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JUNEAU (AP) — Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Monday he plans to propose as part of his upcoming budget that the state spend $5 million in federal dollars to support tourism marketing efforts amid the ongoing pandemic, and additional funds to prepare state parks for visitors next year. He said the hope is for a return to “robust” tourism activity after a difficult two years. Speaking in Anchorage, Dunleavy said people are “starting to learn to live with (the coronavirus) … understanding that it’s not going to go away, but there’s ways to protect onese...
Haines - Klukwan resident and Diné (Navajo) artist Clara Natonabah wrote and sang a Navajo song that was featured this month in a Disney Junior Shake Your Tale with Chip 'N Dale music video. The song, titled "Hózhóogoo Dahwiit'áál" (We Will Sing in Beauty), was released on YouTube and appears in the cartoon where the popular Disney cartoon characters dance to Natonabah's song. Natonabah was chosen by Disney to celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November. "I was asked to part...
For the second time in the past 30 days, the state has to shift around the two other ferries serving Southeast to cover for the Matanuska, which will stay in the Ketchikan shipyard longer than expected for more steel repairs. The loss of the Matanuska means reduced service to Petersburg for the next six weeks. The Alaska Marine Highway System has added a couple more runs of the Kennicott through Southeast, including three stops in Petersburg in January, to replace the Matanuska's weekly...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. District judge has rejected a challenge by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration to a special subsistence hunt authorized for a southeast Alaska tribe by a federal board last year. The Organized Village of Kake last year requested an emergency hunt, citing food security concerns amid the pandemic, according to court documents. A limited season of up to 60 days was granted by the Federal Subsistence Board, and the harvest was distributed to 135 households in the village, documents state. The Alaska Department of Fis...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released its preliminary figures for the total harvest and value of this year’s commercial salmon fishery. 233.8 million fish were harvested statewide, amounting to 858.5 million pounds, with a total worth of $643.9 million according to the release. The number of fish and total pounds harvested this year was the third highest on record. This year’s harvest more than doubled the 116.8 million caught in 2020 and saw a 118% increase in total value from the $295.2 million recorded last year. The 2021 estimated...
(AP) – A man was arrested Tuesday in the southeast Alaska community of Kake, which a tribal official earlier said had gone into lockdown. Alaska State Troopers in a statement said they arrived in Kake and arrested the man on criminal trespass charges. Troopers said other charges were possible, pending the outcome of their investigation. No injuries were reported. Troopers said they received a call from a resident about 3:40 a.m. saying a window at a school had been broken but the person wasn’t sure when that happened. Another caller, around 4:3...
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska State Troopers on Monday said a Kake man who reported missing on Saturday was found dead by a canine team searching for him. Troopers said the body of 55-year-old David Dalton was found Monday about 2.5 miles from where his pickup truck was parked near Sitkum Creek, south of Kake, on Kupreanof Island “It appears that Dalton succumbed to the elements,” troopers wrote in an update posted to their webpage. The body has been sent to the medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy. Dalton was last seen Friday...
The State of Alaska activated its crisis standards of care document Saturday for 20 health care facilities across the state according to a press release from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The list of facilities includes Petersburg Medical Center and Wrangell Medical Center as well as facilities in Anchorage, Juneau, and other cities. A lack of resources within some hospitals, limited health care staffing, and the increase in COVID-19 cases in the state caused the state’s Crisis Care Committee to request the document be a...
The Alaska Marine Lines barge which departed Seattle on Friday, September 24, has been delayed and all scheduled ports north of Ketchikan will be about 24 hours behind schedule. Members of the tugboat crew towing this barge had positive COVID-19 test results. That crew has been isolated and the tug temporarily taken out of service for cleaning according to the company. A new crew and tug are being brought in to continue Voyage S1392, and the transition time to do so is resulting in the 24-hour delay. Over the past 18 months, Alaska Marine...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A Canadian mining company has been looking for precious metals on Chichagof Island in southeast Alaska. Millrock Resources, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company, several years ago applied to the U.S. Forest Service for drilling permits to renew exploration on claims that once made up the historic Apex and El Nido gold mines. However, the exploration never happened. CEO Gregory Beischer said the company wasn’t able to secure financing. The mines produced precious metals in the early 20th Century. Some exp...
JUNEAU (AP) — Officials are aiming to send out the first wave of Permanent Fund dividend payments to Alaska residents the week of Oct. 11, a Department of Revenue spokesperson said. The department’s Genevieve Wojtusik said in an email Sept. 22 that the first wave would include those who filed for their PFD electronically. She said the second round of payments, which would include those who filed paper applications, would go out about two weeks later. The Legislature mid-September appropriated $730.5 million for dividends this year of about $1,...
The first 100 out-of-state health care workers have started arriving in Alaska to help at medical facilities overwhelmed with record patient counts due to surging COVID-19 infections. The state health department has contracted to bring on 470 health care workers, including about 300 nurses, to help the strained workforce. Alaska is using $87 million in federal funds to cover the costs. The first health care personnel reported to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage for orientation on Tuesday. The contractor said the remaining nurses,...
