Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 763
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Permanent Fund dividend was finalized at $992 and distribution is expected to begin early this year because of economic impacts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, state department officials said. The state Department of Revenue made the announcement Friday, saying payments are expected to begin July 1 instead of in October. “We are in extraordinary times. We need to make sure that the people of Alaska have cash in their hands to help in this economy,” Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in May. “I can’t t...
On May 20, 2020, the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) met in a special session to recommend changes to the charter-caught halibut size and annual limits in IPHC Regulatory Areas 2C and 3A. These regulatory changes were recently approved on June 15, 2020, and are effective immediately: • In Area 2C the charter angler daily bag limit remains at one halibut per day, but the halibut must be less than or equal to 45 inches OR greater than or equal to 80 inches in length. • In Area 3A the charter angler daily bag limit remains at two...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A subsidiary of an Alaska Native corporation has agreed to pay $1.3 million in a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice over a fraud scheme allegedly involving a former employee. Manufacturing company Alutiiq International Solutions told the agency in a non-prosecution deal that former manager Elmer Baker received cash and other kickbacks over several years in connection with a project to modernize the Harry S. Truman Federal Building in Washington, D.C., the Anchorage Daily News reported. Alutiiq International S...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Forty-one crew members and passengers of an Alaska state ferry will undergo testing for COVID-19 before disembarking the Tustumena in Homer later Monday after another crew member tested positive over the weekend. The crew member on the 198-foot ferry began exhibiting symptom and tested positive Saturday in Dutch Harbor. The ferry set sail for Homer that night after 21 passengers who boarded in Dutch Harbor were put back ashore. No other tests on crew members or passengers were conducted on Saturday. In all, 35 crew m...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska Department of Administration audit has found that the state’s National Guard units improved the handling of sexual assault and sexual harassment since 2014, but some problems remain. The administration department’s oversight unit said the National Guard increased sexual assault and prevention training, set up new procedures for addressing complaints and created a new military judicial system under laws passed by the Alaska Legislature, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. Citing the results of anony...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A judge has vacated a proposed land exchange aimed at building a road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska, finding procedural violations. U.S. District Court Senior Judge John Sedwick in a ruling Monday said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt failed to provide adequate reasoning to support a change in policy in entering into a land exchange agreement with King Cove Corp. The Interior Department, under the Obama administration, declined a proposed land swap to build a road through Izembek National Wildlife R...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The state plans to use one of its ferries to provide service between two southeast Alaska communities while repairs are done on an Inter-Island Ferry Authority vessel. The authority halted service between Ketchikan and Hollis on Prince of Wales Island on Friday after what it described as a “catastrophic propulsion system failure” affecting its vessel, the Prince of Wales, CoastAlaska reported. The ferry will be repaired when parts and technicians are available, authority General Manager Ronald Curtis said in the state...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An annual extreme mountain race in Alaska has been postponed until next year over coronavirus concerns, organizers said. The committee that oversees the Mount Marathon Race in Seward announced Sunday that the 93rd running of the Fourth of July event would be postponed until July 2021 after failing to find another appropriate date this year. The race of about 3 miles (5 kilometers) up and back down Mount Marathon to the finish line in Seward began in 1915 and was last canceled in 1942 because of World War II. No races w...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has announced that checks from the state’s oil-wealth fund will begin going out to residents three months early because of “extraordinary times” brought on by the economic hardships caused by the coronavirus. “We need to make sure that people of Alaska have cash in their hands to help with this economy,” Dunleavy, a Republican, said Wednesday evening. This year’s check is expected to be about $1,000 and Dunleavy’s office said the Permanent Fund Dividend Division, which determines annual eligibil...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska had 42,200 fewer jobs in April than a year earlier as coronavirus fears shut down or disrupted businesses at a time when many traditionally would start adding jobs for the summer, the state labor department reported Friday. As restrictions ease, some of the jobs will return, but many seasonal jobs won’t happen this year, such as those serving cruise passengers, the report stated. Nearly 540 Alaska voyages have been canceled, according to Cruise Lines International Association Alaska. Streets that normally would be b...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Legislature reconvened Monday for the first time since recessing in late March over coronavirus concerns, with new screening protocols aimed guarding against the virus. Under the protocols, details of which were released Monday, legislative staff and reporters were required to undergo screening, consisting of a temperature check and questions about travel, contacts and symptoms. Screenings were done by Capital City Fire/Rescue, and badges with a colored sticker were issued to be worn in the Capitol noting that a...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska airline has made a purchase offer for another regional carrier whose parent company declared bankruptcy because of the economic impact of the coronavirus. Alaska Seaplane Services LLC says it wants to buy Peninsula Airways Inc. and save the Southwest Alaska airline’s operating certificate, Alaska Public Media reported Sunday. Juneau-based Alaska Seaplane Services, doing business as Alaska Seaplanes, declined comment on the amount of its offer to buy the air carrier certification of Peninsula Airways, known as...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House abruptly adjourned Tuesday after ratifying plans for using more than $1 billion in federal coronavirus relief aid, one day after reconvening to take up the issue. The Senate passed its own ratification bill but stayed in session to consider the House version, which aides said is identical. A vote is expected Wednesday, as Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration moves ahead with plans for distributing funds, including community and small business aid. Payments to communities could begin as early as Friday onc...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has no income or statewide sales taxes, and it cuts residents a check every year from its oil wealth. But the future of that unique payout is in question amid low oil prices and an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic. The size of the check — expected to be about $1,000 this year — has become a political battle in a state that already struggled to pay its bills. Many of Alaska’s 730,000 people see the money as a right. For some, the checks go toward vacations, vehicles or college savings. For others,...
