HOMER — On a brilliant spring morning, Buck Laukitis, a longtime fisherman from this Kenai Peninsula town, stood at the city dock watching his catch come ashore. Crew members aboard Laukitis’ boat, the Oracle, filled bags with dozens of halibut — some of the fatter ones worth $200 or more — which a crane would lift […]
Posted inChilkat Weaving, News, Arts & Culture, Southeast News
A Chilkat robe returns to Southeast Alaska, but SHI needs help identifying it
In the basement of the Walter Soboleff building on a recent afternoon, Emily Galgano opened a huge white cabinet. She pulled out a long drawer with a Chilkat robe laying inside. The robe’s colors are faded. “So it could be very old, or it could be less old. I’m assuming at least 100, 150 years […]
Posted inSoutheast News, Wildlife, Environment, News
Mountain lion killed on island; first Southeast sighting since 1998
Mountain lions are not commonly spotted in Southeast Alaska, but earlier this month one was killed on the south end of Wrangell Island. Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were notified that a mountain lion had been shot and killed on June 3. They took possession of the carcass and […]
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: The warming ocean is leaving coastal economies in hot water
Ocean-related tourism and recreation supports more than 320,000 jobs and US$13.5 billion in goods and services in Florida. But a swim in the ocean became much less attractive in the summer of 2023, when the water temperatures off Miami reached as high as 101 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius). The future of some jobs and businesses across the […]
Posted inNews
State judge upholds most fines against group seeking repeal of Alaska ranked choice voting
An Anchorage Superior Court judge has ruled that opponents of Alaska’s ranked choice election system violated state campaign finance laws in their effort to gather signatures for a repeal ballot measure. In a 54-page order, Judge Laura Hartz upheld almost all fines issued in January by the state’s campaign finance regulator and concluded that Alaska’s “true source” disclosure […]
Posted inNews, State of Alaska
Alaska’s food stamp program rebound continues with more users, timely benefits
After years of backlogged applications kept thousands of Alaskans from accessing food aid, the state’s health department appears to be maintaining the program’s recovery. State officials said they overcame the backlog in March. Deb Etheridge, director of the Division of Public Assistance, said the agency is processing roughly 90% of its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applications […]
Posted inNews
U.S. Supreme Court may consider Alaska’s ‘dark money’ disclosure rules
Opponents of an Alaska law that requires the disclosure of “dark money” political donors are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the law. A group of Republican and Republican-leaning plaintiffs filed a petition with the high court last week. Under Alaska law, donors are required to disclose the “true source” of large contributions from politically oriented […]
Posted inTourism, News, Southeast News, Transportation
Sitka and Juneau residents propose hard caps on cruise ships as tourism grows
On Tuesday a group of Sitka residents submitted a proposed cruise-ship-limiting ballot measure to city officials for legal review. Two days later, in Juneau, a different group of Alaskans submitted the last batch of signatures needed to put a different limit on the local ballot this fall. With as many as 1.6 million cruise ship tourists expected […]
Posted inNews, Environment
National Park Service drafting plan that might allow fire-prevention work in coastal Alaska units
National parks located along Alaska’s coast might clear away some trees or even light fires to limit wildfire damage to important resources like visitor facilities, under a plan being considered by the National Park Service. The plan is for five coastal parks units: Kenai Fjords National Park on the Kenai Peninsula; Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve; Klondike Gold Rush National […]
Posted inNews, Education
Don’t give up on the FAFSA, advocates for student financial aid urge
Though the new version of the form to apply for federal financial student aid has had its fair share of highly publicized hiccups, U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal says the department has made a lot of progress in the past couple of months. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA […]