News

The Juneau Assembly dedicates $75,000 to a warming center to be open when the temperature drops below freezing.

Methamphetamine-related fatalities have increased fourfold in Alaska over the last decade, according to a state epidemiological report released Tuesday.

In Alaska, North Slope crude rose to more than $63 a barrel by Monday.

Congress recently learned it has the power to overturn the amended Tongass Land Management Plan, a document that was years in the making. A Juneau business owner flew to Washington, D.C., with a message for the Alaska Congressional delegation: “don’t.”

The second annual Power & Privilege Symposium at the University of Alaska Southeast brought together thinkers, educators and undergraduate students to talk about societal imbalances through issues ranging from climate change to Alaskan Native issues.

Alaska’s state government will have a roughly $600 million gap between how much it spends and how much it raises, State budget director Pat Pitney says.

The state is again trying to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s roadless rule. Officials appealed a court decision that threw out an earlier state challenge.

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.