Telephone links between Tonga and the rest of the world are slowly being reconnected, but they’re unreliable, and the internet is still down.
Southeast
Federal disasters declared for 14 Alaska fisheries
The disaster declarations included one for the 2020 Southeast Alaska salmon fisheries.
Ketchikan City Council passes measure allowing officials to clear encampments
The measure would allow the city to confiscate tents, bedding, medications and food with 72 hours’ notice.
Board of Fish will consider moving Southeast meeting back to Ketchikan
The board is asking for public comment on whether to move the postponed meeting back to Ketchikan after originally rescheduling it for Anchorage.
Sitka’s abandoned Fort Babcock to be cleaned of PCB pollution
Eight decades after the fact, the federal government plans to spend $2.2 million to clean up a contaminated former army site on Kruzof Island near Sitka.
All of Haines’ emergency dispatchers caught COVID but stayed on the job to answer 911 calls
The borough manager says the team volunteered to keep working so that 911 calls would be answered locally instead of routing them to Fairbanks.
Coming soon: Everything you wanted to know about Juneau’s most popular humpbacks
There’s about to be a new resource to educate locals, tour guides and visitors about the humpback whales of Southeast Alaska.
Private catamarans will provide ferry service between Juneau and the upper Lynn Canal this month
Sailings to the upper Lynn Canal will be on Monday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Jan. 29.
The state has set a record harvest for Sitka herring, but a weak market will keep many of those fish in the water
Seiners landed only 16,000 tons of herring last year, which was just under half of the harvest guideline.
State says it’s prepping the Tazlina and hiring catamarans to bolster Southeast’s winter ferry schedule
The chartered passenger service was designed with apparently little coordination with destination communities.