Not content with the $1,100 Permanent Fund dividend adopted on the final day of the special legislative session that ended Tuesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy hours later called lawmakers back for a fourth special session starting Oct. 1 to “get the rest of this year’s PFD.” Dunleavy, who is running for reelection next year, has been promoting a dividend this year of more than double the $1,100 approved by legislators. Back in June, Dunleavy vetoed a legislatively approved dividend that he said was too small at about $525. This time, however, he said...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —The number of Alaskans hospitalized with COVID-19 has risen, worrying health care providers who are facing staffing issues and fatigue and wondering when the latest wave of cases might peak. “I think our hope right now is that we’re going to hit the peak this month. I’m speaking purely from a hope standpoint,” said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. He added: “Nobody can figure out when we’re going to hit the ceiling, and that is what makes this so challenging....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The campaign aimed at recalling Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday it is ceasing that effort, with a gubernatorial election looming next year and the group short of the signatures needed to force a recall vote. The Recall Dunleavy group said that as of Saturday it had gathered 62,373 signatures, shy of the 71,252 needed. But Joelle Hall, a member of the group’s steering committee, said the group would have wanted additional signatures as a cushion in case some were thrown out. Collecting signatures during the pan...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaskan swimmer Lydia Jacoby, who won a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games, will get a parade in her honor. Festivities are planned Thursday in her hometown of Seward. The 17-year-old and her parents will drive in a parade through Seward beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday. Alaska's News Source reports they will then get on a boat that takes tourists on whale watching and other sighting seeing tours to address the crowd that will gather in front of the Fishermen's Memorial. Jacoby, who will be a senior at Seward High S...
SEWARD, Alaska (AP) — An Olympic buzz permeates an Alaska coastal community thousands of miles away from Japan and nearly a full day after Lydia Jacoby scored a major upset to bring home gold in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke at the Tokyo Games. Jacoby, a 17-year-old who will return for her senior year of high school in Seward, was the first Alaskan to ever qualify for the Olympics in swimming. “We were hoping for a medal, but for her to hit the wall first was just beyond any of our expectations,” said Sarah Spanos, a swim mom who volunte...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A fully vaccinated passenger on an Alaska cruise tested positive for COVID-19 and received “private air transportation” home, according to Celebrity Cruises. A passenger on Sunday reported cold-like symptoms to the ship’s medical personnel and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, the cruise line said in a statement Tuesday. The person was isolated in the ship’s medical facility for monitoring. The company said it did contact tracing and tested the person’s close contacts, who were all negative for the virus. The pers...
TORONTO (AP) - Canada announced Monday it will begin letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens into the country on Aug. 9 — without a 14-day quarantine requirement and with no restrictions on the reason for traveling — and will allow travelers from the rest of the world on Sept. 7. The open border will apply only to U.S. citizens at least 14 days past their vaccination shot, according to the Canadian government announcement. Travelers will be required to upload proof of vaccination to Canada’s web portal, and will be required to show proof of a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House reached in dramatic fashion Monday an agreement that Gov. Mike Dunleavy said would avert a government shutdown. House Speaker Louise Stutes indicated the outcome was not assured when she called the House to order, and House Minority Leader Cathy Tilton, who had been negotiating with Stutes, said things were “absolutely, completely close” to unraveling. Involved Monday was adoption of a statement of the House, calling for creation of a House-Senate working group to make recommendations on a “comp...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate easily confirmed former Obama administration official Tommy Beaudreau as deputy secretary at the Interior Department on Thursday, a rare bipartisan moment in an increasingly bitter fight over President Joe Biden’s policies on energy production and climate change. Beaudreau, a lawyer and former Interior chief of staff, is widely seen as a moderate and was selected in April after Biden dropped plans for a more liberal nominee who faced key Senate opposition. His nomination was approved on an 88-9 vote. Forty-one Rep...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —Graduating seniors in Juneau will be allowed to earn half a credit less than prior graduating classes under a change adopted this week that was billed as a way to acknowledge the impact the pandemic has had on learning. Under the change adopted by the Juneau School District Board of Education, the graduating classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 would need 22.5 credits to graduate, rather than the 23 credits previously required. Reducing the elective credit total by a half-credit would allow “more time for recovery of core con...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Senate delayed action on a state spending package Tuesday, as lawmakers evaluated their options for getting needed votes on a budget and completing their work ahead of a Friday special session deadline. The budget proposal that advanced from a six-member conference committee Sunday attached strings to funding for programs like the annual dividend paid to residents. It was criticized by some lawmakers as a strong-arm tactic. Dividends typically have been paid using earnings from the state’s oil-wealth fund, the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The federal government announced plans Friday to “repeal or replace” a decision by the Trump administration last fall to lift restrictions on logging and road building in a southeast Alaska rainforest that provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon. Conservationists cheered the announcement as a positive step. Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy criticized it and vowed to use “every tool available to push back.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans were announced on a federal regulatory site with little deta...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Wildlife officials in Alaska have said two campers were attacked by a bear this weekend while they were sleeping in a tent in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Jeff Selinger said the campers were sleeping when the bear attacked Saturday around midnight, Anchorage Daily News reported Saturday. The campers had bear deterrents but did not have enough time to use them. “There’s no indication that they did anything to prompt the attack or did anything wrong,” he said. “It’s one of t...
