News

It’s eagle season in Haines. Raptors and bird enthusiasts alike flock to Haines for the Bald Eagle Festival, when the world’s highest concentration of eagles gathers on the Chilkat River. Last year, the bird count spiked — and numbers are even higher this year.

Juneau Deputy Mayor Jerry Nankervis announced Tuesday that he wants to represent the Mendenhall Valley in the Alaska House of Representatives. Nankervis filed a letter of intent to run in the August 2018 Republican primary for District 34, one of two Juneau House districts.

The small, rural schools that make up Southeast Island School District don’t have the means for formal year-round music programs. Recognizing the importance of music in education, though, the district brought down two music teachers from the Fairbanks-based nonprofit Dancing with the Spirit.

The sea cucumber fishery in Southeast opened for harvest in the beginning of October. It’s now half way through its season. And, much like salmon this year, it looks like the state’s sea cucumber harvest is also finding success on the global market.

Like many small buyers before it, Northline Seafoods has a new scheme in mind and hopes to bring on a few fishermen willing to give it a try: produce tons of ice for their fleet, then flash freeze the delivered catch whole, all from a floating barge that may need less than two dozen employees to operate.

The Bureau of Land Management is taking the lead on an environmental review of the state proposed Ambler Road. The controversial project would punch an industrial access road from the Dalton Highway west to the Ambler Mining district.

After a series of contentious votes on amendments, 32 House members voted for Senate Bill 54, while eight voted against it early Tuesday morning.

An amendment would have repealed most of the law that lowered jail terms for many crimes.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries division’s Steven Barbeaux said the issue likely started with warmer water moving into the Gulf in 2014 and sticking around for the next three years.

Stop your mail and newspaper subscription, or get a housesitter. Photograph all your valuables and keep an inventory in a safe place.

On Monday, Gov. Bill Walker ordered Alaska flags to be flown at half-staff for the victims of a shooting in Texas. In a news release, Walker’s proclamation states that U.S. and Alaska flags be lowered. All flags should return to full-staff by sunset Thursday.

Mayor Karl Kassel told a couple hundred area residents who showed up for two meetings Wednesday that many are so old that they just need to be torn down and replaced, which comes with a price tag of nearly $400 million to catch up on that backlog.

Sealaska is increasing its investments in Seattle’s seafood-processing industry, as part of the corporation’s effort to boost revenues and dividends.

Authorities said Monday that they don’t believe racial or religious reasons drove Devin Patrick Kelley, the 26-year-old who gunned down at least 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Federal authorities are responding to a shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small community southeast of San Antonio. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has tweeted that special agents from its San Antonio field office have been dispatched to the scene.

Bear baiting on federal lands in Southeast may be allowed next year if a proposal by a regional subsistence advisory council is approved. The council also recommended ending a requirement that traps be marked with identifying numbers.

The Alaska School Activities Association has approved a request from the Juneau School District to combine its high school football teams and cheer squads beginning next fall. The request was approved by a 4-1 vote at Thursday’s ASAA Board of Directors meeting.

The state of Alaska is appealing a decision that would open Democratic party primaries to independents. An appeal notice was filed Friday with the Alaska Supreme Court.

David Houseknecht works for the U.S. Geological Survey, and he’s trying to figure out two key questions: How much oil is in the Arctic Refuge, and where is it? The answers could decide ANWR’s fate, no matter how the politics play out.

A man suspected of breaking into OfficeMax in Nugget Mall early this morning allegedly returned to the scene of the crime — to steal more office supplies.