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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A judge on Friday ordered the state to pay about $190,000 in attorney fees and costs after losing a case to the group seeking to recall Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Department of Law spokesperson Maria Bahr said the department was reviewing Superior Court Judge Herman Walker Jr.’s decision. The order can be appealed. The Recall Dunleavy campaign sued last year after Alaska’s then-attorney general, Kevin Clarkson, found the statement of grounds for recall to be “factually and legally deficient” and an election official...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska conservationists are urging state and federal officials not to reopen wolf hunting season around Prince of Wales Island. They are imploring officials to do so in order to allow the population of wolves to recover from last season’s record harvest, CoastAlaska reported. Much of the island is part of the Tongass National Forest, which makes state and federal governments in charge of managing hunting and trapping. The U.S. Forest Service had postponed the federal subsistence wolf season until Oct. 31. The sta...
BETHEL, Alaska (AP) —Alaska may have reached the limit of hospital space available for care of people infected with COVID-19, a health care company official said. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation recently had to keep a patient at its Bethel facility for an extra day because there were no available beds in Anchorage, KYUK-AM reported Wednesday. The corporation’s hospital in Bethel does not have an intensive care unit, which medical staff deemed necessary for the patient’s treatment, said Dr. Ellen Hodges, the corporation’s chief of staf...
During Southeast Alaska's record breaking rainfall this summer, the Swan Lake hydroelectric facility reached its full capacity for the first time since the project was upgraded three years ago, according to a press release from Sen. Bert Stedman's office and Southeast Alaska Power Agency. Water levels reached the flashboards and forced a reservoir spill on July 24. The upgrade expanded the capacity of the hydroproject from 86,000 acre-feet to 111,800 acre-feet, according to the press release. Th...
BETHEL, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska village has regained electrical power after a month-long outage during which some families lost subsistence harvests stored in freezers. Newtok’s backup generator gave out in late August and power was not restored until Sept. 21, KYUK-AM reported Tuesday. The backup failure happened three years after the main generator stopped working in the village west of Bethel populated by members of the Yupik Alaska Native tribe. Short, intermittent outages are expected as testing of the system is completed, Tribal Adm...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has caused a national increase in the number of people enrolling in the federal Medicaid health payment program and officials have said Alaska residents are joining at unprecedented levels. Over the last six months, more than 12,000 people in Alaska have joined Medicaid, known in the state as DenaliCare and Denali KidCare, Juneau Public Media reported Friday. Alaska’s program covered 232,735 participants as of Aug. 31, or nearly one out of three state residents, including most children. Alaska’s Me...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump has said he will issue a permit for a rail line connecting Alaska and Canada, he said. Trump sent a tweet last Friday citing the influence of two members of Alaska’s congressional delegation on his decision, The Anchorage Daily News reported. “I will be issuing a Presidential Permit for the A2A Cross-Border Rail between Alaska & Canada. Congratulations to the people of Alaska & Canada,” Trump said in the tweet. Trump credited what he called a “strong recommendation” by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U...
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to exempt the country’s largest national forest from a ban on timber harvests and road building in roadless areas, a move conservation groups denounced Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, under which the Forest Service falls, announced Thursday the upcoming release of a final environmental review identifying a preferred alternative to exempt the Tongass National Forest from the so-called Roadless Rule. Once the review is released, at least 30 days must pass before a final decision is made. The Tong...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The amount of donations to a fight over an Alaska oil tax ballot initiative has exceeded $17 million, with the vast majority contributed by big oil companies opposed to a tax increase. OneAlaska, the opposition group to the proposed Fair Share act, reported raising $15.4 million as of Friday, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Most of the opposition money has come from Alaska’s top oil producers, ConocoPhillips Co., ExxonMobil Corp. and Hilcorp Alaska LLC, the three companies that would face tax increases under the act...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Native corporations are not eligible to receive a share of the $8 billion in federal coronavirus relief funding set aside for tribes, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday in overturning a lower-court decision. The three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit found an Alaska Native corporation cannot qualify as an Indian tribe under the federal Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act unless it has been “recognized as eligible for the special programs and...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A larger than normal number of young bears and dwindling natural food supply for them are forcing the animals to head for Juneau's garbage with unusual frequency, a wildlife official said. A poor berry crop and lackluster salmon runs this year mean more bears are looking for food among the city's trash, KTOO Public Media in Juneau reported. Conditions have made bears desperate to fatten themselves before they hibernate for the winter, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska plans to allow the online sale of raffle tickets for the first time to help nonprofit organizations faced with limited fundraising opportunities because of coronavirus restrictions. The state Department of Revenue approved the temporary change over the summer allowing organizations holding charitable gaming permits to sell raffle tickets and draw winners online, Alaska Public Media reported Monday. State Gaming Unit Director Katrina Mitchell said this is the only instance in which any online gaming has been p...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s unemployment numbers improved in August but still remains historically high amid the coronavirus pandemic, the state’s labor agency reported. In August, the state reported 37,000 fewer jobs than in the same month in 2019 for a 10.5% drop, said the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. That’s an improvement on numbers from July, when the state had 39,900 fewer jobs than it did in the same month last year — a roughly 11.2% decrease. Still, more than 43,000 people are collecting unemployment benefi...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two drivers are dead and four children were injured following a vehicle collision Thursday on southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, Alaska State Troopers said. The troopers in an online dispatch said a preliminary investigation indicated that one of the drivers, whom they identified as 35-year-old Jennifer Dietrick of Naukati, crossed the double-yellow line of Thorne Bay Road, causing a head-on collision. The other vehicle was driven by Kerri Hansen, 33, of Thorne Bay, troopers said. Both drivers were pronounced dea...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Most of Alaska’s wildland fire crews are helping fight fires in the continental U.S., including western blazes that have triggered evacuations of thousands of people, officials said. U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said 450 to 500 Alaska residents are currently helping fight fires outside the state, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. Alaska fire crews have a history of assisting beyond the state’s borders. But this year is unique with the necessity of also trying to suppress the coron...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The choice of a director of the disputed Pebble Mine project to sit on the Alaska Board of Fisheries has drawn opposition from fishermen and critics of the proposed mine. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Abe Williams to a three-year term on the board in April, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. Alaska legislative committees are holding confirmation hearings on the selection after the process was recessed in the spring because of the coronavirus outbreak. Williams serves as regional affairs director f...
