Sorted by date Results 751 - 775 of 786
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska lawmakers have rejected Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s location of his hometown of Wasilla for a special session that starts next month. The Alaska Legislature will instead convene in Juneau on July 8 and then hold a majority of its meetings in Anchorage, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham, and Senate President Cathy Giessel, an Anchorage Republican, said in a joint statement. “The majority of legislators in both bodies considers it our right to determine the location and venue best equipped to co...
SITKA, Alaska (AP) — A health care business group plans to rename five southeast Alaska facilities. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported Monday that Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium will change the name of the facilities in Sitka as part of a new association with Sitka Community Hospital scheduled to be completed August 1. Sitka Medical Center Express Care Clinic will be renamed Mountainside Urgent Care, Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital will be renamed Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, Sitka Community Hospital will become Sitka Long-Term Care, M...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent last month, which would be its lowest level in more than a decade. The figure is preliminary and could still change; the state’s unemployment rate had stood at 6.5 percent since August. Federal labor statistics show the last time Alaska’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent was December 2007. The state labor department says Alaska gained 900 jobs between May 2018 and last month. Construction added the most jobs during that time, followed by the oil and gas sector. Manufac...
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — Stitching, padding, and layers of fabric are what can be seen and felt when touching a quilt, but the colors and patterns in combination with the effort and gratitude symbolize much more. When seven former members of the Armed Forces of the United States were called upon by members of the Rainy Day Quilt Guild June 15 in the Honey-Do Lounge at the Veteran of Foreign Wars Post 3113, they were met with applause from the community followed by a token of appreciation, a “Quilt of Valor,” for the lifelong sacrifices they hav...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The developer of a proposed mine in southeast Alaska is moving ahead with exploration following a favorable court decision. That decision, however, is being appealed by critics of the project, which is located near Haines. Liz Cornejo, vice president for community and external affairs with Canada-based Constantine Metal Resources Ltd., told the Juneau Empire she believes mines, eagles and fish can co-exist. The next phase of exploration involves tunneling into a mountain to get a better sense for how substantial the minera...
QUINHAGAK, Alaska (AP) — Accelerating erosion is forcing villages in western Alaska to begin making plans to move, officials said. Erosion caused by climate change threatens village infrastructure and could force the relocation of communities such as Quinhagak, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Monday. A 2012 state report listed Quinhagak’s sewer lagoon and multipurpose building as top priorities for replacement or repair because of erosion and thawing permafrost. Erosion now threatens Quinhagak’s airstrip, water treatment plant and water and sew...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Senate failed Monday to revive a bill that would pay residents a full dividend of about $3,000 from the state’s oil-wealth fund this year, a sign of the struggle lawmakers are having in reaching agreement on one of the special session’s last issues. Instead, senators narrowly voted to create a working group with the House to make recommendations on future use of Alaska Permanent Fund earnings. The House approved the measure Sunday. Some suggested existing committees could buckle down on the issue and quest...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state labor department report says recent job gains after three years of losses could signal the end of Alaska’s recession. The report says the state saw year-over-year job growth for seven straight months, starting in October. This followed revisions to 2018 figures. The Anchorage Daily News reports the department revises job numbers after releasing initial estimates. While the growth was small, department economist Karinne Wiebold says it strengthens the case that the economy is recovering. The numbers remain sub...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska has awarded a contract to study whether the state can become the first in the nation to change its Medicaid program into a block grant system. Alaska Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday that the state Department of Health and Social Services issued a notice May 29 of its intent to award the contract to analyze the prospect of implementing block grants for federal Medicaid payments, work requirements for Medicaid enrollees, and shifting some Alaska Medicaid recipients to private insurance. The $100,000 c...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska officials are reconsidering whether special events like outdoor concerts are a responsible use of state park land. The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday that a concert in Chugach State Park was cancelled following complaints about potential negative environmental impacts. The manager for folk band Blackwater Railroad Company says the proposed concert at Williwaw Lakes was intended to provide an intimate, outdoor experience encouraging conservation. He says the band expected attendance would be no more than 2...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard is expected to take possession of a new heavy icebreaker within five years and Alaska’s junior U.S. senator would like to see it spend time in U.S. waters. Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said Antarctic policy likely will shift the future icebreaker away from the Arctic missions it should be used for, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported . “I think we’re too focused on Antarctica and not focused on our own sovereign interests here,” Sullivan said. The country’s only heavy icebreaker, the 43 year-old...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska senator has written to the U.S. trade representative asking for Alaska fish species to be removed from a list of goods facing tariffs, a report said. Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last week, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. As part of an ongoing trade dispute with China, earlier this month the Trump Administration announced an increase in tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of products and tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth o...
SITKA - Aaron Phillips of Petersburg was the $1,000 Sablefish tag recovery drawing winner. Other drawing winners of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2019 annual tag recovery incentive drawing for stable fish tag returns are: 1. Dick Curran, Sitka, $500 2. Stephen Rhoads, Sitka, $500 3. Jason Hammer, Port Townsend, WA, $250 4. James Hubbard, Seward, $250 5. Frank Balovich, Sitka, $250 6. Michael Erb, Anchorage, $250 All persons who return an ADF&G sablefish tag receive a tag reward (i.e....
