Haines’ American Bald Eagle Foundation joined zoos throughout the country offering an unorthodox Valentine’s Day tradition of naming a critter after an ex and watching it be devoured. Some, like the San Antonio Zoo, offer to feed roaches to animal residents. Others, like the Lehigh Valley Zoo in Pennsylvania, have offered naming fish to be […]
Posted inEducation, Local News
A Q&A with the Haines school district’s new principal
Haines Superintendent Roy Getchell announced in early February that a hiring committee has chosen to promote assistant principal Sam White at the end of the school year. White, who has a teaching background in psychology and history, taught in Indiana and Washington State before deciding that he wanted to become an administrator. In a previous […]
Posted inNews, Courts
New lawsuit seeks to limit Alaska Native tribes’ authority, stop Eklutna gambling hall
The state of Alaska has filed suit against the federal Department of the Interior in an attempt to overturn a legal opinion that allowed the Native Village of Eklutna to open a federally regulated gaming hall near Anchorage. The lawsuit, filed in early February at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleges that the legal opinion […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Local News
Grant-funded programs allows Klukwan students to explore multiple art forms
Twice-per-week art programs at Klukwan School give students a chance to try a variety of art forms this school year, from clay masks and pinch pots to formline designs, weaving and now music. Clara Natonabah and Shk’oohaalee Justina Hotch put together the programs this school year using Chatham School District funding from multiple grants. Hotch […]
Posted inSoutheast News, Environment & Natural Resources
The last skipper in Ouzinkie: How Gulf of Alaska villages lost their Native fishing fleets
This story was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship. It was reported and edited by Northern Journal and APM Reports, with support from Alaska Public Media. KODIAK — On an early, foggy summer morning, Nick Katelnikoff steered his boat through the treacherous waters off Kodiak Island’s Spruce Cape and chuckled. “Trust […]
Posted inSoutheast News, Government & Elections
Federal firings hit U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, with at least 30 jobs cut on Thursday
At least 30 federal workers with the U.S. Forest Service in Alaska have been terminated immediately, as of Thursday, according to the National Federation of Federal Employees union. “We got word yesterday that there were going to be 3,400 terminations of probationary employees within the U.S. Forest Service nationwide, and those terminations started at midnight,” […]
Posted inLocal News, Public Safety
After man disappears, locals and state officials warn of the dangers of ice skating on Chilkoot Lake
Updated: Officials said a dive team sent to Haines was able to find and recover Tom McGuire from the lake at about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 14. Haines author and backcountry adventurer Tom McGuire, 79, set off skating alone on Thursday, Feb. 6, and fell through the ice, disappearing before he could be rescued. His […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Local News
Violinist returns with a unique evening of music for Haines
An Italian violinist is headed back to Haines for a second concert, and – he hopes – to find bears again. The Haines Arts Council is hosting Luca Ciarla who is touring the U.S., Panama and Cuba before heading to Southeast Alaska. His show, titled “Luca Ciarla’s solOrkestra,” includes a looping pedal and multiple layered […]
Posted inScience, Local News, Environment
Local hunter uses headless seals to peek into the marine ecosystem
On a windswept beach near Haines, Tim Ackerman walks down a hill with a pair of gloves, a knife, and a bottle of Dawn dish soap to kneel beside the carcass of a harbor seal. The flesh of its head is conspicuously absent, though the bones are still visible. It’s one of a handful that […]
Posted inCommentary
Make it easier for people to vote, not harder
I remember as a kid accompanying my mom to the elementary school a few blocks from our house. No, not because the principal had called her into the office to talk about my behavior. That came later, in high school and college. Such as in college, when the dorm manager called my dad at work […]