SKAGWAY, Alaska (AP) — A southeast Alaska community is considering how to diversify its port traffic when a significant tourism contract ends, which has drawn the interest of the mining industry. The Yukon Producers’ Group industry, an industry organization for mining and mineral exploration companies, said Skagway is essential to mining in the Yukon, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported. The port in the Municipality and Borough of Skagway has been dominated by tourism interests in recent decades, but a long-standing waterfront lease with touri...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service issued a deadline to the operator of an Alaska island boat shop to tear down the historic complex and leave, but the owner said the agency’s demands are unrealistic. The federal agency ordered Sam Romey to vacate Wolf Creek Boatworks on Prince of Wales Island, CoastAlaska reported Thursday. Tongass Forest Supervisor Earl Stewart said in an Aug. 14 letter that the boathouse and shop building must be removed by Dec. 15. Ownership of the land parcel occupied by the shop is scheduled to be tra...
The official results of the Aug. 18, 2020 state primary election are in and Petersburg residents can expect to see familiar names on the ballot in November. Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan will face off against Independent Al Gross for the United States Senate seat. Sullivan ran unopposed and took 65,257 votes in the Republican party. Gross had 50,047 votes, the clear front runner among the three other candidates running for the US Senate under the Democratic ticket. Don Young’s United States House of Representative seat is also up for r...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that the state should not have attempted to transfer an area of forest land to the Alaska Mental Health Trust for potential logging. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council filed a lawsuit in 2013 after learning the state planned to transfer the Kuiu Island parcel to the mental health trust, which commercially logs in the region, CoastAlaska reported Monday. A 1994 agreement directed the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to manage Kuiu Island’s No Name Bay area south of Juneau for...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson has resigned, shortly after details of text messages that the state’s married and socially conservative top law enforcement officer sent to a female state employee were revealed Tuesday. “Kevin Clarkson has admitted to conduct in the workplace that did not live up to our high expectations, and this is deeply disappointing,” Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement. “This morning he took responsibility for the unintentional consequences of his actions and tendered...
An Alaska state lawmaker who was involved in a July midair collision that killed seven people was piloting his plane even though his medical flight certification was denied eight years ago because of vision problems, a federal agency reported Tuesday. Alaska State Troopers identified the pilot as state Rep. Gary Knopp, 67, of Kenai, who was flying a Piper PA-12 when it collided with a de Havilland DHC2 shortly after both planes had taken off in the area of Soldotna, Alaska, on the evening of July 31. Both airplanes crashed, killing Knopp, the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska tribal governments and organizations have asked the state to withdraw a lawsuit alleging a federal agency overstepped its authority by granting an Alaska Native village a special hunting permission during the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit opposes the special action granted to the Organized Village of Kake by the federal Office of Subsistence Management, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported. The federal agency granted a request for Kake residents to hunt up to two moose and five male Sitka black-tailed deer. Alaska Fis...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Anchorage high school student has been arrested on accusations he threatened students and staff with a gun during multiple online classes, officials said. The Dimond High School student attended several online learning sessions and disrupted them, police said. He made threatening gestures with a gun and used profane language before he was removed from the classrooms, said Anchorage School District spokesman Alan Brown. The school district notified school-based police officers about the threats last Thursday, p...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s contact tracing program is working well despite undergoing a strain in recent months during the effort to track coronavirus infections, public health officials said. The state recently increased the size of its team of contact tracers as the number of new cases went on a downward trajectory, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Public health experts believe the investigative process of tracking how a virus moves through a population is key to slowing the spread of COVID-19. The continued efficiency of con...
