Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 743
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Environmental groups filed lawsuits aimed at halting efforts by the Trump administration to open up wide swaths of Alaska’s Arctic to oil drilling. Two separate lawsuits were filed late Monday challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s plan to allow drilling on more than 18 million acres of land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The legal actions contend the administration is rolling back protections for the ecosystem. The lawsuits came the same day environmental groups filed legal challenges to the Depar...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska tribal group has filed a lawsuit against state officials claiming the commercial fishing permit system unfairly prevents local anglers from fishing on their traditional grounds. The lawsuit filed by the Metlakatla Indian Community asks a federal judge to prevent the state from requiring commercial fishing permits for tribal members, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Monday. The tribe named Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and other administration officials in the lawsuit that says the tribe’s fishing rights are g...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Independent Al Gross led the field in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Alaska, while the incumbent, Republican Dan Sullivan, ran unopposed in his primary Tuesday. Gross, an orthopedic surgeon, was endorsed by the state Democratic party last fall. He is the highest-profile candidate in that primary, which also includes Edgar Blatchford, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a former state commerce commissioner, and Chris Cumings, who, like Gross, is a registered nonpartisan. ...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —Alaska’s governor has named an investment executive with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to serve on the board of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Ethan Schutt last week to serve as a trustee of the $67 billion fund, Alaska Public Media reported Monday. “The permanent fund touches every Alaska household, so it’s an awesome responsibility,” said Schutt, who will serve a four-year term on the board. The state-owned corporation in Juneau manages the financial assets of the Al...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Trump administration gave final approval Monday for a contentious oil and gas leasing plan on the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where critics worry about the industry’s impact on polar bears, caribou and other wildlife. The next step, barring lawsuits, will be the actual sale of leases. Development — should it occur — is still years away. Environmentalists have promised to fight opening up the coastal plain, a 1.56-million acre swath of land along Alaska’s northern Beaufort Sea coast a...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A DNA match has solved the strangulation murder of a teenager in southeast Alaska, a case that was cold for 24 years and saw another man acquitted of the crime after confessing, Alaska State Troopers said Tuesday. DNA obtained from Steve Branch, 66, of Austin, Arkansas, at an autopsy matched that of a sample left at the scene where Jessica Baggen, 17, was sexually assaulted and killed in Sitka in 1996, troopers said. Troopers interviewed Branch at his Arkansas home on Aug. 3, when he denied involvement and refused to v...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An outside group focused on defeating President Donald Trump in November and “Trumpism” is running an ad in Alaska in support of independent Al Gross in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race. Gross is seeking to challenge first-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. The ad, sponsored by The Lincoln Project and shared on its website, doesn’t mention Sullivan but an accompanying press release does. The release refers to Sullivan as “no longer a Republican nor a conservative” but a “Trumpist.” Trump carried Alaska with 51% of the vote in 20...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The area encompassing Alaska’s capital city is on track to break summer rainfall records, a state weather expert said. National Weather Service Meteorologist Cody Moore said that Juneau had already reached its summer rain average of 13 inches (33 centimeters) by July 26, The Juneau Empire reported Tuesday. The last summer to break records was 2014, when Juneau had 14 inches (35.5 centimeters) of rainfall, Moore said. Juneau is likely to break that high mark if the current weather pattern continues, Moore predicted. Ove...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - An infamous bus appears headed to a new home at a museum in Fairbanks after being removed from Alaska's backcountry to deter people from making dangerous, sometimes deadly treks to visit the site where a young man documented his demise in 1992. The state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday that it intends to negotiate with the University of Alaska's Museum of the North to display the bus, which was popularized by the book "Into the Wild" and a movie of the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Critics and proponents are debating the merits of changes to federal environmental policy, including the effects on management of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The largest U.S. national forest will probably be impacted by the Trump administration’s recent revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Wednesday. Supporters have said the changes streamline a regulatory process that hampers development on federal lands. Natalie Dawson, executive director of Audubon Alaska, said the upd...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Wildfire smoke from Siberia has moved into Southcentral Alaska and left a haze lingering over the region that the National Weather Service said could remain for weeks. The agency said smoke from the fires began spreading over Alaska in early July, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. Until the fires in Russia stop, the haze will likely continue, although the duration is difficult to predict, said Patrick Doll of the National Weather Service’s Anchorage office. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it continued well into t...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska health officials reported that there were 159 new COVID-19 cases in the state Sunday, including 111 within the Municipality of Anchorage. The new cases included 145 Alaska residents and 14 non-residents, The Anchorage Daily News reported. Data from the state Department of Health and Social Services showed there was one new hospitalization reported, while there were no additional deaths on Sunday. The health department reported that 27 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized as of Sunday and 12 people were h...