Thirteen days after the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority notified Vigor Alaska that AIDEA would not renew Vigor’s contract to operate the AIDEA-owned Ketchikan Shipyard when the current agreement expires on Nov. 30, the two entities on Thursday released a joint statement that they have “commenced discussions this week to ensure the Ketchikan Shipyard […]
Posted inSports
MisChiefs best Glacier Bears during rematch at state championships
In a rematch of the 2A Region V championship game the Metlakatla MisChiefs once again got the better of the Haines Glacier Bears 58-34 on Friday and kept their season alive for one more game in the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 2A State Basketball Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. Metlakatla plays on Saturday […]
Posted inEducation, Local News
After funding cuts, Chatham school board approves budget revision with $70,000 deficit
The Chatham School Board met Tuesday to amend its budget for this year as district administrators continue to grapple with the loss of Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act funding. That federal funding is designed to help school districts near federal lands, and brought nearly $13 million to Alaska in 2023. When Congress failed […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Local News
Two Chilkat Valley artists awarded grants to visit region’s museums, study heritage
Last week, Donald Weiha Hotch was sitting in the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage center, patiently carving the base of a pair of chopsticks, when he looked up suddenly and said, “I got a grant to visit the museum in Juneau.” Other students who were in a spoon-carving class with him listened as Hotch described his plan […]
Posted inNews, Education
A Rural Alaska School Asked the State to Fund a Repair. Nearly Two Decades Later, the Building Is About to Collapse.
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Nearly two dozen children in the tiny village of Sleetmute, Alaska, arrive for school each morning to a small brown building that is on the verge of collapse. Every year for the past 19 years, the local school district has asked the state for money to help repair […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted: A new author, a trip to Canada, Brewfest, a carving workshop, tomatoes in Klukwan
Camelia Bell joined the ranks of published authors in Haines with a piece called “The Road,” which came out in The Sun magazine’s March 2025 edition. In response to a prompt about “chores,” Bell wrote about how life in Haines and walking home is not a chore, but a way of life. Bell said she […]
Posted inNews, Public Safety
Lack of snow prompts early start to official fire season in Alaska’s southern regions
Responding to the lack of snow across Southcentral Alaska and other regions, state officials ordered an early start to the official fire season. Instead of the usual start date of April 1, the fire season will be in effect as of March 17 in Southcentral Alaska, Southeast Alaska and much of Western Alaska, the Alaska […]
Posted inCommentary
America’s promise to the middle class is broken, in Alaska and across the country
The American Dream: If you work hard you can marry, own a home, raise and educate your children, and decades later retire and not live in poverty. With each generation, the middle class would live a better life than their parents did because each generation’s productivity improved. America’s gross domestic product measures our nation’s wealth production. Middle-class wages make […]
Posted inSoutheast News, Environment
Federal funding flip-flopping for Southeast heat pumps program
The Southeast Conference hopes to know by the end of the month whether $38.6 million in federal funds to help install electric heat pumps in coastal Alaska communities will come through on schedule or whether the Trump administration will pull the plug or turn down the power on the project. “We’re moving forward cautiously, carefully,” […]
Posted inLocal News, Haines Borough
Assembly Briefs: Bearproof trashcans, FEMA funding, Canadian sovereignty, water and sewer rates and more
Bear Trashcans After much discussion, bear-proof trashcans are finally on the way. The last remaining hold-up in a long saga of free trashcan delivery to Haines residents was approval of $2,250 needed to ship the trashcans from Seattle. On Tuesday, assembly member Mark Smith raised concerns about lack of documentation of the nonprofit donating the […]