I’d just like to clarify my support for borough staff. In January, when issues arose about our former manager, I insisted on an evaluation and discussion, not termination. Later, at the end of the manager’s contract, I urged keeping the manager on as long as possible. Further, I established an annual assembly planning session to […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Assembly is moving the Lutak Dock project along
The Haines Assembly is listening to your request for information on the Lutak Dock. In our last meeting, we voted to return the draft Environmental Assessment (draft EA) to the DOT federal marine agency MARAD. After a final review by MARAD, it will become public and you’ll be able learn how many designs are assessed […]
Posted inNews, Economy, Government & Elections
Slight increase in Alaska’s minimum wage coming ahead of larger, voter-approved increase
Alaska’s minimum wage workers will get a tiny bump in pay starting on Jan. 1 before a larger increase becomes effective six months later. The state’s minimum wage will increase by 18 cents to $11.91 an hour at the start of the new year, the result of a ballot measure passed 10 years ago, the […]
Posted inLocal News, Haines Borough
Prospective borough manager turns down job offer
The remaining applicant for the Haines Borough’s open manager position decided against the job. Kim Zimmerman contacted borough staff during the Thanksgiving holiday to withdraw and interim manager Elke Doom then notified the assembly, she said Monday. “I provided the assembly contacts for a number of consultant firms as an option,” Doom wrote in an […]
Posted inSoutheast News, Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Economy
Testing underway of new Tlingit & Haida wireless internet service
Tidal Network is operating in its test mode, with about a dozen Wrangell households trying out the new wireless internet service provided by the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Wrangell is the first location in Southeast to get the new service, which is funded by a federal grant for construction and […]
Posted inLocal News, Public Safety
Coast Guard suspends search for five people missing in wintery seas near southern tip of Haines Borough
Update: Monday at 1:20 p.m. The Coast Guard has suspended its search for multiple people near Couverden Point. According to media release, Coast Guard crews searched for a full day and covered more than 108 nautical miles searching for five people whose fishing boat reportedly capsized. The Coast Guard got a call at 12:07 a.m. […]
Posted inLocal News
Planning commission postpones hearing on Atlas Tower proposal, hears neighbors push back on 5G
A Colorado company that has been seeking to build a 120-foot 5G tower in Haines since January has again proposed to put it in a residential area. Atlas Tower 1 is proposing using land owned by Roger Schnabel’s Highland Estate’s Inc., at 877 Young Road, to build a 2,500 square foot wireless facility providing what […]
Posted inSports, Local News
Glacier Bears end tough season in Craig
The Haines Glacier Bears volleyball team’s regular season is over after a regional tournament on Prince of Wales. Coach Hailey Sanders wrote in an email that the group arrived in Craig at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday after more than 32 hours of traveling that included “ferry rides, sleeping in churches, delayed flights due to […]
Posted inNews, Economy
Alaska’s total commercial salmon harvest this year was ultra-low in both quantity and value
The number of Alaska salmon harvested by commercial fishers was the third smallest since all-species records began in 1985, and the value to harvesters, when adjusted for inflation, was the lowest reported since 1975, state officials said. Additionally, the 450 million pounds of salmon that the total harvest contained was the lowest on record, officials […]
Posted inNews
Break in Kake’s ferry dock mooring fouls Thanksgiving plans for dozens of people stranded in Juneau
Joey Chang says he was getting ready to depart the Hubbard state ferry after it docked in Kake on Saturday when suddenly the ship was no longer at the dock. “We are getting ready to get into the vehicle and we saw the opening of the ramp, and suddenly the whole ferry was moving away […]