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A moderate earthquake, an aftershock of last week’s magnitude 7.8 quake off the Alaska Peninsula, occurred in the same region Monday, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. The center said Monday’s quake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 and was located at a depth of about 18 miles (29 km). It was centered about 80 miles (129 km) from King Cove, where it was lightly felt, the center said. The King Cove Department of Public Safety sent a notice to residents stating that continued aftershocks were expected. A magni...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Juneau officials are considering an ordinance that would create a committee to ensure that future local laws are not racist or discriminatory. The proposal to the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly is a response to community pressure to establish oversight committees for city departments including schools, police and the assembly itself, The Juneau Empire reported Sunday. Assembly member Rob Edwardson introduced the ordinance last week to create a new seven-person committee with members who have experience identifying u...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A seafood processing plant in Anchorage has found 56 employees tested positive for COVID-19, marking the latest outbreak in the industry, health officials said. The Anchorage Health Department announced Friday that testing was conducted between July 17 and July 22, and more workers could test positive as 30 test results are still pending. The plant is owned by Copper River Seafoods and employs 134 workers, many who live in the city. “This is a concerning situation for the people of Anchorage,” said Bruce Chand...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The largest city in Alaska has mandated residents wear masks in public to limit the spread of COVID-19, but several other cities and boroughs declined to follow suit, arguing the mandates weren’t needed, would be difficult to enforce or were illegal. Anchorage, Cordova, Dillingham, Kotzebue, Seward, Unalaska and Valdez were the only large cities to require masks in all public indoor spaces, including stores and restaurants, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The Northwest Arctic Borough was the only borough to do so....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Department of Public Safety accused Google of censorship for canceling a recruitment advertisement for state troopers considered to be political, but the tech giant said it was a miscommunication. The pay-per-click advertisement shows civil unrest, talks about how Alaska is different and features Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who makes an appeal for people to come to Alaska to become a trooper. A pay-per-click advertisement is an ad where advertisers pay every time someone clicks it. The one-minute video was s...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A powerful earthquake off Alaska’s southern coast shook sparsely populated coastal communities late Tuesday and prompted some residents to briefly flee to higher ground because of tsunami fears. There were no immediate reports of damage in the Alaska Peninsula and the tsunami warning was canceled after the magnitude 7.8 quake offshore created a wave of a less than a foot (30 centimeters). The earthquake struck Tuesday at 10:12 p.m. local time and was centered in waters 65 miles (105 kilometers) south-southeast of the...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A conservation group has filed a petition seeking endangered species status for a subspecies of Alaska wolves. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on July 15 for the protections for Alexander Archipelago wolves, which live in southeast Alaska, CoastAlaska reported. “These wolves are being devastated by trapping and by clear cut logging of their forest home,’’ said Shaye Wolf, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “And they need some stronger...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to release its final environmental review of a proposed copper and gold mine near the headwaters of a major salmon fishery in southwest Alaska, a review a corps official says will inform a permit decision expected later this year. For years, the proposed Pebble Mine has been shrouded in controversy that release of the review expected Friday is unlikely to clear up. Some tribes, tribal groups, fishermen and others say the review has been rushed and is superficial. Tom Collier, CEO of t...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state court judge Friday denied a Juneau man’s request to block distribution of federal coronavirus relief aid under expanded rules proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg ruled Eric Forrer had not shown a “clear probability of success’’ on the merits in his underlying case. Even if Forrer had, Pallenberg in his order wrote he would not have blocked disbursement of funds amid the virus’ economic fallout. “The current situation is too grave, and the needs of Alaskans too gr...
SEWARD, Alaska (AP) — Center is in jeopardy of closing after concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have drastically reduced visitation rates. A decision will be made on Oct. 1 regarding the future of the aquarium, KTUU-TV reported Monday. As revenue from visits has whittled, the center has seen the costs of caring for its more than 4,000 animals stay stagnant. The CEO of the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Tara Reimer, said over half of the aquarium’s revenue comes from visitors. The SeaLife Center, Seward’s second-largest emplo...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A Colorado company agreed to a $7 million cleanup plan for Alaska’s only uranium mine, which has left radioactive waste in the Tongass National Forest. Newmont Corporation is expected to fill the former Ross-Adams Mine in the Prince of Wales Island area, CoastAlaska reported Monday. A plan has been in the works for decades to close and clean the open pit mine area on the slopes of Bokan Mountain at the head of Kendrick Bay. The remote area is used by residents for fishing halibut and other activities, said Eric Rhodes of...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska city council approved a draft ordinance to protect equal rights for residents covering a range of personal, cultural and social circumstances. The first reading of an equal rights ordinance that passed last Thursday would prohibit discrimination based on factors including ethnicity, national origin, religion and marital status, The Ketchikan Daily News reported Tuesday. The ordinance would also protect citizens from discrimination stemming from disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pr...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The University of Alaska Board of Regents on Tuesday named Pat Pitney interim president, a position she is expected to hold at least a year while a search for a permanent president is underway. Pitney is expected to take over Aug. 1, according to a system release. Michelle Rizk has been acting president. Rizk was named to that position last month, after Jim Johnsen resigned. Pitney is director of the Legislative Finance Division, which provides budget and revenue analyses for the Legislature. She was budget director u...