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —The Alaska Senate on Tuesday narrowly voted down a full dividend payout from the state’s oil-wealth fund this year, with a prominent supporter of the proposal absent. The 10-8 vote came after the Senate, by the same tally, adopted an amendment calling for a full payout with checks to qualified residents estimated to be around $3,000. The initial bill proposed $1,600 checks. At least 11 votes were needed for the bill to pass. Sen. Mike Shower, a Wasilla Republican who has supported a full payout, posted on Facebook Sat...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against a military couple seeking permanent fund dividends because they were out of state during required periods, a report said. The court denied an appeal by Donald Jones and Annette Gwalthney-Jones, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Monday. The couple sought permanent fund dividends for 2014 and 2015 even though they were not physically present in Alaska for several years prior due to Donald Jones’ Air Force assignment. In the ruling released Friday, the court upheld an adm...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Legislature, locked in a fight with Gov. Mike Dunleavy over education funding, moved one step closer Tuesday to a lawsuit over the issue. The House and Senate voted to give the committee that handles legislative business, the Legislative Council, authority to sue. Sen. Gary Stevens, the Legislative Council chair, told reporters a lawsuit could be filed if the money for K-12 schools is not released. Stevens, a Kodiak Republican, said the council composed of House and Senate members would have to vote to move f...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The wettest region in Alaska is experiencing the first extreme drought recorded by the U.S. Drought Monitor, officials said. Scientists say the southernmost portion of Southeast Alaska has been in a drought for the last two years, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. The drought was upgraded last week to an extreme, or D3, drought, according to climatologists at the Fairbanks-based Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy. The designation is the second-highest category measured by the U.S. Drought Monitor ...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A fishing boat captain who dumped sandblast waste into southeast Alaska waters was ordered to pay $10,000 and perform 40 hours of community service. Federal prosecutors say 32-year-old Brannon Finney of Bellingham, Washington, dumped waste to avoid a $1,460 disposal fee. U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Scoble on Wednesday also ordered 18 months of probation for Finney and a public apology. Prosecutors say Finney’s boat had been sandblasted for repainting. On June 15, 2017, she and crewmembers left Wrangell for Pet...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska House has endorsed a tribe’s effort to change the name of Saginaw Bay to Skanax Bay. Tribal leaders are pushing the change because the body of water off Kuiu Island was named for a U.S. warship that destroyed three Tlingit villages in 1869 that are near present-day Kake in southeast Alaska, CoastAlaska reported Monday. The House passed a resolution 37-0 endorsing the name change to Skanax, the Tlingit word for security. The Tlingit villages east of Sitka destroyed by the U.S.S. Saginaw were deserted in adv...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's unemployment rate remained steady at 6.5 percent last month. Federal labor statistics show that rate has held since August. Unemployment stood at 6.7 percent in April 2018. The state labor department says employment was up an estimated 0.9 percent from April 2018, with construction adding the largest number of jobs at 1,800. Health care and oil and gas each added 500 jobs over the period while manufacturing had the biggest decline. The department says manufacturing in Alaska is mostly seafood processing. The s...
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A hiker and his dog ate berries and moss while they were lost for days in Alaska, he said. Logan Holmer, 26, of Missouri, and his dog started hiking the Far Mountain Trail May 7 and became separated from their group the next day, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Monday. Holmer brought two days’ worth of food and ate the last of it on the fourth day, supplementing his diet with the plants he found, he said in a social media post quoted by the newspaper. “I was laying in a huge bed of these plants and I pulle...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska will pay armed Canadian police to provide protection to U.S. personnel at a ferry terminal in British Columbia, state transportation officials said. The Alaska Marine Highway System was notified in March that unarmed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents checking ferries leaving Prince Rupert, British Columbia, will require assistance from Royal Canadian Mounted Police, CoastAlaska reported Friday. Without armed police at inspections, the port faces closure, officials said. The Canadian officers will be c...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A lawsuit has been filed against a retired University of Alaska Anchorage anthropology professor who is banned from campus over sexual misconduct allegations by multiple women. David Yesner is named in the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday along with The University of Alaska system and the University of Alaska Board of Regents, Anchorage television station KTVA reported. Plaintiffs maintain Yesner was allowed to use the UAA campus as his own personal “hunting ground” while the university shielded its reputation inste...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska air carrier involved in two deadly floatplane crashes in a week has voluntarily suspended operations, federal officials said Tuesday. The halt of flightseeing and commuter flights is in place indefinitely, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The action comes after the passenger and the pilot of a Beaver floatplane operated by Taquan Air were killed when the single-engine aircraft crashed in Metlakatla Harbor on Monday afternoon during a 22-mile (35-kilometer) commuter flight from Ketchikan. T...
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Alaska’s seafood industry is exploring strategies to reduce damage from the Trump administration’s trade dispute with China, officials said. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute plans to explore how Alaska can enter additional markets to expand the state’s seafood brand, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday. The U.S. plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports from 10% to 25% Friday. China is the largest export market and re-processor of Alaska seafood, with about $989 million worth of sales to Chin...
