News

The First Presbyterian Church of Sitka has announced that it is dissolving as a congregation and is beginning the process of closing the church.

Bad weather hampered the search for a 39-year-old Alaska snowboarder buried by an avalanche. Alaska State Troopers say Marvin Scott of Ketchikan was caught in an avalanche reported to be 100 yards wide by 1,500 yards long while snowboarding Sunday.

University of Alaska’s first all-gender restroom has opened at the Fairbanks campus’ engineering building.

Speaking at a conference in Juneau last week, Alaska U.S. Rep. Don Young argued against gun control by suggesting Jews might not have died in the Holocaust if they had been armed.

Hydro One asked the Juneau Assembly to rescind its petition to intervene over its acquisition of Alaska Electric Light and Power. In return it had offered some general commitments that Assembly members felt didn’t go far enough to protect the community’s interests.

Juneau’s public safety task force is recommending police-operated cameras be posted in areas with high crime. The Juneau Assembly has yet to deliberate on the proposal.

The House Finance Committee voted in favor of hiring 41 people to reduce the backlog. “The morale in that department is not good,” said Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage.

Barely 2 minutes into the speech, Sullivan made the rhetorical equivalent of an eye-roll: “Being in elected office, we can get caught up in the news of the day. Sometimes as a result of an intemperate tweet or two. Or three. Or four. ”

Last week, social media across Western Alaska lit up as residents posted photos and videos of open water where, normally, there’s ice.

Air Station Sitka commander Capt. Chip Lewin discussed the capabilities of his crews and their equipment in a presentation to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce.

A weather app called mPing allows the National Weather Service to use realtime information from the public to fine-tune its forecasts. The scientist who invented it is pretty excited. Besides helping make better forecasts, mPing also is a sophisticated research tool.

The court said the government’s appeal on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be heard by a court of appeals first. Trump had wanted to end the program by March 5.

A winter weather advisory is in effect until noon today. The National Weather Service in Juneau says we can expect about 3 to 5 inches of snow.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke heard panelists say they need more access to the forest: through roads, through less-cumbersome permitting, through whatever means. They want access.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan delivers his address at 11 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26, to the Alaska Legislature Joint Session.

The biggest focus is on a plan that would draw from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings.

An earthquake January in the Gulf of Alaska left the city of Kodiak’s fire station shaken and cracked. It’s also stimulated the efforts to replace the building.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission has not yet decided how to resolve the most recent complaint lodged against longtime Skagway Assemblyman Dan Henry. The commission addressed the issue at a regular meeting Wednesday.

The city of Wrangell is asking its citizens to reduce water consumption by 10 to 20 percent. The measure went into effect Friday and will last indefinitely. 

In the wake of the Las Vegas concert massacre last fall, lawmakers in at least 30 states introduced legislation to ban “bump stocks,” which convert semiautomatic guns into automatic weapons and which were used by the gunman. Only two of the bills passed.