used to... Full story