PALMER, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska school board postponed a vote over rescinding a ban on selected English course books after taking public testimony on the issue that attracted national attention when a Grammy-winning rock group pledged to purchase the banned books for students. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District board heard three hours of testimony Wednesday on a proposal to rescind last month’s vote to remove five American literature classics from high school English elective courses. The board is scheduled to vote on the pro...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A legislative committee set aside lingering legal questions and agreed to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s plans for $1 billion in federal coronavirus relief aid. Many Legislative Budget and Audit Committee members Monday said getting the money out was more important than haggling over legal authority for the spending, KTOO Public Media reported. The committee, made up of House and Senate members, previously agreed to Dunleavy’s plans for about $125 million, a fraction of his total request, while working through remaining items...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Organizers of the Southeast Alaska State Fair said Friday that the summer event in Haines has been canceled this year due to COVID-19. In a statement, fair officials said it was a difficult decision but the right one to make. “For us and many across Southeast Alaska and the Yukon, the Fair is something to look forward to at the end of the summer, a moment of congregation and fun separate from the rest of the year,” the statement reads. “2020 has instead united us with the common goal of preserving the health and safety...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Federal lawmakers have been urged by tribes and local conservation groups to address transboundary mining, which some consider a threat to southeast Alaska. Transboundary mining is when run-off from a mine in one country pollutes water that eventually flows into another country. The dams in Canada holding back toxic wastewater from the mining process have failed before in 2014 when the Mount Polly Mine in British Columbia spilled millions of gallons of industrial waste into nearby waterways in southern British Columbia, t...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Alaska's largest newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize in public service Monday for its work examining law enforcement in rural communities, a feat coming less than three years after the outlet was rescued from the brink of financial collapse. This is the third such award won by the Anchorage Daily News. The award announced Monday was won in collaboration with ProPublica for "a riveting series that revealed a third of Alaska's villages had no police protection, took authorities...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Nearly 70% of this summer’s Alaska cruise ship voyages have been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with hundreds of thousands of expected passengers staying away from the staple of the state’s tourism industry. Alaska cruise industry representatives delivered the disheartening update to the state’s Board of Marine Pilots, CoastAlaska reported Wednesday. Mike Tibbles of Cruise Lines International Association Alaska told board members that 408 voyages have been canceled so far. “It’s a little over 800,000 pas...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Gov. Mike Dunleavy's administration announced plans to begin allowing this week the limited reopening of restaurants, retail stores and other businesses that were shut down amid coronavirus concerns. Starting Friday, restaurants, retail outlets, hair and nail salons and businesses that fell under the category of nonessential will be allowed to reopen, with limited services. Bars, theaters, bowling alleys and bingo halls will not be allowed to reopen yet, the state's health...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Conservationists have asked the federal government to provide better protection for a wolf population in Southeast Alaska. A letter sent to the supervisor of Tongass National Forest says a record number of 165 wolves killed by trappers threatens wolves on and around Prince of Wales Island, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The April 13 letter to Forest Supervisor Earl Stewart was signed by representatives of advocacy groups Defenders of Wildlife, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and the Center for Biological Diversity. ...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A succession of mechanical failures led to a persistent spill of oily water in Port Valdez that lasted nearly two weeks, officials said. By the end of last week, crews had recovered 14 barrels of oil from a contained area near a boat harbor at the Valdez Marine Terminal, The Anchorage Daily News reported. More than 240 people are involved in the response to the spill of North Slope crude oil discovered on April 12. The amount of oil spilled is unknown. “The outflow is currently discharging high volumes of snow melt and...
PALMER, Alaska (AP) — A school board north of Anchorage, Alaska has banned the teaching of five books considered literary classics used for high school English elective courses without public comment, sparking criticism from some educators. The Matanuska-Susitna School Board has voted Wednesday 5-2 to remove “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison; “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller; “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien; “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou; and “The Great Gatsby”by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Teachers are no longer permitted to...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The owner of a downtown Anchorage gallery was accused of illegally purchasing and selling walrus tusk ivory and tax evasion stemming from 2017, federal prosecutors said. Walter Earl, 75, faces up to five years in prison and multiple $250,000 fines after he was charged Thursday with four felonies in federal court, including three Lacey Act violations, Anchorage Daily News reported. The Lacey Act was passed in 1990 and prohibits the sale of wildlife or wildlife products taken or possessed in violation of state or foreign...
