Sorted by date Results 426 - 450 of 743
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A group of Alaska communities collecting remote sales tax is projected to take in between $8 million and $10 million in new revenue this year. The 33 communities are part of the Alaska Remote Sellers Sales Tax Commission formed by the Alaska Municipal League in November 2019, KTVF-TV reported Saturday. The league was formed to help local governments statewide collect sales tax from purchases made from outside Alaska. Most of the taxes are collected from online sales, but can also be applied to phone purchases. The U...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The results of Alaska’s general election were certified Monday, the Division of Elections announced. Certification followed a review of ballots, voter registers and other materials by a bipartisan board. Certification initially was targeted for Nov. 25. Nationally, state-by-state certification of results has generated interest as President Donald Trump and some supporters have sought to sow doubt about the outcome of his race, won by Democrat Joe Biden. Alaska was among the states Trump won. In a tight Anchorage House rac...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – A group of four nonprofit organizations in Alaska’s capital have been awarded a grant of more than $860,000 to counter homelessness amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Juneau Empire reported Friday that the grant from the Alaska Housing Financial Corporation will be shared by the Juneau groups following their joint application to the corporation. The award is part of a federal coronavirus recovery fund emergency solutions grant to help prevent those affected by the pandemic from experiencing homelessness. The Glory Hal...
The Coast Guard rescued a 70-year-old man from the waters of Union Bay, Alaska, northwest of Meyers Chuck, Sunday. A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew hoisted the man, who was in the water clinging to a piece of debris, and took him to awaiting emergency medical services in Ketchikan, Alaska, according to a Coast Guard press release. The man was reported to be in stable condition. Coast Guard 17th District command center personnel notified Sector Juneau watchstanders of a search and rescue satellite alert from the...
YAKUTAT, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska Airlines jetliner struck a brown bear while landing early Saturday evening, killing the animal and causing damage to the plane, officials said. None of the passengers or crew members on board the plane were injured during the accident at the Yakutat Airport in southeast Alaska, The Anchorage Daily News reported. The Boeing 737-700 killed the brown bear sow, but a cub thought to be about 2 years old was uninjured, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesman Sam Dapcevich said. Airport c...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced legislation that extends the period during which States, Indian Tribes, territories, and local governments may use Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) payments, allocated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. If enacted, this bipartisan legislation will allow the relief funds to be used until September 30, 2021, rather than the original deadline of the end of this year, December 30, 2020. The CARES Act, signed into law on M...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Trump administration is taking steps toward a lease sale within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an area President-elect Joe Biden has said he would move to protect from oil and gas drilling. Chad Padgett, state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for Alaska, said hearing from industry on which tracts to make available “is vital in conducting a successful lease sale.” The agency plans to make a formal call for nominations Tuesday. It said it also will seek comments on whether tract sizes should be re...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska island village plans to use an advanced version of an ancient renewable energy system to lower its high energy costs. The village of Kake wants to build a biomass district heating system to warm its public buildings while saving the community nearly $100,000 annually in energy costs, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Tuesday. Kake was awarded a federal Department of Agriculture grant to design its biomass system. The village is now seeking funding. The system planned for Kake, on Kupreanof Island south of Juneau, woul...
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A man has died after falling off his 75-foot (23-meter) fishing boat and into an Alaska harbor. Ronald Cameron, 65, drowned on Monday after trying to tie up his Washington state-based fishing boat in sizable winds, The Bellingham Herald reported. Sitka police said they received a report of a person floating face down in the water. Authorities located Cameron’s body and emergency workers pulled him from the water, police said in a statement. Cameron was pronounced dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected in Cam...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — When a Tlingit elder dies, leaders from the Alaska Native tribe’s two houses, the Raven and Eagle clans, typically come together along with family and well-wishers for a memorial ceremony featuring displays of traditional tribal regalia. After elder, tribal leader and college professor David Katzeek died last month, the tribe scrambled to find a way to observe their sacred traditions while keeping everyone safe during the pandemic, with coronavirus cases surging in the state. “We know that many of our people are griev...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s governor has announced a new COVID-19 disaster declaration for the state that will take effect Nov. 16 and last 30 days. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the updated declaration on Friday, ahead of the scheduled expiration of the emergency declaration he issued in March. Dunleavy said he took action because of “the rise in cases, and given the uncertainty over the next two to three months,” he said. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services on Saturday reported that the state hit a daily record in...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska election officials plan to begin counting more than 155,000 absentee and other ballots Tuesday, a week after Election Day. Some have questioned or criticized the lag, citing a provision of state law that says the counting of reviewed absentee ballots should begin the night of the election. But Maria Bahr, an Alaska Department of Law spokesperson, said absentee ballots are not deemed eligible for counting until voter histories have been run to guard against any possible duplicate votes. The process involves going t...
Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has won reelection in Alaska, defeating independent Al Gross in a race that attracted outside attention with control of the Senate at stake. The race had been determined too early to call on Election Day Nov. 3 due to a large number of outstanding absentee ballots. Election officials began counting more than 150,000 absentee and other ballots on Tuesday. The result in Alaska means that control of the Senate won’t be decided until January Senate runoffs are held in Georgia. The Gross campaign on Wednesday did n...
ANCHORAGE — Don Young, often referred to as Alaska’s third U.S. senator because of his long tenure as the state’s sole representative in the U.S. House, has been elected to a 25th term. Young, the longest serving Republican ever in the U.S. House, was declared the winner of the general election on Wednesday after officials started counting more 150,000 absentee and other votes. He again defeated Alyse Galvin — an independent who won the state’s Democratic primary — after winning against her in 2018. With Young’s victory, Alaska’s thre...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Federal and state wildlife managers have announced an extension of the wolf trapping season on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. Officials on Friday announced the extension of the trapping season by five days with a limit of five wolves, CoastAlaska reported. Alaska Department of Fish and Game regional wildlife supervisor Tom Schumacher said managers looked at data and decided trapping could be safely allowed from Nov. 15 to Dec. 5. “It’ll allow a little bit more opportunity,” Schumacher said. “But we think that that w...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Legislative Council approved a measure that requires lawmakers, employees and reporters to be screened for the coronavirus when entering the Capitol and to wear masks or face coverings in the building and other legislative offices. The council also voted on Thursday to keep the Capitol building closed to the public until at least January, when the next Legislature convenes. Legislative staff and reporters will still be allowed into the building, KTOO Public Media reported. The council's chair, Sen. Gary S...
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a final Alaska Roadless Rule that exempts the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 provision that prohibited road construction, road reconstruction and timber harvests. The Record of Decision identifies the selected alternative, provides the rationale for the decision, and explains that the exemption does not authorize any specific projects in Alaska. Proposed projects must continue to comply with the 2016 Tongass Land Management Plan and be analyzed under the N...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The debate between the candidates for Alaska’s sole seat in Congress became contentious Thursday, with challenger Alyse Galvin saying she’s tired of U.S. Rep. Don Young misrepresenting her position on issues. “I’m so tired of the lies that have been said throughout this entire campaign,” Galvin said, saying she doesn’t support the so-called Green New Deal, Medicare for all or for culling Second Amendment rights. “I’m really upset that this campaign has come to this,” she said. “You’re better than that, Don Young. A...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The major candidates in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race attacked each other’s integrity and clashed on issues of health care and the Supreme Court in a high-profile broadcast debate less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 election. Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic-supported independent Al Gross somewhat shared the Anchorage debate stage; Sullivan, who appeared on a monitor beside Gross, participated from Washington, D.C., where the Senate is preparing to vote on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney B...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Eligible Alaska residents receiving unemployment checks from the state are expected to receive a $300 increase to their weekly payments beginning next week, officials said. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy approved the increase in August to replace a $600 increase from Congress that ended in July, The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday. The increase will be paid from a federal disaster relief fund for unemployment aid to counter the economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump in August signed an e...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska is redoubling efforts to sell two fast ferries by accepting sealed bids. The state Department of Transportation issued a public notice of the bidding process Thursday, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The state set a minimum reserve price for each ship but does not plan to reveal the amount until the bids are unsealed Dec. 15. Prospective buyers are required to post a refundable $25,000 deposit with each bid for the M/V Chenega and M/V Fairweather. The agency told lawmakers earlier this year that the cost of mooring b...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Al Gross commands a fishing boat as a narrator describes him prospecting for gold and killing a grizzly bear in self-defense in an ad meant to underscore a central theme of Gross' U.S. Senate campaign as an independent: that he knows Alaska. “Out here,” he says as the boat rocks on the water, “if you can't think for yourself, you won't survive.” Gross, a doctor running with Democratic support, is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in a state that has long been a GOP stronghold, outraising Sullivan and putting Re...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. government ignored the requests of some Alaska Native groups to uphold national Roadless Rule restrictions in the Tongass National Forest, tribal officials said. The U.S. Forest Service recommended lifting the rule completely and is expected to make the decision official before the end of October, CoastAlaska reported Friday. The agency started a 30-day clock last month to completely exempt Tongass National Forest from the 2001 regulation. “It's just another broken promise to tribes as far as we're con...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and challenger Al Gross met in a debate focused on fisheries policy that ended up focusing on other issues including federal COVID-19 relief funding and Pebble Mine. The candidates for Sullivan’s seat in the U.S. Senate squared off Saturday in the 90-minute debate on Zoom, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, repeatedly characterized Gross as a threat who could hand Democrats control of the Senate. The debate was hosted by ComFish Alaska and the Kodiak Chamber of...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A “private social event” held last Saturday has led to a 48-hour shutdown of all sports and activities for an Alaska high school, officials said. The Anchorage School District said Friday in a letter that students from at least five Eagle River High School sports teams and activities attended the party. The football team was placed on a 14-day quarantine, meaning the team will be forced to miss its playoff game next week against reigning state champions Soldotna. Eagle River was supposed to play undefeated East High...
